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Pro-Life Today | 15 September 2009

HEADLINES

Murder of Michigan Pro-lifer a 'Non-story' for Obama Catholics
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=97635
EWTN
While the pro-life movement was in mourning over the weekend following the murder of pro-life activist Jim Pouillon in Owosso, Mich., pro-Obama Catholics who reacted loudly after the murder of late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller have completely ignored the death of the peaceful pro-life activist. Catholics United, a small group of pro-Obama Catholics that has been actively involved in the abortion debate, completely ignored the murder of Pouillon on its website, while only few hours after Tiller's murder on May 31, its executive director Chris Korzen issued a statement expressing his shock following the abortionist’s murder.

Obama Chief: Embryos are 'just a handful of cells'
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109849
World Net Daily
There is no moral concern regarding cloning human beings since human embryos, which develop into a baby, are "only a handful of cells," argued President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein. "If scientists will be using and cloning embryos only at a very early stage when they are just a handful of cells (say, before they are four days old), there is no good reason for a ban (on cloning)," wrote Sunstein, who was confirmed by the Senate last week as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Opposing Obamacare Not a Tough Choice for Catholics
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33545
Human Events
The New York Times reports that President Obama's health plans have caused a "struggle" within the Catholic Church over "how heavily to weigh opposition to abortion against  concerns about social justice."

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

To view the latest ALL Report, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f19HjjDjbNk

FEATURE STORY

JAMES POUILLON: A GREAT MAN DIES BUT HIS HEROISM MUST LIVE ON IN YOU AND ME
By Judie Brown

I never met Jim Pouillon, but I have met several of his friends. Many of them have written poignant expressions of their sorrow. Among them is the one and only Cal Zastrow, whose heart was broken and whose love for Pouillion and his family is sincere to the very depths of his being.

Before I could read Zastrow's statement regarding Pouillon's death, I received a message. Zastrow was calling to tell me that he was driving back to Michigan. He had been helping local leaders organize the Personhood Mississippi effort and was now heading back home to minister to Pouillon's daughter and granddaughter. I can hear Zastrow's voice as I read his statement: 

 

This morning, a violent man murdered a peaceful pro-life Christian, Jim Pouillon, my close friend. Jim was completely nonviolent and never condoned using violence. I knew him very well and had prayed and ministered with him often. 

 He was praying and holding a poster of a newborn baby outside of Owosso High School. One of the students in the school was his granddaughter. His beating heart and measurable brainwaves are stopped. Also today, 4,000 American preborn children with beating hearts and measurable brainwaves are being murdered with suction "abortion" machines or drugs. 

 Their beating hearts and measurable brainwaves are stopped. We condemn both forms of murder. Don't shoot, stab, smack, slap or suck the arms and legs off of children with suction machines! Stop the violence!

 The last time I talked to Jim was this week, Monday. I prayed with him over the phone as he was preparing to go talk about Jesus and show pro-life signs in front of Owosso High School, where he was martyred this morning.

Nobody who knows Cal Zastrow could read this without being deeply moved by what we know is true of all pro-life witnesses. Standing up for the dignity and sanctity of innocent human beings means being called to imitate Christ. Not a one of us is violent; as a matter of fact, we abhor violence, which is why we have dedicated our lives to exposing the horror of aborting an innocent child.

Father Tom Euteneuer expressed his disdain for the hatemongering that began almost immediately after Pouillon's tragic death became known. His commentary, Vicious, Venal and Violent, goes to the heart of the public response of those who support killing the preborn:

The pro-choice movement has made murder just a casual pastime now, part of the general round of things that the news reports routinely. Yet, how surprised should we be at this when we stand back and see the unclean spirit that is behind the movement whose sole motivation is death? The fruits of this movement are universally demonic: a callous disregard for the sanctity of life, the insane promotion of death through lies, distortions and hate-filled propaganda. The nastiness of this movement is no longer able to be contained.

Father Euteneuer's analysis turns next to the Flint Journal and its coverage of the Pouillon killing. I have examined many newspaper and web news reports about Pouillon's death as well, and have been utterly amazed, while not shocked, at the total lack of respect for this man's true identity. The memory of a man”who, by any account, was merely a witness to truth and a remarkable lover of the Lord—is smeared with ugly words and innuendo. 

Politics Today, for example, ran the headline, Abortion Foe Gunned Down: A 'George Tiller' for Pro-Lifers? 

This is an unimaginable, if not grotesque, comparison. Tiller made his money killing people prior to or at their birth. James Pouillon defended human rights for the victims of Tiller's racket. The audacity to even mention the two men in the same breath ”let alone, headline”is an example of how twisted the thought process of many media types has become.

The M-Live Web site, which is also the internet outlet for the Flint Journal, took the opportunity in their report to provide a list of the times Pouillon had been arrested or charged by police. One gets the immediate impression that the list of dates and reasons for the various violations ”including the many that were dismissed ”somehow gives credence to the act of a maniacal killer whose brutality resulted in the deaths of two men. 

Associated Press reporter Tim Martin wrote of Pouillon, “The retired autoworker was a well-known and polarizing personality in Owosso, a town of about 15,000 residents. His protests -- often staged outside the school, library, at car dealerships and even football games for several years -- rubbed some residents the wrong way and led to frequent court battles.

Note, if you will, the subjective editorializing about the victim, including polarizing personality and how he rubbed some residents the wrong way.  I may have missed something, but I do not recall such judgmental slurs about Senator Edward M. Kennedy upon the announcement of his death, but perhaps I wasn't reading every word that was written. 

Senator Kennedy polarized members of the Catholic Church, dividing those who believe in the commandment Thou shalt not kill from those who ignore God's law when it comes to murdering the preborn! Yet few even referenced Kennedy's embrace of killing, including, sadly, members of the hierarchy.

Why then would reporters characterize a loving father and grandfather who stood up for life in such negative terms? The answer is as plain as the nose on your face. As Father Euteneuer said, it's a callous disregard for the sanctity of life, the insane promotion of death through lies, distortions and hate-filled propaganda.

Finally, in perhaps one of the most bizarre statements I have seen about Pouillon's murder, the president of United States said, "Whichever side of a public debate you're on, violence is never the right answer."

At the very foundation of my being, I know and understand what President Obama has apparently overlooked. In fact, most Americans who take the time to think about the truth regarding abortion and its aftermath understand it as well. The hard truth, the inconvenient truth, is that the violence perpetrated against Pouillon and the second victim of their killer, Harlan Drake, is but another example of how far too many people view problems and troublesome events in their lives these days. For 36 years, this nation has sanctioned the direct murder of innocent babies prior to birth and defined that massacre of the innocents as a right, a decision to be made between a woman and her doctor. The truth about abortion has been rejected by millions. Even President Barack Obama doesn't get it or refuses to see the grim reality of just how damning abortion advocacy in America has become. 

Violence is, indeed, never the right answer! So why perpetuate it, Mr. President? You are in a position to condemn all forms of violence, beginning with the most horrific of all ”the murder of the preborn. 

It is my fervent prayer that many of our fellow citizens will take a moment to consider why Pouillon witnessed to the reality of who dies during an abortion. Pouillon did this not for any publicity that he might gain, not for a place in history and certainly not for the applause he would hear from the thousands who would line the streets to cheer him on in life and mourn the great loss of his contribution to society in his death. He did not seek fame or fortune; he sought to do the will of God.

James Pouillon did what he did because he knew the truth, and he wanted to share it with young and old alike. This is why he prayed, this is why he peacefully protested, this is why he rubbed some people the wrong way and why he died. This is also why we now must pray—for our nation, for Pouillon's surviving family and for the courage to carry on in his memory for the millions of little ones who have died. Let us never forget that thousands of little babies die each day as America's conscience sinks slowly into the grim, evil abyss created by the culture of death. 

For those who cannot attend the memorial service tomorrow at the Willman football stadium in Owosso, Michigan, cards, letters and donations may be sent to the family through Jim's church:

Family of Jim Pouillon
c/o Abba House
P.O. Box 201
Owosso, MI 48867

Associates Newsletter

Volume 6, Number 34                                                                           Tuesday, September 8, 2009

 
Pro-life Memorial Day

On Monday, October 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin a new term. And, on October 5, thousands of Americans nationwide will be mourning the victims of abortion. We will commemorate Pro-life Memorial Day by gathering for prayer and candlelight vigils at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. and at abortion clinics nationwide wearing the official 2009 PLMD T-shirt and engaging in many other activities.

American Life League encourages all of its Associate groups to join with us on this day. Register to participate, purchase the 2009 PLMD t-shirt, post your stories and event photos and much more at www.ProLifeMemorialDay.com. Remember the preborn children we never got the chance to meet!

Tip of the month – Living the culture of life
Excerpts from The Winning Side by Charles E. Rice

After declining to decide whether an unborn child is a living human being, the Supreme Court ruled that he is not a person, since the “the word ‘person,’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn.” Regardless of whether he is a human being, he is not a person. This ruling is the same, in effect, as ruling that an acknowledged human being is a nonperson. As a nonperson, the unborn child has no more constitutional rights than does a goldfish or a turnip.

Once the Court ruled out the rights of the unborn nonperson, the only right remaining was the mother’s right to privacy. While asserting that this right is not absolute, the Court defined it so as to permit, in effect, elective abortion at every stage of pregnancy up to the time of normal delivery.  According to Roe, even after viability, when the state may regulate and even prohibit abortion, the state may not prohibit abortion “where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother.” The health of the mother includes her psychological as well as physical well-being. And “the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age – relevant to the well-being of the mother. This is equivalent to a sanction for permissive abortion at every stage of pregnancy.

The essential holding of Roe is that the unborn child is not a “person” within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects the right to life of persons.

But, you ask, hasn’t the Court retreated from its holding in Roe? Not really. Since 1973, the Court has upheld marginal restrictions on abortion, such as a requirement that abortions be performed by physicians. In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court upheld Pennsylvania requirements that the woman be given information about abortion 24 hours before the abortion; that a minor have the consent of a least one of her parents, or the approval of a judge, before she can have an abortion; and that abortion facilities comply with record keeping and reporting requirements. But the Court struck down a requirement that the woman notify her spouse before the abortion.

The Court in Casey described the woman’s right to an abortion as a “liberty interest” protected under the Fourteenth Amendment rather than as an exercise of the right to privacy. “[L]iberty as conceived in Casey is broader than privacy as conceived in Roe. But the shift has significant substantive ramifications as well … Abortion as privacy, for instance, means that women are protected against governmental intrusion but can make no claim to governmental assistance. Abortion as a liberty issues, on the other hand, permits a broader understanding of abortion that more accurately reflects the multiple meanings of reproductive rights … By identifying abortion as part of a more general liberty interest, the Court raised the stature of the abortion decision.”

In 1997, the Court described its Casey ruling as follows: “There, the Court’s opinion concluded that ‘the essential holding of Roe v. Wade should be retained and once again reaffirmed.’  We held, first, that a woman has a right, before her fetus is viable, to an abortion, without undue interference from the State, second, that States may restrict post viability abortions, so long as exceptions are made to protect a woman’s life and health; and third, that the State has legitimate interests throughout a pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the life of the unborn child.”

Although the Court allows marginal restrictions on abortion, the Court will not allow the states to enact any effective prohibition of abortion at any stage or pregnancy. The Court requires that the states allow abortion for emotional as well as physical health even up to the time of normal delivery.  The Court has also imposed sever restrictions on pro-life activities at abortion sites.

News

Preliminary injunction granted in IL conscience case — Pharmacists score a win in long battle for their rights
The circuit court sitting in Springfield, Illinois, has issued a preliminary injunction in the case of two pharmacy owners, Luke VanderBleek and Glenn Kosirog. Both men have been fighting to protect their conscience rights. This is the latest victory in an ongoing effort to protect the fundamental right of pharmacists to practice their profession without having to violate their conscience.
http://www.aclj.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=3416#

Morning-after pill proving to be ineffective and abused
In what appears to be a startlingly candid admission of failure, an article in the Reproductive Health Reality Check blog by Elizabeth Westley, Francine Coeytaux and Elisa Wells that originally appeared in the journal Contraception, states that emergency contraception, commonly called the morning-after pill, "is not as effective in reducing unwanted pregnancy rates at a population level as we once hoped." 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082709.html

Christian groups found to lack standing to challenge Plan B pill decision
Five months after ordering the Food and Drug Administration to allow the marketing of the emergency contraceptive Plan B to 17-year-olds without a prescription, a Brooklyn federal judge has refused to allow three Christian lobbying groups who oppose abortion to challenge the ruling. In his latest decision in the case, Eastern District of New York Judge Edward R. Korman held that Concerned Women for America, Christian Medical & Dental Associations and Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International failed to show they were harmed by his March 23 ruling and thus lacked standing to challenge his decision to allow over-the-counter sales of the pill.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202433449097&rss=newswire

Austin woman claims birth control nearly killed her
Gynecologist Jason Bosco, M.D. says it's a conversation women must have with family and their doctors before taking birth control. "Most patients that take birth control do just fine without getting a major cardiovascular event, but we do know the risk is twice to maybe three times as high as it would be if you were not taking birth control pills,” Bosco said.
http://www.kvue.com/news/newton/stories/082809_kvue_Birth_Control_Danger-ts.127771e6f.html

Doctors concerned by HPV vaccine
The Journal of the American Medical Association features a government analysis of 12,424 voluntary U.S. reports of post-vaccination "adverse events," ranging from headaches to death. And a consultant to Merck, which produces the vaccine, has expressed concerns.
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000010833.cfm

Abortion, breast cancer link confirmed again
Another study confirms a link between abortion and breast cancer. The latest research was done in Turkey and is widely available on the Internet, according to Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion-Breast Cancer.  http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=657946

New documentary, 'Blood Money,' seeks to expose the abortion business
A group of filmmakers have recently filmed a documentary that aims to expose the terrible reality of abortion, focusing on the financial aspect of the multimillion dollar abortion industry. The film entitled "Blood Money" includes numerous interviews with leaders of the pro-life movement, in which they lay out the facts about the abortion industry and the effects that abortions have on women. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082506.html

Scientist: Pope was right about AIDS, affirms abstinence, fidelity more effective than condoms
The director of Harvard's AIDS Prevention Research Project is affirming that Benedict XVI's position was right in the debate on AIDS and condoms. 
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=97266

Closing Thought

“I thank you, my God, for having created me, redeemed me, made me a Christian and given me life.  I offer you my thoughts, words and actions of this day. Do not allow me to offend you and give me strength to flee from occasions of sin. Increase my love for you and for everyone. Amen.”

—St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on St. Mathew’s Gospel, 19:4, quoted from In Conversation with God, IV:374

ASSOCIATES INFORMATION

http://www.all.org/search_results.php?searchtopic=associates

Pro-Life Today | 03 September 2009

HEADLINES

World Apostolate of Fatima Day of Prayer for the Sanctity of Human Life & World Peace
http://www.wafusa.org/
WAFUSA
On Sunday October 18th of this year the World Apostolate of Fatima, USA will send 100,000,000 prayers to heaven for Life and Peace on Worldwide Fatima Sanctity of Life Day. WAFUSA is asking all of America and the rest of the world to join in listening to great speakers, hearing great music, celebrating Holy Mass and praying as EWTN TV broadcasts what will take place at the National Blue Army Shine of Our Lady of Fatima in Washington, NJ and other events from around the world.

Family Attacked for Too Many Children: "Thrilled" to be Preparing for Baby Number 19
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09090205.html
Life Site News
Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar told US news service MSNBC they are delighted to discover the impending arrival of their 19th child.  But not everyone is smiling. When the story was published on the website of the left-leaning Huffington Post, commenters did not hesitate to express their hostility to the Duggar's openness to life. 1081 commenters responded with nearly uniform outrage that the Duggars, who have no financial problems, live in a large house they built themselves and are not in debt, have the audacity to be happy with their large family.

The Butterfly Circus Movie
http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/The%20Butterfly%20Circus/
The Door Post
This inspiring 20 minute on line movie starring Eduardo Verástegui (Bella), Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth, Fantastic Four) and featuring the debut performance of Nick Vujicic is highly recommended.

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

Go to iTunes for a complete episode list, and then be sure to ..
listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. EST at www.NPLR.net.

Be sure to listen this week and every week! 

Listen to each and every episode by subscribing on iTunes or the RSS feed.

FEATURE STORY

'PILLERING' WOMEN
By Judie Brown

Webster tells us that the transitive verb "pillar" means to provide or strengthen with or as if with pillars.  At the opposite end, we find those who piller women that is, they weaken them by prescribing chemicals to ingest that will eventually damage them physically, emotionally and/or spiritually. To make matters even worse, many medical practitioners do so with impunity.

Indeed, the birth control pill is a recreational drug with serious side effects. The most recent example of this is the story of Patti Kelly of Austin, Texas, who

was in a hospital bed this time last week, unsure if she'd make it out alive. In one day, her health plummeted.

"I woke up last Thursday morning with shortness of breath. I actually tried to work out that morning, and I had to stop because I could not breathe. Then, I actually coughed up a little blood so that was alarming, but being 28 and healthy, I just didn't really think much of it, she said.

But the pain got worse and at the urging of her mom, who is a nurse, she checked herself into the emergency room. A CAT scan revealed blood clots in her lungs.

"When I was in the ER they came in and said you have multiple in both lungs and that was shocking. It wasn't just like I had one. I had multiple. I said "Well, how many is multiple"? and he said, "I can't really count them". He told me if I did not come to the emergency room when I did, I could've died instantly, she said.

It wasn't until that moment that Patti learned she was genetically predisposed to the condition. Her mom also survived a blood clot earlier in her life. It just wasn't anything they talked about.

"The doctor said that could've been a factor but the birth control is definitely a big factor, she said.

Blood clots have been a known side effect of the birth control pill for many years now, and the anecdotal evidence is mounting, not to mention clinical studies that have tied the pill to the same side effect.

As Marie Hahnenberg, director of American Life League's The Pill Kills  project, said when asked about the Kelly case, We are constantly hearing about problems that stem from the dangerous drugs used in hormonal contraception. Women have been told for years that the birth control pill is the answer to their medical complications, when it is only causing more problems “even death".

Further, this is not only the opinion of pro-life organizations such as American Life League. There are other Christian organizations that have provided documentation on these side effects of the pill as well, including QuiverFull and One More Soul.

A very good example of secular news agencies' selective reporting is the study on hardening of the arteries that was conducted in Belgium a year ago. LifeSiteNews.com reported, 

Researchers at the University of Ghent, conducting a long-term study on 1,300 healthy women aged 35 to 55 living in a small town in Belgium, have observed that those women who take oral contraceptives may have more plaque (a hard, fatty deposit) buildup in their arteries.

Atherosclerotic plaque is comprised of cholesterol, bacteria and calcium which adheres to the inner lining of arteries.

Approximately 81 percent of participants had taken birth control pills for at least a year at some point in their lives, and 27 percent were currently taking the contraceptives.

However, the secular media remained virtually silent on this study. It would seem that whether the story is about a woman who almost died from a side effect of the pill or a group of 1,300 women who participated in a clinical study, the majority of America's secular media is reticent when it comes to publicizing negative findings about the use of birth control chemicals.

Tragically, this type of self-censorship results in physical harm to women, and as we have repeatedly explained, the deaths of literally millions of preborn children whose lives are snuffed out prior to implantation, due to the pills abortifacient effects.

When Dr. Joel Brind presented his findings on how the steroidal compound found in the birth control pill contributes to an increased risk of liver cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer, his documented evidence was not publicized. In fact, dead silence ensued. Even though the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute (headed by Brind) has made his research available online, we have not seen him interviewed anywhere “including the Dr. Oz portion of the Oprah Winfrey Show. I wonder why?

Brind writes, The dangerous performance enhancing steroids taken by athletes are male steroid hormonal drugs that build muscle. One of their risks is liver cancer. Similarly, female steroid hormonal drugs build breast tissue. They not only increase the risk of liver cancer but breast and cervical cancers as well. These powerful steroid drugs are taken by millions of teenage girls as birth control pills.

Two days ago, Jill Stanek reported on her blog that the World Health Organization has defined the pill as a Group I carcinogen:

The reasoning behind a combination of estrogen and progesterone/progestin is that estrogen given on its own increases the risk of uterine cancer. Taking a combination of the 2 confers protection from uterine cancer but increases breast cancer risk.

 In short, the science behind the increased breast cancer risk stems from 2 primary mechanisms. In both instances, progesterone/progestin becomes a double-edged sword, as it confers protection from increased uterine cancer risk but "gives permission" for estrogen to negatively affect breast DNA.

Brind, Stanek, Belgian researchers and near-death experiences are all valid reasons for the media to get on the ball and report the facts. In view of the fact that a growing number of teenage girls is being exposed to these chemicals (due to the acquiescence of many parents, who prefer the pill to teaching chastity), doesn't the medical profession have an obligation to be honest? Doesn't the government have a responsibility to protect citizens from dangerous chemicals that can result in death? Don't reporters have a duty to honestly report the facts? But that is hardly what occurs.

Father Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, recently opined,

The only reason we have our elderly being set up for systematic extermination now is because our culture has been so deeply brainwashed by the contraceptive and abortive mentalities that come from decades of family planning propaganda. The devaluation of human life at one end of the spectrum leaves the other end of the life spectrum completely vulnerable to the depredations of the power-mongers in Washington. Albert Schweitzer said that “if a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life. In terms of the current healthcare debate that would mean: when you sow family planning, you reap death planning. It's that simple.

I think he's on to something; in fact, I know he is. The truth is that sexually saturated societies do not heed warnings or, for that matter, even provide them. And after more than 40 years of contraceptive overload, two generations have accepted contraception, chosen to practice contraception and have a tough time telling their own children to say no to sexual relations, regardless of the child's age or marital status.

The birth control pill and its progeny are sacred to the proponents of the culture of death. They have become a mainstay of American life. But as Father Denis O'Brien, MM, American Life League’s spiritual director for many years, said in 1994,

Parents are the ones charged solemnly to raise their children in accordance with the eternal law, and will answer to God. To what lengths would parents go to save their child's life? To what lengths should they go to save their children's soul?

They may not wash their hands with the excuse "Well, the school board says…" or “The doctors say or The teacher says "That's what Pilate did, wash his hands".

So as we once again contemplate the fallout from the pill, and regardless of our profession or state in life, we should seriously consider these wise words from the pen of Pope John Paul II: "If the object of the concrete action is not in harmony with the true good of the person, the choice of that action makes our will and ourselves morally evil, thus putting us in conflict with our ultimate end, the supreme good, God himself" (Veritatis Splendor, 1993, Section 72).
 
Pillering women has devastating consequences. The only way to avoid them is to understand them. Share these facts with those you care about. Spread the word, spread the truth!

Pro-Life Today | 02 September 2009

HEADLINES

Bishop leads prayer vigil near Planned Parenthood office
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/aug/31/bishop-leads-prayer-vigil/
Reporter News
People who turned out for a prayer vigil Monday near the offices of Planned Parenthood of West Texas were urged to make ending abortions their No. 1 ministry. â€œWe need to step forward, make our voices heard, write letters to the editor, said Bishop Michael Pfeifer of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo. Pfeifer led a crowd of more than 150 people in the Rosary as part of the prayer vigil.

Assisted suicide debate takes Montana
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=662002
One News Now
The Montana Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in a challenge to a lower-court decision legalizing doctor-assisted suicide. If upheld, Montana will become the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide through the courts.

First baby born from new egg-screening technique
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.9ba72084fc14ca0167c0da3a436ea14a.2d1&show_article=1
Breitbart
Meet Oliver, the first baby in the world born using a new egg-screening technique that could double the odds of an implanted embryo taking hold in the womb, unveiled by British experts on Wednesday. Baby Oliver was born in Britain to a 41-year-old woman after 13 failed attempts at in vitro fertilization (IVF). The new technique, called array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), makes it possible to ensure eggs have a normal number of chromosomes, boosting the likelihood of a successful pregnancy.

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

Be sure to listen this week and every week! 

Listen to each and every episode by subscribing on iTunes or the RSS feed.

FEATURE STORY

A FAITHFUL CATHOLIC PRIEST HAS THE LAST WORD ON THE KENNEDY FUNERAL
By Judie Brown

Dear readers,

Today, it is my sincere privilege to provide you with what is the last word on the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy's funeral. Rev. Brian Harrison holds a doctorate in systematic theology, and is a well-known writer and speaker. He is also among the most faithful, inspiring Catholic priests I know. 

It is my hope that you will appreciate his words as much as I appreciate bringing them to you. Please note, below it, the two canons from the Code of Canon Law that should have been applied by the prelates who made decisions regarding funeral rites for Senator Kennedy.

The following is Father Harrison's commentary. (An adapted version was posted by LifeSiteNews.com.)

As a Roman Catholic priest, I feel a duty in conscience today to register, to the couple of hundred people to whom I have ready access, my emphatic dissent from a message that was projected around the nation and the globe this morning to millions of viewers and listeners by certain other members of the Roman Catholic clergy.

Kennedy's Funeral Mass is a Scandal

I refer to this morning's televised funeral Mass, celebrated in Boston's Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, for the recently deceased Senator Edward Moore Kennedy. It was a Mass I regard as a scandal comparable to, if not worse than, the scandal given several months ago when the nations most prestigious Catholic university bestowed an honorary doctorate upon Barack Hussein Obama, the most pro-abortion and “pro-gay president in U.S. history.

Why, you ask, should a Catholic priest raise such objections to a Catholic funeral for a Catholic legislator? Well, I am afraid this funeral was no ordinary Catholic funeral.

 For to those innumerable viewers and listeners of many religions (or none) who were aware of Senator Kennedy's public, straightforward, radical, longstanding, and (as far as we know) unrepented defiance of his own Church's firm teaching about the duty of legislators to protect unborn human life and resist the militant homosexual agenda, this mornings Mass, concelebrated by several priests, presided over by Cardinal Sean O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, and adorned by a eulogy from the aforesaid U.S. president, effectively communicated a tacit but very clear message: The Church does not really take too seriously her own official doctrines on these matters!
I feel impelled, therefore, to make known, to anyone willing to read these lines, that there are many other representatives of the Catholic Church, such as the undersigned, who take those doctrines very seriously indeed.

How would our Church leaders act if they really did take seriously an official Church position from which a prominent deceased Catholic had publicly dissented?

To answer that question, we need only imagine a situation in which some well-known Catholic legislator had, for years, supported the Church's social teaching across the board, in regard to human life, marriage, compassion toward the poor and underprivileged, etc., but had then, in old age, lapsed into supporting some ideological position that was strongly opposed not only by the Church, but also by the dominant Western elites in government, law, education, commerce and the media.

Suppose, for instance, that he had come to endorse white supremacism or Holocaust denial. Now, when the moment for this Catholic legislators funeral came, could we imagine for one moment that our cardinals, bishops and other leading clergy, mindful of this man's sterling and thoroughly orthodox contributions to the common good over so many years in Congress, would compassionately overlook his latter-day lapse into racism or anti-Semitism?

Would they agree to give him a free pass in regard to this defect? Would they speak and act as if it were nonexistent? Would they grant him a televised funeral Mass in a large basilica, presided over by a cardinal, in which he would be publicly eulogized by both family and public figures?

These questions really answer themselves. Of course none of that would occur! The local bishop might go as far as to allow our hypothetical Catholic racist or anti-Semite a Church funeral, if it was known that (like Senator Kennedy) he had confessed sacramentally to a priest before death.

However, the bishop would allow the use of Church property for this funeral on the strict condition that only close personal family and friends would be admitted. All media transmission or even presence during the service itself would surely be forbidden. (It would, of course, be unnecessary for the bishop to ask his fellow bishops and other high Church dignitaries not to attend the service; for all of them, like the bishop himself, would already prefer to be anywhere else on earth than at the funeral of one who had lapsed so unspeakably from society's ruling canons of acceptable behavior.)

Yes, society's canons. There, I am afraid, lies the difference between our two scenarios.

Is it that official Catholic doctrine is incomparably more opposed to racism and anti-Semitism than it is to abortion and sodomy? Not at all. The big difference is simply that most members of the Catholic hierarchy in Western society today  and there are, of course, a number of honorable exceptions are lacking in prophetic courage. They are ready and eager to take vigorous and resolute public disciplinary action only against those deviations from Church teaching which also happen to be excoriated by the cultural and media elites.

But if it is our prelates themselves who will be excoriated by those elites as would certainly have occurred had they required for Ted Kennedy's funeral the kind of severe restraint we envisaged above for that of our hypothetical bigot then all eagerness for just discipline will evaporate as fast as dew in the morning sun. Pastoral compassion, forgiveness, tolerant respect and Christian charity will now be instantly invoked as reasons for cloaking in total silence the public enormities committed decade after decade by an ecclesially heterodox but socially orthodox legislator.

So, It's St. Kennedy Now?

So it was, in this mornings funeral Mass, that the homilist, Fr. Mark Hession (pastor of Kennedy's Cape Cod parish), made his sermon a eulogy about what a wonderful Catholic Christian Ted was, assuring us that we could be confident that he is already with Jesus in glory.

So it was that the principal celebrant, Fr. Donald Monan, SJ, chancellor of Boston College, not only repeatedly told those present and the whole watching world that Senator Kennedy was a man of “faith and prayer, with a deep devotion to the Eucharist, but also assured us that this faith and prayer in private was precisely what inspired and motivated his public policies, so that there was (surprise, surprise) a real integration and unity between his private and public life!

Well, a lot of us didn't quite manage to see any private-public unity based on Roman Catholic principles. On the contrary, Kennedy's huge political influence, based on both the family's prestige and the personal dynamism of this Lion of the Senate, if anything, made his U-turn on abortion (yes, he was pro-life in his younger days) an even more scandalous counterwitness: a sign of conflict, not union, with that Church to which he professed loyalty.

Here are two comments I have just lifted off a Catholic blog:

1. There's this big,˜What if? said Catholic author Michael Sean Winters. If Ted Kennedy had stuck to his pro-life position, would both the (Democratic) Party and the country have embraced the abortion on demand policies that we have now? I don't think so.

2. Russell Shaw, former spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that when Kennedy defied the Church on issues such as abortion and later, gay marriage, he reinforced a corrosive belief among Catholics that they can simply ignore teachings they don't agree with.

Public Scandal Is Grave Matter

I myself remember, several years ago, a conversation with a young woman who had been brought up Catholic but had recently been born again as an Evangelical Protestant. One of the arguments she threw at me was, Even your Church leaders don't really believe what Catholics are supposed to believe. Why don't they excommunicate Ted Kennedy? He's blatantly, 100% pro-choice! Yet they do nothing!
What could I say to her? And what can I say now, after today's public scandal? That young lady's complaint was simply that this man remained a Catholic in good standing. I find I must now complain to you of something worse.

Before the whole world this morning, my fellow Catholic clerics in Boston did not just accord him the good standing of a normal, flawed Catholic whose soul we can hope is in Purgatory. Rather, clad in triumphant white vestments instead of penitential violet (never mind the traditional black!), they have placed him on a pedestal, granting him an unofficial instant canonization!

Scripture Warns Us

The Church's teaching is already abundantly clear that all this is very wrong. So perhaps we can legitimately discern the hand of God's Providence, which rules all things, in a coincidence that suggests a manifestation of God's grave displeasure at this kind of mockery injustice masquerading as “pastoral charity.

In our liturgy, Sunday has begun as I write at the hour of Vespers on Saturday. But the earlier part of this day, August 29, including the time of the Kennedy funeral, was observed by Catholics around the world as the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. In normal Masses celebrated today, the biblical account of his martyrdom was read (Mark 6: 17,29.) The parallels are striking: (a) We see two powerful civil authorities; (b) both of them flip-flop in a morally bad direction (Herod originally respected and defended John, and Kennedy originally respected and defended the unborn); and (c) both of them abuse their power by authorizing the shedding of innocent blood.

As if that were not enough, the longest Scripture reading in today’s liturgy also grabs our attention. It is prescribed not for the Feast of John the Baptist, but independently, for the Saturday of Week 21, in the Office of Readings. This is a part of the daily Liturgy of the Hours, which is required spiritual reading for us Roman Rite clerics. And todays reading just happens to be Jeremiah 7: 1:20, in which the prophet vigorously denounces  guess what? The hypocrisy of Israels religious leaders who proudly identify with the temple and the rites they celebrate within it, while at the same time they are living unrighteously (including shedding innocent blood, verse 6) and even pouring out libations to strange gods (verse 18). God therefore warns, {My anger and my wrath will pour out upon this place} (verse 20).
Orthodox Catholics will surely ask whether God can be any less angered now by those clerics who today carried out temple rites giving undeserved honor to a legislator who, for decade after decade, poured out the libations of his eloquence, influence and Senate votes in the service the “false gods of Planned Parenthood and NARAL which regularly rewarded him with 100% ratings for his pro-choice record.

Enough. If, in your charity, you pray for God to be merciful to the soul of Edward Moore Kennedy, please pray for all of us Catholic priests as well and be cognizant of the fact that some of us are profoundly indignant at what we saw our brethren doing today.

Sincerely,

Father Brian Harrison, OS

Oblates of Wisdom Study Center
St. Louis, Missouri

From the Code of Canon Law:

Can.  1184 1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:

1/ notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;

2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;

3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.

2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.

Can.  1185 Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.

Pro-Life Today | 28 August 2009

HEADLINES

Morning-After Pill Proving To Be Ineffective and Abused
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082709.html
Life Site News
In what appears to be a startlingly candid admission of failure, an article in the Reproductive Health Reality Check blog by Elizabeth Westley, Francine Coeytaux and Elisa Wells that originally appeared in the journal Contraception, states that emergency contraception (EC), commonly called the morning-after pill, "is not as effective in reducing unwanted pregnancy rates at a population level as we once hoped."  The trio of contraceptive-pushing journalists are lamenting the possibility that funding may dry up for the promotion of the dangerous contraception method.
 
ObamaCare out of touch with U.S. physicians
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=661062
One News Now
A new poll finds that despite the American Medical Association's support for President Obama's healthcare plan, most specialty doctors strongly oppose the plan. The American Society of Medical Doctors has released a poll of physicians that finds 86 percent of specialty doctors believe that the American Medical Association has become too political and has lost touch with the doctors it represents.

'Comprehensive sex ed' = more abortions
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=657904
TOne News Now
housands of abortions involving underage girls are occurring in Scotland, although the children have taken classes on alleged "comprehensive sex education." The news comes after the British Medical Journal released a report on the U.K.'s sex education program, which Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association calls an utter failure. "The thing that really makes it interesting though, related to what's going on here in the U.S., is that [the Scots] implemented a program that the president is describing as a promising, in fact a successful program that he wants to replicate with your and my tax dollars here in the United States," she notes.

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

FEATURE STORY

DEVILS, DETAILS AND DECEPTION
By Raymond T. Neary

The devil is in the details, and the devil in H.R. 3200, the Obama administration's so-called health care reform bill, has been anesthetized, so as to appear innocuous. But this devil is also a chameleon, created in a very crafty fashion.

Anyone who has experience with negotiating labor contracts as does the writer is well aware that vague language or no mention of an issue ultimately leads to the need for interpretation. What is implied in the wording becomes the real focus. Its meaning is interpreted by one party's own appointed bureaucrats, a favorable regulator or by judge-shopping within the judicial system. The tack which all of these people will take has been predetermined, so this is at the core of the administration's modus operandi.

This bill is, in part, about putting an indelible stamp on abortion as a way of death. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are also included by implication in this health package; otherwise, they would have been explicitly excluded. The true test of the Obama administration's intent lies in the wording. The gaggle of attorneys surrounding President Barack Obama are well aware of how to write clear-cut language that would allow no wiggle room and would convey sincerity. Likewise, along party lines and with his support, the Democrats have steadfastly voted down amendments that would protect the right to life of innocent human beings across the entire life spectrum. The intent of Obama and his supporters has been made crystal clear.

In stark contrast, as a presidential candidate, Obama did use very clear language in his promises to the abortion industry. He said he would sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act  and support abortion in every instance, including partial-birth abortion. He deemed clarity to be essential then. But now he is resorting to self-righteous verbal tap-dancing while charging at town-hall meetings that his opponents are trying to scare and mislead the public. Who is trying to mislead whom?

Fresh from being honored by this country's best-known Catholic university, the president has informed the leading abortion providers that, in view of the heat generated by Catholic opponents to his award from Notre Dame, he will forego a heads-on approach to FOCA. Why not? The same end can now be attained incrementally through passage of this health care reform legislation.
Although he was careful to not select a single individual with a pro-life background for a high-level position, he has nominated many who profess to be Catholic. This was part of the design. It provides cover in the shell game being played to convert this massive health care package into law and codify abortion on demand by an indirect route.

As part of its push, the administration has loosened the purse strings to fund organizations such as Catholic Charities and other front groups featuring Catholic in their name or whose name clearly implies a Catholic identity. They willingly respond by acting as salespeople trumpeting the need for passing the entire package, using moral arguments weighing heavily in favor of obtaining coverage for the millions now uninsured. The pitch is always cloaked in Christian-sounding generalities, rather than specifics. At first blush, it sounds compassionate, but it withers away quickly when challenged on substance. All of it is leftist demagoguery repackaged. 
                                            
Though he was too ill to attend his sister Eunice's funeral, the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy was nonetheless exploited (apparently with family approval) to promote what is essentially a power grab. Unfortunately, Senator Kennedy apparently did not focus on ensuring that the health care overhaul would respect the right to life of all human beings, from creation to natural death as he should have done in his waning days, in reparation for his many years of abortion advocacy.

Instead, the proposal is fraught with unanswered questions about the motives behind it and its ultimate consequences. What a sad scenario! I contacted Senator Kennedy's Washington office to propose the following wording in the Senate version: The intent of this legislation is to promote the health of all human beings. Nothing in the wording shall be construed to include counseling for or the funding of abortion, euthanasia or assisted suicide.
If this 1,100-plus-page document or even one with only 600 words is passed, Obama's advisors and bureaucrats will start chipping away to undermine and ultimately destroy conscience clauses as well as parental consent requirements, waiting periods and every other restriction on the destruction of life in utero.

Obama is clearly feticidal and infanticidal as well. He proved it as the Illinois state senator who voted three times to deny medical care to a child born alive as a result of a failed attempt to abort him or her. And Obama expressly voiced the belief that a Supreme Court opinion cut out of whole cloth in 1973 took precedence over any right to life one could claim for a defenseless human being in need of medical care if the intent was to legally end the life of that human being.

Abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are not health care. Each stops a beating human heart permanently. Health care is designed to keep that heart beating until it ceases to function on its own. We now have the hearts of over a million humans stopped legally each year. That figure would grow drastically under Obamacare. Yes, where this man wants to take the country is a very scary place.

The primary issue in the entire health care debate is not whether some reform is needed; it is how we should approach the issue through a blanket overhaul or by breaking down the effort into its component parts and addressing them individually? Moreover, if explicitly worded exclusions for abortion, assisted suicide or euthanasia counseling and/or funding are not added to the legislation, any deal must be broken before it moves to a conference committee on which the administration is heavily relying to accomplish its goals.

The president of the United States has an atrocious record of disregard for preborn babies human dignity and right to life, which logically leads to the conclusion that he harbors the same attitude toward the defenseless elderly and infirm.

Obama must be held to a moral standard far superior to that which he has thus far displayed toward life-and-death matters. He is showing all his cards in H.R. 3200 and gives us no alternative but to vigorously oppose this bill and defeat it. Our efforts cannot be relaxed until this is accomplished.           
 
Raymond T. Neary writes from Medfield, Massachusetts, and is the director of Pro-Life Massachusetts, an American Life League Associate group.

Pro-Life Today | 27 August 2009

HEADLINES

Abortion is new front in health battle
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125132812733462063.html
Anti-abortion groups are gearing up for a battle in the fall over health-care legislation, another headache for Democrats who already face concerns about the measure's cost and reach.  Most versions of the Democratic health plan would create subsidies for lower-income people to buy private health insurance. If that insurance includes coverage for abortion, as many existing private plans do, it effectively means federal taxpayers are subsidizing abortion, critics of the legislation argue.

'No hero to the unborn'
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108038
Audio transcript of interview with Judie Brown on Radio America, "Pro-life leader: Kennedy started trend of abortion support among Catholic lawmakers".

Planned Parenthood site drawing protests
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/08/planned_parenthood_site_drawin.html
The massive new headquarters for Planned Parenthood Columbia-Willamette under construction at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Beech Street has become a focus for community tension about abortion. 

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

FEATURE STORY

ANOTHER UNHOLY ALLIANCE IN CATHOLIC HEALTH CARE?
By Gail Besse

Why would a thriving Catholic hospital endanger its ethical mission by teaming up with a medical conglomerate that supports abortion, contraception, the morning-after pill and human embryonic stem cell research?

And how does the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, justify the claim that its hospital, Catholic Medical Center (CMC), will retain its Catholic integrity in a proposed affiliation with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (DHH)?

While pro-life Americans nationwide battle the Obama administration juggernaut – working to defend doctors conscience rights and to exclude abortion from national health care some in the Live Free or Die state are at odds with their own diocese.

It's a situation described as tragic and ironic by members of New Hampshire Right to Life (NHRTL), an American Life League Associate group.  They say the diocese is poised to surrender the independence of its 330-bed hospital in a convoluted agreement that's evidently meant to maintain ritual purity while “integrating with the secular system.

Led by Kathleen Souza and Barbara Hagan, both Catholics and former New Hampshire state legislators, the pro-lifers have vowed to stop this unholy alliance. Dartmouth is involved in abortions throughout the state, heavily involved in fertility research, embryonic stem cell research, selective reduction abortion almost everything the Church is against, said Souza.

DHH is a formidable presence in New Hampshire and eastern Vermont. It comprises the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon; and the D-H Clinic, which includes physician group practices in Concord, Keene, Manchester and Nashua. It's affiliated with the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and Dartmouth Medical School.

Adding CMC to its regional system would give DHH a hospital presence 60 miles from Boston. But CMC and DHH are so opposed to each other on sanctity of life matters that this collaboration means the hospital will deviate from its underlying religious mission, according to the 25,000-member NHRTL.

Catholic people built this hospital with their pennies and dimes, Hagan said. The bishop has the ultimate say over its fate, and he's putting himself in the position of being undercut. His powers are either diluted or eliminated throughout the agreement.

Souza and Hagan, on behalf of NHRTL and the pro-life community in greater Manchester, on August 11 filed a formal Memo of Opposition with the charitable trusts division of the New Hampshire attorney general's office. They've submitted more than 500 pages of supporting documentation that they contend proves the venture violates both Catholic ethics and the law that protects the public trust regarding charities. And they've submitted a similar package to the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) for its opinion. 
       
D-H doctors have testified in the state legislature against the diocese on end-of-life issues, Souza explained. Their chief palliative care doctor helped get legislation passed that led to the state issuing a dangerous living will called the New Hampshire Advance Directive.

Dartmouth refers girls to Planned Parenthood in Manchester, where we have a picket going five days a week. If you partner with D-H and give them credibility, it's a weak moral argument to say, They do it under a different roof, so we won't be culpable, she said.

Manchester Bishop John McCormack and the attorney general's office have final say over the plan, which both CMC and DHH hope to finalize by December 31, according to their affiliation agreement, dated July 22 of this year. The bishop has conditionally approved the proposal but says he's still reviewing it. He declined to answer questions posed by American Life League about it, or to meet with several concerned pro-life actvisits, despite their repeated requests this spring.

According to a statement on AHealthierTomorrow.org (a web site unveiled July 22 to explain the plan), the goal is to create an integrated healthcare delivery system that maximizes Manchester-based resources aimed at increasing access to enhanced quality patient care. 

Bishop McCormack has stated, As bishop, I am committed to preserve Catholic Medical Center to be a true Catholic healthcare institution, one that fulfills all the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic hospitals.  He is referring to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care. Part Six of this document, titled a Forming New Partnerships with Health Care Organizations and Providers, provides norms for guiding the faithful through the dangers inherent in Catholic-secular hospital mergers and other minefields. It notes, The risk of scandal cannot be underestimated when partnerships are not built upon common values and moral principles.

But since the plan was announced, DHH officials have been consistent. There will be no curtailment of its reproductive services such as contraception and abortion, according to repeated statements to the media provided by spokesman Jason Aldous and other DHH officials.

Where's the truth? Black can't be white and white can't be black, said Souza. A Catholic institution doesn't only have an obligation to serve health care needs but also to preach the gospel, added Hagan. Partnering with an entity that stands in direct philosophical opposition is a breach of the Catholic community's support and trust.D-H has no religious purpose only charitable, scientific and educational.

CMC, on the other hand, legally exists to carry on the work of the Church under its parent corporation, the Catholic Medical Center Healthcare System (CMCHS), which is a “juridic person of the diocese under canon law.

The agreement calls for the diocese to basically relinquish the hospital's independence, as DHH will become the new sole member of CMC's parent company. A DHH Leadership Council, composed of officials of all its regional members, will have ultimate power over CMC's finances and strategic planning, as well as the appointment of its trustees and president. You can kiss control goodbye if you don't have the votes on the board. Hagan pointed out. It's a corporate shell game as far as I'm concerned. Souza likened the legal reorganization to Russian nested dolls.

The agreement stipulates that Catholic ethical norms will be followed, but also acknowledges that all parties understand sometimes they may not be. In those cases, the Leadership Council gives representatives of CMC and its parent, CMCHS, the chance to recuse herself or himself and have no involvement in such issues. Does that sound like Pope John Paul's˜stand up and proclaim the Gospel? Hagan asked. They'll walk away and not defend the faith.

Among other issues raised in the Memo of Objections is the bishop's absence at the negotiating table. The guidance the bishop's been given comes from an ethicist who's in the compromising position of also being a diocesan employee, the memo notes. Peter Cataldo is both pro-life director for the diocese and a CMC advisor. And although the bishop has said he's consulted two other ethicists as well, he has declined to name them.
     
Another objection is the lack of public input during initial planning. CMC and DHH have been cooperating on joint ventures for more than five years, but the “holding company affiliation (they're not terming it a merger) was not publicized until February. A few talks between diocesan and hospital officials and invited pro-life leaders did take place this spring, but Souza said these were more of a dog-and-pony show than a serious exchange of information.

We complained to the bishop in writing following each meeting, repeating the same concerns each time, she said. Each reply from the bishop assured us that our worries were unfounded but again  no answers were provided.

Pro-lifers felt the clock was just being allowed to run out. Mistrust on ethics will doom CMC's new affiliation, predicted former Manchester alderman Rich Gerard in a July 27-August 2 Manchester Express column. Community forums will be held in the fall, but dates and locations have not been announced yet.

NHRTL also contends that Dartmouth will rapidly devour CMC, engulfing all of New Hampshire and Vermont.  In a July 25 column in the Concord Monitor, former New Hampshire state representative Donald Welch agreed. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is a leader in health-care innovation and care, but its business model is predatory, he observed. It is not interested in being a bridesmaid.  Catholic Medical Center would be an afterthought, its mission and glorious past notwithstanding.

The hospital's roots go back almost 120 years. In the 1890s, Manchester Catholics built two hospitals, both run by religious sisters: Sacred Heart on the city's east side and Notre Dame on the west side. In 1978, the two hospitals combined into CMC.
 
In the 1990s, the hospital merged for a few years with Elliot Hospital of Manchester to form Optima Health, a venture that proved to be ill-conceived, unpopular and unsuccessful. The merger was dissolved; the hospitals continued independently and flourished.

The successful campaign to save Catholic Medical Center from extinction appears not to be appreciated by Giles or her management team, Welch said. It is once again being handled like a financial asset rather than a sacred trust.

Souza and Hagan who helped expose problems inherent in Optima  contend the Manchester plan would create even more of a scandal than the unresolved situation in the Archdiocese of Boston, whose Caritas Christi health care system is still a player with an insurance company that refers women for abortions, contraceptives and sterilizations.

Following much negative publicity, in June, at the 11th hour, Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley did nix the hospital system becoming an outright partner with the company, but he has yet to divulge details of the current plan. He has also declined to release the opinion he sought in March from the NCBC.

Colleen McCormick, an anesthesiologist with a graduate degree in medical ethics, has attended the Manchester talks. Washington is dying to squelch conscience protections, she observed. Once Catholic entities have physicians who have no problems with the culture of death, rights of conscience will be easier to overcome. I think we should be withdrawing from any liaisons at all between Catholic and secular health care providers.

Asked to comment on mergers in general, Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education for the NCBC, advised, Such mergers can be pursued as long as the Catholic health care provider is clear about the meaning of its Catholic identity and remains intent on upholding that identity in all the negotiations and arrangements leading to the merger and subsequent to its realization. This means that the Catholic institution (and the merged institution later) will be bound by the provisions of the Ethical and Religious Directives. The possibility of scandal must be meticulously avoided.

By contrast, Hagan said, in this case, the maze of legal documents stipulates that the directives will be followed except when they won't. She added, We're praying that the NCBC and the attorney general's office will conclude, as we have, that this proposed affiliation is an attempt to do the impossible.

In his 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), Pope John Paul II was clear:

[W]e are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the culture of death and the culture of life. We find ourselves not only faced with but necessarily˜in the midst of this conflict. We are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life. (Section 28)

Gail Besse is a Catholic freelance writer from Boston. Her work has been published in the National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor and various Massachusetts secular daily papers and diocesan publications.

Pro-Life Today | 26 August 2009

HEADLINES

A Gruesome Harvest
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090825/a-gruesome-harvest/index.html
The Christian Post
For years, scientists and celebrities supporting embryo-destructive stem cell research have used two arguments. First, blind to the destruction of the embryo itself-they argue embryonic stem cell research will save lives. Second, they maintain that embryos leftover from fertility treatments will otherwise be wasted. Now, one stem-cell expert is using these same arguments to promote harvesting organs from aborted fetuses.
 
New Documentary 'Blood Money' Seeks to Expose the Abortion Business
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082506.html
Life Site News
A group of filmmakers have recently filmed a documentary that aims to expose the terrible reality of abortion, focusing on the financial aspect of the multimillion dollar abortion industry. The film, entitled "Blood Money," includes numerous interviews with leaders of the pro-life movement, in which they lay out the facts about the abortion industry and the effects that abortions have on women. 

Infamous Hollywood Screenwriter to Pen Film on Our Lady of Guadalupe - Patroness of the Preborn
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082502.html
Life Site News
Infamous Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, 64, known for such sordid films as Basic Instinct and Showgirls, has undergone a conversion and now will be writing a new film on Our Lady of Guadalupe.

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

FEATURE STORY

FACT CHECKING FOR THE COMMON GOOD
By Judie Brown

Just this morning, I received a nice phone call from someone who does not believe in e-mail, nor does he do e-mail! That's right; he considers it among the most problematic ways to connect with other human beings. As he said, We have voices; we are people; let's communicate that way.
I agree with his general premise. God gave us a voice, a human identity and the capacity to be present with our fellow human beings in many ways. On the other hand, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the ability to use the internet for the purposes of verification. Of course, we have to make phone calls, write letters and do all that is needed to be accurate, but so much information is right at our fingertips.

Having said that, it is strange that there is so much crossfire on what is or is not in health care reform proposals! And why all the name calling? And for heaven's sake, at the end of the day, why are we trusting the government to do this anyway?

Here a few facts about the matter, some numerical, some philosophical and some simply profound.
For example, have you ever heard of FactCheck.org? Thanks to LifeSiteNews.com and LifeNews.com,  we heard about it two days ago. So we went to the source to find out what an organization that describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics is saying about health care reform.
 
In its front-page analysis of whether abortion coverage is included in the various health care reform bills, titled Abortion: Which Side is Fabricating? author Brooks Jackson makes this stunning observation:

The truth is that bills now before Congress don't require federal money to be used for supporting abortion coverage. So the president is right to that limited extent. But it's equally true that House and Senate legislation would allow a new "public" insurance plan to cover abortions, despite language added to the House bill that technically forbids using public funds to pay for them. Obama has said in the past that "reproductive services" would be covered by his public plan, so it's likely that any new federal insurance plan would cover abortion unless Congress expressly prohibits that. Low- and moderate-income persons who would choose the "public plan" would qualify for federal subsidies to purchase it. Private plans that cover abortion also could be purchased with the help of federal subsidies. Therefore, we judge that the president goes too far when he calls the statements that government would be funding abortions "fabrications."

Clearly, in one way or another, abortion is in there. Case closed!

 So, my next question is how many Catholic bishops have clearly defined what the Church has to say about this? Here are quotes from the three we were able to identify.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, the latest Catholic prelate to weigh in on health care reform,  wrote a remarkable editorial in which he makes several salient points:

No system that allows or helps fund no matter how subtly or indirectly the killing of unborn children, or discrimination against the elderly and persons with special needs, can bill itself as "common ground." Doing so is a lie.

Health care reform is vital. That's why America's bishops have supported it so vigorously for decades. They still do. But fast-tracking a flawed, complex effort this fall, in the face of so many growing and serious concerns, is bad policy. It's not only imprudent; it's also dangerous. As Sioux City's Bishop R. Walker Nickless wrote last week, "no health care reform is better than the wrong sort of health care reform." 
 
If Congress and the White House want to genuinely serve the health-care needs of the American public, they need to slow down, listen to people's concerns more honestly and learn what the "common good" really means.

And, as referenced in Archbishop Chaput's excellent summary of the facts, Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa, was equally articulate in his remarks:

[T]he Catholic Church does not teach that “health care as such, without distinction, is a natural right. The natural right of health care is the divine bounty of food, water, and air without which all of us quickly die. This bounty comes from God directly. None of us own it, and none of us can morally withhold it from others. The remainder of health care is a political, not a natural, right, because it comes from our human efforts, creativity and compassion. As a political right, health care should be apportioned according to need, not ability to pay or to benefit from the care. We reject the rationing of care. Those who are sickest should get the most care, regardless of age, status, or wealth. But how to do this is not self-evident. The decisions that we must collectively make about how to administer health care therefore fall under “prudential judgment.

Third, in that category of prudential judgment, the Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care. Unlike a prudential concern like national defense, for which government monopolization is objectively good as it both limits violence overall and prevents the obvious abuses to which private armies are susceptible health care should not be subject to federal monopolization. Preserving patient choice (through a flourishing private sector) is the only way to prevent a health care monopoly from denying care arbitrarily, as we learned from HMOs in the recent past.

Only if we again foster a culture of life can we perpetuate the economic justice of taxing workers to pay health care for the poor. Without a growing population of youth, our growing population of retirees is outstripping our distribution systems. In a culture of death such as we have now, taxation to redistribute costs of medical care becomes both unjust and unsustainable.

 We also have Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, responding to LifeSiteNews.com after it approached him for an e-mail interview. A portion of that interview reads, 

Vasa noted that he believes "the notion of providing more comprehensive health insurance coverage is a just and right thing to do." However, he said: "that does not mean that THIS health insurance plan, only because it promises comprehensive health insurance coverage, must be supported.

"In effect, should we support giving poisoned water to the thirsty? I think not."

The insights of these holy men of God, who understand the stakes and are willing to spend their moral capital on God's justice rather than man's feckless, ever-changing attitudes, should be acknowledged, reflected upon and understood within the full breadth of Catholic social teaching.

As Bishop Nickless points out, some have argued that abortion is a fundamental human right. In a sense, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church addresses that notion. Here is the quote: 

166. The demands of the common good are dependent on the social conditions of each historical period and are strictly connected to respect for and the integral promotion of the person and his fundamental rights. These demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State's powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights: food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation, basic health care, the freedom of communication and expression, and the protection of religious freedom. Nor must one forget the contribution that every nation is required in duty to make towards a true worldwide cooperation for the common good of the whole of humanity and for future generations also.

The teaching is not that a state or federal government should be controlling or dictating health care for those in need, for the Compendium teaches in Section 351, The action of the State and of other public authorities must be consistent with the principle of subsidiarity and create situations favorable to the free exercise of economic activity. It must also be inspired by the principle of solidarity and establish limits for the autonomy of the parties in order to defend those who are weaker.
Therefore, for those who have recognized the folks currently in charge of the U.S. government for what they are, based on their partnership with Planned Parenthood, the abortion industry and the death with dignity proponents, we can conclude that health care reform in the hands of federal lawmakers is a very bad idea.

And that's a fact!

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

Respond to Judie
http://www.all.org/newsroom_judieblog_response.php?id=2733

October 5 is Pro-Life Memorial Day!

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton in 1973, 51 MILLION babies have been surgically and medically aborted, and millions more have been killed chemically. This staggering death toll is the direct result of these two decisions.

On the first Monday in October, the U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term. This is a day on which pro-lifers across the nation will mourn the victims of America's hidden holocaust: abortion.

Go to www.ProLifeMemorialDay.com and register to participate, purchase the shirt, post your stories and event photos, and do much more to commemorate the preborn children none of us ever got the chance to meet.

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Pro-Life Today | 15 September 2009

HEADLINES

Murder of Michigan Pro-lifer a 'Non-story' for Obama Catholics
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=97635
EWTN
While the pro-life movement was in mourning over the weekend following the murder of pro-life activist Jim Pouillon in Owosso, Mich., pro-Obama Catholics who reacted loudly after the murder of late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller have completely ignored the death of the peaceful pro-life activist. Catholics United, a small group of pro-Obama Catholics that has been actively involved in the abortion debate, completely ignored the murder of Pouillon on its website, while only few hours after Tiller's murder on May 31, its executive director Chris Korzen issued a statement expressing his shock following the abortionist’s murder.

Obama Chief: Embryos are 'just a handful of cells'
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109849
World Net Daily
There is no moral concern regarding cloning human beings since human embryos, which develop into a baby, are "only a handful of cells," argued President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein. "If scientists will be using and cloning embryos only at a very early stage when they are just a handful of cells (say, before they are four days old), there is no good reason for a ban (on cloning)," wrote Sunstein, who was confirmed by the Senate last week as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Opposing Obamacare Not a Tough Choice for Catholics
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33545
Human Events
The New York Times reports that President Obama's health plans have caused a "struggle" within the Catholic Church over "how heavily to weigh opposition to abortion against  concerns about social justice."

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

To view the latest ALL Report, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f19HjjDjbNk

FEATURE STORY

JAMES POUILLON: A GREAT MAN DIES BUT HIS HEROISM MUST LIVE ON IN YOU AND ME
By Judie Brown

I never met Jim Pouillon, but I have met several of his friends. Many of them have written poignant expressions of their sorrow. Among them is the one and only Cal Zastrow, whose heart was broken and whose love for Pouillion and his family is sincere to the very depths of his being.

Before I could read Zastrow's statement regarding Pouillon's death, I received a message. Zastrow was calling to tell me that he was driving back to Michigan. He had been helping local leaders organize the Personhood Mississippi effort and was now heading back home to minister to Pouillon's daughter and granddaughter. I can hear Zastrow's voice as I read his statement: 

 

This morning, a violent man murdered a peaceful pro-life Christian, Jim Pouillon, my close friend. Jim was completely nonviolent and never condoned using violence. I knew him very well and had prayed and ministered with him often. 

 He was praying and holding a poster of a newborn baby outside of Owosso High School. One of the students in the school was his granddaughter. His beating heart and measurable brainwaves are stopped. Also today, 4,000 American preborn children with beating hearts and measurable brainwaves are being murdered with suction "abortion" machines or drugs. 

 Their beating hearts and measurable brainwaves are stopped. We condemn both forms of murder. Don't shoot, stab, smack, slap or suck the arms and legs off of children with suction machines! Stop the violence!

 The last time I talked to Jim was this week, Monday. I prayed with him over the phone as he was preparing to go talk about Jesus and show pro-life signs in front of Owosso High School, where he was martyred this morning.

Nobody who knows Cal Zastrow could read this without being deeply moved by what we know is true of all pro-life witnesses. Standing up for the dignity and sanctity of innocent human beings means being called to imitate Christ. Not a one of us is violent; as a matter of fact, we abhor violence, which is why we have dedicated our lives to exposing the horror of aborting an innocent child.

Father Tom Euteneuer expressed his disdain for the hatemongering that began almost immediately after Pouillon's tragic death became known. His commentary, Vicious, Venal and Violent, goes to the heart of the public response of those who support killing the preborn:

The pro-choice movement has made murder just a casual pastime now, part of the general round of things that the news reports routinely. Yet, how surprised should we be at this when we stand back and see the unclean spirit that is behind the movement whose sole motivation is death? The fruits of this movement are universally demonic: a callous disregard for the sanctity of life, the insane promotion of death through lies, distortions and hate-filled propaganda. The nastiness of this movement is no longer able to be contained.

Father Euteneuer's analysis turns next to the Flint Journal and its coverage of the Pouillon killing. I have examined many newspaper and web news reports about Pouillon's death as well, and have been utterly amazed, while not shocked, at the total lack of respect for this man's true identity. The memory of a man”who, by any account, was merely a witness to truth and a remarkable lover of the Lord—is smeared with ugly words and innuendo. 

Politics Today, for example, ran the headline, Abortion Foe Gunned Down: A 'George Tiller' for Pro-Lifers? 

This is an unimaginable, if not grotesque, comparison. Tiller made his money killing people prior to or at their birth. James Pouillon defended human rights for the victims of Tiller's racket. The audacity to even mention the two men in the same breath ”let alone, headline”is an example of how twisted the thought process of many media types has become.

The M-Live Web site, which is also the internet outlet for the Flint Journal, took the opportunity in their report to provide a list of the times Pouillon had been arrested or charged by police. One gets the immediate impression that the list of dates and reasons for the various violations ”including the many that were dismissed ”somehow gives credence to the act of a maniacal killer whose brutality resulted in the deaths of two men. 

Associated Press reporter Tim Martin wrote of Pouillon, “The retired autoworker was a well-known and polarizing personality in Owosso, a town of about 15,000 residents. His protests -- often staged outside the school, library, at car dealerships and even football games for several years -- rubbed some residents the wrong way and led to frequent court battles.

Note, if you will, the subjective editorializing about the victim, including polarizing personality and how he rubbed some residents the wrong way.  I may have missed something, but I do not recall such judgmental slurs about Senator Edward M. Kennedy upon the announcement of his death, but perhaps I wasn't reading every word that was written. 

Senator Kennedy polarized members of the Catholic Church, dividing those who believe in the commandment Thou shalt not kill from those who ignore God's law when it comes to murdering the preborn! Yet few even referenced Kennedy's embrace of killing, including, sadly, members of the hierarchy.

Why then would reporters characterize a loving father and grandfather who stood up for life in such negative terms? The answer is as plain as the nose on your face. As Father Euteneuer said, it's a callous disregard for the sanctity of life, the insane promotion of death through lies, distortions and hate-filled propaganda.

Finally, in perhaps one of the most bizarre statements I have seen about Pouillon's murder, the president of United States said, "Whichever side of a public debate you're on, violence is never the right answer."

At the very foundation of my being, I know and understand what President Obama has apparently overlooked. In fact, most Americans who take the time to think about the truth regarding abortion and its aftermath understand it as well. The hard truth, the inconvenient truth, is that the violence perpetrated against Pouillon and the second victim of their killer, Harlan Drake, is but another example of how far too many people view problems and troublesome events in their lives these days. For 36 years, this nation has sanctioned the direct murder of innocent babies prior to birth and defined that massacre of the innocents as a right, a decision to be made between a woman and her doctor. The truth about abortion has been rejected by millions. Even President Barack Obama doesn't get it or refuses to see the grim reality of just how damning abortion advocacy in America has become. 

Violence is, indeed, never the right answer! So why perpetuate it, Mr. President? You are in a position to condemn all forms of violence, beginning with the most horrific of all ”the murder of the preborn. 

It is my fervent prayer that many of our fellow citizens will take a moment to consider why Pouillon witnessed to the reality of who dies during an abortion. Pouillon did this not for any publicity that he might gain, not for a place in history and certainly not for the applause he would hear from the thousands who would line the streets to cheer him on in life and mourn the great loss of his contribution to society in his death. He did not seek fame or fortune; he sought to do the will of God.

James Pouillon did what he did because he knew the truth, and he wanted to share it with young and old alike. This is why he prayed, this is why he peacefully protested, this is why he rubbed some people the wrong way and why he died. This is also why we now must pray—for our nation, for Pouillon's surviving family and for the courage to carry on in his memory for the millions of little ones who have died. Let us never forget that thousands of little babies die each day as America's conscience sinks slowly into the grim, evil abyss created by the culture of death. 

For those who cannot attend the memorial service tomorrow at the Willman football stadium in Owosso, Michigan, cards, letters and donations may be sent to the family through Jim's church:

Family of Jim Pouillon
c/o Abba House
P.O. Box 201
Owosso, MI 48867

Associates Newsletter

Volume 6, Number 34                                                                           Tuesday, September 8, 2009

 
Pro-life Memorial Day

On Monday, October 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin a new term. And, on October 5, thousands of Americans nationwide will be mourning the victims of abortion. We will commemorate Pro-life Memorial Day by gathering for prayer and candlelight vigils at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. and at abortion clinics nationwide wearing the official 2009 PLMD T-shirt and engaging in many other activities.

American Life League encourages all of its Associate groups to join with us on this day. Register to participate, purchase the 2009 PLMD t-shirt, post your stories and event photos and much more at www.ProLifeMemorialDay.com. Remember the preborn children we never got the chance to meet!

Tip of the month – Living the culture of life
Excerpts from The Winning Side by Charles E. Rice

After declining to decide whether an unborn child is a living human being, the Supreme Court ruled that he is not a person, since the “the word ‘person,’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn.” Regardless of whether he is a human being, he is not a person. This ruling is the same, in effect, as ruling that an acknowledged human being is a nonperson. As a nonperson, the unborn child has no more constitutional rights than does a goldfish or a turnip.

Once the Court ruled out the rights of the unborn nonperson, the only right remaining was the mother’s right to privacy. While asserting that this right is not absolute, the Court defined it so as to permit, in effect, elective abortion at every stage of pregnancy up to the time of normal delivery.  According to Roe, even after viability, when the state may regulate and even prohibit abortion, the state may not prohibit abortion “where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother.” The health of the mother includes her psychological as well as physical well-being. And “the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age – relevant to the well-being of the mother. This is equivalent to a sanction for permissive abortion at every stage of pregnancy.

The essential holding of Roe is that the unborn child is not a “person” within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects the right to life of persons.

But, you ask, hasn’t the Court retreated from its holding in Roe? Not really. Since 1973, the Court has upheld marginal restrictions on abortion, such as a requirement that abortions be performed by physicians. In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court upheld Pennsylvania requirements that the woman be given information about abortion 24 hours before the abortion; that a minor have the consent of a least one of her parents, or the approval of a judge, before she can have an abortion; and that abortion facilities comply with record keeping and reporting requirements. But the Court struck down a requirement that the woman notify her spouse before the abortion.

The Court in Casey described the woman’s right to an abortion as a “liberty interest” protected under the Fourteenth Amendment rather than as an exercise of the right to privacy. “[L]iberty as conceived in Casey is broader than privacy as conceived in Roe. But the shift has significant substantive ramifications as well … Abortion as privacy, for instance, means that women are protected against governmental intrusion but can make no claim to governmental assistance. Abortion as a liberty issues, on the other hand, permits a broader understanding of abortion that more accurately reflects the multiple meanings of reproductive rights … By identifying abortion as part of a more general liberty interest, the Court raised the stature of the abortion decision.”

In 1997, the Court described its Casey ruling as follows: “There, the Court’s opinion concluded that ‘the essential holding of Roe v. Wade should be retained and once again reaffirmed.’  We held, first, that a woman has a right, before her fetus is viable, to an abortion, without undue interference from the State, second, that States may restrict post viability abortions, so long as exceptions are made to protect a woman’s life and health; and third, that the State has legitimate interests throughout a pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the life of the unborn child.”

Although the Court allows marginal restrictions on abortion, the Court will not allow the states to enact any effective prohibition of abortion at any stage or pregnancy. The Court requires that the states allow abortion for emotional as well as physical health even up to the time of normal delivery.  The Court has also imposed sever restrictions on pro-life activities at abortion sites.

News

Preliminary injunction granted in IL conscience case — Pharmacists score a win in long battle for their rights
The circuit court sitting in Springfield, Illinois, has issued a preliminary injunction in the case of two pharmacy owners, Luke VanderBleek and Glenn Kosirog. Both men have been fighting to protect their conscience rights. This is the latest victory in an ongoing effort to protect the fundamental right of pharmacists to practice their profession without having to violate their conscience.
http://www.aclj.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=3416#

Morning-after pill proving to be ineffective and abused
In what appears to be a startlingly candid admission of failure, an article in the Reproductive Health Reality Check blog by Elizabeth Westley, Francine Coeytaux and Elisa Wells that originally appeared in the journal Contraception, states that emergency contraception, commonly called the morning-after pill, "is not as effective in reducing unwanted pregnancy rates at a population level as we once hoped." 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082709.html

Christian groups found to lack standing to challenge Plan B pill decision
Five months after ordering the Food and Drug Administration to allow the marketing of the emergency contraceptive Plan B to 17-year-olds without a prescription, a Brooklyn federal judge has refused to allow three Christian lobbying groups who oppose abortion to challenge the ruling. In his latest decision in the case, Eastern District of New York Judge Edward R. Korman held that Concerned Women for America, Christian Medical & Dental Associations and Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International failed to show they were harmed by his March 23 ruling and thus lacked standing to challenge his decision to allow over-the-counter sales of the pill.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202433449097&rss=newswire

Austin woman claims birth control nearly killed her
Gynecologist Jason Bosco, M.D. says it's a conversation women must have with family and their doctors before taking birth control. "Most patients that take birth control do just fine without getting a major cardiovascular event, but we do know the risk is twice to maybe three times as high as it would be if you were not taking birth control pills,” Bosco said.
http://www.kvue.com/news/newton/stories/082809_kvue_Birth_Control_Danger-ts.127771e6f.html

Doctors concerned by HPV vaccine
The Journal of the American Medical Association features a government analysis of 12,424 voluntary U.S. reports of post-vaccination "adverse events," ranging from headaches to death. And a consultant to Merck, which produces the vaccine, has expressed concerns.
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000010833.cfm

Abortion, breast cancer link confirmed again
Another study confirms a link between abortion and breast cancer. The latest research was done in Turkey and is widely available on the Internet, according to Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion-Breast Cancer.  http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=657946

New documentary, 'Blood Money,' seeks to expose the abortion business
A group of filmmakers have recently filmed a documentary that aims to expose the terrible reality of abortion, focusing on the financial aspect of the multimillion dollar abortion industry. The film entitled "Blood Money" includes numerous interviews with leaders of the pro-life movement, in which they lay out the facts about the abortion industry and the effects that abortions have on women. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082506.html

Scientist: Pope was right about AIDS, affirms abstinence, fidelity more effective than condoms
The director of Harvard's AIDS Prevention Research Project is affirming that Benedict XVI's position was right in the debate on AIDS and condoms. 
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=97266

Closing Thought

“I thank you, my God, for having created me, redeemed me, made me a Christian and given me life.  I offer you my thoughts, words and actions of this day. Do not allow me to offend you and give me strength to flee from occasions of sin. Increase my love for you and for everyone. Amen.”

—St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on St. Mathew’s Gospel, 19:4, quoted from In Conversation with God, IV:374

ASSOCIATES INFORMATION

http://www.all.org/search_results.php?searchtopic=associates

Pro-Life Today | 03 September 2009

HEADLINES

World Apostolate of Fatima Day of Prayer for the Sanctity of Human Life & World Peace
http://www.wafusa.org/
WAFUSA
On Sunday October 18th of this year the World Apostolate of Fatima, USA will send 100,000,000 prayers to heaven for Life and Peace on Worldwide Fatima Sanctity of Life Day. WAFUSA is asking all of America and the rest of the world to join in listening to great speakers, hearing great music, celebrating Holy Mass and praying as EWTN TV broadcasts what will take place at the National Blue Army Shine of Our Lady of Fatima in Washington, NJ and other events from around the world.

Family Attacked for Too Many Children: "Thrilled" to be Preparing for Baby Number 19
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09090205.html
Life Site News
Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar told US news service MSNBC they are delighted to discover the impending arrival of their 19th child.  But not everyone is smiling. When the story was published on the website of the left-leaning Huffington Post, commenters did not hesitate to express their hostility to the Duggar's openness to life. 1081 commenters responded with nearly uniform outrage that the Duggars, who have no financial problems, live in a large house they built themselves and are not in debt, have the audacity to be happy with their large family.

The Butterfly Circus Movie
http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/The%20Butterfly%20Circus/
The Door Post
This inspiring 20 minute on line movie starring Eduardo Verástegui (Bella), Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth, Fantastic Four) and featuring the debut performance of Nick Vujicic is highly recommended.

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

Go to iTunes for a complete episode list, and then be sure to ..
listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. EST at www.NPLR.net.

Be sure to listen this week and every week! 

Listen to each and every episode by subscribing on iTunes or the RSS feed.

FEATURE STORY

'PILLERING' WOMEN
By Judie Brown

Webster tells us that the transitive verb "pillar" means to provide or strengthen with or as if with pillars.  At the opposite end, we find those who piller women that is, they weaken them by prescribing chemicals to ingest that will eventually damage them physically, emotionally and/or spiritually. To make matters even worse, many medical practitioners do so with impunity.

Indeed, the birth control pill is a recreational drug with serious side effects. The most recent example of this is the story of Patti Kelly of Austin, Texas, who

was in a hospital bed this time last week, unsure if she'd make it out alive. In one day, her health plummeted.

"I woke up last Thursday morning with shortness of breath. I actually tried to work out that morning, and I had to stop because I could not breathe. Then, I actually coughed up a little blood so that was alarming, but being 28 and healthy, I just didn't really think much of it, she said.

But the pain got worse and at the urging of her mom, who is a nurse, she checked herself into the emergency room. A CAT scan revealed blood clots in her lungs.

"When I was in the ER they came in and said you have multiple in both lungs and that was shocking. It wasn't just like I had one. I had multiple. I said "Well, how many is multiple"? and he said, "I can't really count them". He told me if I did not come to the emergency room when I did, I could've died instantly, she said.

It wasn't until that moment that Patti learned she was genetically predisposed to the condition. Her mom also survived a blood clot earlier in her life. It just wasn't anything they talked about.

"The doctor said that could've been a factor but the birth control is definitely a big factor, she said.

Blood clots have been a known side effect of the birth control pill for many years now, and the anecdotal evidence is mounting, not to mention clinical studies that have tied the pill to the same side effect.

As Marie Hahnenberg, director of American Life League's The Pill Kills  project, said when asked about the Kelly case, We are constantly hearing about problems that stem from the dangerous drugs used in hormonal contraception. Women have been told for years that the birth control pill is the answer to their medical complications, when it is only causing more problems “even death".

Further, this is not only the opinion of pro-life organizations such as American Life League. There are other Christian organizations that have provided documentation on these side effects of the pill as well, including QuiverFull and One More Soul.

A very good example of secular news agencies' selective reporting is the study on hardening of the arteries that was conducted in Belgium a year ago. LifeSiteNews.com reported, 

Researchers at the University of Ghent, conducting a long-term study on 1,300 healthy women aged 35 to 55 living in a small town in Belgium, have observed that those women who take oral contraceptives may have more plaque (a hard, fatty deposit) buildup in their arteries.

Atherosclerotic plaque is comprised of cholesterol, bacteria and calcium which adheres to the inner lining of arteries.

Approximately 81 percent of participants had taken birth control pills for at least a year at some point in their lives, and 27 percent were currently taking the contraceptives.

However, the secular media remained virtually silent on this study. It would seem that whether the story is about a woman who almost died from a side effect of the pill or a group of 1,300 women who participated in a clinical study, the majority of America's secular media is reticent when it comes to publicizing negative findings about the use of birth control chemicals.

Tragically, this type of self-censorship results in physical harm to women, and as we have repeatedly explained, the deaths of literally millions of preborn children whose lives are snuffed out prior to implantation, due to the pills abortifacient effects.

When Dr. Joel Brind presented his findings on how the steroidal compound found in the birth control pill contributes to an increased risk of liver cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer, his documented evidence was not publicized. In fact, dead silence ensued. Even though the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute (headed by Brind) has made his research available online, we have not seen him interviewed anywhere “including the Dr. Oz portion of the Oprah Winfrey Show. I wonder why?

Brind writes, The dangerous performance enhancing steroids taken by athletes are male steroid hormonal drugs that build muscle. One of their risks is liver cancer. Similarly, female steroid hormonal drugs build breast tissue. They not only increase the risk of liver cancer but breast and cervical cancers as well. These powerful steroid drugs are taken by millions of teenage girls as birth control pills.

Two days ago, Jill Stanek reported on her blog that the World Health Organization has defined the pill as a Group I carcinogen:

The reasoning behind a combination of estrogen and progesterone/progestin is that estrogen given on its own increases the risk of uterine cancer. Taking a combination of the 2 confers protection from uterine cancer but increases breast cancer risk.

 In short, the science behind the increased breast cancer risk stems from 2 primary mechanisms. In both instances, progesterone/progestin becomes a double-edged sword, as it confers protection from increased uterine cancer risk but "gives permission" for estrogen to negatively affect breast DNA.

Brind, Stanek, Belgian researchers and near-death experiences are all valid reasons for the media to get on the ball and report the facts. In view of the fact that a growing number of teenage girls is being exposed to these chemicals (due to the acquiescence of many parents, who prefer the pill to teaching chastity), doesn't the medical profession have an obligation to be honest? Doesn't the government have a responsibility to protect citizens from dangerous chemicals that can result in death? Don't reporters have a duty to honestly report the facts? But that is hardly what occurs.

Father Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, recently opined,

The only reason we have our elderly being set up for systematic extermination now is because our culture has been so deeply brainwashed by the contraceptive and abortive mentalities that come from decades of family planning propaganda. The devaluation of human life at one end of the spectrum leaves the other end of the life spectrum completely vulnerable to the depredations of the power-mongers in Washington. Albert Schweitzer said that “if a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life. In terms of the current healthcare debate that would mean: when you sow family planning, you reap death planning. It's that simple.

I think he's on to something; in fact, I know he is. The truth is that sexually saturated societies do not heed warnings or, for that matter, even provide them. And after more than 40 years of contraceptive overload, two generations have accepted contraception, chosen to practice contraception and have a tough time telling their own children to say no to sexual relations, regardless of the child's age or marital status.

The birth control pill and its progeny are sacred to the proponents of the culture of death. They have become a mainstay of American life. But as Father Denis O'Brien, MM, American Life League’s spiritual director for many years, said in 1994,

Parents are the ones charged solemnly to raise their children in accordance with the eternal law, and will answer to God. To what lengths would parents go to save their child's life? To what lengths should they go to save their children's soul?

They may not wash their hands with the excuse "Well, the school board says…" or “The doctors say or The teacher says "That's what Pilate did, wash his hands".

So as we once again contemplate the fallout from the pill, and regardless of our profession or state in life, we should seriously consider these wise words from the pen of Pope John Paul II: "If the object of the concrete action is not in harmony with the true good of the person, the choice of that action makes our will and ourselves morally evil, thus putting us in conflict with our ultimate end, the supreme good, God himself" (Veritatis Splendor, 1993, Section 72).
 
Pillering women has devastating consequences. The only way to avoid them is to understand them. Share these facts with those you care about. Spread the word, spread the truth!

Pro-Life Today | 02 September 2009

HEADLINES

Bishop leads prayer vigil near Planned Parenthood office
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/aug/31/bishop-leads-prayer-vigil/
Reporter News
People who turned out for a prayer vigil Monday near the offices of Planned Parenthood of West Texas were urged to make ending abortions their No. 1 ministry. â€œWe need to step forward, make our voices heard, write letters to the editor, said Bishop Michael Pfeifer of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo. Pfeifer led a crowd of more than 150 people in the Rosary as part of the prayer vigil.

Assisted suicide debate takes Montana
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=662002
One News Now
The Montana Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in a challenge to a lower-court decision legalizing doctor-assisted suicide. If upheld, Montana will become the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide through the courts.

First baby born from new egg-screening technique
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.9ba72084fc14ca0167c0da3a436ea14a.2d1&show_article=1
Breitbart
Meet Oliver, the first baby in the world born using a new egg-screening technique that could double the odds of an implanted embryo taking hold in the womb, unveiled by British experts on Wednesday. Baby Oliver was born in Britain to a 41-year-old woman after 13 failed attempts at in vitro fertilization (IVF). The new technique, called array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), makes it possible to ensure eggs have a normal number of chromosomes, boosting the likelihood of a successful pregnancy.

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

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FEATURE STORY

A FAITHFUL CATHOLIC PRIEST HAS THE LAST WORD ON THE KENNEDY FUNERAL
By Judie Brown

Dear readers,

Today, it is my sincere privilege to provide you with what is the last word on the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy's funeral. Rev. Brian Harrison holds a doctorate in systematic theology, and is a well-known writer and speaker. He is also among the most faithful, inspiring Catholic priests I know. 

It is my hope that you will appreciate his words as much as I appreciate bringing them to you. Please note, below it, the two canons from the Code of Canon Law that should have been applied by the prelates who made decisions regarding funeral rites for Senator Kennedy.

The following is Father Harrison's commentary. (An adapted version was posted by LifeSiteNews.com.)

As a Roman Catholic priest, I feel a duty in conscience today to register, to the couple of hundred people to whom I have ready access, my emphatic dissent from a message that was projected around the nation and the globe this morning to millions of viewers and listeners by certain other members of the Roman Catholic clergy.

Kennedy's Funeral Mass is a Scandal

I refer to this morning's televised funeral Mass, celebrated in Boston's Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, for the recently deceased Senator Edward Moore Kennedy. It was a Mass I regard as a scandal comparable to, if not worse than, the scandal given several months ago when the nations most prestigious Catholic university bestowed an honorary doctorate upon Barack Hussein Obama, the most pro-abortion and “pro-gay president in U.S. history.

Why, you ask, should a Catholic priest raise such objections to a Catholic funeral for a Catholic legislator? Well, I am afraid this funeral was no ordinary Catholic funeral.

 For to those innumerable viewers and listeners of many religions (or none) who were aware of Senator Kennedy's public, straightforward, radical, longstanding, and (as far as we know) unrepented defiance of his own Church's firm teaching about the duty of legislators to protect unborn human life and resist the militant homosexual agenda, this mornings Mass, concelebrated by several priests, presided over by Cardinal Sean O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, and adorned by a eulogy from the aforesaid U.S. president, effectively communicated a tacit but very clear message: The Church does not really take too seriously her own official doctrines on these matters!
I feel impelled, therefore, to make known, to anyone willing to read these lines, that there are many other representatives of the Catholic Church, such as the undersigned, who take those doctrines very seriously indeed.

How would our Church leaders act if they really did take seriously an official Church position from which a prominent deceased Catholic had publicly dissented?

To answer that question, we need only imagine a situation in which some well-known Catholic legislator had, for years, supported the Church's social teaching across the board, in regard to human life, marriage, compassion toward the poor and underprivileged, etc., but had then, in old age, lapsed into supporting some ideological position that was strongly opposed not only by the Church, but also by the dominant Western elites in government, law, education, commerce and the media.

Suppose, for instance, that he had come to endorse white supremacism or Holocaust denial. Now, when the moment for this Catholic legislators funeral came, could we imagine for one moment that our cardinals, bishops and other leading clergy, mindful of this man's sterling and thoroughly orthodox contributions to the common good over so many years in Congress, would compassionately overlook his latter-day lapse into racism or anti-Semitism?

Would they agree to give him a free pass in regard to this defect? Would they speak and act as if it were nonexistent? Would they grant him a televised funeral Mass in a large basilica, presided over by a cardinal, in which he would be publicly eulogized by both family and public figures?

These questions really answer themselves. Of course none of that would occur! The local bishop might go as far as to allow our hypothetical Catholic racist or anti-Semite a Church funeral, if it was known that (like Senator Kennedy) he had confessed sacramentally to a priest before death.

However, the bishop would allow the use of Church property for this funeral on the strict condition that only close personal family and friends would be admitted. All media transmission or even presence during the service itself would surely be forbidden. (It would, of course, be unnecessary for the bishop to ask his fellow bishops and other high Church dignitaries not to attend the service; for all of them, like the bishop himself, would already prefer to be anywhere else on earth than at the funeral of one who had lapsed so unspeakably from society's ruling canons of acceptable behavior.)

Yes, society's canons. There, I am afraid, lies the difference between our two scenarios.

Is it that official Catholic doctrine is incomparably more opposed to racism and anti-Semitism than it is to abortion and sodomy? Not at all. The big difference is simply that most members of the Catholic hierarchy in Western society today  and there are, of course, a number of honorable exceptions are lacking in prophetic courage. They are ready and eager to take vigorous and resolute public disciplinary action only against those deviations from Church teaching which also happen to be excoriated by the cultural and media elites.

But if it is our prelates themselves who will be excoriated by those elites as would certainly have occurred had they required for Ted Kennedy's funeral the kind of severe restraint we envisaged above for that of our hypothetical bigot then all eagerness for just discipline will evaporate as fast as dew in the morning sun. Pastoral compassion, forgiveness, tolerant respect and Christian charity will now be instantly invoked as reasons for cloaking in total silence the public enormities committed decade after decade by an ecclesially heterodox but socially orthodox legislator.

So, It's St. Kennedy Now?

So it was, in this mornings funeral Mass, that the homilist, Fr. Mark Hession (pastor of Kennedy's Cape Cod parish), made his sermon a eulogy about what a wonderful Catholic Christian Ted was, assuring us that we could be confident that he is already with Jesus in glory.

So it was that the principal celebrant, Fr. Donald Monan, SJ, chancellor of Boston College, not only repeatedly told those present and the whole watching world that Senator Kennedy was a man of “faith and prayer, with a deep devotion to the Eucharist, but also assured us that this faith and prayer in private was precisely what inspired and motivated his public policies, so that there was (surprise, surprise) a real integration and unity between his private and public life!

Well, a lot of us didn't quite manage to see any private-public unity based on Roman Catholic principles. On the contrary, Kennedy's huge political influence, based on both the family's prestige and the personal dynamism of this Lion of the Senate, if anything, made his U-turn on abortion (yes, he was pro-life in his younger days) an even more scandalous counterwitness: a sign of conflict, not union, with that Church to which he professed loyalty.

Here are two comments I have just lifted off a Catholic blog:

1. There's this big,˜What if? said Catholic author Michael Sean Winters. If Ted Kennedy had stuck to his pro-life position, would both the (Democratic) Party and the country have embraced the abortion on demand policies that we have now? I don't think so.

2. Russell Shaw, former spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that when Kennedy defied the Church on issues such as abortion and later, gay marriage, he reinforced a corrosive belief among Catholics that they can simply ignore teachings they don't agree with.

Public Scandal Is Grave Matter

I myself remember, several years ago, a conversation with a young woman who had been brought up Catholic but had recently been born again as an Evangelical Protestant. One of the arguments she threw at me was, Even your Church leaders don't really believe what Catholics are supposed to believe. Why don't they excommunicate Ted Kennedy? He's blatantly, 100% pro-choice! Yet they do nothing!
What could I say to her? And what can I say now, after today's public scandal? That young lady's complaint was simply that this man remained a Catholic in good standing. I find I must now complain to you of something worse.

Before the whole world this morning, my fellow Catholic clerics in Boston did not just accord him the good standing of a normal, flawed Catholic whose soul we can hope is in Purgatory. Rather, clad in triumphant white vestments instead of penitential violet (never mind the traditional black!), they have placed him on a pedestal, granting him an unofficial instant canonization!

Scripture Warns Us

The Church's teaching is already abundantly clear that all this is very wrong. So perhaps we can legitimately discern the hand of God's Providence, which rules all things, in a coincidence that suggests a manifestation of God's grave displeasure at this kind of mockery injustice masquerading as “pastoral charity.

In our liturgy, Sunday has begun as I write at the hour of Vespers on Saturday. But the earlier part of this day, August 29, including the time of the Kennedy funeral, was observed by Catholics around the world as the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. In normal Masses celebrated today, the biblical account of his martyrdom was read (Mark 6: 17,29.) The parallels are striking: (a) We see two powerful civil authorities; (b) both of them flip-flop in a morally bad direction (Herod originally respected and defended John, and Kennedy originally respected and defended the unborn); and (c) both of them abuse their power by authorizing the shedding of innocent blood.

As if that were not enough, the longest Scripture reading in today’s liturgy also grabs our attention. It is prescribed not for the Feast of John the Baptist, but independently, for the Saturday of Week 21, in the Office of Readings. This is a part of the daily Liturgy of the Hours, which is required spiritual reading for us Roman Rite clerics. And todays reading just happens to be Jeremiah 7: 1:20, in which the prophet vigorously denounces  guess what? The hypocrisy of Israels religious leaders who proudly identify with the temple and the rites they celebrate within it, while at the same time they are living unrighteously (including shedding innocent blood, verse 6) and even pouring out libations to strange gods (verse 18). God therefore warns, {My anger and my wrath will pour out upon this place} (verse 20).
Orthodox Catholics will surely ask whether God can be any less angered now by those clerics who today carried out temple rites giving undeserved honor to a legislator who, for decade after decade, poured out the libations of his eloquence, influence and Senate votes in the service the “false gods of Planned Parenthood and NARAL which regularly rewarded him with 100% ratings for his pro-choice record.

Enough. If, in your charity, you pray for God to be merciful to the soul of Edward Moore Kennedy, please pray for all of us Catholic priests as well and be cognizant of the fact that some of us are profoundly indignant at what we saw our brethren doing today.

Sincerely,

Father Brian Harrison, OS

Oblates of Wisdom Study Center
St. Louis, Missouri

From the Code of Canon Law:

Can.  1184 1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:

1/ notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;

2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;

3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.

2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.

Can.  1185 Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.

Pro-Life Today | 28 August 2009

HEADLINES

Morning-After Pill Proving To Be Ineffective and Abused
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082709.html
Life Site News
In what appears to be a startlingly candid admission of failure, an article in the Reproductive Health Reality Check blog by Elizabeth Westley, Francine Coeytaux and Elisa Wells that originally appeared in the journal Contraception, states that emergency contraception (EC), commonly called the morning-after pill, "is not as effective in reducing unwanted pregnancy rates at a population level as we once hoped."  The trio of contraceptive-pushing journalists are lamenting the possibility that funding may dry up for the promotion of the dangerous contraception method.
 
ObamaCare out of touch with U.S. physicians
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=661062
One News Now
A new poll finds that despite the American Medical Association's support for President Obama's healthcare plan, most specialty doctors strongly oppose the plan. The American Society of Medical Doctors has released a poll of physicians that finds 86 percent of specialty doctors believe that the American Medical Association has become too political and has lost touch with the doctors it represents.

'Comprehensive sex ed' = more abortions
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=657904
TOne News Now
housands of abortions involving underage girls are occurring in Scotland, although the children have taken classes on alleged "comprehensive sex education." The news comes after the British Medical Journal released a report on the U.K.'s sex education program, which Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association calls an utter failure. "The thing that really makes it interesting though, related to what's going on here in the U.S., is that [the Scots] implemented a program that the president is describing as a promising, in fact a successful program that he wants to replicate with your and my tax dollars here in the United States," she notes.

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

FEATURE STORY

DEVILS, DETAILS AND DECEPTION
By Raymond T. Neary

The devil is in the details, and the devil in H.R. 3200, the Obama administration's so-called health care reform bill, has been anesthetized, so as to appear innocuous. But this devil is also a chameleon, created in a very crafty fashion.

Anyone who has experience with negotiating labor contracts as does the writer is well aware that vague language or no mention of an issue ultimately leads to the need for interpretation. What is implied in the wording becomes the real focus. Its meaning is interpreted by one party's own appointed bureaucrats, a favorable regulator or by judge-shopping within the judicial system. The tack which all of these people will take has been predetermined, so this is at the core of the administration's modus operandi.

This bill is, in part, about putting an indelible stamp on abortion as a way of death. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are also included by implication in this health package; otherwise, they would have been explicitly excluded. The true test of the Obama administration's intent lies in the wording. The gaggle of attorneys surrounding President Barack Obama are well aware of how to write clear-cut language that would allow no wiggle room and would convey sincerity. Likewise, along party lines and with his support, the Democrats have steadfastly voted down amendments that would protect the right to life of innocent human beings across the entire life spectrum. The intent of Obama and his supporters has been made crystal clear.

In stark contrast, as a presidential candidate, Obama did use very clear language in his promises to the abortion industry. He said he would sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act  and support abortion in every instance, including partial-birth abortion. He deemed clarity to be essential then. But now he is resorting to self-righteous verbal tap-dancing while charging at town-hall meetings that his opponents are trying to scare and mislead the public. Who is trying to mislead whom?

Fresh from being honored by this country's best-known Catholic university, the president has informed the leading abortion providers that, in view of the heat generated by Catholic opponents to his award from Notre Dame, he will forego a heads-on approach to FOCA. Why not? The same end can now be attained incrementally through passage of this health care reform legislation.
Although he was careful to not select a single individual with a pro-life background for a high-level position, he has nominated many who profess to be Catholic. This was part of the design. It provides cover in the shell game being played to convert this massive health care package into law and codify abortion on demand by an indirect route.

As part of its push, the administration has loosened the purse strings to fund organizations such as Catholic Charities and other front groups featuring Catholic in their name or whose name clearly implies a Catholic identity. They willingly respond by acting as salespeople trumpeting the need for passing the entire package, using moral arguments weighing heavily in favor of obtaining coverage for the millions now uninsured. The pitch is always cloaked in Christian-sounding generalities, rather than specifics. At first blush, it sounds compassionate, but it withers away quickly when challenged on substance. All of it is leftist demagoguery repackaged. 
                                            
Though he was too ill to attend his sister Eunice's funeral, the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy was nonetheless exploited (apparently with family approval) to promote what is essentially a power grab. Unfortunately, Senator Kennedy apparently did not focus on ensuring that the health care overhaul would respect the right to life of all human beings, from creation to natural death as he should have done in his waning days, in reparation for his many years of abortion advocacy.

Instead, the proposal is fraught with unanswered questions about the motives behind it and its ultimate consequences. What a sad scenario! I contacted Senator Kennedy's Washington office to propose the following wording in the Senate version: The intent of this legislation is to promote the health of all human beings. Nothing in the wording shall be construed to include counseling for or the funding of abortion, euthanasia or assisted suicide.
If this 1,100-plus-page document or even one with only 600 words is passed, Obama's advisors and bureaucrats will start chipping away to undermine and ultimately destroy conscience clauses as well as parental consent requirements, waiting periods and every other restriction on the destruction of life in utero.

Obama is clearly feticidal and infanticidal as well. He proved it as the Illinois state senator who voted three times to deny medical care to a child born alive as a result of a failed attempt to abort him or her. And Obama expressly voiced the belief that a Supreme Court opinion cut out of whole cloth in 1973 took precedence over any right to life one could claim for a defenseless human being in need of medical care if the intent was to legally end the life of that human being.

Abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are not health care. Each stops a beating human heart permanently. Health care is designed to keep that heart beating until it ceases to function on its own. We now have the hearts of over a million humans stopped legally each year. That figure would grow drastically under Obamacare. Yes, where this man wants to take the country is a very scary place.

The primary issue in the entire health care debate is not whether some reform is needed; it is how we should approach the issue through a blanket overhaul or by breaking down the effort into its component parts and addressing them individually? Moreover, if explicitly worded exclusions for abortion, assisted suicide or euthanasia counseling and/or funding are not added to the legislation, any deal must be broken before it moves to a conference committee on which the administration is heavily relying to accomplish its goals.

The president of the United States has an atrocious record of disregard for preborn babies human dignity and right to life, which logically leads to the conclusion that he harbors the same attitude toward the defenseless elderly and infirm.

Obama must be held to a moral standard far superior to that which he has thus far displayed toward life-and-death matters. He is showing all his cards in H.R. 3200 and gives us no alternative but to vigorously oppose this bill and defeat it. Our efforts cannot be relaxed until this is accomplished.           
 
Raymond T. Neary writes from Medfield, Massachusetts, and is the director of Pro-Life Massachusetts, an American Life League Associate group.

Pro-Life Today | 27 August 2009

HEADLINES

Abortion is new front in health battle
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125132812733462063.html
Anti-abortion groups are gearing up for a battle in the fall over health-care legislation, another headache for Democrats who already face concerns about the measure's cost and reach.  Most versions of the Democratic health plan would create subsidies for lower-income people to buy private health insurance. If that insurance includes coverage for abortion, as many existing private plans do, it effectively means federal taxpayers are subsidizing abortion, critics of the legislation argue.

'No hero to the unborn'
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108038
Audio transcript of interview with Judie Brown on Radio America, "Pro-life leader: Kennedy started trend of abortion support among Catholic lawmakers".

Planned Parenthood site drawing protests
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/08/planned_parenthood_site_drawin.html
The massive new headquarters for Planned Parenthood Columbia-Willamette under construction at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Beech Street has become a focus for community tension about abortion. 

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

FEATURE STORY

ANOTHER UNHOLY ALLIANCE IN CATHOLIC HEALTH CARE?
By Gail Besse

Why would a thriving Catholic hospital endanger its ethical mission by teaming up with a medical conglomerate that supports abortion, contraception, the morning-after pill and human embryonic stem cell research?

And how does the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, justify the claim that its hospital, Catholic Medical Center (CMC), will retain its Catholic integrity in a proposed affiliation with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (DHH)?

While pro-life Americans nationwide battle the Obama administration juggernaut – working to defend doctors conscience rights and to exclude abortion from national health care some in the Live Free or Die state are at odds with their own diocese.

It's a situation described as tragic and ironic by members of New Hampshire Right to Life (NHRTL), an American Life League Associate group.  They say the diocese is poised to surrender the independence of its 330-bed hospital in a convoluted agreement that's evidently meant to maintain ritual purity while “integrating with the secular system.

Led by Kathleen Souza and Barbara Hagan, both Catholics and former New Hampshire state legislators, the pro-lifers have vowed to stop this unholy alliance. Dartmouth is involved in abortions throughout the state, heavily involved in fertility research, embryonic stem cell research, selective reduction abortion almost everything the Church is against, said Souza.

DHH is a formidable presence in New Hampshire and eastern Vermont. It comprises the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon; and the D-H Clinic, which includes physician group practices in Concord, Keene, Manchester and Nashua. It's affiliated with the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and Dartmouth Medical School.

Adding CMC to its regional system would give DHH a hospital presence 60 miles from Boston. But CMC and DHH are so opposed to each other on sanctity of life matters that this collaboration means the hospital will deviate from its underlying religious mission, according to the 25,000-member NHRTL.

Catholic people built this hospital with their pennies and dimes, Hagan said. The bishop has the ultimate say over its fate, and he's putting himself in the position of being undercut. His powers are either diluted or eliminated throughout the agreement.

Souza and Hagan, on behalf of NHRTL and the pro-life community in greater Manchester, on August 11 filed a formal Memo of Opposition with the charitable trusts division of the New Hampshire attorney general's office. They've submitted more than 500 pages of supporting documentation that they contend proves the venture violates both Catholic ethics and the law that protects the public trust regarding charities. And they've submitted a similar package to the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) for its opinion. 
       
D-H doctors have testified in the state legislature against the diocese on end-of-life issues, Souza explained. Their chief palliative care doctor helped get legislation passed that led to the state issuing a dangerous living will called the New Hampshire Advance Directive.

Dartmouth refers girls to Planned Parenthood in Manchester, where we have a picket going five days a week. If you partner with D-H and give them credibility, it's a weak moral argument to say, They do it under a different roof, so we won't be culpable, she said.

Manchester Bishop John McCormack and the attorney general's office have final say over the plan, which both CMC and DHH hope to finalize by December 31, according to their affiliation agreement, dated July 22 of this year. The bishop has conditionally approved the proposal but says he's still reviewing it. He declined to answer questions posed by American Life League about it, or to meet with several concerned pro-life actvisits, despite their repeated requests this spring.

According to a statement on AHealthierTomorrow.org (a web site unveiled July 22 to explain the plan), the goal is to create an integrated healthcare delivery system that maximizes Manchester-based resources aimed at increasing access to enhanced quality patient care. 

Bishop McCormack has stated, As bishop, I am committed to preserve Catholic Medical Center to be a true Catholic healthcare institution, one that fulfills all the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic hospitals.  He is referring to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care. Part Six of this document, titled a Forming New Partnerships with Health Care Organizations and Providers, provides norms for guiding the faithful through the dangers inherent in Catholic-secular hospital mergers and other minefields. It notes, The risk of scandal cannot be underestimated when partnerships are not built upon common values and moral principles.

But since the plan was announced, DHH officials have been consistent. There will be no curtailment of its reproductive services such as contraception and abortion, according to repeated statements to the media provided by spokesman Jason Aldous and other DHH officials.

Where's the truth? Black can't be white and white can't be black, said Souza. A Catholic institution doesn't only have an obligation to serve health care needs but also to preach the gospel, added Hagan. Partnering with an entity that stands in direct philosophical opposition is a breach of the Catholic community's support and trust.D-H has no religious purpose only charitable, scientific and educational.

CMC, on the other hand, legally exists to carry on the work of the Church under its parent corporation, the Catholic Medical Center Healthcare System (CMCHS), which is a “juridic person of the diocese under canon law.

The agreement calls for the diocese to basically relinquish the hospital's independence, as DHH will become the new sole member of CMC's parent company. A DHH Leadership Council, composed of officials of all its regional members, will have ultimate power over CMC's finances and strategic planning, as well as the appointment of its trustees and president. You can kiss control goodbye if you don't have the votes on the board. Hagan pointed out. It's a corporate shell game as far as I'm concerned. Souza likened the legal reorganization to Russian nested dolls.

The agreement stipulates that Catholic ethical norms will be followed, but also acknowledges that all parties understand sometimes they may not be. In those cases, the Leadership Council gives representatives of CMC and its parent, CMCHS, the chance to recuse herself or himself and have no involvement in such issues. Does that sound like Pope John Paul's˜stand up and proclaim the Gospel? Hagan asked. They'll walk away and not defend the faith.

Among other issues raised in the Memo of Objections is the bishop's absence at the negotiating table. The guidance the bishop's been given comes from an ethicist who's in the compromising position of also being a diocesan employee, the memo notes. Peter Cataldo is both pro-life director for the diocese and a CMC advisor. And although the bishop has said he's consulted two other ethicists as well, he has declined to name them.
     
Another objection is the lack of public input during initial planning. CMC and DHH have been cooperating on joint ventures for more than five years, but the “holding company affiliation (they're not terming it a merger) was not publicized until February. A few talks between diocesan and hospital officials and invited pro-life leaders did take place this spring, but Souza said these were more of a dog-and-pony show than a serious exchange of information.

We complained to the bishop in writing following each meeting, repeating the same concerns each time, she said. Each reply from the bishop assured us that our worries were unfounded but again  no answers were provided.

Pro-lifers felt the clock was just being allowed to run out. Mistrust on ethics will doom CMC's new affiliation, predicted former Manchester alderman Rich Gerard in a July 27-August 2 Manchester Express column. Community forums will be held in the fall, but dates and locations have not been announced yet.

NHRTL also contends that Dartmouth will rapidly devour CMC, engulfing all of New Hampshire and Vermont.  In a July 25 column in the Concord Monitor, former New Hampshire state representative Donald Welch agreed. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is a leader in health-care innovation and care, but its business model is predatory, he observed. It is not interested in being a bridesmaid.  Catholic Medical Center would be an afterthought, its mission and glorious past notwithstanding.

The hospital's roots go back almost 120 years. In the 1890s, Manchester Catholics built two hospitals, both run by religious sisters: Sacred Heart on the city's east side and Notre Dame on the west side. In 1978, the two hospitals combined into CMC.
 
In the 1990s, the hospital merged for a few years with Elliot Hospital of Manchester to form Optima Health, a venture that proved to be ill-conceived, unpopular and unsuccessful. The merger was dissolved; the hospitals continued independently and flourished.

The successful campaign to save Catholic Medical Center from extinction appears not to be appreciated by Giles or her management team, Welch said. It is once again being handled like a financial asset rather than a sacred trust.

Souza and Hagan who helped expose problems inherent in Optima  contend the Manchester plan would create even more of a scandal than the unresolved situation in the Archdiocese of Boston, whose Caritas Christi health care system is still a player with an insurance company that refers women for abortions, contraceptives and sterilizations.

Following much negative publicity, in June, at the 11th hour, Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley did nix the hospital system becoming an outright partner with the company, but he has yet to divulge details of the current plan. He has also declined to release the opinion he sought in March from the NCBC.

Colleen McCormick, an anesthesiologist with a graduate degree in medical ethics, has attended the Manchester talks. Washington is dying to squelch conscience protections, she observed. Once Catholic entities have physicians who have no problems with the culture of death, rights of conscience will be easier to overcome. I think we should be withdrawing from any liaisons at all between Catholic and secular health care providers.

Asked to comment on mergers in general, Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education for the NCBC, advised, Such mergers can be pursued as long as the Catholic health care provider is clear about the meaning of its Catholic identity and remains intent on upholding that identity in all the negotiations and arrangements leading to the merger and subsequent to its realization. This means that the Catholic institution (and the merged institution later) will be bound by the provisions of the Ethical and Religious Directives. The possibility of scandal must be meticulously avoided.

By contrast, Hagan said, in this case, the maze of legal documents stipulates that the directives will be followed except when they won't. She added, We're praying that the NCBC and the attorney general's office will conclude, as we have, that this proposed affiliation is an attempt to do the impossible.

In his 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), Pope John Paul II was clear:

[W]e are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the culture of death and the culture of life. We find ourselves not only faced with but necessarily˜in the midst of this conflict. We are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life. (Section 28)

Gail Besse is a Catholic freelance writer from Boston. Her work has been published in the National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor and various Massachusetts secular daily papers and diocesan publications.

Pro-Life Today | 26 August 2009

HEADLINES

A Gruesome Harvest
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090825/a-gruesome-harvest/index.html
The Christian Post
For years, scientists and celebrities supporting embryo-destructive stem cell research have used two arguments. First, blind to the destruction of the embryo itself-they argue embryonic stem cell research will save lives. Second, they maintain that embryos leftover from fertility treatments will otherwise be wasted. Now, one stem-cell expert is using these same arguments to promote harvesting organs from aborted fetuses.
 
New Documentary 'Blood Money' Seeks to Expose the Abortion Business
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082506.html
Life Site News
A group of filmmakers have recently filmed a documentary that aims to expose the terrible reality of abortion, focusing on the financial aspect of the multimillion dollar abortion industry. The film, entitled "Blood Money," includes numerous interviews with leaders of the pro-life movement, in which they lay out the facts about the abortion industry and the effects that abortions have on women. 

Infamous Hollywood Screenwriter to Pen Film on Our Lady of Guadalupe - Patroness of the Preborn
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082502.html
Life Site News
Infamous Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, 64, known for such sordid films as Basic Instinct and Showgirls, has undergone a conversion and now will be writing a new film on Our Lady of Guadalupe.

For more headline news, click here for ALL's Daily News Summary.

FEATURE STORY

FACT CHECKING FOR THE COMMON GOOD
By Judie Brown

Just this morning, I received a nice phone call from someone who does not believe in e-mail, nor does he do e-mail! That's right; he considers it among the most problematic ways to connect with other human beings. As he said, We have voices; we are people; let's communicate that way.
I agree with his general premise. God gave us a voice, a human identity and the capacity to be present with our fellow human beings in many ways. On the other hand, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the ability to use the internet for the purposes of verification. Of course, we have to make phone calls, write letters and do all that is needed to be accurate, but so much information is right at our fingertips.

Having said that, it is strange that there is so much crossfire on what is or is not in health care reform proposals! And why all the name calling? And for heaven's sake, at the end of the day, why are we trusting the government to do this anyway?

Here a few facts about the matter, some numerical, some philosophical and some simply profound.
For example, have you ever heard of FactCheck.org? Thanks to LifeSiteNews.com and LifeNews.com,  we heard about it two days ago. So we went to the source to find out what an organization that describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics is saying about health care reform.
 
In its front-page analysis of whether abortion coverage is included in the various health care reform bills, titled Abortion: Which Side is Fabricating? author Brooks Jackson makes this stunning observation:

The truth is that bills now before Congress don't require federal money to be used for supporting abortion coverage. So the president is right to that limited extent. But it's equally true that House and Senate legislation would allow a new "public" insurance plan to cover abortions, despite language added to the House bill that technically forbids using public funds to pay for them. Obama has said in the past that "reproductive services" would be covered by his public plan, so it's likely that any new federal insurance plan would cover abortion unless Congress expressly prohibits that. Low- and moderate-income persons who would choose the "public plan" would qualify for federal subsidies to purchase it. Private plans that cover abortion also could be purchased with the help of federal subsidies. Therefore, we judge that the president goes too far when he calls the statements that government would be funding abortions "fabrications."

Clearly, in one way or another, abortion is in there. Case closed!

 So, my next question is how many Catholic bishops have clearly defined what the Church has to say about this? Here are quotes from the three we were able to identify.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, the latest Catholic prelate to weigh in on health care reform,  wrote a remarkable editorial in which he makes several salient points:

No system that allows or helps fund no matter how subtly or indirectly the killing of unborn children, or discrimination against the elderly and persons with special needs, can bill itself as "common ground." Doing so is a lie.

Health care reform is vital. That's why America's bishops have supported it so vigorously for decades. They still do. But fast-tracking a flawed, complex effort this fall, in the face of so many growing and serious concerns, is bad policy. It's not only imprudent; it's also dangerous. As Sioux City's Bishop R. Walker Nickless wrote last week, "no health care reform is better than the wrong sort of health care reform." 
 
If Congress and the White House want to genuinely serve the health-care needs of the American public, they need to slow down, listen to people's concerns more honestly and learn what the "common good" really means.

And, as referenced in Archbishop Chaput's excellent summary of the facts, Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa, was equally articulate in his remarks:

[T]he Catholic Church does not teach that “health care as such, without distinction, is a natural right. The natural right of health care is the divine bounty of food, water, and air without which all of us quickly die. This bounty comes from God directly. None of us own it, and none of us can morally withhold it from others. The remainder of health care is a political, not a natural, right, because it comes from our human efforts, creativity and compassion. As a political right, health care should be apportioned according to need, not ability to pay or to benefit from the care. We reject the rationing of care. Those who are sickest should get the most care, regardless of age, status, or wealth. But how to do this is not self-evident. The decisions that we must collectively make about how to administer health care therefore fall under “prudential judgment.

Third, in that category of prudential judgment, the Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care. Unlike a prudential concern like national defense, for which government monopolization is objectively good as it both limits violence overall and prevents the obvious abuses to which private armies are susceptible health care should not be subject to federal monopolization. Preserving patient choice (through a flourishing private sector) is the only way to prevent a health care monopoly from denying care arbitrarily, as we learned from HMOs in the recent past.

Only if we again foster a culture of life can we perpetuate the economic justice of taxing workers to pay health care for the poor. Without a growing population of youth, our growing population of retirees is outstripping our distribution systems. In a culture of death such as we have now, taxation to redistribute costs of medical care becomes both unjust and unsustainable.

 We also have Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, responding to LifeSiteNews.com after it approached him for an e-mail interview. A portion of that interview reads, 

Vasa noted that he believes "the notion of providing more comprehensive health insurance coverage is a just and right thing to do." However, he said: "that does not mean that THIS health insurance plan, only because it promises comprehensive health insurance coverage, must be supported.

"In effect, should we support giving poisoned water to the thirsty? I think not."

The insights of these holy men of God, who understand the stakes and are willing to spend their moral capital on God's justice rather than man's feckless, ever-changing attitudes, should be acknowledged, reflected upon and understood within the full breadth of Catholic social teaching.

As Bishop Nickless points out, some have argued that abortion is a fundamental human right. In a sense, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church addresses that notion. Here is the quote: 

166. The demands of the common good are dependent on the social conditions of each historical period and are strictly connected to respect for and the integral promotion of the person and his fundamental rights. These demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State's powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights: food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation, basic health care, the freedom of communication and expression, and the protection of religious freedom. Nor must one forget the contribution that every nation is required in duty to make towards a true worldwide cooperation for the common good of the whole of humanity and for future generations also.

The teaching is not that a state or federal government should be controlling or dictating health care for those in need, for the Compendium teaches in Section 351, The action of the State and of other public authorities must be consistent with the principle of subsidiarity and create situations favorable to the free exercise of economic activity. It must also be inspired by the principle of solidarity and establish limits for the autonomy of the parties in order to defend those who are weaker.
Therefore, for those who have recognized the folks currently in charge of the U.S. government for what they are, based on their partnership with Planned Parenthood, the abortion industry and the death with dignity proponents, we can conclude that health care reform in the hands of federal lawmakers is a very bad idea.

And that's a fact!

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

Respond to Judie
http://www.all.org/newsroom_judieblog_response.php?id=2733

October 5 is Pro-Life Memorial Day!

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton in 1973, 51 MILLION babies have been surgically and medically aborted, and millions more have been killed chemically. This staggering death toll is the direct result of these two decisions.

On the first Monday in October, the U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term. This is a day on which pro-lifers across the nation will mourn the victims of America's hidden holocaust: abortion.

Go to www.ProLifeMemorialDay.com and register to participate, purchase the shirt, post your stories and event photos, and do much more to commemorate the preborn children none of us ever got the chance to meet.