The spousal language of the body, as explained in John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, is lived out in two specific vocations: Marriage and celibacy for the Kingdom. Here, in part of the Road to Cana DVD series the late and very blessed Fr. Richard Neuhausbeautifully explains the call to Marriage:
Strong, healthy, Christ centered marriages are the foundation for building the culture of life. How well the world would be if every married coupled lived their vocation out in this way!
Marriage is the closest and most intimate of human friendships. It involves the sharing of the whole of a person’s life with his/her spouse. Marriage calls for a mutual self-surrender so intimate and complete that spouses – without losing their individuality – become “one,” not only in body, but in soul.
Trailer for the documentary Killing Girls (so named because all of the babies aborted during the filming were girls) about the prevalence of late term abortions in Russia (warning: some nudity and just disturbing content):
I saw a little bit of this doc well over a year ago in this video – didn’t know it was part of a bigger project. This is a brutally honest look at abortion from those who perform them such as you’ll never find coming from any Planned Parenthood here in the United States. Much to some pro-lifers’ dismay the filmmakers stopped short of providing footage of the actual abortions, but (though I haven’t seen the film in its entirety) I personally think that the testimony from the girls and some of the doctors says quite a bit even if they do not show the gory details. For example, one girl says:
When I had delivered the child and looked at it, they told me it was a girl. I kind of felt sorry for it. It was already a baby. Later I looked at the card. She was 23 cm long and weighed 500 g. She was such a big girl. A real child already…
Another doctor laments:
Physically and psychologically it’s tough. Having to kill these children…Yes, it’s legalized murder.
Though I would not exactly call it a “good” thing, at least these people are honest about exactly what it is they are doing – what “terminating a pregnancy” really means. I somehow doubt that you’ll ever get anyone from a Planned Parenthood in North America to willingly admit to you, on camera or otherwise, that they’re in the business of killing children, even if they do recognize it as such themselves and, like these Russian women, still consider it necessary.
But PP may be becoming a little more honest than they were in the past. In this under cover video obtained by Students for Life of America the PP clinic worker not only tells the prospective client that she will, in fact, be “delivering a baby” when she gets her induced labor abortion, but also informs her, when asked, that, yes, sometimes “it does happen where “it’s” (the baby) still alive (after the delivery)” but that “eventually the baby does die.” She doesn’t come right out and say they would be killing a child, but it’s also not exactly the kind of language you would expect from those who typically defend their practice by dehumanizing the unborn child as some sort of unformed mass of cells or preferring the less “emotionally charged” term fetus.
If “Killing Girls” (which has neither a “pro-life” or “pro-choice” angle to it) shows us anything, it’s that abortion is not some right to be celebrated. It is a serious, emotional, painful procedure that not only takes the life of an innocent human being, but damages the others involved in the process as well – mothers, fathers, grandparents, doctors, nurses…society. When 80% of Russian women have 2-10 abortions each, you can bet that has an impact on all of Russian society. Although in most respects abortion is, as Jill Stanek puts it, more of a result of a decaying culture than it is the cause of it. Some still think that better contraceptive use is the answer in this kind of situation (abortion is the number one method of birth control in Russia), but that only masks the real problem here – mostly, moral and religious relativism (if not an out-right rejection of the two) and a false idea of sexual freedom.
Keep these Russian women (and, really, all of Russia) in your prayers.
I mentioned this movie several months ago and now it’s finally coming out on DVD – March 17. The trailer:
The premise of this film – a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade (though in a “mock court” setting) – is a pro-lifers dream. Though an Obama presidency, even if only for four years, can pretty well guarantee a Roe favorable Supreme Court for the foreseeable future, we still must have hope that someday this atrocity will come to an end – that the murder innocent human beings will no longer be the law of our land, a stain on our country.
Starting tonight EWTN will air the Theology of the Body for Teens on Thursday evenings at 11:30 p.m. eastern with an encore each Friday at 2:30 AM Eastern. Grab your teens – even your pre-teens if you think they can handle it – and have a TV night! If you don’t get EWTN through your cable or dish provider you can watch it live online at EWTN.com (just scroll over the “Television” tab at the top of the page).
I had a great time at the TOB for Teens seminar I went to a few weeks ago. This is the sex education that our young people are craving for. It encourages them to see and love with a pure heart and calls them to something higher and greater than what the world would have them settle for. For more information on TOB for Teens – including sample videos and free downloads – visit TOBforTeens.com
P.S. check out the new blog I created for regular TOB updates: tob4u.wordpress.com
In this recent exchange with Charmaine Yoest on Fox and Friends (h/t Jill Stanek), Art Caplan was defending embryonic stem cell research with the false idea that ESCR is still very “primitive” and that, when it comes to stem cell research, (@ 3:39), “If you’re in a wheelchair, if you have a child with diabetes you want to see everything tried.”
Mr. Caplan, I am in a wheelchair and I certainly do not want to see everything tried. Not when “everything” involves the deliberate use and destruction of tiny human beings. Excuse me, but my ability to walk is not worth the cost of another human life, no matter how small. Besides that, many people in wheelchairs like myself and stem cell research advocate James Kelly, would rather see money and scientific effort focused on using ethical stem cells that have actually had real success in treating human patients with spinal cord in jury (see here, here, here and here)
As to his assertion that ESC science is still “too early” – this is just a typical auto-response from ESCR advocates who don’t want to turn their backs on the research, but cannot come up with a good excuse for its complete failure so far. This despite decades of research in animal models. To be clear, when Caplan and others comment on the “primitiveness” of ESCR to explain why it’s so far being out-shined by the success of ASCs, they’re talking about the federal tax dollars that presumably are not being spent on ESCR. Says Caplan (my emphasis):
The science is very primitive because we haven’t had federal money backing the embryonic side
And what about those pesky “left over” IVF embryos that Caplan mentions? Someone recently asked me if I would rather have them used for research to save lives, or just destroyed. I responded:
Inevitable death does not justify the use and destruction of human life for scientific research. My ultimate choice would be that none of these embryos be created in the first place. Since they are, however, there really is no ethical option for IVF embryos that will never be implanted. Being thrown away, used for research or perpetually frozen – all are equally beneath their dignity as human beings.
The bottom line here, of course, is that no matter how primitive or advanced the research is, it’s simply unethical, period, and it’s advancement is no real progress for human-kind – no matter how effective it may ever become in the future.
Lent is characterized by three things: prayer, fasting and almsgiving (increased charity.) Perhaps the most striking of these three features is fasting. The practice of fasting is found in many of the great Biblical figures the first of whom being Jesus Christ himself. The Bible also tells us that precisely because Adam and Eve did NOT fast (they ate the fruit of the tree that they were told to abstain from) that we are in the mess that we are in today from death, disease, crime, war, pollution, divorce, abuse, and of course a “bad economy.” But isn’t it funny that Adam and Eve’s refusal to fast from food profoundly affected their sexual lives? It was only after they ate of the forbidden fruit that they learned to lust after each other for the first time: “They saw that they were naked and were ashamed,” the Bible says. While they were abstaining they were able to look at one another honestly, purely, sacramentally and lovingly: “They were naked but were NOT ashamed.”
Eating and sex (eros) are our two greatest drives or passions. We really cannot live well unless these two drives are healthy but in balance. This is because eating and sexuality are ways in which we strive for union, communion, intimacy and fruitfulness…
In order for us to have the greatest experience of intimacy we have to maintain the correct view of things like food and sex and approach them in a way that is honest to how eating and sexuality actually work. This means that self-discipline and ascetical practices of measured self-denial such as fasting, are going to be key.
He encourages married couples to maintain a certain level of abstinence from sexual intercourse during Lent in order to see each other rightly – as persons, not just sex objects. It also helps build a greater intimacy between the couple as they are, shall we say, forced to find other ways to spend their quality time together – like talking to each other, for instance or praying together – deepening their emotional and spiritual intimacy, which serves to enhance their physical intimacy as well. Not only that but in their discussions on their experience with natural family planning Rosary Army podcasters Greg and Jennifer Willits explain how periodic abstinence also can lead to a greater appreciation for the act of sexual intercourse itself. Abstaining for a period of time no doubt builds up anticipation for the one flesh union making it, in many ways, even more special.
Lent might also be a good time for those who are single and engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage to stop and dedicate themselves to Christ and to chastity and vow to abstain from intercourse until marriage.
Yesterday President Obama did what we all knew he would do in office – overturn the Bush stem cell policy via executive order. Yuval Levin has an excellent commentary on this (h/t Paul).
Cloning was also apparently on the mind of the president as he signed this new executive order as he said in his remarks yesterday morning:
“we will ensure that our government never opens the door to the use of cloning for human reproduction. It is dangerous, profoundly wrong, and has no place in our society, or any society.”
Just how do we keep from “opening the door” to cloning for reproduction anyway? If we look into the president’s past we can easily find out what his suggestion would be. Four years ago the then Senator Obama co-signed the “Human Cloning Ban Act of 2005“, a bill that would have outlawed the implantation of the “product of nuclear transplantation into a uterus or the functional equivalent of a uterus.” This would seem like a positive solution, except that it does nothing to actually ban cloning or human reproduction.
The actual process of cloning is somatic cell nuclear transfer in which a new living organism is made by jump-starting the growth process of an egg infused with a somatic cell from a donor organism. Once SCNT is accomplished, the process of cloning is complete and reproductive as this new organism is essentially an exact copy, a reproduction, of the genetic make-up of the somatic cell donor. When this process is done with a human egg and human somatic cell, naturally the result, if all goes well, is a new living human organism – a human life at its earliest stage of development.
Now, what Obama means as “human reproduction” is the actual birth of a live clone, but the only way to ensure that no clones are ever born is to ban the process of SCNT in humans totally, even for research purposes. Says cloning advocate Gregory Pence:
“Scientists are naive to think they can ban reproductive cloning and go ahead studying embryonic [therapeutic] cloning”
What else did Obama do yesterday? You might have missed this one, but kudos to Wesley Smith for his keen eye:
That order from Bush required funding for alternative methods of stem cell research. Obama conveniently kept this one quiet, probably because he knows that, given the choice, Americans prefer ethical alternatives to destroying human embryos for research – especially when it comes to using their tax dollars to pay for it (check out this poll, broken down by Yuval Levin in the New Atlantis).
Why in the world would president Obama rescind requiring funding for the only type of research that everyone can agree on ethically? Smith offers two possible reasons:
First, vindictiveness against all things “Bush” or policies considered by the Left to be “pro life;” and second, a desire to get the public to see unborn human life as a mere corn crop ripe for the harvest.
Either way, it was a move totally contrary to the bipartisan unity he has so strongly called for as America’s political leader.
Some things to look out for in the future:
–The re-emergence of the Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Protection Act, introduced in 2007 by Sens. Feinstein and Hatch; a bill similar to the proposed Cloning “Ban” of 2005 mentioned above. see article: Cloning Doubletalk
–Congress to possibly take a look at overturning the Dickey-Wicker amendment which bans the use of tax dollars to create human embryos for scientific research. see: Obama Is Leaving Some Stem Cell Issues to Congress
Every year pro-life Missourians from across the state gather at the state capitol for a pro-life action/lobby day. This year’s action day is next Tuesday, March 10 (see flyer). Besides getting the opportunity for some face-to-face time with their legislators (if they’re actually in their office), action day participants also have the opportunity to hear from one or more pro-life speakers at a mid-day rally. This year we are privileged to have pro-life superstar Jill Stanek. The schedule for the day is as follows:
REGISTRATION:
Begins at 10:00 a.m.
Missouri State Capitol, 3rd Floor Rotunda
LOBBY LEGISLATORS:
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
RALLY:
Begins at 12:00 (Noon)
Location: Selinger Center,
Across the Street from the Capitol
By St. Peter’s Catholic Church
MARCH BACK TO THE CAPITOL:
At the Conclusion of the Rally
“Stop FOCA” & “Support Pro-Life Legislation”
Signs will be distributed
The pro-life bills being considered this session are:
—Regarding informed consent and coerced abortions**: HB 46 – Sponsor: Cynthia Davis, HB 434 – Sponsor: Bryan Pratt and SB 264 – Sponsor: Robert Mayer
—Urging Congress to reject FOCA***: HR 212 – Sponsor: Cynthia Davis, HR 294 – Sponsor: Bob Dixon and SCR 11 – Sponsor: Matt Bartle
—Pharmacy protection: HB 226 – Sponsor: Ed Emery
—Updated record keeping of abortion statistics: HB 570 – Sponsors: Belinda Harris & Therese Sander
—————————————————-
**HB 46 HB 434 has been given first round approval in the House and SB 264 passed out of committee this week
***HR 212 was approved in the House and SCR 11 passed out of committee early this week.
I just recently watched the documentary, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, which explores the firsthand accounts of American servicemen and women through their own words. It is amazing to hear about war from those who actually experience it. It’s a much different story than you will ever get from your history books or any news article or Washington press briefing. There are a few stories that I really wanted to share with you all.
First is from U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jack Lewis who writes about coming across and Iraqi father who just lost his son in a road-side accident or explosion of some kind and being able to relate to that man through his own experience of losing his unborn daughter:
The next is from U.S. Army First Lieutenant Sanjoon Han who describes what he wrote this way:
“This is a story that I heard over and over again from so many people and the exact details…they’re not going to be completely accurate which is why I call it fiction. But the broad strokes – those are based on actual events”
As I fight for the right to life of every human being here at home, many of our service men and women are living in a situation where they not only run the risk of being killed, but also might have to be the ones doing the killing themselves.
This is a hard realization to come to terms with. I understand that, unlike abortion war is sometimes necessary – even justified at times – but that doesn’t make the thought of killing and bloodshed less revolting. As Hemingway put it:
“Never think that war, no matter how necessary nor how justified, is not a crime”
When we speak of our veterans and our combat soldiers overseas, we tend to put a lot of emphasis on the sacrifice they make in risking their own lives and having to watch their fellow soldiers get killed; we talk about flag draped coffins and our wounded warriors and their life altering physical injuries. All are significant, don’t get me wrong, and all are reasons that have moved me to adopt three of our soldiers over the years. But we rarely mention, and I wonder if we really even think about, the emotional and psychological trauma that they experience when they take the life of another (other) individual(s).
Maybe we don’t think this is as important. That it doesn’t have as much of an effect on a soldier. Maybe we take for granted the fact that killing is one of the duties of a soldier. That somehow it’s not too difficult to accept and come to terms with killing when it is necessary for defending oneself, one’s fellow soldiers, one’s country. But many of those who have experienced it tell us a different story. Lt. Han explains:
Practically the moment you’re born you’re told it’s wrong to kill people. And then you’re put into a situation where you’re told that’s what you’re supposed to do and it’s not something you can turn off so quickly.
While killing enemy combatants may be morally justified, taking the life of another human being is not a natural impulse. Along with their physical injuries, many service people come home from war with serious psychological baggage – from the death they witnessed in combat, from the death they brought about themselves.
In part of his interview Sgt. Jack offers this poignant reflection on two young soldiers’ first real wartime experience:
It was my guys’ first go around and they reacted so perfectly and so professionally and here’s, you know, a 20 yr. old and a 23 yr. old. Just the way we drilled it – and we had drilled it plenty. And you know they were effective and they were not sluggish, they weren’t confused, just everything they did was ballet perfect. And then we got back to the FOB and fueled our vehicle and went over and regrouped in a defact parking lot and my driver seemed like he was pretty much ok. He was smoking pretty fiercely, but pretty much ok. My gunner was…was a wreck. I mean, he was shaking so hard, you know. It’s a little hard to know what to say to somebody who’s 23 years old and just cut somebody in half with a machine gun
War is certainly hell, justified or not, and has a profound impact on the world as a whole but most significantly on the lives of the men and women called to fight in them. Says Sgt. Lewis:
War is a passage – whether you live or whether you die.
Pray for our soldiers – support them with your letters and packages. Remember those overseas, but also those who come home, changed forever.
Let us also remember to love our enemies. War does not change the fact that all human life is sacred – created by a loving God and loved by Him infinitely, without exception. May our enemies experience this loving God, repent from their evil ways and throw themselves into the arms of the God of mercy Who knows and loves their inmost being.
You can read all of the writings from the documentary at the PBS website or order the DVD (also available through Netflix)
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council recently had this to say about the so far ho-hum response from Republicans to Gov. Sebelius’ nomination as sec’y of HHS:
The biggest example of this divide between conservatives and the GOP may be found in President Obama’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). With the exception so far of Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kans.)–arguably the most pro-abortion governor in the nation — has been met by the Republican leadership with a collective yawn. Here is a woman who aligns herself against 80% of the country in suggesting that the government knows better than parents in children’s health decisions, and yet the GOP can’t muster the will to fight her nomination. As governor, she hosted a private reception for a notorious partial-birth abortionist, vetoed bills that would have made abortion clinics cleaner for women, and blocked court reforms that would have helped to prevent third-term abortions. Like President Obama, she even opposed protection for infants who are born alive during an abortion.
If Republicans won’t take a stand now, when will they? Once Sebelius is confirmed, she will control the largest government agency in America with more power and resources to advance a radical social agenda that will drive a deeper wedge between parents and their children. Grassroots conservatives understand what’s at stake here. Why doesn’t the Republican leadership?
The Republicans did make an impressive stand against the massive amount of Gov’t spending in the stimulus bill (where has that gumption been the last 8 years?), but this will likely be their first big pro-life test since the Obama election**. And if this response to Sebelius’ nomination from the normally exceptionally pro-life KS Republican Sen. Brownback and his pro-life colleague from the same state Sen. Roberts is any indication, their conduct in this matter could be less impressive (not to mention the fact that we probably have far less social conservative Republicans in Congress than fiscal ones.)
Yesterday President Obama did what we all knew he would do in office – overturn the Bush stem cell policy