Deacon John's

2010 Washington March for Life Events Schedule

2009-12-23T19:06:27Z

Washington D.C., December 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In order to help pro-life pilgrims plan their trip for the upcoming Washington March for Life, LifeSiteNews.com has compiled a list of events in and around D.C. at that time. Please check back frequently as this list will be updated as more details become available.

Wednesday, January 20

6:00 p.m.
Mass for Life - Georgetown University

***TBA American Life League: Training and Activism Week - runs through January 23
Washington Court Hotel
525 New Jersey Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
http://www.all.org/taw/

Thursday, January 21:

***TBA: Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life -
Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
http://www.cardinaloconnorconference.com/

1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
March for Life Convention
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Washington D.C.
See http://www.marchforlife.org/content/view/52/58/ for more details.

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
March for Life White House Mini-Rally - flashlight program
Lafayette Park, Washington D.C.
http://www.marchforlife.org/content/view/52/58/

6:30 p.m.
Opening mass for National Prayer Vigil for Life
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.
All night prayer vigil to follow. See schedule for details.
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/prayervigil/schedule.shtml

8:00 p.m.
Rock for Life Concert
Washington Court Hotel
http://www.all.org/taw/concerts.php

Friday, January 22

7:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Giant 2010 Youth Rally and Mass for Life
Verizon Center - Washington, D.C.
http://www.adw.org/service/jan22.asp

7:30 a.m.
Closing mass for National Prayer Vigil for Life
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington D.C.

8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Blogs4Life Conference 2009
Family Research Council Headquarters
801 G Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
http://www.blogs4life.com/

9:00 a.m.
Lutherans for Life worship service
Immanuel Lutheran Church
1801 Russell Road
Alexandria, VA 22301
http://www.lutheransforlife.org/march_for_life.htm

9:30 - 10:30 a.m.
Human Life International Mini-Conference"
Holiday Inn
Washington, D.C.

12:00 p.m.
Rally for Life
National Mall and 7th Street
Washington D.C.

1:00 p.m.
March for Life
Washington D.C. National Mall
See http://www.marchforlife.org/content/view/30/40/ for details and route map.

4:00 p.m.
Silent No More Awareness Campaign - testimonies
Steps of the Supreme Court, Washington D.C.
Immediately following the March women from the Silent No More Awareness Campaign will be giving testimonies of their experiences with abortion.

6:00 p.m.
March for Life Rose Dinner
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Washinton D.C.
http://www.marchforlife.org/content/view/19/59/

7:00 p.m.
Rock for Life Concert
Washington Court Hotel
http://www.all.org/taw/concerts.php

Saturday, January 23:

8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Students for Life of America National Conference
The morning's events will include a series of speeches from representative of Operation Outcry, Silent No More, and Alliance Defense Fund.
Pryzbyla Center, Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.
For more information http://www.studentsforlife.org/index.php/conferences/conferenceschedule/

1:45 p.m. - 4:35 p.m.
Students for Life of America National Conference
Break-out sessions: A smaller series of talks to choose from.
Pryzbyla Center, Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.
For full schedule see http://www.studentsforlife.org/index.php/conferences/conferenceschedule/

5:25 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Students for Life of America National Conference
Concluding speeches and awarding of the 2010 Defender of Life Award.
Pryzbyla Center, Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.
For full schedule see http://www.studentsforlife.org/index.php/conferences/conferenceschedule/

New Stanek WND column, "Ben Nelson's betrayal"

2009-12-23T18:51:24Z

I received this question from a friend on Facebook:

So, Jill, what happened with Nelson? You and other pro-life leaders were advising people to be "calm" and to thank him, and all indications now are that he prostituted his vote like so many others. How do you know who to trust?

My friend was speaking about a blog post I wrote Dec. 11 encouraging pro-lifers to maintain support of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-NE. In that post I relayed an e-mail received fromDemocrats for Life's president, Kristen Day, assuring everyone Nelson was unwavering in his refusal to vote for any health-care bill excluding a Stupak-like pro-life amendment:

Dear pro-life Friends,
Sen. Nelson has been a strong leader on our behalf. ... I have been assured that he has not changed his opinion and has not gone back on anything he has said. Senator Nelson has taken a very hard line with the Caucus, and they are trying hard to appease him because they need his vote.

I assure you that the senator has not backed down from his commitment...

Up to the end Nelson was working with all the right people - Democrats for Life, NE Right to Life, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, pro-life MI Rep. Bart Stupak.

But in the end, Nelson betrayed them all....

Continue reading my column today, "Ben Nelson's betrayal," atWorldNetDaily.com.

THE HUMANIST RELIGION OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD

2009-12-23T18:31:40Z

Early Morning Christmas Eve Gathering on Capitol Hill to Protest Health Care Reform Bill

2009-12-23T17:56:15Z

'Tyranny Eve': Early Morning Christmas Eve Gathering on Capitol Hill to Protest Health Care Reform Bill

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- As the Senate prepares to vote on historic health care legislation on Christmas Eve morn, concerned citizens from across America organized through TyrannyEve.com will be gathering on the Capitol steps at 6:00am to peacefully protest the move by lawmakers to assume greater control of the private sector. "Tyranny Eve" -- a term meant to describe what's at stake with tomorrow's health care vote -- was coined by Peter Bradrick, a concerned North Carolina father who is spearheading tomorrows effort t

The original "Boston Tea Party". Image via Wikipedia

o assemble freedom loving Americans in Washington who oppose further statist encroachments into arenas beyond the governments rightful purview.

"Tomorrow, the day that the world celebrates as Christmas Eve, has been uniquely positioned to become 'Tyranny Eve,'" stated Peter Bradrick, founder of TyrannyEve.com. "Liberal lawmakers have scheduled two monumental votes on bills which, if carried into law, will propel us deeper toward statist socialism than many of us ever believed possible in America."

"While most citizens across America will be enjoying cozy pajamas and crackling fires, we call upon 'Sons of Liberty' to recognize this crucial moment -- to eschew comfort and stand with us on the Capitol steps," continued Bradrick. "To stand not only against socialistic health care and unlimited government spending, but for our children and their freedom."

Bradrick was compelled to launch TyrannyEve.com as he observed a change in public mood over the past few months from outspoken protests toward the health care bill in late summer to one of complacency in recent weeks as the legislation has moved through Congress. "Several months ago, town hall meetings across America pulsed with the outrage of concerned citizens who said 'enough is enough' with the government's attempts to encroach on our freedom by taking greater control over the private sector," Bradrick noted. "Now, on the eve of an historic vote on health care legislation in the Senate, that spirit has waned as the passage of this behemoth bill that will deprive us of liberties and bankrupt our children's future is considered inevitable. Now is not the time for apathy. Now is the time to stand."

Bradrick explained that, while others who have stood against the health care bill have gone home to be with their families, he believes it is vital for citizens to stand in Washington now as the critical vote in the Senate is put to the floor: "Why are we gathering while others have gone 'home for the holidays'? Because we believe that American patriots should not be lulled into easy peace while such a galactic blow to American Liberty is being dealt. The festive cheer of the season cannot mask the ugly reality that is being advanced on 'Tyranny Eve' by legislators drunk, not with spiked eggnog, but with the sense of unchecked power that is run amok."

Bradrick also indicated that his call for Americans to stand with him tomorrow was about much more than the health care debate; it is a battle over liberty.

"We are not gathering merely to protest these bills," remarked Bradrick. "We are gathering to oppose the idea that it is the government's place to solve our problems. We say with the founding fathers of America that it is not. The solution is in our homes, our businesses, and our churches across America. We affirm our constitution's bill of rights which states 'The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.'"

"Join us as we peacefully stand together to defy tyranny and proclaim our allegiance to the God who this nation was founded upon." Bradrick concluded.

"Stand with us as we proclaim to lawmakers in Washington DC that statist power grabs are not the solution. They are the problem."

For more information about the event or to interview Peter Bradrick visit:www.tyrannyeve.com.

Christmas Message from Pope Benedict XVI

2009-12-23T15:53:54Z

“It is in the contemplation of Christ's face that we are filled with an irrepressible passion to preach Him and give Him to others and recognize Him in the face of the poor and suffering.”

Pope Benedict XVI

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[MaryVitamin] Near the Manger

2009-12-23T05:26:17Z

Mary Vitamin for December 23rd

Topic: What did the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph do near the manger?

Quote:

Cure of Ars

"They looked at, contemplated and admired the Christ child. That is all they did. They were in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar of the manger. They blessed and thanked God who gave us his Son out of His love for us. Nobody will ever be able to understand or explain what went on inside Mary at that time."

From A Moment With Mary

http://www.mariedenazareth.com/3562.0.html?&L=1

Meditation:

Fr. Gabriel Pellettieri, FI

What do we learn from the three main characters of the cave in Bethlehem?

"Jesus, Our Lady and St. Joseph are incomparable teachers of every virtue offer us sublime examples of poverty, virginity and humility at the moment of the birth of the Divine Child.

St. Joseph teaches us to be poor, that is, to be lacking in everything, at times even in what is necessary.

Indeed, he chose the poverty of a cave, not having the means to provide for a better and more dignified childbirth.

Our Lady, in her virginal childbirth, teaches us to be pure: chaste in soul and in body, in thoughts, desires and actions.

Finally, great is the lesson in humility that the Baby Jesus bestows upon us from His poor cradle. The Creator of the universe humbles Himself to the point of desiring to be born in a cave and to be laid in a manger 'in reality, a box from which horses and cattle eat' hidden from all, in a small town of Palestine.”

Who is Mary? (Academy of the Immaculate: 2001), 46.

Resolution:

Today I will pause in front of the manger, in imitation of Our Lady, I will make a spiritual Communion and pray that my heart and soul may be a little heaven, another manger, where He can abide.

Marian Vow:

St. Maximilian Kolbe

"Our life must be an extension on this earth of Jesus' life by means of Mary"

(from a conference on July 5, 1936).

http://www.ewtn.com/library/PRIESTS/TRACMARI.TXT

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate & AirMaria

_._,_.___

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A Nativity Sermon by Pope St Leo the Great (5th century)

2009-12-23T05:19:21Z

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/december.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

December 23, 2009

THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN IN EARLY JANUARY 2010, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! BLESSINGS FOR A JOYOUS NEW YEAR!

(Isa 9:6-7) For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

A Nativity Sermon by Pope St Leo the Great (5th century)

Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.

No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.

In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God's wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with its Creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the origin of death, in that very nature by which he had overthrown mankind.

And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy: Glory to God in the highest, and they proclaim peace to men of good will as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvelous work of God's goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?

Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh.

Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God's own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God's kingdom.

Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for your liberty was bought by the blood of Christ.

VESPERS PRAISES

Come all with happiness, come all with joy, come all with gladness, all you sons of man.
All wisemen and scholars, all elders and young, all men and women, all you sons of Adam.

+ Come hear from me, for I proclaim to you, that the true God has come, and took flesh from the Virgin.
+ Truly she gave birth to Him, truly without blemish, truly she gave birth to the Word, with her true virginity.

Who of the wisemen, or scholars on earth, can obtain the heavenly thought, to speak of the honor of the Virgin.
Seven ranks of angels, seven great hosts, seven ranks in Zion, chant to the Virgin.

+ The whole creation together, glorifies the Virgin, from where the sun rises, until its setting.
+ For God is the true God, God the Logos of the Father, God the Son of the Virgin, the daughter of Joachim and Anna.

Jesus Christ the name of salvation, Jesus Christ the sweet name, Jesus Christ the life-Giver, was incarnate of the Virgin.
As was spoken, through Isaiah the prophet, "Behold the Virgin will conceive, and give birth to Emmanuel."

+ All nations and all tribes, all nations the Orthodox people, every harbor of salvation, came forth from her.
+ For Moses the law giver, Melchisedek and Aaron, Mark the Apostle, take pride in the Virgin.

The Cherubim with the six wings, the Seraphim full eyes, all the ranks of angels, glorify the Virgin.
Every tree of life, that paradise adorns, that all virgins adorn, is the Virgin Mary.

+ Glory be to God the Father amen, glory be to His beloved Son, glory be to the Holy Spirit, we magnify the Virgin.
+ The throne of the Highest, carried by the Cherubim, the light of the firmament, is the Virgin Mary.

Rejoice O my Lady the mother of my Lord, rejoice O queen the mother of the King, rejoice O true bride, who gave birth to the Bridegroom.
Solomon the Son of David, Samuel the prophet, Sawerus the patriarch, glorify the Virgin.

+ Your greatness O Mary, is higher than the heavens, you will bear a Son, and His name will be Emmanuel.
+ Nobody can resemble you, in heaven nor on earth, I am not capable, of speaking of your honor.

He who created heaven and earth, who comes from the Father, came and dwelt in your womb, for nine full months.
Hail to the fountain of living water, hail to the golden vessel, hail to the unblemished ark, in the tabernacle of testimony.

+ The adornment of all virgins, and all souls of the Orthodox, all souls bless them, O Virgin Mary.
+ O shining dove, O perfect grace, O rod of Aaron, that blossomed and brought forth fruit.

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 25- "On the destroyer of the pasions, most sublime humility"

19. It is one thing to be humble, another to strive for humilty, and another to praise the humble. The first belongs to the perfect, the second to the truly obedient, and the third to all the faithful.

Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com

This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

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Audience Breaks Into Silent Night After School's Secular Holiday Program

2009-12-23T01:22:12Z

100th Anniversary of Silent Night Christmas Carol. Image via Wikipedia

by Teresa Neumann : Dec 22, 2009 : Jennifer Moody - Albany Democrat Herald

"Really, the complaint should go the other way: The program was too darned secular. To change that program for one person is almost a violation of everyone else's rights."

REPORTER'S NOTE: This article was both a wake-up call and a source of civic pride to me as Lebanon, Oregon is my own "backyard" so to speak. We're a small community here, with a strong Christian presence. I'm used to reading about "lone wolves" highjacking Christmas programs in other areas of the country, but here in little ol' Lebanon? The response of the audience was inspiring; I only wish I could have been there. And kudos to Mike Martin—a dear friend of ours—for not holding back when he spoke with reporters! -Teresa Neumann

(Lebanon, Oregon)—A report in the Albany Democrat Herald states that although the Christmas carol Silent Night was not on the program at Pioneer School's concert recently, it was sung anyway—by the audience, after the kids were done. It was estimated that at least 100 of the 700 in attendance joined in the singing. Applause and cheers erupted afterwards.

Image by RG of CS-much better via Flickr

It started this fall when Principal Mark Finch eliminated the song from the program after a parent complained that the carol's emphasis was "too single-religion."

Sam Long, a Pioneer volunteer and grandmother of a Pioneer student, said: "I'm very proud they stood up for what they believe. I am so proud, because have a godson fighting (in Baghdad) for our rights and to keep us free, and if we can't sing just a little song, what's he over there for?"

"There were 18 songs on the program, of which one has a sacred theme to it and 17 don't," said school board member Mike Martin. "Really, the complaint should go the other way: The program was too darned secular. To change that program for one person is almost a violation of everyone else's rights."

From http://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=7426

Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.

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Love God, Love One Another: "You Are My Baby" by Rita Ring, May 28, 1994

2009-12-23T00:09:48Z

You Are My Baby

May 28, 1994

I want to write to you and talk to you like My little baby. I love you so, sweet one. See your body. I love your body as it is. You are My baby. I love you just as you are, beautiful creation of My Father. Love yourself as you are. You are so loved by God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and your beautiful mother. I love you. I love you. I love you, child. Know how I guard your every step, like a baby. I watch you walk and I love to watch you. You are so loved, little baby, beloved of mine. Want for no love or attention for I am giving you everything you need.

You come from a place of being full. When you are complaining, read this note. You are not realizing the immense love God has for you. Oh, sweet little one, I love you so. Circulate this letter to My beloved ones. I love each precious one just this way.

R. I can finally be the little child. After all the years I took care of my own children, I am now free. God takes care of me. He wants me to be a baby and be dependent on Him. This is freedom, to be faced with a big obstacle and say, "Here, Lord, You take it."

My job is to be the light shining in the dark world. My job is to shed His love on others. My job is to turn it over to Him and love for Him. My job is to accept His Will this day for me and know, whatever I receive, He is giving out of ardent love for me.

Oh, how I love You, my Lord. Alleluia. He is so good to us. He is our refuge and our strength. He is our Savior. We are His. We are His. We were created by God, the Father. He is our Father. Mary is our mother. We are His. We were created to know, love and serve Him. We are but little babies at the breast. This is true freedom, true freedom. Unless we become as little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Oh, what a gift! What freedom! Oh, I love You so, my God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Babies goes to their parents for all their needs. When they are hurt, they go to their parents. When I am hurt, I go to You. You are God. You can do all things! I become totally dependent on You. I am the baby. I know You have all I need. You are a real Person. It is in trials that I am drawn closer to God. I must trust in Him, alleluia, for His love!

http://www.sofc.org/

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LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 12/23/09

2009-12-23T00:00:29Z

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Wednesday, December 23, 2009

For news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com.

Current Headlines

• Senate OKs Manager's Amendment to Health Care Bill Funding Abortions
• Poll: 72 Percent of Americans Oppose Paying for Abortions in Health Care Bill
• After Senate, Lawmakers Will Have to Decide Between Abortion, Health Care
• Sam Brownback: I Hope Abortion Kills Pro-Abortion Health Care in Congress
• Senators Challenge Health Care Bill Section Making Death Panels Permanent
• Kathleen Sebelius Admits, Covers Up Abortion Funding in Health Care Measure
• Conservative Attorney Sues Obama Admin Over Abortion-Health Care Meetings
• Pro-Life Democratic Congressman, Doctor, Switches to GOP Over Health Care
• Sex and the City Actress Cynthia Nixon Promotes Taxpayer-Funded Abortions
• North Carolina High School Denied Pro-Life Student Free Speech, Backs Down
• Judge Rejects Scott Roeder's Necessity Defense in George Tiller Murder Trial

--> IMPORTANT ACTION ALERT: Please call both of your members of the Senate and urge them to support the filibuster of the pro-abortion health care bill. Find any senator's contact information here.

Senate OKs Manager's Amendment to Health Care Bill Funding Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Tuesday morning, the Senate approved the Harry Reid manager's amendment to the government-run health care bill. Reid's amendment includes the so-called "compromise" language he agreed on with embattled Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska that keeps abortion funding in the bill.

The Senate voted on the manager's amendment, number 3276, on a 60-39 vote. All Democrats in the chamber voted for the amendment while all Republicans, except absent pro-life Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, voted against it.

The strict party-line vote was similar to the 60-40 vote in favor of the cloture motion to end the debate and filibuster against the amendment.

With the vote today, the Senate now begins 30 hours of post-cloture debate that will continue throughout the day today and tomorrow. The next vote is slated for Wednesday afternoon, when senators will vote on cloture to end debate on the pro-abortion health care bill itself. The Senate is still expected to vote on the bill on Christmas Eve, although there has been talk this morning of moving up the vote because of further snowstorms across the country.

The amendment makes major changes to the massive abortion funding already found in the bill, as Dorinda Bordlee of the Bioethics Defense Fund explains.

"The Manager s Amendment does not contain language similar to the pro-life Stupak amendment approved by the House," she told LifeNews.com. "Instead the section on abortion (starting on page 38) adds a provision allowing states to opt out of providing abortion coverage through the exchange and adds further layers of accounting requirements." Full story at LifeNews.com

Poll: 72 Percent of Americans Oppose Paying for Abortions in Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll shows 72 percent of Americans oppose paying for abortions with their tax dollars under the government-run health care bill in Congress. As the Senate prepares to vote on legislation that contains massive abortion funding, a Quinnipiac University survey released today shows opposition.

American voters mostly disapprove of the pro-abortion health care bill, by a 53-36 percent margin. They also disapprove of pro-abortion President Barack Obama's handling of the health care issue by a similar 56-38 percent margin, the new survey showed.

But abortion funding draws strenuous opposition from the American public, regardless of political persuasion, with 72 percent saying they oppose "using any public money in the health care overhaul to pay for abortions" and just 23 percent saying they favor it.

The poll found Republicans oppose funding abortions in the health care bill an a 91-5 percent clip, Democrats oppose it 54-38 percent, and independents oppose it 74-23 percent.

Men oppose taxpayer funded abortions on a 73-21 percent margin while women also oppose it by a 70-25 percent margin. Whites opposed it 72-23 percent while blacks oppose abortion funding 67-20 percent. Full story at LifeNews.com

After Senate, Lawmakers Will Have to Decide Between Abortion and Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate is expected to approve its pro-abortion health care bill this week and conclude round two of the match between pro-life advocates and lawmakers who favor funding abortions. When the bill moves to a conference committee following the Senate vote, abortion advocates will have to make tough decisions.

The conference committee will include members of the House and Senate and they will have to resolve the very different abortion funding language in the bills. On the House side, lawmakers approved the Stupak amendment that bans abortion funding while the Senate language -- the fake Reid-Nelson "compromise" -- allows government funding of abortions and possible abortion coverage mandates for insurance companies.

With Rep. Bart Stupak promising to vote against the bill, along with his pro-life colleagues who voted for the House version, if the conference committee removes his abortion funding ban, abortion advocates have a tough decision to make.

Will they remove the abortion funding from the Senate bill and send back to both chambers legislation that contains the abortion ban in order to get a health care bill approved? Or will they rely on the Senate language (or some other "compromise" that Stupak, pro-life lawmakers and pro-life groups will undoubtedly oppose) and take their chances that a pro-abortion health care bill will receive House approval? Full story at LifeNews.com

Sam Brownback: I Hope Abortion Kills Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill in Congress
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In an opinion piece posted at the Politico web site, Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback says he hopes the abortion funding in the government-run health care bill will ultimately defeat the bill. As LifeNew.com reported today, abortion advocates may have to choose between abortion and the bill.

That's because a conference committee must merge the House and Senate bills into one bill that either funds abortions and may be defeated by pro-life advocates or one that doesn't fund abortions and may be defeated by pro-abortion activists.

"Even if the Democrats are able to ram this bill through the Senate, there is still hope that it may founder in the conference with House Democrats," Brownback writes.

"Both abortion rights supporters and anti-abortion advocates on the House side have pledged to vote against the current abortion-funding language in the Reid amendment and called it unacceptable," he said. "Since the Democrats are working with a thin margin of support for the bill in the House, it is just possible that the attempt to use health care reform to force taxpayer funding for abortion will end up killing the bill."

Brownback says in the Politico piece that the abortion funding divide "is now the central debate in reconciling the differences between the House and Senate Democratic bills." "If the issue of abortion funding brings down this bill, it will be a victory for the cause of protecting innocent human life. That would be an irony that Henry Hyde would have greatly appreciated," Brownback concludes. Full story at LifeNews.com

Senators Challenge Health Care Bill Section Making Death Panels Permanent
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two pro-life senators plan to raise a constitutional challenge to a section of the Senate health care bill that makes the infamous "death panels" permanent. They say it is unconstitutional to pass a law that prevents Congress from overturning the law at a later point.

Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina and John Ensign of Nevada raised a Constitutional Point of Order on the Senate floor against the bill on behalf of other Republican lawmakers. The Senate will vote tomorrow on the bill s constitutionality.

At issue is Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid's manager's amendment that the Senate adopted Tuesday morning and is now part of the pro-abortion, government-run health care bill. The section, on page 1020, says "it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection."

That would be a problem for any section of any bill but the language in contention concerns pro-life advocates because it is the so-called death panels section whereby regulations are imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards.

"This is not legislation. It s not law. This is a rule change. It s a pretty big deal. We will be passing a new law and at the same time creating a Senate rule that makes it out of order to amend or even repeal the law," DeMint said in a Monday night Senate speech. Full story at LifeNews.com

Kathleen Sebelius Admits, Covers Up Abortion Funding in Health Care Measure
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is getting attention for an interview yesterday in which she essentially admits that the American public would be forced to pay for abortions under the Senate health are bill and then relies on accounting gimmicks to suggests that's not the case.

Sebelius spoke with BlogHer interviewer Morra Aarons-Mele yesterday and praised the new abortion language the Senate adopted in Harry Reid's manager's amendment.

The language, submitted by Sen. Ben Nelson in conjunction with Sen. Bob Casey and pro-abortion Sens. Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray, opens the door to massive abortion funding.

"I would say that the Senate language, which was negotiated by Senators Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray, who are very strong defenders of women s health services and choices for women, take a big step forward from where the House left it with the Stupak amendment," the pro-abortion Obama administration official said.

Sebelius said she thinks the language does a "good job making sure there are choices for women, making sure there are going to be some plan options, and making sure that while public funds aren't used."

She added: "That would be an accounting procedure, but everybody in the exchange would do the same thing, whether you're male or female, whether you're 75 or 25, you would all set aside a portion of your premium that would go into a fund, and it would not be earmarked for anything, it would be a separate account that everyone in the exchange would pay." Full story at LifeNews.com

Conservative Attorney Sues Obama Admin Over Abortion-Health Care Meetings
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A conservative attorney has filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration demanding that it release documents about meetings on health care. Larry Klayman alleges it is violating federal law by not providing it information on meetings that could include Planned Parenthood.

Klayman filed suit in federal district court saying the Obama administration is not complying with its Freedom of Information Act requests.

As a result, he contends Obama officials have violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act and the Freedom of Information Act by not handing over information on closed-door meetings at the White House.

The lawsuit's focus is the Health Reform De Facto Advisory Committee that included representatives of other groups along with Planned Parenthood. The Obama administration came under fire for not inviting any pro-life groups to participate in health care meetings.

Klayman says he wants the Obama administration to give up documents showing minutes of the meeting and their final results. The lawsuit says Obama's "haste to socialize medicine in the United States, and increase government control generally," he has "violated his commitment to transparency." Full story at LifeNews.com

Pro-Life Democratic Congressman, Doctor, Switches to GOP Over Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Alabama congressman Parker Griffith has had enough of the Democratic Party thanks to its pushing a pro-abortion health care bill. The pro-lie Democrat announced today that he is switching parties and becoming a Republican because of the problems associated with the bill.

"I believe our nation is at a crossroads and I can no longer align myself with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy, and drives us further and further into debt," Griffith said today.

"I want to make it perfectly clear that this bill is bad for our doctors," he said Tuesday. "It's bad for our patients. It's bad for the young men and women who are considering going into the health care field." When it comes to abortion and the government-run health care bill, Griffith said, "I now believe that the differences in the two parties could not be more clear."

The party switch won't impact the eventual vote in the House on the conference committee health care bill as he had already voted for the Stupak amendment to ban abortion funding and against the final bill. Full story at LifeNews.com

Sex and the City Actress Cynthia Nixon Promotes Taxpayer-Funded Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Hollywood elite and abortion promotion have long been synonymous but Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon is quickly becoming one of the leading pro-abortion voices in Tinseltown. Nixon followed up her Planned Parenthood fundraising letter earlier this year by wading into the health care debate.

Nixon is joining abortion advocates who want to ensure taxpayer funding of abortion remains in the Senate government-run health care bill.

Just one week after returning to the United States from filming the sequel to the popular television franchise's first feature film, Nixon is bashing a congressman's ban on abortion funding that made it in the House bill.

She explained to CNN why she "can't keep quiet" about promoting abortions -- at taxpayer expense. "It's a very basic female right that we need to protect," Nixon said. "What's so frightening about this Stupak ban is that he's found a backdoor way to basically not cover abortion for the vast majority of American women."

In the CNN interview, Nixon, who plays the character Miranda on Sex and the City, talked about her decades-long abortion activism and said it stemmed from personal reasons. "I've been involved since I was 15, so we're talking almost 30 years now," she said. Full story at LifeNews.com

North Carolina High School Had Denied Pro-Life Student Free Speech, Backs Down
Asheboro, NC (LifeNews.com) -- A North Carolina high school is backing down after a pro-life legal group helped a pro-life student who faced a revocation of her free speech rights. Brianna Cardwell wanted to participate in the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity sponsored by Stand True Ministries.

The day is an opportunity for students to wear red tape or armbands to show their solidarity with unborn children who can't speak for themselves. It features pro-life t-shirts and fliers explaining how abortion kills unborn children and has adversely impacted society.

Caldwell wore a T-shirt with the word abortion crossed out and distributed her fliers during non-instructional time to her classmates that explained her pro-life views. However, the assistant principal at Randelman High School told her to stop disseminating the literature and said she would be require to keep her jacket on for the remainder of the school day to cover up her shirt.

The female school official confiscated the fliers and said that Cardwell s T-shirt and fliers were offensive and violated the separation of church and state. When Caldwell tried to secure the return of her fliers the next day, school officials refused.

The Alliance Defense Fund stepped in to help Caldwell and sent a letter asserting her rights on her behalf. The assistant principal responded to that November 24 letter from ADF by giving the fliers back to Cardwell and telling her that she would be able to wear her T-shirt and distribute the fliers in the future. Full story at LifeNews.com

Judge Rejects Scott Roeder's Necessity Defense in George Tiller Murder Trial
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- A judge ruled today that Kansas law does not allow a man accused of killing late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller to use a necessity defense. Scott Roeder hoped to be able to tell the court that he killed Tiller because his death was necessary to save the lives of unborn children.

But Judge Warren Wilbert denied that line of defense for the man who has no affiliated with any pro-life groups and who has confessed in media interviews to killing Tiller.

According to an AP report, Judge Wilbert cited a 1993 criminal trespassing case involving an abortion center as his reason for turning back the defense argument. In the case, the Kansas Supreme Court said state law allows no room for personal beliefs to allow unlawful activities. The state court's ruling said allowing it would "not only lead to chaos but would be tantamount to sanctioning anarchy."

Judge Wilbert did note that Roeder's case involves taking a life and to merely the destruction of property or misdemeanor crimes, but AP noted him saying he didn't want to make that kind of assessment. "That is certainly not a position I want to be in because I am not God," Wilbert said.

Despite the ruling, the judge told Roeder's defense attorneys he would "leave the door open" to consider whether to allow evidence based on the legitimate use of force for the defense of another person before allowing the jury to hear it. Full story at LifeNews.com

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Catholic Legislative Network says Sen. Feinstein misrepresented its opposition to federal funding fo

2009-12-22T22:12:03Z

Accidentally on purpose?

From http://www.calcatholic.com/

The Catholic Legislative Network, the political action arm of California’s bishops, says Sen. Dianne Feinstein misconstrued an ‘Action Alert’ from the Network urging Catholics to send emails to the U.S. Senate supporting a prohibition on abortion funding in pending healthcare legislation.

“Many of you received a response from Senator Dianne Feinstein to your email supporting the Nelson amendment,” said the Dec. 18 Public Policy Insights, an emailed newsletter to members of the Catholic Legislative Network. “Although the Nelson amendment failed -- and Senator Feinstein was key in that opposition -- her email misinterprets our message.”

The newsletter quotes from an email from Feinstein in which the senator says, "I understand that you would like to see private insurance coverage of abortion services further restricted in healthcare reform legislation," then notes that Feinstein got the message from Catholics all wrong.

“We asked for no such thing,” says the Catholic Legislative Network newsletter. “Instead, we asked to maintain the 30-plus-year prohibition of Federal funding of abortion -- known as the Hyde Amendment. We did not ask for a ban on private insurance coverage of abortion services as the Senator claims. Her claim that the ‘underlying bill already does that’ or that ‘the Secretary of Health and Human Services will ensure one plan does not cover abortion’ are insufficient because either or both of these situations are subject to political pressure and abandonment.”

The Legislative Network’s newsletter also takes Feinstein to task for saying in her email response to those who contacted her asking her to support the abortion-funding restrictions that the amendment “would prohibit any health insurance plan that accepts any federally-subsidized patient from providing coverage for any abortion -- no matter how necessary that procedure might be for a woman's health -- even if she pays for the coverage herself."

“Again, this is wrong,” said the Catholic Legislative Network, “because women who want abortion coverage can purchase a rider if they so choose.”

“It is important that our lawmakers hear AND understand our voice,” concluded the Legislative Network’s newsletter. “The California Catholic Conference has communicated with Senator Feinstein about her representation of our position.”

Feinstein took to the Senate floor on Dec. 9 to express opposition to the Nelson Amendment, which was defeated later the same day by a vote of 54-45. “This amendment would place an unprecedented restriction on a woman’s right to use her own money to purchase health care coverage that would cover abortions,” said Feinstein, who concluded her remarks by saying, “This is all ideological and it really, deeply bothers me. So, I can tell you that I very much hope this amendment goes down.”

Filling the shoes of Fr. Neuhaus?

2009-12-22T22:07:05Z

From http://www.calcatholic.com/

Catholic professor with close ties to prominent bishops was principal author of Manhattan Declaration

(The following are excerpts from a New York Times Magazine article by David D. Kirkpatrick profiling Robert P. George, described in the piece as “a Princeton University professor of jurisprudence and a Roman Catholic who is this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker.” The article was first published on the Times’ website Dec. 16, then in print on Dec. 20.)

On a September afternoon, about 60 prominent Christians assembled in the library of the Metropolitan Club on the east side of Central Park. It was a gathering of unusual diversity and power. Many in attendance were conservative evangelicals like the born-again Watergate felon Chuck Colson, who helped initiate the meeting. Metropolitan Jonah, the primate of the Orthodox Church in America, was there as well. And so were more than half a dozen of this country’s most influential Roman Catholic bishops, including Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, Archbishop John Myers of Newark and Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia.

At the center of the event was Robert P. George, a Princeton University professor of jurisprudence and a Roman Catholic who is this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker. Dressed in his usual uniform of three-piece suit, New College, Oxford cuff links and rimless glasses, George convened the meeting with a note of thanks and a reminder of its purpose. Alarmed at the liberal takeover of Washington and an apparent leadership vacuum among the Christian right, the group had come together to warn the country’s secular powers that the culture wars had not ended. As a starting point, George had drafted a 4,700-word manifesto that promised resistance to the point of civil disobedience against any legislation that might implicate their churches or charities in abortion, embryo-destructive research or same-sex marriage.

Two months later, at a Washington press conference to present the group’s “Manhattan Declaration,” George stepped aside to let Cardinal Rigali sum up just what made the statement, and much of George’s work, distinctive. These principles did not belong to the Christian faith alone, the cardinal declared; they rested on a foundation of universal reason. “They are principles that can be known and honored by men and women of good will even apart from divine revelation,” Rigali said. “They are principles of right reason and natural law.”

Even marriage between a man and a woman, Rigali continued, was grounded not just in religion and tradition but in logic. “The true great goods of marriage -- the unitive and the procreative goods -- are inextricably bound together such that the complementarity of husband and wife is of the very essence of marital communion,” the cardinal continued, ascending into philosophical abstractions surely lost on most in the room. “Sexual relations outside the marital bond are contrary not only to the will of God but to the good of man. Indeed, they are contrary to the will of God precisely because they are against the good of man.”

…For 20 years, George has operated largely out of public view at the intersection of academia, religion and politics. In the past 12 months, however, he has stepped into a more prominent role. With the death of the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Lutheran minister turned Roman Catholic priest who helped bring evangelicals and Catholics together into a political movement, George has assumed his mantle as the reigning brain of the Christian right. And he is in many ways the public face of the conservative side in the most urgent culture-war battle of the day. The National Organization for Marriage, the advocacy group fighting same-sex marriage in Albany and Trenton, Maine and California, has made him its chairman. Before the 2004 election, he helped a coalition of Christian conservative groups write their proposed amendment to the federal Constitution defining marriage as heterosexual. More than any other scholar, George has staked his reputation on the claim that same-sex marriage violates not only tradition but also human reason…”

To read the full article, Click Here.

Swedish government seizes child from home-schooling family

2009-12-22T21:57:06Z

ADF, HSLDA team up as legal counsel for family
Image via Wikipedia
Tuesday, December 22, 2009

GOTLAND, Sweden — A Christian home schooling family could permanently lose custody of their only child simply because they home-school. Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and the Home School Legal Defense Association are joining forces as legal advisors to the couple in order to persuade the Swedish government to return the seven-year-old child to his parents.

“Parents have the right and authority to make decisions regarding their children’s education without government interference,” said ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska, who is based in Europe. “This is about a socialist government trying to create a cookie-cutter child in its own image. Without help, the parents in these cases are really powerless since the system is so one sided.”

Swedish authorities forcibly removed Dominic Johansson from his parents, Christer and Annie Johansson, in June of last year from a plane they had boarded to move to Annie’s home country of India. The officials did not have a warrant nor have they charged the Johanssons with any crime. The officials seized the child because they believe home schooling is an inappropriate way to raise a child and insist the government should raise Dominic instead.

“It’s one of the most disgraceful abuses of power we have ever witnessed,” said HSLDA attorney Mike Donnelly. “The Swedish government says it is exercising its authority under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in their unnecessary break up of this family. In addition, the Swedish Parliament is considering an essential ban on home schooling. We have heard that other home-schooling families in Sweden are having more difficulty with local officials. We fear that all home-schooling families in that country are at risk.”

Swedish social services initially limited visitation to the child to two hours per week but now have curtailed that to one hour every fifth week and no visit at all for Christmas because the social workers will be on vacation.

On Dec. 17, a Swedish court ruled in Johansson v. Gotland Social Services that the government was within its rights to seize the child. They cited the fact that Dominic had not been vaccinated as a reason to remove him permanently from his parents and also repeated the provably false charges that home-schoolers do not perform well academically and are not well socialized. The ordeal has left the child and his parents traumatized.

The Home School Legal Defense Association is a 26-year-old, 85,000 member non-profit organization and the pre-eminent association advocating the legal right of parents to home-school their children.

HSLDA news release

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination ofstrategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.

[MaryVitamin] St. Joseph & the Christmas Mystery

2009-12-22T21:41:35Z

Mary Vitamin for December 22nd

Topic: St. Joseph & the Christmas Mystery

Quote:

John Henry Cardinal Newman

"St. Joseph was the cherub, placed to guard the new terrestrial Paradise from the intrusion of every foe."

(cf. Genesis 3:24*

“Consider the Glories of St. Joseph”

Meditation:

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the New Paradise, the Virgin Earth from which the Tree of Life is born. St. Joseph is an essential part of this mystery of our Faith.

John Paul II

"Therefore he became a unique guardian of the mystery 'hidden for ages in God' (Eph 3:9), as did Mary, in that decisive moment which St. Paul calls 'the fullness of time,' when 'God sent forth his Son, born of woman...to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons' (Gal 4:4-5)"

Together with Mary, Joseph is the first guardian of this divine mystery. Together with Mary, and in relation to Mary, he shares in this final phase of God's self-revelation in Christ, and he does so from the very beginning. Looking at the gospel texts of both Matthew and Luke, one can also say that Joseph is the first to share in the faith of the Mother of God, and that in doing so he supports his spouse in the faith of the divine annunciation. He is also the first to be placed by God on the path of Mary's 'pilgrimage of faith.' It is a path along which—especially at the time of Calvary and Pentecost—Mary will precede in a perfect way.”

Redemptoris Custos (Guardian of the Redeemer)August 15, 1989, par #5.

Resolution:

Today, I resolve to think of St. Joseph and to act like St. Joseph, the Guardian of the Holy Family. One time today, in honor of St. Joseph, I will choose something or someone else over myself in order to protect the place of honor the Infant and Our Lady have in my heart. I will think of St. Joseph and ask him to teach me the proper veneration due to the Holy Mother of God and Her Son.

Marian Vow:

St. Louis de Montfort

“Mary is God's garden of Paradise, his own unspeakable world, into which his Son entered to do wonderful things, to tend it and to take his delight in it.” (Secret of Mary, paragraph 19)

I will tap my heart today and reflect on the Paradise of Blessings which I have been given by my Marian Vow. I will ask St. Joseph to defend it.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate & AirMaria

*Genesis 24

“When he expelled the man, he settled him east of the garden of Eden; and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword to guard the tree of life.”

_._,_.___

Posted via email from deaconjohn's posterous

Commentary: Christmas with Congress, A Seat for Aborted Souls

2009-12-22T20:39:45Z

By Jen Shroder

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

"A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more."
Matt 2:18

Image via Wikipedia

Dec 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In Bethlehem, Herod killed all male children under 2 years of age because he felt threatened. On Capitol Hill, battles are raging to keep the abortion mills running. Who threatens you, Pelosi? Why are you determined to murder our children, Reid?

If they succeed, the vote is shaping up for Christmas Eve, a night when we are all reminded of the Christ born in a manger, a star to guide the wise men and shepherds to his birthplace. W

hat star will shine for our wise men on Capitol Hill?

Today in Washington, the usual suspects are plotting negotiations for votes while Larry Klayman accuses Obama of secret deals with lobbyists such as Planned Parenthood, a violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Lies by Herod, lies by Obama, how did this story of infanticide come full circle and land on Christmas Eve? These are the beginnings of great sorrows.

We have been saturated with negative propaganda about Christ and Christianity from the media, our education systems censor His name. Many are becoming offended by the message of Christ just as Jesus predicted. Our Constitution, originally drafted by godly men, is crumbling before our eyes, lawlessness abounds and the greatest of sorrows is born by childless mo

thers weeping for their children.

The Bible warns of these woes and we feel them. We shudder as we read the news applauding Representatives like Lois Capps, currently "threatening to derail the legislation if a House-Senate conference committee does not remove language that would restrict access to abortions."

The swords of Herod must swing.

Rob Hotakainen began his article, "Capps Steps into Abortion Spotlight," with the words: "As a school nurse long ago, Rep. Lois Capps worked with children of the uninsured, getting eyeglasses for them with help from the local Lions Club."

So what was running through Capps’ mind as she handed out eyeglasses? Did she think these children didn’t deserve to live? How did she come to the conclusion that we absolutely must keep the abortion mills churning after distributing to the needy? Was she coldly thinking "brats" as she smiled, hiding her thoughts of "better if you’d never been born"? I know this sounds harsh but there it is in black and white. If she served as a school nurse and came out on fire to push for abortion, what was she thinking? Are only the rich entitled to bear children? Keep the eyeglasses, this is one "nurse" I wouldn’t want anywhere near my child!

So as you tuck in your children on Christmas Eve, touched by their innocent faces as they nod off to sleep, know that men have gathered in Congress much as Herod’s soldiers gathered in the night to take up their swords. If Congressmen vote the way of Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Capps, know that their actions will keep the blood flowing from millions more to come.

I urge all of us to pray, pray for our little ones and for all the childless moms that were misled and are weeping because their children are no more. The days are growing colder both in the hearts and minds on the hill. Congressmen, put aside Pelosi, put aside your seats, put aside your treasures and see to your souls. If you sign this health care bill complete with the abortion language that Pelosi and Capps lust after, then you will have consigned America to stoke the fires of hell itself.

May God have mercy on our nation.

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

****
Jen Shroder is founder of BlessedCause. Shroder has been interviewed by Fox News, Associated Press, and dozens of talk radio hosts and news media.

Top Atheist Group Started Because of Abortion Rights

2009-12-22T20:19:49Z

Bah! Humbug! Just Removed Another Nativity Scene

MADISON, Wisc., Dec. 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- Yesterday, a Charleston, South Carolina fire department removed a nativity scene because of one complaint and a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin.

According to the December 2009 edition of the Isthmus, the Freedom From Religion Foundation began in Madison in 1976 after the founders saw Christians opposing abortion at legislative meetings at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

The founders, Annie Laurie Gaylor and mother Anne Gaylor, believed women were being treated unequally by being denied abortion rights. They then set out to destroy Christian freedoms.

They have become one of the top atheist groups in the world with 14,000 members. They try to stop the mention of God in schools.

They take legal action against city councils for saying a prayer before their meetings. They distribute posters and billboards throughout the United States that mock Christians and offer anti-God rhetoric.

They recently lost a lawsuit trying to stop "In God We Trust" at the U.S. Capitol visitor center in Washington, D.C.

Currently, they are working on lawsuits against the National Day of Prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and they are trying to stop tax deductions for clergy housing.
Gaylor's husband, Dan Barker, who claims to have been a believer before becoming an atheist, says in the Isthmus article, "What's wrong with stirring things up? Isn't that the point of free dialogue and free speech?"

This atheist group tries to look as if they are tolerant of others' beliefs, but they use doublespeak. They say they are tolerant, but they try to take away the free speech rights of Christians.

Ironically, atheists are able to freely speak because the U.S. founding fathers created documents that were based on a person's freedom under God.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation and Underground Apologetics are both located in Madison, Wisconsin. Both organizations use the same post office near the Wisconsin State Capitol.

However, the organizations are promoting opposite causes. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is anti-God and Underground Apologetics is trying to help others discover God's promises.

Underground Apologetics, which operates www.UndergroundNews.us, is growing every day. Steve McConkey, Underground President, says, "We need to pray and not react in anger. God is still in control. History teaches us that wherever religious freedoms are taken away, dictators reign as in Cuba, China, Hitler's Germany, and the ex-Soviet Union. There is still hope, even for atheists."

Conclusion: Keep saying Merry Christmas!

"Feds take aim at customers of child prostitution,"

2009-12-22T20:14:44Z

Kansas City:
Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse
U.S. Attorney's Office
Justice Department to be Commended for Prosecuting not Just Pimps but also the Customers of Child Prostitutes, but it Still isn't Attacking the Alarming Market for Child Sex 'On All Fronts'

NEW YORK, Dec. 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- According to a December 18 news release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Kansas City, seven defendants have been convicted "in the nation's first-ever federal prosecution of the alleged customers of child prostitution under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act." The release continued, "While the pimps...have been prosecuted...elsewhere, these indictments are the first in the nation to charge a 'John' with attempting to pay for sex with a child."

In a December 12 AP story, "Feds take aim at customers of child prostitution," Matt Whitworth, acting U.S. Attorney in Kansas City, stated, "We became aware of the alarming market for child sex trafficking while successfully prosecuting cases of child prostitution. As we obtained convictions against the pimps..., we realized an aggressive strategy was needed to attack this issue on all fronts." According to the story, other federal districts are "now successfully following the same strategy."

Morality in Media president Robert Peters had the following comments:

"The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri is to be commended for initiating an effort to target not just the pimps who prey on children for commercial purposes but also the 'Johns' who pay for sex with children. Sexual exploitation of children in prostitution is an abhorrent evil that must be fought 'on all fronts' if it is to be fought successfully.

"But there is one 'front' in the battle against child prostitution that federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies continue to ignore. Despite overwhelming evidence that the proliferation of hardcore adult pornography on the Internet and elsewhere is contributing to sexual exploitation of children in general and child prostitution in particular, the U.S. Justice Department from 2000 to 2008 refused to devote more that token resources to combating the pernicious obscenity evil. Since the 2008 presidential election, the Justice Department has not initiated any new obscenity cases.

"In September, Morality in Media issued a report entitled, "How Adult Pornography Contributes to Sexual Exploitation of Children." The evidence compiled in this 40-page report (supplemented by 175 pages of appendices) shows among other things that 'Johns' act out what they view in adult pornography with child prostitutes and that pimps use adult pornography to instruct child prostitutes."

The report with appendices is posted at Morality in Media'swww.obscenitycrimes.org website ('Porn Problem & Solutions' and 'Help for Parents' pages).

Federation of Organizations Opposes Senate Healthcare Bill that Funds Abortion

2009-12-22T19:49:44Z

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Freedom Federationannounced that the federation of organizations representing over 30 million people opposes any healthcare bill that directly or indirectly funds abortion, including the current Senate bill. The Freedom Federation is comprised of some of the nation's largest multiracial, multiethnic, and multigenerational faith-based and policy organizations.

Last Saturday, Senate President Harry Reid (D-NV) filed a 383-page so-called "Manager's Amendment" to his 2,074-page pending bill (H.R. 3590). Amendment 3276 requires that the federal government violate the principles of the Hyde Amendment by funding abortion. The funding follows a complicated bookkeeping scheme similar to the Camps-Waxman accounting scheme which the House rejected when it adopted the Stupak-Pitts Amendment on November 7.

Mathew Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, remarked: "Abortion is not healthcare. The Senate bill forces the American people to conspire with the federal government in murdering innocent children. This is morally unacceptable."

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Hispanic National Association of Evangelicals, said: "We vehemently and unequivocally oppose any and all healthcare legislation that funds abortion directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly without exception. Abortion is not health care. We oppose any and all legislation, language or compromise that surrenders this core value on the altar of political expediency. Any and all statements, endorsements or commentaries outside the canopy of the aforementioned commitment hereby stand rectified. As an organization serving 25,434 congregations, we seek to facilitate a multi-ethnic firewall against the Spirit of Herod and the Culture of Death. Once again, we say to Senator Reid and the leadership in the Senate -- Life cannot be compromised."

Deacon Keith Fournier, Editor in Chief, Catholic Online, said: "Abortion is the taking of innocent human life. Killing is not - and will never be - health care. It is always and everywhere wrong to kill our innocent neighbors. To use federal funds to do so is an egregious violation of fundamental human rights and must never be considered healthcare."

Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council, commented: "A federal government run health care system will create a nationwide abortion network funded by government dollars resulting in the greatest abortion expansion since Roe v. Wade. Senators Ben Nelson and Robert Casey gave mere lip service to protecting the most innocent among us by placing their stamp of approval on government funding for abortion coverage in direct conflict with longstanding policy. I ask them to reverse course."

Lou Engle, Founder and President of The Call to Conscience, said: "The shedding of the blood of our most innocent citizens, the unborn, can never be a solution to the great social problems of our day. We reject and renounce Sen. Reid's bill being pushed through the Senate, including Sen. Casey's and Sen. Nelson's compromised amendments."

REID DEALS “THREE CARD MONTE”

2009-12-22T19:39:43Z

December 22, 2009

Catholic League president Bill Donohue raps the Senate health care bill:

In New York City, swindlers play a card game on the sidewalks called “Three Card Monte.” The card dealer, using a cardboard box as his table, identifies three cards, stating that one of them, e.g., the Queen of Hearts, is the winning card: the cards are placed face down and are then quickly scrambled. The dealer works with a confederate, another con man, who plays the game only to lose. But he is actually the bait to lure some tourist who thinks he can outsmart the dealer. With sleight of hand, the dealer winds up cheating the tourist.

This is what Sen. Harry Reid’s health care bill resembles—“Three Card Monte.” The dealer is the federal government with its “opt out” and “firewall” illusions regarding abortion coverage; the confederate is the insurance companies with its “segregation of funds” illusions; and the loser is the taxpayers, especially those who are pro-life.

The central difference between the card game and the health care bill is that the former doesn’t wind up subsidizing the killing of innocents.

Quote From 'The Glories of Mary':

2009-12-22T03:38:18Z

“O clement, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary!"

"O Mary, thou art clement with the miserable, compassionate towards those who pray to thee, sweet towards those who love thee; clement with the penitent, compassionate to those who advance, sweet to the perfect. Thou showest thyself clement in delivering us from chastisement, compassionate in bestowing graces, and sweet in giving thyself to those who seek thee.”
Saint Bonaventure

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 12/22/09

2009-12-22T01:26:43Z

LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Tuesday, December 22, 2009

For news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com.

Current Headlines

 Senate Ends Filibuster on Manager's Amdt to Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Bart Stupak Will "Hold Firm" on Banning Abortion Funding in Health Care
Ben Nelson Faces Pro-Life Rally, Backlash After Abortion-Health Care Sellout
Catholic Bishops Oppose Nelson-Reid Deal on Abortion Funding in Senate Bill
House Abortion Advocates Unsure How to Respond to Reid-Nelson Deal
Wisconsin Senator Expands Call to Probe Planned Parenthood on Abortion
Asheville, North Carolina Councilman Acts as Abortion Center Escort
Oklahoma Judge Extends Restraining Order Against Abortion Reporting Law
Judge in Killing of Abortion Practitioner Tiller Considering Roeder Motions
Bob Casey's Wife: Will Support Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill After Prayer
Spain Pro-Life Group Condemns First Passage of Law to Expand Abortions
Spring 40 Days for Life Campaign Against Abortion Takes Applications
Wisconsin Right to Life Lawsuit Challenges Funding for Supreme Court Races
California Pro-Life Advocate John Finn Passes Away, Fought Abortion

--> IMPORTANT ACTION ALERT: Please call both of your members of the Senate and urge them to support the filibuster of the pro-abortion health care bill. Find any senator's contact information here.

Senate Ends Filibuster on Manager's Amendment to Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate has ended the filibuster against the manager's amendment, the changes Senate Leader Harry Reid is sponsoring to the pro-abortion Senate health care bill to get it to 60 votes. The vote came after Sen. Ben Nelson upset pro-life groups by ending his objection to the bill over its abortion funding.

Senators voted 60-40 to end debate on the amendment, with all Democrats voting for the cloture motion and all Republicans voting against it.

The amendment makes major changes to the massive abortion funding already found in the bill.

In a letter to senators urging a no vote on the anti-filibuster motion, the National Right to Life Committee pointed out that the manager's amendment "is light years removed from the Stupak-Pitts Amendment that was approved by the House of Representatives on November 7 by a bipartisan vote of 240-194."

"The new abortion language solves none of the fundamental abortion-related problems with the underlying Senate bill, and it actually creates some new abortion-related problems," the group added.

The changes allow the federal government to subsidize private insurance plans that cover abortion on demand, to oversee multi-state plans that cover elective abortions, and to empower federal officials to mandate that private health plans cover abortions even if they do not accept subsidized enrollees.

"The abortion-related language violates the principles of the Hyde Amendment by requiring the federal government to pay premiums for private health plans that will cover any or all abortions," NRLC indicated. "The federal subsidies would be subject to a convoluted bookkeeping requirement, different in detail but similar in kind to the Capps-Waxman accounting scheme that the House of Representatives rejected." Full story at LifeNews.com

Bart Stupak Says He Will "Hold Firm" on Banning Abortion Funding in Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Should the Senate ultimately pass its pro-abortion health care bill at the end of the week, the next step for the measure will be a conference committee that will produce a final version of the legislation. When the House votes on it, pro-life Rep. Bart Stupak says not to expect him to compromise like Sen. Ben Nelson did.

Nelson has come under fire for compromising his position against the bill over its abortion funding and becoming what is expected to be the 60th vote for it.

Stupak, like Nelson, sponsored an authentic ban on abortion funding under the legislation, but his received House approval while Nelson's was defeated. Unlike Nelson, Stupak says he will "hold firm" on the ban.

We are going to hold firm and make sure the Stupak-Pitts language stays when this legislation comes back to us. We will not vote for this bill if that language is not there, Stupak promised.

When asked how negotiations will take place should the conference committee send a bill to the House and Senate without his abortion-funding ban in place, Stupak said he won't bend. We'll have a conversation if it comes back that way, Stupak said. Not a negotiation; a conversation. Full story at LifeNews.com

Ben Nelson Faces Pro-Life Rally, Backlash After Abortion-Health Care Sellout
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska faces a significant backlash after compromising his pro-life views on abortion by proposing language in the Senate health care bill that funds abortions and saying he would vote for the pro-abortion health care bill.

Since his announcement, pro-life groups have come down hard on Nelson saying his compromise just allows more abortion funding.

I couldn't create the opportunity to be the 60th vote. It happened, Nelson said on CNN on Sunday. If you think it's fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you're trying to do something in good faith, just think, it's like going home and getting bit by the family dog. So - who enjoys that?

Nelson defended his abortion funding decision by saying even more abortion funding would be allowed had he not struck a deal with Senate leader Harry Reid. Nelson said Reid could have used the reconciliation process to bring up a bill that was even worse to get around his opposition preventing Reid from getting 60 votes.

Then you wouldn't have gotten whats in the bill right now, Nelson said on CNN. Nelson added that The high intensity here is as harsh and as unforgiving and unrelenting as I have ever seen it in my nine years," he said about the response he faced.

He added: I'm an independent-minded sort of person. And I think that's demonstrated. I don't take my marching orders from a party or a group or any other entity. And, as in this case, I put together what I thought was appropriate, and I'm sorry that both sides didn't enjoy it. And that's the way it works. I'm an independent type of person. I'm not a lone eagle. I do consult. I do get input. But at the end of the day, I make my own decision about what to do. Full story at LifeNews.com

Catholic Bishops Oppose Nelson-Reid Deal on Abortion Funding in Senate Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Catholic bishops have issued a new statement responding to the so-called compromise deal on abortion funding struck by Harry Reid and Ben Nelson that still results in massive abortion funding. They join the national pro-life groups that have unanimously opposed the deal and the health care bill.

As LifeNews.com reported extensively over the weekend, Nelson proposed abortion language Reid agreed to that will likely be adopted in Reid's manager's amendment.

The language allows states to opt out of abortion funding, but will force taxpayers to fund abortions in states that don't and overturns limits on abortion funding in other instances.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City issued a joint statement saying, "The Senate health reform bill should not move forward in its current form."

"Today a Manager's Amendment was proposed to make final changes in that bill," they said. "The amendment includes some improvements from Senator Casey's proposal, including adoption tax credits and assistance for pregnant women, but differs from that proposal in other ways."

"It does not seem to allow purchasers who exercise freedom of choice or of conscience to 'opt out' of abortion coverage in federally subsidized health plans that include such coverage," they continued. "Instead it will require purchasers of such plans to pay a distinct fee or surcharge which is extracted solely to help pay for other people's abortions." Full story at LifeNews.com

House Abortion Advocates Unsure How to Respond to Reid-Nelson Abortion Deal
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The pro-abortion activists in the House of Representatives are unsure how to respond to the deal struck between senators Harry Reid and Ben Nelson in the Senate health care bill. The deal is opposed by pro-life advocates because it does not truly ban abortion funding under the legislation.

In the Senate, top pro-abortion lawmakers like Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray applauded the language, partly out of their desire to get the pro-abortion, government-run health care bill approved.

But pro-abortion advocacy groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL panned the deal and the language -- saying it is not pro-abortion enough and is offensive because women in states that opt out of paying for abortions have to purchase separate insurance riders for abortions.

Eventually, if the Senate approves its bill, a conference committee made up of House and Senate lawmakers will have to hash out a final version of the legislation for each chamber to approve. The big question is whether the abortion funding ban in the House or the pro-abortion Reid-Nelson language in the Senate will remain.

Rep. Diana DeGette, the Colorado Democrat who is the chair of the pro-abortion caucus in the House says she and her colleagues are analyzing the new Senate language. They are huddling with pro-abortion attorneys and insurance company executives on how to proceed.

"We're still trying to figure out what this language means," DeGette told MSNBC. "It seems at the very best incredibly cumbersome for women, and at worst unconstitutional." Full story at LifeNews.com

Wisconsin Senator Expands Call to Probe Planned Parenthood on Abortion Video
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- A Wisconsin state senator is expanding his call for an investigation of a Planned Parenthood abortion center shown on an undercover video misleading women about abortion and fetal development. Live Action's latest video has an abortion practitioner and staffer saying abortion does not kill a human being.

The video also shows the staff misleading two women posing as potential abortion customers by telling them that the heart of the unborn child doesn't begin to beat until late in pregnancy -- instead of at about 22 days as is the case.

Senator Glenn Grothman has already called for an investigation and, on Friday, circulated a letter for legislators to sign onto asking the Medical Society and the Medical Examining Board to investigate the abortion practitioner in the incident.

The abortion practitioner, Dr. Prohaska, tells the woman, "you don't want to wait" to get an abortion, that an abortion is very, very safe . . . much safer than having a baby and warns her, "women die having babies."

Grothman told LifeNews.com that Prohaska "is clearly choosing his words carefully to encourage a young woman to have an abortion." Full story at LifeNews.com

Asheville, North Carolina Councilman Cecil Bothwell Acts as Abortion Center Escort
Asheville, NC (LifeNews.com) -- Newly-minted city councilman Cecil Bothwell has received considerable national news attention recently because he is a declared atheist, and because the North Carolina Constitution prohibits anyone who denies "Almighty God" from holding office.

Bothwell is also coming under fire because he continues to work as an escort at an abortion center despite his position in local elected office.

What no media outlet has mentioned is that, for many years, Bothwell has been a volunteer "escort" at the Femcare abortion facility in Asheville. Once a month, wearing a blaze-orange vest, Bothwell patrols the Femcare parking lot, greets pregnant women at their cars and walks them to the door, sometimes holding the door, inside of which they will have their pre-born children killed.

"I have such a high regard for constitutional rights that I'm willing to put my life on the line to protect women who are threatened with violence when they seek access to family planning help, Bothwell posted on the Asheville Citizen-Times on-line commentary site prior to the November election. Local pro-life activist Meredith Eugene Hunt disagrees with Bothwells characterization. Full story at LifeNews.com

Oklahoma Judge Extends Restraining Order Against Abortion Reporting Law
Oklahoma City, OK (LifeNews.com) -- An Oklahoma county judge has extended a restraining order against a pro-life law requiring the state to issue better reporting on abortion. District Judge Daniel Owens also has scheduled a February 19 hearing on the lawsuit from the abortion business challenging the law. Owens placed a temporary restraining order until the date of the hearing.

The Statistical Reporting of Abortions Act, set to go into effect on November 1, received the support of large majorities of the Oklahoma House and Senate.

Governor Brad Henry signed the bill into law in May but it was challenged by the Center for Reproductive Rights, a pro-abortion law firm based in New York City.

The law requires a report for each abortion be sent to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The questionnaire gathers demographic information including age, race, marital status and educational level and gathers information on the method of abortion used. Full story at LifeNews.com

Judge in Killing of Abortion Practitioner George Tiller Considering Roeder Motions
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- The judge who is presiding over the case involving the killing of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller will be considering motions tomorrow. The motions come from the defense of Scott Roeder, the militia activist accused of killing Tiller at his church this summer.

District Judge Warren Wilbert has yet to rule on a request for a change of venue for the trial and another motion to allow Roeder to use a justification defense.

The defense would argue that he was justified in killing Tiller because Tiller's death would result in saving the lives of unborn children.

Roeder was not affiliated with any pro-life organizations and the pro-life movement has soundly condemned his shooting and pointed out that Tiller was close to having his medical license revoked -- which could have put him out of business legitimately. Full story at LifeNews.com

Bob Casey's Wife: Will Support Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill After Prayer
Scranton, PA (LifeNews.com) -- Members of the pro-life group Insurrecta Nex and local Pennsylvania pro-life advocates are in day two of a vigil outside Senator Bob Casey's home in Scranton. The pro-life advocates are literally camped on the street, praying, and holding signs with the hope that they will be able to convince Casey, who claims to be pro-life, to vote against the pro-abortion Senate health care bill. By their witness, and with their prayers, they are pleading for Senator Casey to filibuster the measure -- the only way to stop it from advancing. Diana Roccograndi told LifeNews.com she introduced the group to Casey's wife and explained that they would be holding a vigil in front of her house for the next four days regarding the health care bill because Sen. Casey has said he is pro-life. She responded, "Why won't you leave him alone? Why doesn't anyone give him credit for the votes for life he has made?" She was upset about us being there, and said: "My children and neighbors will also be upset; you should have gone to his office, not here." Casey's wife admitted that their protest would not likely yield any results. "It is not going to do any good; he has prayed about it, and has already made up his mind, and is not going to change it," she reportedly said. Roccograndi wondered what God Casey prayed to if the answer was to support a bill that would result in paying for hundreds of thousands of abortions.

Spring 40 Days for Life Campaign Against Abortion Takes Last Chance Applications
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The following update comes from our friend David Bereit at 40 Days for Life: "Just a quick reminder that the deadline to apply for the spring 40 Days for Life campaign is tonight, Monday, December 21, at midnight. If someone from your community has already applied, congratulations. It's going to be an exciting spring campaign! If nobody from your town has applied yet -- and you want to bring this breakthrough pro-life campaign of prayer and fasting, peaceful vigil, and grassroots outreach to your community from February 17 to March 28 -- it's decision time. By taking this step of faith, you will be joining cities across America and numerous international locations for one of the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilizations in history.

Spain Pro-Life Group Condemns First Passage of Law to Expand Abortions
Madrid, Spain (LifeNews.com) -- The Spanish pro-life group Spanish Family Forum submitted the following statement to LifeNews.com after the passage of the pro-abortion bill in the Spanish parliament. Benigno Blanco, the president of the group, said: "The Law which was passed today in the Congress is one of the most radical in the world, because it not only makes the unborn child more vulnerable than ever before, but it also establishes the right to abortion as a part of womens right to health and puts in place mechanisms to impose this doctrine throughout the Spanish educational and health systems. As far as I know, there is no precedent for a law which, apart from legalizing abortion, imposes the view that abortion is a good thing and forms part of the right to health and life of all women." The passing of this law does not mean the end of the abortion debate in Spain; a large number of associations, Spanish Family Forum among them, will continue their fight to make heard the voices of unborn children, women and medical personnel and to defend the right to freedom of education for school children, university students and parents.

Wisconsin Right to Life Lawsuit Challenges Public Funding for Supreme Court Races
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- Last week, the Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee filed suit in federal court against Wisconsins recently enacted public funding scheme for Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates, asserting it is an unconstitutional infringement of their First Amendment free speech rights. Under the scheme, supreme court candidates who agree not to fundraise are given initial campaign funds from the state of $300,000, with additional rescue fund money of up totally $900,000, depending on the amount spent by third parties and their opponents. Wisconsin Right to Lifes PAC plans to spend its own money supporting candidates for the upcoming 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Wisconsin Right to Life challenges the inclusion of third party spending in determining when a participating candidate has been out-spent by a nonparticipating opponent and is entitled to rescue funds. It also challenges rules that require additional reports on its spending because the reports are in place solely to make sure candidates receive additional public funding. According to James Bopp, Jr., counsel for Wisconsin Right to Life, under this system, simply running an ad against a candidate can result in that candidate getting more taxpayer money. Says Bopp, third parties are chilled from speaking in support of a candidate because doing so will likely result in providing additional funds to that candidate's opponent.

California Pro-Life Advocate John Finn Passes Away, Fought Abortion Since 1972
Redondo Beach, CA (LifeNews.com) -- John Edward Finn, Jr., 72, of Redondo Beach, peacefully passed away Saturday, December 12, 2009 at his home in Redondo Beach, California with family members at his side after a valiant battle with cancer. John was a dedicated Catholic, devoted spouse, wonderful father, former teacher at Jesuit Dallas, successful businessman, conservative publisher and a pro-life leader. A talented athlete, John was boxing champion in the annual Bengal Bouts at the University of Notre Dame and then later in New York City, the former heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Dempsey, kindly advised John to get married and have a family, rather than pursue dangerous, professional boxing. John and his wife Sherry were key figures in the American conservative movement in the 1960's. Together, they helped Ronald Reagan's political career by publishing and mailing out, from their kitchen, 500,000 copies of the book The Reason for Reagan. John met the future President Reagan while helping publish this book. John's decades of pro-life leadership and activism began before Roe v. Wade. He published and distributed huge quantities of pro-life literature and bumper stickers, while also praying and protesting abortion, including nonviolent peaceful rescue sit-ins for which he went to jail.

Encourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com

The true Golden Compass for humanity is Jesus Christ.

2009-12-22T01:21:41Z

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/december.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

December 22, 2009

(Rev 22:20) He that giveth testimony of these things, saith: Surely, I come quickly: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

EXCERPT: The Golden Compass by Fr Joe Borg

Image by 27147 via Flickr

The true Golden Compass for humanity is Jesus Christ. He is not just the Compass. He is the way who leads us to the Father. Finding Him means finding the Father because He and the Father are one. Christmas is the ideal occasion for us to discover that He became man only because He is madly in love with each and every one of us. Christmas is the time when we reciprocate His love by trying to love others the way He loves them. Christmas is the time when we discover the joy of all this.
It's the season to be jolly

Pope Benedict XVI spoke about this joy on December 13, just before reciting the Angelus. The secret to experiencing true joy is not found in accumulating lots of things, but from feeling loved by the Lord and being generous to others, he said. Real joy is feeling that one's personal and social life "is touched and filled by a great mystery, the mystery of God's love."

How can one experience joy when one lives in a sea of problems and difficulties? The Pope said that the Holy Family, gathered in a stable and facing so many hardships, does not on the surface, look like a very lucky family.

"And yet, they are full of an intimate joy because they love each other, they help each other" and above all they are certain that their lives are fulfilling God's work, commented Pope Benedict. True joy, therefore, "does not consist in having lots of things, but in feeling loved by the Lord, in letting ourselves be a gift to others, and in loving ourselves," he said. To feel joy, people need love and truth and to be close to God, who "warms our hearts and responds to our deepest needs," added the Pope.

It's the season to be radical

Christmas brings with it a radical development in the history of humanity. God shared our humanity so that we humans could have a share in His divinity. Quite naturally this has myriad implication on the level of personal, communal and political way of living for all men and women. Christmas should be the guarantee that all humans should share in the freedom of God and live in true freedom. God is a community of persons so Christmas should instill a spirit of solidarity and community. By becoming man, God got involved in human history to free humanity. Involvement is the name of the game for Christians.

Christmas is the promotion of a way of life. It promotes the integral development and the freedom of all men and women. Christmas promotes human dignity. We preach this Gospel. This is our mission of evangelisation. John Paul II said that "Human promotion must be the logical consequence of evangelisation, which tends to the integral liberation of the person."

Christmas is an eminently political feast. It is a celebration of involvement in the human condition; it is the clarion call of the victory of the meek and the humble; it is the ultimate defeat of the haughty; it is the bridgehead of solidarity. This is the looking glass that Christians must be gazing at during Christmas time. This is the looking glass which shows the real solution to the economic difficulties that we are facing. We should resist the temptation of looking for salvation at the neo-liberal theories that value the market more than the human person.

A really happy Christmas can only be enjoyed to the full if we Christians individually and together as a church discover and incarnate in our society the social and political dimension of Christmas which emanate from its religious dimension.

OF INTEREST

Send your Christmas greeting to the pope
Bethlehem ready for Christmas
Christmas spirit grips Viet Nam's big cities

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 25- "On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility"

Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com

This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

The true Golden Compass for humanity is Jesus Christ.

2009-12-22T01:17:03Z

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/december.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

December 22, 2009

(Rev 22:20) He that giveth testimony of these things, saith: Surely, I come quickly: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

EXCERPT: The Golden Compass by Fr Joe Borg

Image by 27147 via Flickr

The true Golden Compass for humanity is Jesus Christ. He is not just the Compass. He is the way who leads us to the Father. Finding Him means finding the Father because He and the Father are one. Christmas is the ideal occasion for us to discover that He became man only because He is madly in love with each and every one of us. Christmas is the time when we reciprocate His love by trying to love others the way He loves them. Christmas is the time when we discover the joy of all this.
It's the season to be jolly Pope Benedict XVI spoke about this joy on December 13, just before reciting the Angelus. The secret to experiencing true joy is not found in accumulating lots of things, but from feeling loved by the Lord and being generous to others, he said. Real joy is feeling that one's personal and social life "is touched and filled by a great mystery, the mystery of God's love."
How can one experience joy when one lives in a sea of problems and difficulties? The Pope said that the Holy Family, gathered in a stable and facing so many hardships, does not on the surface, look like a very lucky family.
"And yet, they are full of an intimate joy because they love each other, they help each other" and above all they are certain that their lives are fulfilling God's work, commented Pope Benedict. True joy, therefore, "does not consist in having lots of things, but in feeling loved by the Lord, in letting ourselves be a gift to others, and in loving ourselves," he said. To feel joy, people need love and truth and to be close to God, who "warms our hearts and responds to our deepest needs," added the Pope.

It's the season to be radical

Christmas brings with it a radical development in the history of humanity. God shared our humanity so that we humans could have a share in His divinity. Quite naturally this has myriad implication on the level of personal, communal and political way of living for all men and women. Christmas should be the guarantee that all humans should share in the freedom of God and live in true freedom. God is a community of persons so Christmas should instill a spirit of solidarity and community. By becoming man, God got involved in human history to free humanity. Involvement is the name of the game for Christians.

Christmas is the promotion of a way of life. It promotes the integral development and the freedom of all men and women. Christmas promotes human dignity. We preach this Gospel. This is our mission of evangelisation. John Paul II said that "Human promotion must be the logical consequence of evangelisation, which tends to the integral liberation of the person."

Christmas is an eminently political feast. It is a celebration of involvement in the human condition; it is the clarion call of the victory of the meek and the humble; it is the ultimate defeat of the haughty; it is the bridgehead of solidarity. This is the looking glass that Christians must be gazing at during Christmas time. This is the looking glass which shows the real solution to the economic difficulties that we are facing. We should resist the temptation of looking for salvation at the neo-liberal theories that value the market more than the human person.

A really happy Christmas can only be enjoyed to the full if we Christians individually and together as a church discover and incarnate in our society the social and political dimension of Christmas which emanate from its religious dimension.

OF INTEREST

Send your Christmas greeting to the pope
Bethlehem ready for Christmas
Christmas spirit grips Viet Nam's big cities

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 25- "On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility"

Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com

This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

Posted via email from deaconjohn's posterous

The unborn child knew the Unborn Child:

2009-12-21T23:31:35Z

St Ambrose's commentary on St Luke's Gospel

The angel Gabriel had announced the news of something that was as yet hidden and so, to buttress the Virgin Mary’s faith by means of a real example, he told her also that an old and sterile woman had conceived, showing that everything that God willed was possible to God.

When Mary heard this she did not disbelieve the prophecy, she was not uncertain of the message, she did not doubt the example: but happy because of the promise that had been given, eager to fulfil her duty as a cousin, hurried by her joy, she went up into the hill country.

Where could she hurry to except to the hills, filled with God as she was? The grace of the Holy Spirit does not admit of delays. And Mary’s arrival and the presence of her Son quickly show their effects: As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting her child leapt in her womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.

See the careful distinction in the choice of words. Elizabeth was the first to hear the voice but her son John was the first to feel the effects of grace. She heard as one hears in the natural course of things; he leapt because of the mystery that was there. She sensed the coming of Mary, he the coming of the Lord — the woman knew the woman, the child knew the child. The women speak of grace while inside them grace works on their babies. And by a double miracle the women prophesy under the inspiration of their unborn children.

The infant leapt and the mother was filled with the Spirit. The mother was not filled before her son: her son was filled with the Holy Spirit and in turn filled his mother. John leapt and so did Mary’s spirit. John leapt and filled Elizabeth with the Spirit; but we know that Mary was not filled but her spirit rejoiced. For the Incomprehensible was working incomprehensibly within his mother. Elizabeth had been filled with the Spirit after she conceived, but Mary before, at the moment the angel had come. “Blessed are you,” said Elizabeth, “who believed”.

You too, my people, are blessed, you who have heard and who believe. Every soul that believes — that soul both conceives and gives birth to the Word of God and recognises his works.

Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you, to proclaim the greatness of the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each one of you, to rejoice in God. According to the flesh only one woman can be the mother of Christ but in the world of faith Christ is the fruit of all of us. For every soul can receive the Word of God if only it is pure and preserves itself in chastity and modesty.

The soul that has been able to reach this state proclaims the greatness of the Lord just as Mary did and rejoices in God its saviour just like her.

The Lord’s greatness is proclaimed, as you have read elsewhere, where it says Join me in magnifying the Lord. This does not mean that anything can be added to the Lord’s greatness by human words, but that he is magnified in us. Christ is the image of God and so any good or religious act that a soul performs magnifies that image of God in that soul, the God in whose likeness the soul itself was made. And thus the soul itself has some share in his greatness and is ennobled.

From todays Office of Readings

deaconjohn1987 @ 2009-12-21T15:54:00

2009-12-21T21:54:38Z

TweetDeck deal brings a Sherlock Holmes look: http://ping.fm/TWEg0