+++++++++++++++++++++God's timing is not our timing, but He is never late.+++++++++++++++
"If we're open to it, God can use even the smallest thing to change our lives." Donna Van Liere, The Christmas Shoes


Layers - in the knowledge of God and the path to holiness

Learning about God is like unwrapping a head of lettuce, pealing back one leaf at a time. Always there is another leaf below. We will eventually reach the center of the head of lettuce; but we will never unwrap everthing there is to know about God.

The path to holiness is like pealing an onion. God shows us what is sinful and convicts us that we have sinned. No matter how sweet the onion, there are always tears in the peeling. No matter how sweet the grace of repentence, there are always the pain of letting go of the sin. As the peeling of the onion reveals another layer, so God shows us what we lack in holiness, drawing us ever closer to "be(ing) perfect even just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48




What I Believe

Why I am and always will be a Catholic. "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Tthe living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." John 6:53-58 The words and actions of man cannot sanctify. Only the priest, empowered by his ordination, can invoke the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine into Jesus so we can receive Him - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity into our bodies and souls. This is the core of the Catholic Church; without this there is no purpose or meaning to the Catholic Church. There are other ways to holiness, to grow in grace; there is no better way than union with Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Visitation Catholic Church

Visitation Catholic Church

Thursday, January 31, 2013

40 Years of Abortion

Our Founding Fathers are remembered for the sacrifices that they made to bring this nation into beingThey are also remembered for what they did not do, abolishing slavery.  The legal perpetuation of slavery led to not only the suffering and deaths of untold numbers of slaves and the bloodbath of the Civil War, but also to the social ills that we experience even today.
Abortion was declared legal, nationally, 40 years ago.  The abortion industry was founded on the lies of those who pushed for legalization in the State of New York. (See The Hand of God-autobiography of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of NARAL).  The lies have continued through the efforts of NARAL and Planned Parenthood, among others.  As the Founding Fathers are remembered for not ending slavery, so this generation of politicians will be remembered in history as the generation that believed and acted on the lies of the abortion industry, instead of seeking the truth.  Over 50,000,000 people have been legally aborted since 1973. We already see the consequences of legalized abortion today in the increased violence in our society.
No matter what other legislation has been passed, no matter what good has come out of that legislation, failure to end abortion in this country will define this administration and this Congress, maybe not in current times, but ultimately in history.
There is no justification for ending a human life.  If one believes in God, then every human life ought to considered a miracle, for science with all that it has learned, cannot even now tell us how we become what we are.  Saying that one is personally against abortion, but...is a cop-out and means nothing for the one being aborted. (Try to say that you are personally against gun violence but that you respect someone else's choice to shot someone.) Yes, abortion is now legal, but legal does not make it right. Make it right.
(Not in letter)
From Abortion Facts:
Fact #1: Every abortion kills an innocent human being.
Every new life begins at conception.  This is an irrefutable fact of biology. It is true for animals and true for humans. When considered alongside the law of biogenesis – that every species reproduces after its own kind – we can draw only one conclusion in regard to abortion: every single abortion ends the life of an innocent human being.
Fact #2: Every human being is a person.
Personhood is properly defined by membership in the human species, not by stage of development within that species. A living being's designation to a species is determined not by the stage of development but by the sum total of its biological characteristics.
Fact #3: Beginning at conception, every pregnancy involves two or more bodies.
No matter how you spin it, women don't have four arms and four legs when they're pregnant. Those extra appendages belong to the tiny human being(s) living inside of them. At no point in pregnancy is the developing embryo or fetus simply a part of the mother's body.
Fact #4: It is just, reasonable, and necessary for society to outlaw certain choices.

Any civilized society restricts the individual's freedom to choose whenever that choice would harm an innocent person. Therefore, it is impossible to justify abortion by simply arguing that women should be "free to choose."
Fact #5: The right to not be killed supersedes the right to not be pregnant.
The comparison between a baby's rights and a mother's rights is unequal. What is at stake in abortion is the mother's lifestyle, as opposed to the baby's life. Therefore, it is reasonable for society to expect an adult to live temporarily with an inconvenience if the only alternative is killing a child.
Fact #6: Poverty, rape, disability, or “unwantedness” do not morally justify abortion.
There are all sorts of circumstances that people point to as justification for their support of abortion. Since none of these circumstances are sufficient to justify the killing of human beings after birth, they're not sufficient to justify the killing of human beings before birth.
Fact #7: The differences between embryos and adults are differences of degree not of kind.
Like toddler and adolescent, the terms “embryo” and “fetus” do not refer to nonhumans but to humans at particular stages of development. Human beings inside the womb are smaller, less developed, and more dependent than human beings outside the womb. These are differences of degree, not differences of kind. We can all point to other people who are bigger, stronger, smarter, or less dependent than we are, but that doesn't make our life any less valuable or any less deserving of protection.
Fact #8: Less than 1% of all abortions are performed to save the life of the mother.
It is an extremely rare case when abortion is required to save the mother’s life. Of course, when two lives are hreatened and only one can be saved, doctors must always save that life. However, abortion for the mother’s life and abortion for the mother’s health are usually not the same issue. Since every abortion kills an innocent human being, it is morally abhorrent to use the rare cases when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother as justification for the millions of on demand "convenience" abortions.
Fact #9: To be only "personally pro-life" is to not be pro-life at all.
If abortion doesn't kill children, why would someone be opposed to it? If it does kill children, why would someone defend another's right to do it? Being personally against abortion but favoring another's right to abortion is self-contradictory and morally baffling.
Fact #10: If there is uncertainty about when human life begins, the benefit of the doubt should go to preserving life.  It is a scientific fact that life begins at conception. However, if one personally has even a shred of uncertainty about when life begins, then they are still morally obligated to err on the side of life and NOT have an abortion. Why? Because to make a mistake about the exact time when life begins is to kill an innocent human being.
Fact #11: Abortion is more dangerous than childbirth.
Not only does every abortion kill an innocent human being in the womb; but abortion is also more dangerous to the mother than if she were to give birth to the child. The evidence overwhelmingly proves that the morbidity and mortality rates of legal abortion are several times higher than that for carrying a pregnancy to term.
Fact #12: Prior to abortion's legalization, 90% of abortions were done by doctors, not by "coat hangers in back alleys.
Some justify abortion on the claim that if it is outlawed, women will abort anyway and may die in the process.  There are 3 problems with this hypothesis. First, it doesn't address the ethics of abortion. Second, laws against abortion would deter most women from having one. Third, there is no evidence that illegal abortions are more dangerous than legal abortions. Of course, even if the "coat hanger" argument was true (it's not), then it's still morally ridiculous to legalize procedures that kill innocent babies just to make the killing procedures less dangerous to the mother.
Fact #13: The 8 week+ unborn baby feels real physical pain during an abortion.
Yes, every abortion kills an innocent human being. Even more alarming is the fact that beginning at the 8th week of development, an unborn baby that is aborted feels pain during the abortion. The baby feels both psychological and real physical, organic pain. Let that sink in. Of course, whether or not abortion is a painful experience to the unborn child being aborted, the child is left no less dead as a result. In talking about the question of fetal pain, we must remember that it ultimately has no bearing on the morality of abortion.
Fact #14: Abortion is condemnable for the same reasons that slavery and genocide are.
Networks of killing centers across the globe are eliminating "unwanted, unborn" children at a staggering rate. Were the context not abortion, the world would be outraged. Call it what you want, when an innocent group of human beings is targeted and exterminated by the millions, that is an injustice on par with any of history's most egregious atrocities. At the end of the day, if the unborn are people (and they  are), then abortion is not only comparable to past crimes against humanity but is also, by sheer volume, the greatest holocaust of all.
Fact #15: Abortion is not a “women's only” issue.
Abortion affects both men and women.  Beyond that, abortion is a human issue, not a gender issue. If abortion kills innocent human life (it does), then everyone, male and female, should stand against it. One doesn't need to be a young girl to take a position against the sex trafficking of young girls, and one doesn't need to be a woman to take a position against abortion.
Fact #16: Every legal surgical abortion stops a beating heart and terminates measurable brain waves.
What do we call it when a person no longer has a heartbeat or brain waves? Death. It's a scientific fact that life begins at conception, but even more obvious; what should we call it when there is a heartbeat and there are brain waves? Life. It is an indisputable fact that each and every legal surgical abortion in America today stops a beating heart and stops already measurable brain waves.
Fact #17: The right to not be killed supersedes the right to privacy.
Some defend abortion by claiming that they have a right to privacy. Whether they have an abortion or not is between them and their doctor. Everyone else should stay out of their business. Of course, if abortion kills an innocent human being (it does), then killing done in private is no more acceptable than killing done in public; and the encouragement or assistance of a doctor does not change the nature, consequences, or morality of abortion.
Fact #18: Abortion disproportionally targets minority babies.
Whatever the intent of the abortion industry may be, by functional standards, abortion is a racist institution. In the United States, black children are aborted at 5 times the rate of white children and Hispanic children don't fare much better. Abortion is the leading cause of death among black Americans. We can debate the racial intent of Planned Parenthood past and present, but we cannot debate the results. Abortion is by no means an equal opportunity killer.
Fact #19: Abortion has become a form of gendercide, shrinking the global female population at an alarming rate.
On top of the fact that every abortion kills an innocent human being, abortion has also become the driving force in eliminating females around the globe. Estimates put the global gender gap somewhere between 100 and 200 million people. Abortion has become the most effective means of sexism ever devised, ridding the world of multitudes of unwanted females.
Fact #20: Laws concerning abortion have significantly influenced whether women choose to have abortions.
Some will concede that every abortion kills an innocent human being. They will also concede that society has a right to outlaw choices that harm innocent human beings. But even after conceding those points, some still do not favor more stringent abortion laws because they  think that they don't really work - there would still be too many abortions.  Historical data, common morality, and basic legal theory prove this line of thinking to be false. 
Selected content reprinted with permission from John C. Willke M.D., Barbara H. Willke R.N., John Jefferson
Davis Ph.D., David C. Reardon Ph.D., Abort73.com, Eternal Perspective Ministries, Abolish Human Abortion, Life Issues Institute, BlackGenocide.org, Heritage House '76, Inc. & The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform..



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