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Okay, I haven't really started blogging again, but I am thinking about it. I just wanted to share this very clever pro-life picture.

Sweeping it under the carpet?

Well, well. It seems that Development & Peace (D&P) has investigated themselves and come up squeaky clean. According to an article published in Zenit News, the Canadian Catholic fundraising agency of D&P went on a trip to Mexico with some Canadian bishops, for the purpose of investigating the agencies in Mexico they were supplying funds to. Four months ago Lifesite News conducted an investigation into these groups and reported their pro-choice agenda, and accused Development & Peace of supplying funding to pro-abortion groups. That caused a big uproar, and now Archbishop James Weisgerber wants everyone to know that D&P has been vindicated of any wrongdoing.

My memory of what is wrong with D&P goes back a little farther than these last four months, however. I stopped donating to Development and Peace in the year 2000, after they were exposed for donating $140,00 to a radical, feminist, anti-life and anti-family event called the World March of Women.

So, is it a whitewash or have the bishops rapped the knuckles of D&P and made them promise to be more accountable in who they deliver your hard-earned charitable donations to? Either way, I highly doubt that D&P is as squeaky clean as the image they project.

Rosary Novena to Stop Abortions

I get a lot of emails forwarded to me, but very few of this nature. This one, copied below in its entirety, was sent to me by a pro-life friend. It asks for a Rosary Novena to stop the Freedom of Choice Act which will soon be passed in the US unless God intervenes. Please read it and get out your rosaries for this intention. The novena starts Sunday. Remember Barack Obama said his first presidential act will be to sign the FOCA. He can only be stopped by prayer.


From Lord David Alton on USA Freedom of Choice Act

Dear Friends, If you are apposed to abortion then there is bad news on the horizon. For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if the US Congress passes it on January 21-22 of 2009. The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion.

If made a law then all limitations on abortion will be lifted which will result in the following:

1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States .

2) Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no limitations.

3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.

4) Parental notification will no longer be required.

5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually.

Perhaps most importantly the government will now have control in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, down syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate how many children women are allowed to have. Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly true.

As Catholics, as Christians, as anyone who is against the needless killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this horrific act before it becomes a law.

The Plan: To say a novena (9 days of prayer) along with fasting starting on January 11th. For Catholics, the prayer of choice will be the rosary with intentions to stop the FOCA. For non Catholics I encourage you to pray your strongest prayers with the same intentions, also for nine consecutive days. The hope is that this will branch and blossom as to become a global effort with maximum impact.We have very little time so we all must act fast. Just do three things:

1) Pass this letter to 5 or more people

2) Do it in three days or less

3) Start the novena on January 11th and pray for nine consecutive days.(please also fast for at least two days during the novena)

Remember that with God all things are possible and the power of prayer is undeniable. If you are against the senseless killing of defenseless children then the time is now to do something about it! May God bless you all!! David Alton(Professor Lord Alton of Liverpool )

House of Lords,

London SW1A OPW Roscoe

Foundation for Citizenship,

Liverpool John Moores University,

0151 231 3852 (fax: 0151 231 3853).

0207 219 3551 -

Before You Vote

Canadians are going to the polls tomorrow, October 14, and Americans soon after. If you have any doubt about how important it is to be a moral voter, you can view this video produced by CatholicVote.com that was sent to my inbox today.

A sad day to be Canadian

Today is Canada's birthday, and to celebrate this historic day, our very own Governor General handed the nation's most prestigious award to baby-killer abortionist Henry Morgentaler. Speaking for our nation, Governor General Michaëlle Jean honoured Henry Morgentaler "for his commitment to increased health care options for women, his determined efforts to influence Canadian public policy and his leadership in humanist and civil liberties organizations."

Why do I feel like I have been stabbed in the back? Today I am embarrassed to be Canadian.

LifeSite News has several articles on this travesty, along with an email address to express your concerns to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I wrote an email stating how appalling this decision is, and I urge all Canadians to do the same. Please ask Stephen Harper to retract the Order of Canada from Henry Morgentaler.

To express concerns:
Conservative Leader
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
pm@pm.gc.ca

If only the Vatican would speak out like this more often

It's great when the Vatican speaks out about the evils in our society, like this story where twins were aborted because one had Down's syndrome. The doctors mistakenly aborted the healthy twin, so the mother had the Down's twin killed as well, and the Vatican responded by calling the abortions an assassination.

In Ontario, where the Catholic School Board has released an anti-discrimination policy that threatens priests and teachers who try to uphold moral Catholic teachings on homosexuality, causing them to be painted into a corner when they try to prevent homosexuals from gaining employment in sensitive positions such as youth counselors and kindergarten teachers, so far the Vatican is silent. My guess is that this pro-gay policy falls under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Bishops, the same conference of bishops who refuse to follow the GIRM, and snubbed their collective noses at Pope Paul VI's encyclical, Humanae Vitae thirty nine years ago. It will be interesting to see what happens in Ontario when priests and teachers try to uphold the moral laws of the Church, only to be confounded and possibly removed by their very own Catholic school board policy.

Against the odds

I love to come across stories like this one, that show it is possible to recover from a severe brain injury, even when the CT scan says the injuries are not compatible with life. Good thing her parents didn't pull the plug on her life and make her an organ donor...

Hope for Canada

Hot on the heels of the #1 wish in Canada to abolish abortions, the #1 song in Quebec right now is a pro life song called Mes Aïeux - Dégénération or "Degeneration." No worries if you don't understand the French language; there are subtitles in English. H/T to SoCon or Bust.

"Your great-great-grandmother had 14 children
Your great-grandmother had almost as many
And as for your grandmother three were enough for her
And your mother didn't even want you
You were just an accident
And as for you, my girl,
you go from partner to partner
when you make a dumb mistake
you escape it by aborting.
But some mornings you wake up crying
after dreaming at night
of a big table surrounded with children."

Christian Support for Catholics

I never thought I would see Protestants condemning anti-Catholic bigotry, but they are, and in a very strongly worded statement at that. It all has to do with the recent cartoon published by the Philadelphia Inquirer in reaction to the Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold the constitutionality of the federal law prohibiting partial-birth abortion.

They are railing against the Philadelphia Inquirer for publishing a cartoon that depicted the five justices who formed the majority in the Supreme Court case as religious bigots who wear Catholic bishops' mitres, claiming they based their decision on their Catholic religion.

They call for all Christian denominations and groups who are enemies of the Church and state mentality to join them in condemning tha anti-Catholic bigotry that has been so prevalent and tolerated recently.

"We believe it is our particular duty to condemn the bigotry we are now witnessing in view of the history of anti-Catholicism in our nation...

..Just as Pope John Paul II acknowledged past injustices committed by Catholics, or committed in the name of Catholicism, against Protestants, Jews, and others and pledged to work against any revival of these injustices, we acknowledge past Protestant prejudices against Catholics and pledge to fight against the anti-Catholic bigotry we are now witnessing. Our Catholic brothers and sisters will not have to wait to hear our voices forcefully raised against the bigotry now directed against them.

...Are they selective opponents of prejudice? Do they regard anti-Catholicism as an acceptable form of bigotry? Are they content to see Catholics treated in ways that they would be the first to condemn if the victims were members of other religious traditions or minorities? By responding or failing to respond to our plea to them to join us in condemning the injustice being suffered by our Catholic fellow citizens, we will soon know whether their claim to oppose prejudice and bigotry is an honest one or mere hypocrisy."

If this cartoon had been published depicting a minority group such as homosexuals, Jews or Muslims, can you imagine the outcry? It would have been classified as hate speech. Kudos to these Protestant leaders for stepping up to the plate and exposing this prejudice that shows how public ridicule of Catholicism is tolerated and acceptable.

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A Controversial Issue

On one of the Catholic forums I post at, we are having a lively discussion about the decision of a few Catholic hospitals in five states to allow the emergency "morning after" pill to rape victims. The Catholic Medical Association is opposed to the use of the pill, because it acts as an abortifacient. The diocesan bishops where these hospitals are located are allowing the use of the morning after pill, also known as Plan B, for rape situations, "where 'appropriate testing' has determined that the woman is not pregnant and thus the pill, in halting ovulation may prevent a pregnancy occurring as a result of the rape."

While this sounds moral, the real problem is, that the medical tests used to determine pregnancy cannot be absolutely reliable to detect a pregnancy at fertilization, but only after implantation which takes more than a week after the new life is formed. So what the Catholic hospitals are doing, is administering a test to see if the rape victim has ovulated, and if she hasn't, then they administer the abortifacient pill. As LifeSite News reports, though, "medical evidence demonstrates considerable doubt that even these tests can detect a potential fertilization in time to prevent an abortion caused by administration of the pill."

To further complicate the picture, previous studies are inconclusive and indicate the pill only works half the time to halt ovulation. This would result in an unintended abortion, since fertilization could still occur even after the pill is administered, because the pills weaken the lining of the uterus making implantation unsustainable.

This is obviously a complicated matter. The Catholic Medical Association is against it, saying that this "emergency contraception" does not necessarily prevent fertilization. Regardless, some of the Bishops approve of it, saying, "We would not object to passage of a statute that would require all hospitals to adopt protocols requiring the distribution of Plan B to sexual assault victims when medically appropriate."

Will the Vatican step in? They have already issued a document on this situation for Italy, called "Statement on the So-Called Morning After Pill." Here, they do not condone its use. Why would they for America?

Just Stating the Obvious Truth

"It is notable that rationality is found in the Catholic Church, while secularists, the 'Children of the Enlightenment,' are increasingly incoherent and tawdry (“Keep your rosaries off my ovaries”). In the months and years ahead I suspect that we will all come to value (and need) the counsel of the Catholic Church on matters literally existential."

-words spoken by Episcopalian Tom Nolan as he contemplates his reaction to his daughter's decision to carry a baby with a rare and absolutely fatal condition to full term.