… and these Thy gifts …

Reagan wrote this unsolicited article for Human Life Review on Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation. Oh Lord, how far we have come… how do we turn back?

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Bp. Serratelli: FOCA - an alarm for decent Americans to wake up

Why this is critical reading: If you don’t understand how FOCA works/will work, you need to read this. “Freedom of Choice” is such a *NOBLE* phrase — at first glance it may fool anyone into thinking that it’s so magnanimous and helpful to EVERYONE, but let’s not be fools here. If you are reading this blog, you can understand what FOCA is and what it’s meant to do. It’s time to put on our thinking caps and not be taken in by charisma or personality. To borrow Fr. Z’s phrase, What does FOCA really say? We owe it to the thousands of children being murdered each day to answer that question and answer it truthfully.

Here’s the rest of the “Before You Vote” series of posts.

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One of the best I’ve seen, and boy, do we need every single one these days (warning, not for young eyes/ears):

Here’s the rest of the “Before You Vote” series of posts.

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Consider this:

Palin Slams Obama’s Pro-Abortion-on-Demand Record

Excerpt:

I believe the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are least able to defend and speak for themselves. And who is more vulnerable, or more innocent, than a child?

Yes, every innocent life matters. Everyone belongs in the circle of protection. Every child has something to contribute to the world, if we give them that chance. There are the world’s standards of perfection … and then there are God’s, and these are the final measure. Every child is beautiful before God, and dear to Him for their own sake.

- Sarah Palin

Here’s the rest of the “Before You Vote” series of posts.

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Here’s the rest of the “Before You Vote” series of posts.

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could we maybe make an exception and clone this guy for when my daughters are ready to settle down?

Hey, he’s tall, dark and handsome, he speaks Spanish, AND he’s unequivocally PRO-LIFE??? What’s not to like?

The unedited version (contains graphic images of abortion) can be found here.

And not to minimize the impact of abortion on the Hispanic community, but let’s not forget this either.

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The End of Feminism from Genevieve Kineke, author of The Authentic Catholic Woman

More Catholic than the Pope … it’s almost funny.

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What Joe and Mary Catholic Should Know Before They Vote: Justice in Pieces - Faith in Public Life by Stephanie Block

Pilate was Not a Governor

Conference examining effects of abortion on fathers held in Chicago

Snapshot: A Day Outside Tiller’s Late-term Abortion Mill

KC Bishops on Moral Responsibility, Voting

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Obama Worried Born Alive Infants’ Protection Act Would Be Too Burdensome on Abortionists, 2002 Transcript Shows

Cardinal Egan’s Remarkable Comment About Pelosi — I’ve linked to the comment in a previous post, but I’m linking to this so you can see Deal Hudson’s comments after the quote.

Pelosi gets unwanted lesson in Catholic theology

Archbishop grabs spotlight from Democrats — Yay for Archbishop Chaput!!!

And the stuff that doesn’t usually make it to traditional media:

Pro-lifers unfurl world’s largest sign at DNC — some folks were talking Guinness

Prolife activists arrested at the DNC

2,500 Hold Vigil At New Planned Parenthood Clinic

Pro-Life Pastor Blasts Abortion, Obama at Democratic Party Faith Gathering

And from Newsweek:

The Democrats and the Abortion Wars from George Weigel

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This post may be qualified as venting, because I do need to get these off my chest. While I am a very opinionated person I don’t believe in confronting people who don’t know me well enough to know that I’m speaking from my heart. What makes this difficult is that I’ve been seeing so many statements lately that just make me go, “Huh?” and I have to respond in SOME way, even if only to record for my kids to find later, or for those wandering readers that may happen to stumble here and just might find something that would help them. If I left these comments on a combox somewhere people are sure to pounce on them right away and I really don’t have the time or inclination to defend my views.

Statement #1: “I am a practicing Catholic but I’ve long ignored Catholic teaching about contraception, and my (married) life has been so much happier since.”

“Practicing” and “ignoring” in the same sentence don’t make sense. Practicing means you know what the Church teaches, you believe the teachings, and you follow them. “Ignoring” can mean several things:

1. You might know what the Church teaches but you’re purposefully choosing to neither believe nor follow.
2. You don’t know what the Church teaches and you’re not taking the time to find out
3. You don’t want to really understand what the Church teaches because you don’t want to accept the Church’s authority over you or any of the life decisions you make, you don’t want to be told you’re wrong, and you don’t want to be told that you have to change.

Whatever “ignoring” means for you, I think we need to agree that “ignoring” and “practicing” just don’t go together. When you say that, it confuses people about the Church, and it confuses people about you. You’re confused enough, so please don’t burden others with your confusion as well.

Also, “happy” doesn’t mean “right”. I’m sure there are criminals around the world that are perfectly happy about the crimes they’ve committed. (Maybe they won’t be happy down the road, but there are sure to be some who don’t have that remorse thing down yet.) There are many things that make us happy. There are many things that make us right. Not all things that make us happy make us right. And not all things that are right make us happy, at least maybe not in the short term. There are long term rewards, however, for doing what’s right. If you’re not into the long-term thing however, you know, that delayed gratification thing — this may be a hard concept for you to accept.

And one more concept that may be foreign to you: there are those of us who DO follow Church teaching about contraception, that are actually HAPPY. Again, just because something may make YOU happy, doesn’t mean it will make EVERYONE happy.

Statement #2: “The Church should trust people to just use and follow their conscience.” (as regards contraception)

I think it’s correct to assume that our consciences are all formed differently. That is, something that may bother my conscience may not bother yours; the opposite is true also. This is why we have Church teaching, and this is why serious Catholics try to follow them. If all we relied on were our own consciences, how do we determine whether your conscience is right and mine is wrong, or vice versa? Ideally, we Catholics would have well-formed consciences by the time we are adults and have to make difficult decisions like who to vote for, or whether we should wash the dishes before hubby gets home or not. Sometimes it doesn’t work that way — maybe we were taught wrong. Maybe we were taught right but we weren’t listening. (Funny but yeah, old habits die hard.) The sad part is that a well-formed conscience doesn’t grow overnight, so when we get to adulthood and realize we’re being wishy-washy, we can’t just flip a switch.

At some point in our lives, it becomes the conscience-owner’s responsibility to continue to inform that conscience, hopefully by putting forth some effort into understanding exactly why the Church teaches what She teaches. There are those of us who can follow Church teaching quite well without asking questions. Blessed are they. There are those of us who need to work on our understanding before we can proceed to application. But just because one attended Catholic school doesn’t make one’s conscience “well-formed”. Ask me how I know; I spent 12 years there and I’m still working on developing mine. That’s why we have converts, reverts, and all kinds of people in between: all of us are on different stages in the journey.

But if Church teaching were to become dependent on OUR consciences, as opposed to what She has always known and taught, how many Catechisms do you think we would have today? And which one would we pick to understand and follow? Hey, we can follow or not follow Church teaching all we want, but don’t you think it’s foolish and ridiculous to expect the Church to FOLLOW US? That’s rather like putting the caboose before the engine.

In a way, I agree with what you’re saying. The Church SHOULD trust us to use our consciences. And actually, She does! Last I checked, there aren’t priests or nuns holding a gun to our heads at the voting booth or even at the sink where my dirty dishes are. I think the real question here though is, “SHOULD we — COULD we — trust our own consciences?” Now that’s the tough one.

Statement #3: “The Pope is an old celibate guy — how can we possibly take his advice on marriage, contraception and abortion? He has no idea what he’s talking about!”

Let’s see, the Pope was born in 1927, a year before my father was born. That would make him 81 years old. Just looking at possibilities here, could he maybe have met and talked to one couple, maybe ten couples, a hundred couples, AT LEAST, before he became Pope? I’m half his age but I can tell you I’ve met at least fifty married couples in my lifetime. Goodness, I’ve got 9 married couples just on my mom’s side of the family — and that’s not even counting their kids, my cousins, who are also married now! That’s not counting my own parents! I can tell you that having met and talked to all these couples through the years, I’ve formed some opinions on what works in a marriage and what doesn’t. My hubby has had a totally different kind of experience growing up, with less married people in the family, etc. But between the two of us we’ve seen enough to have a good idea of what a “happy marriage” looks like. We also have a good idea of what an “unhappy marriage” looks like. I don’t need to tell you we shoot for the former everyday — it does take hard work and conscious effort. But I didn’t need to get married to know what I wanted in a good marriage. I saw good and bad examples everywhere. If I hadn’t gotten married, I would still be seeing examples of both everyday. My job (before I got married and had kids) did not include counseling couples, married or engaged or in trouble. But that didn’t stop my married friends at the time from coming to me sometimes to vent and ask for advice. You think maybe I’ve formed some insights on what goes right and what goes wrong in a marriage based on the stuff they tell me?

Popes and bishops and priests may be celibate, but they are certainly NOT innocent or ignorant of any of these things. They have had PLENTY, I’d be willing to say, MORE THAN ENOUGH experience dealing with all kinds of people from all walks of life, to form some very good opinions about human sexuality and marriage and all that comes with that. Not to mention the Church’s common sense teachings from the very beginning — our priests and bishops and Popes have seen these teachings applied, ignored, discussed and dissected, etc., etc. Just because they’ve chosen the celibate life doesn’t mean they have no understanding of human sexuality. In reality, and you may be surprised — they had to have a thorough understanding of it. It’s quite ridiculous to assume that these men have come to the decision to embrace celibacy lightly. They’re also getting a huge reward for this sacrifice, that most if not all of them believe it’s more than worth it, or that it’s not even really a sacrifice the way WE often think of “sacrifice”. But since we’re looking at this from the outside, I won’t presume to discuss how that all works. If you’re curious enough you might want to invite your parish priest to dinner sometime and see what he has to say about it.

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High abortion rate worries NY experts

Maybe “Sex and the City” doesn’t work the way “it’s supposed to” after all? Tell me no one’s really surprised about all this.

Reminded me of an e-mail I got recently:

My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed by. Today I read his obituary. Please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance, for Common Sense had served us all so well for so many generations.

Obituary
Common Sense
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird g ets the worm, life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn ! ) and reliable parenting str ategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a Band-Aid to a student, but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I’m a Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Author unknown

Hat Tip: Creative Minority Report: 72 Abortions for Every 100 Babies Born.

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And a lawyer to boot. You won’t usually see “Filipino”, “lawyer”, “writer”, and “understands Catholic teaching” all in the same sentence. Add to that he’s got an understanding of how contraceptives REALLY work. But hey, there’s always got to be a first time for everything, right?

Contraception and Abortion

A small excerpt, but you do have to see the whole thing to appreciate its impact (and its truths):

The more important moral issue which may even have legal implication is the connection between contraception and abortion. It has been repeatedly pointed out that the following contraceptives have already been medically proven to directly cause abortion: Depoprovera, RU 486, Intra-Uterine Device, Norplant and the Morning-After-Pill (Please see Project Abortifacients, Human Life International, June 1991). This is a claim that has never been denied or disproven by the proponents of the bill and their supporters. Yet the proposed bill will make them available to women. So it is quite clear that even if the bill still considers abortion as illegal and a punishable criminal act, it is nevertheless promoting abortion. In effect, the bill is promoting or abetting an act which it considers illegal. There is no free will or freedom of choice involved here. Such freedom definitely does extend to opting for something illegal.

Thank you very much, Atty. Jose Sison! Now, prayers needed that people actually read and heed…

Hat Tip to Erwin Daculan at Pinoy Defensor Fidei.

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My hubby does the taxes in our household — bless his heart — since our move to Ohio our taxes have been less complicated and we haven’t needed H&R Block like we did in the past, but still, I wouldn’t want to do it myself. Fortunately, I’m one of those people who really doesn’t have to worry about the taxes — hubby takes care of it — when there’s a refund, he knows what to do with it; when we have to pay taxes, he knows how to take care of that. But neither of us knew how much of our tax dollars ended up with organizations/businesses that we absolutely do not want to support HAD WE THE CHOICE. Talk about blood boiling. Not a very fun state of mind to be in in 90-degree Ohio weather, I can tell ya.

Want more? Here’s the Stephanie Simon article: Extending the Brand: Planned Parenthood Hits Suburbia. Read it and weep. If you like charts, look here.

They’re not satisfied with Black Genocide, now they’re going after the affluent too. I wonder who’s next on the list. Asians? Mexicans? Who knows…

Note: The Black Genocide website has some very chilling facts on its introductory page, but it only stays for a minute, then it takes you to the homepage, but nobody should miss it, so I’m quoting here:

The purpose of this website is to reveal the disproportionate number of black babies exterminated by the abortion industry in America.

Although black women constitute only 6% of the population, they comprise 36% of the abortion industry’s clientele. The leading abortion providers have chosen to exploit blacks by locating 94% of their abortuaries in urban neighborhoods with high black populations.

This high rate of abortion has decimated the black family and destroyed black neighborhoods to the detriment of society at large.

Combine that with Mr. Unrestricted Abortion Obama …. and what have we got, America?

You know what frustrates me? Several Catholic teens I know are not sure they want to support Obama or McCain. And yet they are very supportive of organizations like Save Darfur and Invisible Children. I love these kids to death, but man, sometimes I just want to shake them. America needs their support. America has dying children, and sometimes I think we just don’t see them.

And let’s not forget that PP’s so good at this, it’s even “reaching out” to other countries (International PP got its start in India, but got funding from PP USA early on:

Is that scary or what?

ETA:

Wanna learn more about Margaret Sanger?

Margaret Sanger, Founder of Planned Parenthood, In Her Own Words
The Truth About Margaret Sanger

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Disclaimer: I know this is a controversial post. I am not looking to begin a debate about any of the issues. I am simply compiling these links and excerpts within to present the facts to my daughter, who is at the aqe (17) where she needs to think more deeply on these things. The conscience of a Catholic is between him/her and God. However, as a Catholic parent it is my duty to help form my children’s consciences. However they use their consciences when the time comes is up to them. I will not be in the voting booth.

Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion — General Principles
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Important points:

From #1. The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected.

Reverence for the Eucharist is paramount. This is Jesus that we receive at the altar. It is not some wafer that we partake of without looking at our worthiness to do so. We should be coming to the altar with clean hearts and clean souls, knowing that we are in full communion with Christ and His Church.

From #2. This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it.

This answers your question about some of your friends’ beliefs, Ais. We can respect and tolerate everyone’s beliefs. We do not have the right to force our opinions on them. But that doesn’t mean we express this respect and tolerance by going against what is the very grain of OUR belief. We cannot vote based on respect for someone else’s concept of freedom.

Everyone has the right to drive a car, provided they’ve got a license. That doesn’t mean we should all be free to run over people anytime we want to. With freedom comes responsibility. True freedom only comes when we operate within the rules. Freedom on the highway doesn’t mean you can drive any direction at any speed you choose. Freedom means following the rules, making it safe for everyone and not just a select few.

From #3. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.

Dad and I don’t agree on the war. He doesn’t agree with the Pope 100% on this matter, but that doesn’t make Daddy a bad Catholic. However, on the issue of abortion, we do not (cannot, will not) go against the teachings of the Church. The Church is unequivocal about abortion and euthanasia being an EVIL, and rightly so. God giveth and God taketh away. We have no right to put an ending to what the Author of Life has penned. It is not our story to tell.

A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.

Now you get to compare Obama and McCain’s voting record. (pdf file)

We were talking about the “lesser of two evils” question. Here’s an excerpt from another LifeSite article (Can Catholics Who Vote for Obama Still Receive Communion?) that speaks to this:

As Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, of Corpus Christi Texas, explained in September 2004: “Consider the case of a Catholic voter who must choose between three candidates: Kerry, who is completely for abortion on demand, Bush, who is in favor of very limited abortion, i.e., in favor of greatly restricting abortion and Peroutka, a candidate who is completely against abortion but who is universally recognized as being unelectable. The Catholic can vote for Peroutka, but that will probably only help ensure the election of Kerry. Therefore the Catholic voter has a proportionate reason to vote for Bush, since his vote might help to ensure the defeat of Kerry and might result in the saving of some innocent human lives.”

I think the answer is quite clear.

Additional info:

Something that may be useful to you if you decide to write a paper on Planned Parenthood and Margaret Sanger: Margaret Sanger would have loved Barack Obama by Clenard Childress (a non-Catholic, BTW)

And an article that tackles why some Catholics support Obama: Roman Catholics for Obama ‘08 by Paul Kengor

Lastly, don’t forget this: Obama’s Abortion Bombshell: Unrestricted Abortion Over Wishes of Individual States a Priority for Presidency

09/21/08, Edited to add:
Is it a sin to vote?

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Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that “the fruits of abortion are nuclear war.” She was indicating that the complete disrespect for life, especially the lives of the unborn, would bring about a nuclear war.
More from Mother Teresa:
“[Abortion] is really a war against the child, and I hate the killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that the mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”

For the Sake of our Country and Unborn - PROTECT LIFE

…………………………………..

http://www.jesus-passion.com/ -

GOD WILL NOT BLESS THIS COUNTRY IF WE CONTINUE TO KILL OUR UNBORN BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

“Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” Isaiah 5:15

…………………………

In a message dated 8/27/2008, riomac3@msn.com writes:

…the only choice is to vote for candidates that are PRO LIFE not for candidates that are only concerned about economic prosperity as some people think. They have their priorities backwards. There will be no economic prosperity if we kill our future. It would be ludicrious to think that God would say go ahead and kill your child — after all, you need the money [for yourself].

After 40 years of legalized abortion how does the economy look now? We are
suffering the consequences of child killing. We are the only species that CONSCIOUSLY seeks to cause ourselves to become extinct.

I thought [that suppsedly ‘intelligent’] people would have seen the foolishness of their ways about seeking to self destruct the human race! Jesus told the Pharisees in ‘the story of the man born blind’, ’so you say you see (understand) but your sin remains’; in other words they didn’t get it either, they rejected the truth so they remained intellectually and spritually stupid.

…………………………..

http://www.jesus-passion.com/ -

PROTECT THE LIVES OF UNBORN CHILDREN IN 2008.

IN 2007 OVER 1.2 MILLION ABORTIONS WERE PERFORMED IN THE U.S., 1 OUT OF EVERY 5 BABIES WERE ABORTED.

AROUND 50 MILLION BABIES HAVE BEEN PUT TO DEATH SINCE 1973.

SENATOR JOHN S. McCAIN HAS SAID THAT ROE VS. WADE SHOULD BE OVERTURNED. VOTE PROLIFE.

…………………..

http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=dedestaca&id=922&category=News%20&%20Media%7ENews —

“…we are heartened by the choice of Sarah Palin for vice president… In addition to her involvement with Feminists for Life [“Women Deserve Better Than Abortion,” to quote the tagline from their website], we know where she stands on the right to life from her personal life.”

VOTE FOR McCAIN/PALIN FOR PRESIDENT/VICE-PRESIDENT.

THE LIVES OF OVER A MILLION BABIES A YEAR DEPEND UPON YOUR VOTE..

PROTECT AMERICA; END THE ABORTION HOLOCAUST.

SEE SENATOR JOHN S. McCAIN’S WEB SITE:

http://www.johnmccain.com/

……………………………………….

http://www.jesus-passion.com/ -

From an article in the Washington Post by columnist, Michael Gerson, April 2, 2008:

“But Obama’s record on abortion is extreme. He opposed the ban on partial-birth abortion — a practice a fellow Democrat, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once called “too close to infanticide.” Obama strongly criticized the Supreme Court decision upholding the partial-birth ban. In the Illinois state Senate, he opposed a bill similar to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which prevents the killing of infants mistakenly left alive by abortion. And now Obama has oddly claimed that he would not want his daughters to be “punished with a baby” because of a crisis pregnancy — hardly a welcoming attitude toward new life.”

Senator Joseph Biden has said that Roe vs. Wade should not be overturned; abortion should remain legal. He is a Catholic and he is in direct violation of Catholic teaching which states that the lives of unborn children should be protected by the law from the the murderous crime of abortion.

………………….

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=73463

Denver Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput says Democrats simply don’t know Christianity if they insist on continuing to spin the Bible’s teachings on abortion.

The archbishop’s guidance echoes The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”

…………………………..

http://www.jesus-passion.com/ -

Senator Barack Obama supports the civil union of homosexual couples — he says it’s ok for two men or two women to live together in the mortal sin of homosexuality. Obama told CNN’s Larry King, “I don’t think that homosexuals are immoral any more than I think heterosexuals are immoral.” This means he does not even recognize the seriousness of people living in complete violation of God’s laws. Holy Scripture says:

“You know perfectly well that people who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God: People of immoral lives, idolaters, adulterers, catamites, sodomites, thieves usurers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers will never inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6: 9

………………………

http://www.jesus-passion.com/ -

God does not want us to discriminate against the unborn child, saying that the unborn child is sub-human and does not deserve legal protection from wicked doctors.

“Make a tree sound and its fruit will be sound; make a tree rotten and its fruit will be rotten. For the tree can be told by its fruit. Brood of vipers, how can your speech be good when you are evil? For a man’s words flow out of what fills his heart. A good man draw good things from his store of goodness; a bad man draw bad things from his store of badness.” Matthew 12: 33-35

When Presidential candidates support abortion, they are being very wicked and they do not know or love God enough. If they do not know or love God, they cannot possibly lead a nation.

……………………………

Subj: The most lethal WMD
Date: 5/30/2007

The Most Dangerous Places for Americans:

In War - Total Americans killed in ALL U.S. wars……………………………….1,111,000

In Traffic - Average American deaths per year……………………………………..47,776

On the job - Average American deaths per year……………………………………..6,736

In the WOMB - Americans killed by surgical abortion since Jan, ‘73………54,186,000
This WMD kills 4,500 Americans each day.

…………………..

EXCERPT: Catholic means pro-life by Father Thomas D. Williams
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTUwZWRkYmFiNTNjYzE1NWM2NThmYjIwZWQxNzIwMWY=

Some people think that when Catholics compare abortion to slavery or to Nazi anti-Semitism they are engaging in hyperbole. They couldn’t be more wrong. Abortion is not only the greatest social injustice of our century; it is arguably the greatest social injustice of all time.

Abortion circumscribes an entire class of human beings (the unborn) as non-citizens, excluded from the basic rights and protections accorded to all other human beings. In this way abortion mimics the great moral tragedies of all time, which always began with the denigration of an entire class of people as unworthy of life or freedom.

“Humanity today offers us a truly alarming spectacle,” wrote Pope John Paul in his 1995 encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae, “if we consider not only how extensively attacks on life are spreading but also their unheard of numerical proportion.” The legal, systematic elimination of the most vulnerable members of society is the most heinous crime known to man. To fail to oppose it is to make oneself complicit in it.

…………………

Question asked:
>>>>>>>>
Do you think many voters will make their choice on a single issue, such as abortion?
<<<<<<<<

Let’s get one thing straight:

Abortion should NOT be merely one of many issues to consider. The right to life is fundamental. Without this, all other rights are null and void. One must first have existence to enjoy anything else.

Most Republicans are Pro-Life. John McCain is Pro-Life. Most Democrats are Pro-death. Obama is Pro-death. The “choice” is simple.

Is the hypocrisy not obvious? Democrats cite how many millions of children living outside of a womb would benefit from universal health care but pledge to uphold legalized abortion, under which over 50 million children living inside of a womb have been killed since 1973.
They decry that almost 4000 soldiers have lost their lives in 5 years of war, yet vow to uphold laws that permit nearly 4000 innocents to be murdered EACH DAY.
Democrats exude compassion for the human condition. Unfortunately, this does not extend to the most vulnerable members of our society - unborn children
Sure they promote 100% protection those living outside womb, yet they offer 0% protection those living inside womb.

- Michael J. Coppi

…………………….

Can’t Be Right by Fr. Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life
http://www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/bishops/abone.htm

An honest look at what an abortion is, and at how many victims it claims, is enough to reveal that nothing outweighs its gravity among the many “life issues.” Multiple Church documents have confirmed this insight, repeating over and over that the abortion tragedy demands urgent attention and priority.

While some have tried, shamelessly, to obscure and contradict this teaching, many are quite able to understand and accept it. Yet the truth is even deeper than the statement, “Being wrong on abortion outweighs being right on other issues.”

The full truth is, if you are wrong on abortion, you can’t be right on other issues.

To permit abortion, but then to cry out for the right to work, housing, education, health care, and so forth, is to say that these other rights belong to some people but not to all. They obviously do not belong to those who were snuffed out by abortion.

Therefore, these rights cannot be human rights, because you have already said that not all humans have a claim on them. This trivializes those other rights and puts them on an obscure and questionable foundation.

If you permit abortion, then, on what basis do you defend the other rights?
Why do we care for the poor?
Because they have a right to food, clothing, and shelter.
But why do they have a right to those things?
Because they have a right to live.
Why are we concerned about unemployment?
Because people have a right to make a living.
Why do they have that right?
Because they have a right to live.

It all comes back to that foundational right. Abortion is not the only issue, but neither is the foundation of a house the only part of a house. Take it away, however, and see how well you can build the rest.

…Any human right begins when human life begins; otherwise, it isn’t a human right, but rather some kind of benefit bestowed for another reason.

Now if you can take the right to life away from some humans, as abortion does to the children in the womb, then obviously you can take away from those same humans all their other human rights, because none of those other rights made such a claim upon your respect that you had to let those people live to possess it.

This is why the Pope has said that when the right to life is not protected, cries for other human rights are “false and illusory.” When one is wrong on abortion, one cannot be right on anything else.

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In the 222 years that this country has existed as a “free” nation, there are three decisions by branches of the federal government that have been not only despicable but that verge on ethnic cleansing:

1. Early in the history of our country, a decision was made, by the federal government, several presidents, and the military that the original settlers and inhabitants of this country were not human and therefore could be slaughtered at will and their land stolen from them.
Then, after millions of men, women, and children were hunted down and killed, most of the remaining souls were herded or driven from their homelands to less fertile or unwanted land and placed on “reservations”.

2. In the mid 19th century, a decision was made by the supreme court, known as the Dred Scott decision, that stated that Negroes were not human and therefore could be owned and sold as slaves. Since the Negroes were considered property, they could also be disposed of at will, by their owners.

3. In 1973, on January 22, another despicable decision was made by the supreme court that stated that an unborn child was not human until it had been separated from the woman and therefore could be slaughtered at any point from conception to birth. Never mind that modern ultrasonic echnology has proven that an unborn baby is not only human but very much alive and can even be operated on in utero.

In the words of the flight engineer on the Enola Gay, after dropping the first atomic bomb, “What have we done?”

[Abortion =] the modern holocaust?

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http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072108.html
BISHOP DEVINE : “Indeed, a nation that condemns to abortion our beautiful and blameless unborn babies betrays itself as morally, ethically and politically untrustworthy and disinclined to give due care and attention to the poorest and weakest members of our society.”

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Subj: PRAYER FOR THE ELECTION BY FR. JOHN HARDON S.J.

Lord Jesus Christ, You told us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

Enlighten the minds of our people in America. May we choose a President of the United States and other government officials according to Your Divine Will.

Give our citizens the courage to choose leaders of our nation who respect the sanctity of unborn human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of marital relations, the sanctity of the family and the sanctity of the aging.

Grant us the wisdom to give You what belongs to You, our God. If we do this as a nation, we are confident You will give us an abundance of Your blessings through
our elected leaders. Amen.

Servant of God + Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

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