Fate may have led Irena Sendler to the moment almost 70 years ago when she began to risk her life for the children of strangers.
1910-2008
But for this humble Polish Catholic social worker, who was barely 30 when one of history's most nightmarish chapters unfolded before her, the pivotal influence was something her parents had drummed into her.
"I was taught that if you see a person drowning," she said, "you must jump into the water to save them, whether you can swim or not."When the Nazis occupying Poland began rounding up Jews in 1940 and sending them to the Warsaw ghetto, Sendler plunged in.
read more here
With daring and ingenuity, she saved the lives of more than 2,500 Jews, most of them children, a feat that went largely unrecognized until the last years of her life.
When 12 year-old Lia Mills wrote her speech about abortion for a school contest, she had no idea the kind of impact it would have worldwide. Yet after her mother put the speech on YouTube, it garnered over a half a million views!
The greatest source of energy and potential the pro-life movement has is its youth. Youth have a unique perspective and voice, giving them an incredible ability to change hearts and minds. They are steadfast in their beliefs and want to share them with others! Now, Lia is challenging other young people to send in their videos and spread the pro-life message.
The SBA List wants to provide our nation’s youth with the opportunity to do just that. This new contest will award two winning videos with a $1,000 scholarship and will be featured in a Susan B. Anthony online campaign!
"So many children lose their lives everyday," Jaime says. "People have asked me why I would want to tackle such a controversial subject at this time in my musical career. My answer is that we can't afford to wait. Lives need to be saved now. I'm not worried about what others think."
456 Masses were officially recorded as being offered for our new president. It is likely that many more went unrecorded due to website and radio announcements that spread far and wide. A final tally showed Masses were said in 50 States, Washington, DC, Vatican City, Rome, Italy, Fatima, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Australia, Haiti, India, United Kingdom, Kenya, Djibouti, Israel, Brazil, Ireland, and Canada. Not bad when you consider it was an idea that began as a single email. During Mass in Dickinson, ND, on inauguration day, a myriad of thoughts crossed Barb’s mind: “During the consecration, I could sense Christ’s broken heart, blood outpoured for our new president. I was so aware of how much Our Lord loves President Obama. He would have died solely for him. He did die solely for him, just as He did for me. His love is that immense.” She prayed: ”Lord, may I love our new president with your love. May he sense You reaching out to him and may he respond to Your love.”
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Once upon a time, slavery was the spiritual scourge of our land. Yet, today, we have a black president. Nothing is impossible. Today, things look so bleak for the rights of the unborn. But just as the rights of Black Americans were won, so too can the rights of the unborn be won.
Bobbie Hallman was attempting to carry out a simple task — make a poster from an ultrasound image.And there's more! Read the rest here: TheCatholicSpirit.com - Poster for prayer service saves a lifeShe ended up saving the life of an unborn child.
Bobbie Hallman, left, and her daughter, Annie, hold a poster of a 12 week unborn child – Photo Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit
... people standing in line nearby began to look at the ultrasound pictures, too. Eventually, the pictures found their way back into the hands of the pregnant employee.
“She looked at them individually again and she said, ‘I can’t abort this baby.’ ” Bobbie said. “She said, ‘I was thinking about aborting this baby. I thought it was just a tissue. And, look at this.’ She was pointing to the fingers and the eyes.”
Full of truth and light, this 1995 encyclical letter of Pope John Paul the Great is essential reading for all who desire a civilization of life and love. By calling evil by its true name, the Holy Father gives us the power to overcome it.we 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. (n. 28)Among the many valuable insights that the Holy Father offers are the following:
It is from the blood of Christ that all draw the strength to commit themselves to promoting life. It is precisely this blood that is the most powerful source of hope, indeed it is the foundation of the absolute certitude that in God's plan life will be victorious. ...Finally, he calls every Christian to work for the culture of life:
In effect, signs which point to this victory are not lacking in our societies and cultures, strongly marked though they are by the "culture of death". (n. 25-26)
To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good. It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop. A society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized. Only respect for life can be the foundation and guarantee of the most precious and essential goods of society, such as democracy and peace.The battle lines are drawn. Which side will we choose?
There can be no true democracy without a recognition of every person's dignity and without respect for his or her rights.
Nor can there be true peace unless life is defended and promoted. (n. 101)
Read more and pick up images here."Whoever saves one life saves the world entire." - Schindler's List
The beautiful theme for Mr. Obama's Presidential Inauguration is taken from Abraham Lincoln, "A New Birth of Freedom." Lincoln had some very compelling things to say about Freedom.
"Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought. Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
He also said: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."
The freedom to live is the most fundamental freedom, without which we could have no other freedoms. And thus a new birth of freedom in our country needs to be broad enough to include and protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us; most notably the disabled, the elderly, and the unborn.
Please join us in celebrating this year's beautiful inaugural theme in this more complete way. On Inauguration Day, January 20th, please use these images to encourage others to remember the important connections between life and freedom. Images can be used to replace profile pictures (on Facebook, (on Flickr, Twitter, etc.) or to highlight the theme on your blog via sidebar picture or background image. Please pass it along by linking back to this page.
"Sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so that their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them." - Susan B. Anthony
We had quite a day yesterday!The Catholic bishops of the United States have designated January 22 as a special day of prayer and penance in reparation for the massive killing that has resulted from the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision (handed down January 22, 1973) which permitted abortion throughout pregnancy.
Therefore, we at Priests for Life invite you to prepare spiritually for that day by joining a Novena that starts on Monday, January 14 and concludes on the 22nd. We invite you to say the prayer below each of those days, and to let us know through this form that you have committed to say it.
Prayer of Reparation (Spanish version -- En Español)
God and Father of Life,
You have created every human person,
And have opened the way for each to have eternal life.
We live in the shadow of death.
Tens of millions of your children have been killed
Thanks to the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
Father, have mercy on us.
Heal our land
And accept our offering of prayer and penance.
In your love for us,
Turn back the scourge of abortion.
May each of us exult in hearts full of hope
And hands full of mercy
And work together to build a culture of life.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
True parental love is ready to go beyond the bonds of flesh and blood in order to accept children from other families, offering them whatever is necessary for their well-being and full development. Among the various forms of adoption, consideration should be given to adoption-at-a-distance, preferable in cases where the only reason for giving up the child is the extreme poverty of the child's family. Through this type of adoption, parents are given the help needed to support and raise their children, without their being uprooted from their natural environment. (The Gospel of Life, n. 93)
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, former Editor-in-Chief of First Things, has died. He will be sorely missed. Joseph Bottum of First Things writes:Father Richard John Neuhaus slipped away today, January 8, shortly before 10 o'clock, at the age of seventy-two. He never recovered from the weakness that sent him to the hospital the day after Christmas, caused by a series of side effects from the cancer he was suffering. He lost consciousness Tuesday evening after a collapse in his heart rate, and the next day, in the company of friends, he died. My tears are not for him--for he knew, all his life, that his Redeemer lives, and he has now been gathered by the Lord in whom he trusted. I weep, rather for all the rest of us. As a priest, as a writer, as a public leader in so many struggles, and as a friend, no one can take his place. The fabric of life has been torn by his death, and it will not be repaired...until that time when everything is mended and all our tears are wiped away.Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
The economy took us all for a wild ride. Many of our dear friends and most steadfast donors suffered setbacks. Some lost their jobs. Some lost their retirement funds. Many lost their confidence.
And the financial knocks weren’t even the hardest. The pro-life and pro-family cause suffered setbacks, leaving many good people discouraged after a bruising battle.
We may indeed lose money (and we have). We may indeed lose battles (and we have). But we must not lose hope. Not now. Not ever.
Hear our patron, St. Paul. Now is no time for gloominess. No, he says, “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Rom 12:12). Note that he doesn’t tell us to rejoice in fulfillment, but in hope and even in tribulation! St. Paul is a hard-nosed realist — and he’s telling us, with the firm conviction of a drill sergeant, to stop our grumbling and start rejoicing.
International Call for the Rights and Dignity of the Human Person and the Family
The radical pro-abortion groups will submit petitions at UN headquarters on December 10th. They might submit a hundred thousand or more! We must match them and show the General Assembly that more people are pro-life than pro-abortion.
So, I ask you to go here: copy this address and send it to everyone you know. If you want to send it in Spanish, it is there, too, or Polish, German, Italian, French, Hungarian, Slovenian and others!
Please go to this link and send this petition to as many people as you can.
We can beat the rich and powerful abortion advocates, but only with your help!
Adkins and her husband Paul are just two of a growing number of parents who, on discovering their unborn child is likely to have Down's syndrome, go ahead with the pregnancy decide to keep babies with Down's syndrome.That certainly brightened my day!
Figures published on Monday by the National Down's Syndrome Cytogenetic Register found that live births of children with the condition have risen approximately 15 per cent from 2000 to 2006.
This rise has stunned experts, who had seen a steady drop in babies born with the syndrome since screening for the condition was introduced in 1989.
'We couldn't understand why there had been an increase,' says John Smithies of the Down's Syndrome Association. 'So we commissioned some research and found that things such as an increase in women leaving motherhood until later had an effect.
'But one of the biggest factors at play is people changing their attitudes. There is far more support, and advances in medicine mean that it is not uncommon for sufferers to live into their sixties.'
The battle for the Culture of Life is, under all the human actions, a spiritual battle. Rosaries For Life suggests we take up the spiritual weapon of the rosary. It makes good sense to me that this prayer focused on the mystery of God-made-man should be a means by which God once again redeems man.
