When British hurdler Tasha Danvers-Smith decided that the life of her child was more important than competing in the 2004 summer Olympics in Athens she was ridiculed and told that her Olympic dreams would be destroyed. Not only did Danvers-Smith make it to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but on Aug. 20, she ran her personal best in the 400 meter hurdles and took home the bronze medal. Oh ya, and she has a three year old boy at home who has probably enriched her life more than any Olympic medal ever will.
Mark Pickup reflects on his role in his former girlfriend’s 1971 abortion:
In 1971, my girlfriend became pregnant with our baby. We were both seventeen years of age. She wanted to get married and have the baby. Not me, I was a goodtime Charlie. There were parties to attend, beers to drink, drunken choruses to sing. The prospect of fatherhood would have put a damper on the good times and so I began pressuring my girlfriend to have an abortion…
On the surface I was glad to have our “problem” solved and cracked another beer to celebrate the occasion. But something deep inside me did not sit right with what was done to solve our problem. The abortion did not solve “our problem” — it created new ones.
Ascension Press anounces some new resources from Christopher West on the Theology of the Body. Each series has everything you need to lead your own TOB study sessions. Because our society has been living in utter darkness regarding the truth and meaning of human sexuality, of the human person, this is an important message to study and share with everyone we know. JP II biographer George Weigel called TOB the pope’s:
“longest-lasting theological contribution to the Church…a bit of a theological time bomb…that would explode within the Church at some indeterminate point in the future…reshaping the way Catholics think about our embodiedness as male and female, our sexuality, our relationships with each other, our relationship with God – even God Himself”
These new resources incorporate the updated translation of the original TOB text that includes some undelivered audiences reflecting on the Song of Songs and the book of Tobit.
Got an email today from a friend of mine inviting me to attend a pre-screening of the movie Fireproof – a faith based movie from the creators of Facing the Giants about a fireman who fights to save his struggling marriage. I wrote about it last month: “Fireproof”, Marriage and World Peace. The trailor:
I signed up for my tickets and will be screening the movie next Monday. Other screenings scheduled for this last month before its release on Sept. 26 are in San Diego, CA; Washington DC; Baton Rouge, LA; Jackson, MS; Douglaston, NY and Amarillo, TX along with Jefferson City, MO, where I will be attending. If you’re interested you can register for free tickets at CatholicScreenings.com. More information about the movie can be found at FireprooftheMovie.com.
This is a great song from Natasha Bedingfield – and refreshing considering the anti-Marriage/family “hook-up” mentality plaguing our young people today:
I wanna have your babies
Get serious like crazy
I wanna have your babies
I see ’em springin up like daisies
Remember the good old days when all “dating” really was about finding the right person to eventually start a family with? I don’t, of course. That practice had long died out by the time I reached puberty. Nowadays it’s often little more than a quest for personal gratification and a few moments of pleasure. I did notice, though, when I attended Ave Maria University a few years ago, that courtship is making a comeback and it’s quite encouraging. It’s a modern courtship to be sure, but I can’t help being reminded of The Quiet Man when I think of courting (see the end of video 1/beginning of 2):
Let the courting commence!
Read: Arms of Love – a novel about purity and courtship. A couple that I was friends with at Ave read this book together while they were dating. They got married shortly after they graduated (a little over a year ago) and are expecting their first child – a girl – due in January. That school is producing some incredible Marriage vocations.
Last week there was a big comment discussion on one of Jay’s posts about what John McCain’s position on ESC research actually is anymore. It seems there has been some confusion lately. He very vaguely addressed this during last Saturday’s Civil Forum with Rick Warren at his Saddleback church, but let’s look at everything, shall we?
For years John McCain has been in favor of ESC research on so-called “surplus” embryos created for IVF. In 2004 he signed a letter to the president urging him to expand funding for ESC research. He voted twice in favor of the embryonic stem cell research enhancement act (so did Obama), even once taking time on the floor to speak in favor of the funding. In April of 2007 he told Christian talk show host Bob Dutko that he, and those who oppose ESC research “just have an open and honest disagreement”:
Lately, however, there have been a few reports from some ESC research supporters who are worried he is not committed to his past position in favor of the research. Some pro-lifers have even suggested that McCain has been open to changing his mind and is slowly coming around on the issue. Indeed, in the last year he has remained fairly quiet about ESCs, focusing his comments on touting alternative sources. His campaign website makes no mention of his past ESC research support or whether he would refuse expanded ESC research funding, but says only that he would support funding “promising research programs…that do not involve the use of human embryos.” But does this indicate a change or a change in the works? Personally, I wouldn’t bet on that just yet.
Earlier this year he defended his support for research using embryos that would be, “either discarded or kept in permanent frozen status.” And last night, when asked if he would favor or oppose funding for ESC research McCain, using the vaguest wording possible (notice, he uses the blanket term “stem cell research”), essentially reiterated his position:
For those of us in the pro-life community this has been a great struggle and a terrible dilemma because we’re also taught other obligations that we have as well. I’ve come down on the side of stem cell research. But I am wildly optimistic that skin cell research, which is coming more and more into focus and practicability, will make this debate an academic one.
when you read his site’s statement very closely, you will discover, accompanied by a sick feeling in your stomach, just how fine an art it is for those in politics to parse words to sound like they say more than they do.
If McCain wants to say clearly he’s against research on embryonic stem cells, it’s just that easy to say that. In all that verbiage, that clear statement does not appear.
Based on that all we can assume is that, yes, John McCain still favors funding for ESC research and will continue to do so when he is president.
He may be anti-abortion, but, under different circumstances, he still supports the destruction of innocent human life and that’s not insignificant – especially considering the fact that he also told Rick Warren that human beings are entitled to human rights at the moment of conception.
The Daily Mail has a beautiful story of a young girl who refused to have an abortion despite the fact that her child was conceived in a brutal gang rape. Sadly, “Elizabeth” and her mother were almost completely alone in this decision (names have been changed for legal reasons):
“One of the few things that Elizabeth is sure of is that she was raped three times that night, by three different men.
That Phoebe exists at all almost defies belief. Practically everyone who knew exactly how Elizabeth had fallen pregnant – doctors, siblings, even her own father – urged her to have an abortion as soon as possible.
The only person who pleaded with her to at least consider having the child was her mother, Sarah.”
Elizabeth recalls that most of her friends were horrified that she would go through with the birth after such a traumatic experience. Her own sister wrote a note shortly after Elizabeth made her final decision asking God to help her love the new baby who she now only felt hatred for. But the unborn child is not the enemy and in fact is in many ways, just as much a victim as her mother. She did not ask to be conceived under such circumstances, much like Elizabeth did not ask to be raped, so why should she be punished for the crime of her father? Popular opinion is that a child conceived in rape will be a constant reminder of that fateful event and a lifetime punishment for the mother. But not little Phoebe:
“‘People may wonder how it is possible to love a child conceived in this way, but believe me, I love her even more because of it.’
‘All the hatred I felt towards those men disappeared when I saw the baby. I put Phoebe on Elizabeth’s breast and that was the most moving sight.
‘In that moment, it wasn’t about her being attacked in some car park, it was simply about the precious moment a new mum holds her baby.’
Elizabeth concurs. ‘I have never, ever blamed Phoebe for what happened.
‘While it was terrifying, knowing that I was going to be a mum made me look forward and focus on something else. I suppose I have tried to look beyond what happened, to the life that was created.'”
Even Elizabeth’s father has come around and now “adores” his granddaughter who’s life he once wanted to end.
This reminds me of the now famous letter written by a Yugoslavian nun who found out she was pregnant after being raped by Serbian soldiers in 1995. After informing her Mother Superior that she would keep her child and “fulfill [her] vocation another way” she said:
Someone has to begin to break the chain of hatred that has always destroyed our countries. And so, I will teach my child only one thing: love. This child, born of violence, will be a witness along with me that the only greatness that gives honor to a human being is forgiveness.
Abortion is an act of violence against the weak and defenseless unborn. Aborting a child conceived in rape does not solve any problems. Rather it responds to one act of violence with yet another assault on human life, thereby adding another link to the chain of violence in the world.
Obama, the Freedom of Choice Act, Abortion and the Catholic Church (h/t American Papist):
“Catholics can support “pro-choice” candidates if they support them despite — not because of — their “pro-choice” views. But they also need a compelling proportionate reason to justify it. What is a ‘proportionate’ reason when it comes to the abortion issue? It’s the kind of reason we will be able to explain, with a clean heart, to the victims of abortion when we meet them face to face in the next life — which we most certainly will.”
Interestingly the “Roman Catholics” for Obama actually have this message from Chaput on their website and still feel justified supporting Obama. They do not expressly state what their proportionate reason is for supporting Obama, just that:
After faithful thought and prayer, we have arrived at the conclusion that Senator Obama is the candidate whose views are most compatible with the Catholic outlook, and we will vote for him because of that — and because of his other outstanding qualities — despite our disagreements with him in specific areas.
“I think that the pro-life position is one of the important aspects or fundamentals of the Republican Party,” McCain said. “And I also feel that–and I’m not trying to equivocate here–that Americans want us to work together. You know, Tom Ridge is one of the great leaders and he happens to be pro-choice. And I don’t think that that would necessarily rule Tom Ridge out.”
When the man votes against a bill supported nationally by every major pro-abortion Democrat in Congress and unopposed by America’s largest abortion rights organization, there really is no defense except that he believes it is perfectly acceptable practice for hospitals and abortion clinics to put infants on shelves to die so long as someone was trying to kill them before they were unfortunately born alive. Be sure to read this well documented report from National Right to Life on Obama’s votes against the Born Alive Infant’s Protection Act. Life Site News also has this report.
“If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one.” (March 4, 1861)
When British hurdler Tasha Danvers-Smith decided that the life of her child was more important than competing in the 2004 summer Olympics in Athens she was ridiculed and told that her Olympic dreams would be destroyed. Not only did Danvers-Smith make it to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but on Aug. 20, she ran her personal best in the 400 meter hurdles and took home the bronze medal. Oh ya, and she has a three year old boy at home who has probably enriched her life more than any Olympic medal ever will.
Mark Pickup reflects on his role in his former girlfriend’s 1971 abortion:
Ascension Press anounces some 