"The Question of Sex Education"

Lucetta Scaraffia provides answers in her editorial titled "Not Just Any Matter":

[F]or increasingly dysfunctional families it’s very difficult to teach a sexual morality that is not testified to by the parents and or the environment in which children live. So, it seems easier to renounce any kind of moral teaching and leave the problem to schools, which substitute moral education with technical information. If the results are disastrous, you pretend not to know it: it is much easier to ignore the problem, pretend to resolve it with useless, and even harmful, school courses, rather than address the issue which underlies it… that is, the resounding failed utopia of the sexual revolution and subsequent breakdown of the first institution of moral education, the family.

Well said, Lucetta.

CLICK HERE to read the entire editorial.

The Way

The Sound of Babies Crying

Nighttime Scares: Working at the Abortion Clinic After Dark
by Abby Johnson

When I was at Planned Parenthood, I used to work a lot…I mean, a lot. Sometimes, I would work as many as 80 hours in one week. In order to do that, I would have to go in at night. Lots of buildings are eerie at night…none are creepier than an abortion clinic.

I remember going into the clinic by myself for the first time in the morning. I used to go in with a group of employees. But I had gotten there before anyone else, so I went ahead and decided to make my way in. One of the guys that worked there had there had made a joke about being in the clinic alone. He said that when you there alone, you could hear babies crying. I always thought that was a weird joke…but we made lots of weird jokes there. I knew it certainly wasn’t true. Even still, this first day I went in alone, I was a little nervous about it.

I walked in and heard the heavy door slam behind me. It echoed as it closed. The clinic had high ceilings and every noise echoed like you were in a cave. It was silent…no creaks, no water dripping, nothing…totally silent. So silent in fact, I could almost hear something…and I’m telling you, it almost sounded like babies crying. I know that sounds crazy and I totally disregarded it at the time. I ran up to the front of the clinic, away from the freezer where the babies were kept until the medical waste came to pick them up. I didn’t want to be next to that freezer. Did I really hear that? Surely it was just my imagination.

Read the rest of the story by clicking HERE.

...and continue to pray for an end to the violence of abortion.

BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF PRAYER.

Another Planned Parenthood Convert

Planned Parenthood Closes ... Former Manager Speaks Out

Dallas, Texas – On August 23, 2011, Planned Parenthood in Sherman closed its doors. Four months earlier, former manager Ramona Trevino resigned her post at Planned Parenthood and is now speaking out about her pro-life conversion and resulting exodus from the organization responsible for the most abortions in the United States. Trevino explains that although this particular Planned Parenthood did not perform surgical abortions, she was struggling "with [her] conscience . . . on contraception, abortion and [her] role in it all."

See the rest of the press release here.

Let's all pray that more Planned Parenthood employees see that organization for what it is and follow in the footsteps of courageous women like Ramona Trevino and Abby Johnson.

LIFE FROM CONCEPTION TO NATURAL DEATH.

Planned Parenthood's Weak Link?

Listen to this compelling interview with Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood director and author of Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD'S WEAK LINK BROADCAST

(If you haven't read her book, stop what you're doing right now, click here to buy it and read it immediately.)

Secular Media Not Trustworthy on Religion

Archbishop: New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, MSNBC Not ‘Trustworthy’ on Religion
By Michael W. Chapman

(CNSNews.com) – The news outlets CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and MSNBC do not “provide trustworthy information about religious faith,” said Philadelphia’s incoming Archbishop, Charles Chaput, at the Catholic World Youth Day ongoing this week in Madrid, Spain.

Chaput, the former Archbishop of Denver, made his remarks in an address on religious freedom to a group of more than 10,000 young pilgrims in Madrid on Wednesday. As initially reported in First Things, Chaput told the audience that, “In the United States, our battles over abortion, family life, same-sex ‘marriage,’ and other sensitive issues have led to ferocious public smears and legal threats not only against Catholics, but also against Mormons, evangelicals, and other religious believers.”

“And with relatively few exceptions,” he said, “the mass media tend to cover these disputed issues with a combination of ignorance, laziness, and bias against traditional Christian belief.”

The Archbishop continued: “We make a very serious mistake if we rely on media like the New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, or MSNBC for reliable news about religion. These news media simply don’t provide trustworthy information about religious faith -- and sometimes they can’t provide it, either because of limited resources or because of their own editorial prejudices.”

“These are secular operations focused on making a profit,” he said. “They have very little sympathy for the Catholic faith, and quite a lot of aggressive skepticism toward any religious community that claims to preach and teach God’s truth.”

Archbishop Chaput noted that the media gave a lot of coverage to the so-called “Arab Spring,” involving civil unrest in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. “But very little of that coverage has mentioned that the turmoil in Muslim countries has also created a very dangerous situation for Christians and other religious minorities across North Africa and the Middle East,” he said. “In Egypt, angry mobs have attacked Christian churches and monasteries, burning them to the ground and murdering the people inside.”

In addition, he said there has been widespread anti-Christian violence in Iraq, Syria, and Tunisia, but little news coverage of this in the U.S. media, adding that it is illegal to wear a crucifix or own a Bible in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, said the Archbishop, in Pakistan, “Christians face frequent discrimination, slander, beatings and even murder.”

Archbishop Chaput also warned that it is dangerous for democracy to force religion out of the public square.

“Forcing religious faith out of a nation’s public square and out of a country’s public debates does not serve democracy,” said the Archbishop. “It doesn’t serve real tolerance or pluralism. What it does do is impose a kind of unofficial state atheism. To put it another way, if we ban Christian Churches or other religious communities from taking an active role in our nation’s civic life, we’re really just enforcing a new kind of state-sponsored intolerance -- a religion without God.”

Archbishop Chaput was named by Pope Benedict XVI to head the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, starting on Sept. 8, 2011.

Consecration

Please pray with Michael (Click Here for the prayer, or simply follow along with the screen).


Most sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation. Most sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation. Most sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.

Our Story Finally Told

CLICK HERE and reserve yours today.

Courage In Faith

Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. Luke 6:22-23

(posted at www.CatholicVote.org)

Communion In The Hand

This program is from RealCatholicTV.com

World Youth Day like 'pure and youthful breeze'

From CatholicCulture.org:

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Madrid on August 18 to join in the World Youth Day (WYD) observances there, and immediately sent a message to the young participants: “Let nothing and no one take away your peace. Do not be ashamed of the Lord.”

The spirit of WYD is “like a pure and youthful breeze, with refreshing scents,” the Pope said on his arrival. The contact with so many spirited and dedicated young Catholics, he said, brings “confidence in the future of the Church and the world.”

Pope Benedict arrived in Madrid after a short morning flight from Rome. He was greeted at the airport by the apostolic nuncio in Spain, Archbishop Renzo Fratini, and by King Juan Carlos, who remarked that young Spaniards had been waiting for the Pontiff “with open arms.”

In his address at the airport ceremony, the Pope began by thanking King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia for their greeting, then going on to thank all those who had helped to plan the WYD festivities and to host the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have swarmed to Madrid.

These young people, the Pope said, have come to WYD to deepen their faith and learn how to communicate that faith to others. “Many of them,” he said, “have heard the voice of God, perhaps only as a little whisper, which has led them to search for him more diligently and to share with others the experience of the force which he has in their lives.”

The WYD participants, the Pope continued, recognize the challenge that they face in society, including a “prevailing superficiality, consumerism and hedonism, the widespread banalization of sexuality, the lack of solidarity, the corruption.” They are concerned about their societies’ economic future, the threats to world peace, the degradation of the environment. Among their contemporaries they can see the heavy toll taken by alienation, depression, and drug abuse.

There are some young people at WYD, the Pope continued, “who because of their faith in Christ, suffer discrimination which leads to contempt and persecution, open or hidden, which they endure in various regions and countries.” The Pope emphasized that today’s young Catholics are not seeking to impose their views on others by force, but insist on just treatment for their own views. Particularly in secularized societies, he said, they are “living together with other legitimate choices in a spirit of respect while at the same time demanding due respect for one’s own choices.”

At WYD, the Pope said, these young people “have a special opportunity to gather together their aspirations, to share the richness of their cultures and experiences, motivate each other along a journey of faith and life, in which some think they are alone or ignored in their daily existence.” Moreover, he said, they will realize that they are not alone—that many thousands of other young Catholics, who were not able to attend the festivities in Madrid—share their faith and their aspirations.

Teresa of Avila: hated in her own time.

The more powerful the evangelist, the more they are attacked, ridiculed, fought, derided and hated in their own day.

"Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved." Mt 10:21-22

Shrines

I love 'em, and I love a Priest who loves 'em, too. Father Bill decided to build a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe near the main entrance of the Church. When Our Lady is welcomed into the Church--especially by the Pastor--she blesses that Church abundantly, and so does her Son.

Just before the closing of Mass this morning, Fr. Bill introduced the shrine, and thanked the group celebrating a reunion for donating their beautiful roses to decorate the new shrine. He said, "Even when there isn't anything particularly mysterious that causes things to happen, we can still see things as signs. Of course the flowers came from the class of 1966. Nothing mysterious or magical there. Even so, I can't help but be amazed at how Our Lady still manages to make roses appear."

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Contact Your Congressmen!

PROBLEM: The US Department of Health and Human Services is now dictating that insurance companies that they must cover birth control and sterilization. Yep, on August 1 of next year our insurance companies will by law be another accomplice to sin. (CLICK HERE to read one of my previous posts on this same subject.)

What do we do to stop it? Each of us has two choices.

1. We can do nothing and be part of the problem.

2. We can do something, like write our congressmen, and fight evil.
CLICK HERE to find your representative.

CLICK HERE to find your State's senators.

Here is a sample letter for your convenience.

Dear Rep./Senator __________,

The 2010 comprehensive health care reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), poses new risks to religious freedom and rights of conscience. Most recently, the US Department of Health and Human Services has accepted the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (that contraception and sterilization should be covered under PPACA) and is now requiring that by August 1, 2012 these services must be made available through insurance companies without a co-pay.

I do not support this measure, as it is in direct violation of my right to medical coverage that does not violate my religious beliefs or my conscience.

I therefore urge you to support The Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179). I believe this will correct this problem by ensuring that those who participate in the health care system retain the right to provide, purchase, or enroll in health coverage that is consistent with their religious beliefs and moral convictions, and will ensure that PPACA does not create new pressures to exclude these participants from PPACA’s plans or programs.

Sincerely,

(your name here)

Please take the next ten minutes and do this little something. Even one simple letter can make a difference.