Suffering and the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood

ChelseaSuffering1 Comment

St. ThereseYesterday the Catholic Church celebrated the feast of St. Thérèse, a lovable little saint whose example of humility and abandonment is a reminder of the strength that can be found when we embrace the limits of our human nature and place all our hope and trust in God who is “more tender than a Mother.”

Humility is nothing more than recognizing the truth of who we are as human beings. Namely, that we are children of a good and gracious God. And children is precisely what God has called us to be like:

He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. -Mt. 18:2-3

This was the basis for Little Flower’s “little way.” Little children are so small and weak that they depend on their parents for absolutely everything. To become child-like, then, is not to be childish, but to accept weakness and vulnerability in order to be strengthened by the power of Christ:

“My grace is sufficient for you for power is made perfect in weakness. I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me, for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinth 12:9

Thérèse lived this out in every aspect of her life, but it was especially evident in her approach to suffering. What Thérèse understood, perhaps more than any other soul in modern history, is the infinite love that God has for each one of us, regardless of his or her physical capabilities or situation in life, and that this love alone is what gives value and meaning to every human life.

Please continue reading at Catholic Lane>>>>

Weekend Quick Takes: I Love Pensacola!

ChelseaPersonal2 Comments

Regretably, things have been pretty quiet on the blog this week. That’s because…

1. On Monday I had half of my wisdom teeth pulled. Is it just me or is this always such an incredibly unpleasant sight:

dentist.png

Haven’t had to use prescription pain meds since Monday, but my mouth is still pretty sore…and a little swollen. Let’s just say I’m in no hurry to do THAT ever again.

AND

2. My baby sister is visiting! And we’ve been taking full advantage of the fact that I only live about 30 minutes from the Emerald Coast. Here we are on the dock of the bay…wastin’ time:

quietwater.png

Living in Pensacola does not suck, in case you were wondering.

Hopefully I’ll be back up to speed next week. You know, things have been relatively quiet on this blog for several months now and I’d really like to change that. There is so much that I want to write about, I just don’t know where to begin! (I’m also pretty sure I have some serious ADD — I’m not even joking about that.)

Once again, thanks to everyone who has been sticking with me on this reckless little experiment in blogging. It’s been quite an adventure and has opened up some wonderful opportunities.

On that note, now my sister and I are off to Orlando for a trip to Islands of Adventure and Harry Potter World tomorrow! See you (hopefully more often) next week!

Catholic BioTalk With Rebecca Taylor

ChelseaPro Life4 Comments

rtaylor.jpgIn honor of Support a Catholic Speaker Month, I interviewed one of my favorite Catholic bloggers, who also does quite a bit of speaking, Rebecca Taylor. You might know her from the blog Mary Meets Dolly. She also contributes to Creative Minority Report and Life News and we run several of her articles over at Catholic Lane.

She’s not on the official SCSM list, but she should be! She’s writing and talking about serious threats to the dignity of the human person that most average Catholics, most people in general, have no idea are going on in science labs all over our country and the world.

This was my very first attempt at conducting a video interview – or any interview for that matter. We had quite a few technical difficulties along the way — and even now there is some patchiness in the sound at some points — but we got it done! I tried to keep it relatively short for you all. You can find more from Rebecca on these issues on her website.

Human cloning, designer babies, transhumanism. Most people consider these things the stuff of science fiction. But science fiction is not so fictional, anymore. And the worst part is that here in the United States there are absolutely no restrictions on any of this kind of human experimentation – which includes human and human/animal hybrid cloning as well as creating three-parent children, among other things.

As I have said on this blog many times, we have very clearly entered an “anything goes” era, in which there are no permanent boundaries, especially in the name of science and medicine. Pro-life 3.0 is upon us, whether we like it or not and it’s progressing fast — and largely under the radar. I understand that it’s hard to keep up with all the attacks on the dignity of the human person these days, but we can’t let these issues slip through the cracks.

Planned Parenthood and “Women’s Health”

ChelseaPlanned Parenthood, Women2 Comments

Over at Patheos, Rep. Rebecca Hamilton, a pro-life Democrat, gives the one of the best Planned Parenthood “war on women” smackdowns that I’ve read yet:
womens-health.png

Planned Parenthood and their allies in the media and politics have so warped the issue of women’s health that they have cast the debate entirely around what is good for Planned Parenthood. Anything that is deemed bad for Planned Parenthood is immediately characterized as an “attack on Women’s Health.” In fact, in the current presidential election, this has been broadened to mean that anything that is bad for Planned Parenthood or that even disagrees with one of their objectives, is part of a “War on Women.”
…
When you have people who claim that they own the whole question of “women’s health” but who don’t report sexual abuse and rape of minor children or human trafficking, you know you are dealing with a callous and deliberate lie. When you see people who won’t “judge” attempts to buy an abortion to kill a baby simply because she is a girl saying that anyone who wants to reduce their government funding is “waging war on women,” you should be able to see that the real issue is not women and their well-being but government money.
…
The truth of the matter is that Planned Parenthood has become the sole voice for “Women’s Rights” within the Democratic Party, despite the fact that it was never a women’s rights organization. From its founding to the present day, Planned Parenthood has focused on issues of population control to the exclusion of what is in the best interests of women.

Read the whole thing.

7 QT Friday: Birth Control

ChelseaContraception2 Comments

7 quick takes1. I’ve seen quite a few stories about birth control lately. Why not make a quick takes post out of all of them, plus a few other related items?

2. First thing’s first: For quite some time now, the link between hormonal contraceptives and an increased risk of breast cancer has been acknowledged by the Mayo Clinic and the World Health Organization

3. Not sure why this popped up in one of my news feeds recently, but here’s an April 25, 2012 CBS News headline: Injectable contraceptive doubles risk of breast cancer, study shows

4. Via FoxNews, September 14, 2012: Birth control may boost risk of carrying staph bacteria

5. Here’s another older one that I saw shared on Facebook today – via Wired.com July 28, 2010: Birth Control Messes With Monkey Business

6. The previous article is not the first study of how primates react to hormonal contraception. In this video Dr. Janet Smith cites a similar study by Prof. Lionel Tiger from the early 1970s:

Read more at TOB Tuesday: Monkeys and Contraception

7. Finally, over at Faith and Family Live, Rebecca Teti breaks down a new study on Catholic women and contraception: Why Do So Many Catholic Women Contracept? Very enlightening and, despite the still high numbers of Catholic women not following the Church’s teaching on this matter, a little hopeful.

That’s it! Head over to Conversion Diary for more QTs.

No to Gay Marriage, Yes to You

ChelseaGay Marriage/Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Sexuality, videoLeave a Comment

The Catholic Church might condemn same-sex ‘marriage’ and living an active homosexual lifestyle, but she does not hate or condemn people with same-sex attraction nor does she consider SSA, in and of itself, a sin or something that one can or should be “cured” of.

In this video, Fr. Pontifex beautifully and succinctly puts the Church’s teaching on this matter into “spoken word” (h/t Brandon Vogt):

y2y.png
Lyrics:
Silence is Golden but there’s a time to speak,
And there are those shouting their views, but their arguments are weak
Let me get this out there and make it simple and plain
I never knew of anyone who found freedom from a hate speech in Jesus name
Reckless pastors, who judge, condemn and leave a soul to feel alone
Called to shepherd God’s people, not cast the first stone
And other leaders do no favors by cowardly choosing silence
They fail to speak the truth, and offer no guidance
A culture full of tension over the issue so where does that leave us?
Somewhere between awkward silence and gay bashing in the name of Jesus
And in the middle stands truth, a truth that can set us free
A God that calls us out of darkness to embrace our true identity
In a culture that glorifies sex and puts pleasure before all else
Is God the source of your identity or is it your sexual self?
And how do we identify and not accept a lie
Because sexual desire is just one piece of the pie
Identity is a choice a lifestyle is something you embrace
Same sex Attraction doesn’t define you and can be set in place.
A movement with semantics aimed to change and sway
There needs to be clarification when using the word gay
Does it mean one has attractions or that they choose to act them out?
Truth says there is a difference in the two that must be brought about
God loves you the way you are and the truth can set you free
There is a difference between unchosen sexual attraction and chosen identity
In marriage two become one flesh, open to life for propagation
Two of the same in union can’t reach this fulfillment of God’s creation
Nature or Nurture you didn’t choose this struggle
The Church understands and will walk with you in times of trouble
The same Church that says no when we fail to keep our sexual selves in check
Is the same Church that says no when others try to take your respect
You never are alone and the Church offers you a home as it stand for what is true.
Although the Church says no to gay marriage it still says Yes to you.

Fr. Claude (Dusty) Burns
Aka Pontifex
8/13/12

Find out more about the Catholic Church’s loving ministry to those struggling with same-sex attraction at CourageRC.net

[R]ight where you are, with all of your questions, challenges and struggles…the Church indeed says yes to you. You are welcomed and you are loved. We are all in this together. –via

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Equal Persons, Unequal Acts

Wanted: Ethical Doctors

ChelseaAbortion2 Comments

Over at Catholic Lane last week we published two articles from women describing their experiences with so-called Catholic doctors and hospitals acting…less than Catholic. See:

Countering the “Catholic Doctor” Deception -Terri Kimmel
Counseled to Abort in a Catholic Hospital -Stacy Trasancos

Sadly, their experiences are not unique. One famous example is Christ Hospital or Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center in IL where pro-life speaker/blogger Jill Stanek says she witnessed doctors not only performing late-term abortions, but also abandoning some of the babies who survived abortion attempts.

medical-ethics.pngJill and Stacy’s experiences especially remind me of something one of the speakers said at a recent pro-life conference on advances in prenatal diagnosis: doctors and hospitals are often forgotten or left out of the abortion debate. And it’s true!

So much of our time and energy is focused on Planned Parenthood and “abortuaries” and we forget that it’s often legitimate doctors and health care facilities that refer for abortions and commit them themselves. In fact, prior to Roe v. Wade, it is my understanding that this is where many, if not most, of the illegal abortions were committed. Not in “back alleys” by untrained hacks, but in hospitals by doctors who would then “doctor” the paperwork when describing the “treatment” they were providing. That’s what the early 70s crime drama The Carey Treatment was centered around.

Once upon a time physicians and medical professionals — believers and non-believers alike — swore an oath to recognize and uphold the dignity of their patients, born and unborn, and “never do harm” or administer deadly medicine to anyone — even when asked to do so.

Now, not only do we not require such an oath to be taken anymore, but for those who do take it we’ve changed it into something more politically than medically correct. Any reference to never administering deadly medicine has been removed and replaced with a vague pledge to “tread with care in matters of life and death.”

To all you med students out there, you who are the future of health care, whether you’re Catholic or not, I implore you: learn and practice the good medicine! Do not give in to the moral relativism of our day. Killing is not care, no matter who you’re killing or what reason you have for killing them. This applies to end of life care as well.

Steven Crowder at VVS

ChelseaChastity, Marriage, Sex, videoLeave a Comment

crowder.pngConservative pundit/comedian Steven Crowder gave a great presentation at the Values Voter Summit last weekend. At around the 5 min mark Crowder, a newlywed, starts to get serious about our culture’s attitude towards the sanctity of the marriage and the marital act. However you may feel about his delivery style, he made excellent points about just how little value the world places on the institution of marriage and how we’re raising an entire generation of children who are ridiculed, mocked and laughed at if they choose to put off sex until their married and walk out their faith-based principles — not to mention singled out by every single film, tv show, radio station or band they choose to watch.

Indeed, it’s not easy to promote traditional family values in our casual-sex-saturated culture, when more people are opting for cohabitation instead of marriage and over forty percent of the children born in the US today are born to single mothers. But, for the sake of future generations, we must press on. Society may have radically changed in the past 50 years, dulling our moral sensitivities, but the truth of who we are has human being has not and reclaiming this truth is paramount to building a true culture of life.

We can start by leading by example and living this truth in our own daily lives.

Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. -Rom. 12:2

Be sure to read Crowder’s columns on his own experience of choosing abstinence before marriage and how that has enriched his relationship with his now wife:

Why NOT Having Sex Might be Good for You

Waiting till the wedding night – getting married the right way

7 QT: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

ChelseaAssisted Suicide, Chastity, Disabled, Pro LifeLeave a Comment

A very belated 7 Quick Takes Friday.

THE GOOD:

1. Earlier this week I talked about the many athletes with disabilities who have competed in the Olympics throughout the years. The Orlando Sentinal has a story about a teenager in Orlando, FL who, despite missing most the lower half of his right arm, is proving to be one of the best defensive players on his high school football team. Here’s a video story about him:
FOX 35 News Orlando

2. Waiting till the wedding night – getting married the right way – A lovely reflection from the newly married Steven Crowder on the benefits of pre-marital abstinence.

natalie.png3. Girl, 8, survives ovarian cancer – I mean, really, it doesn’t get much gooder than that.

THE BAD:

4. Prescription for Death – Massachusetts, vote NO on “Question 2” or the falsely named “Death With Dignity” Initiative!

5. Here Comes Incest, Just as Predicted – Michael Brown compiles a list of instances where acceptance of homosexuality is used to excuse or defend adult incest. Slippery slope? What slippery slope?

6. How to Buy a Daughter: Choosing the sex of your baby has become a multimillion-dollar industry – So, on the one hand, an unborn child is more likely to be aborted if her parents find out she’s a girl…but then there is a market for women who are desperate to have a daughter. These people really need to get in touch with each other.

THE UGLY:
Stepfather gets 15 years in abuse of disabled woman (more details here) – I couldn’t decide whether this should go under bad – obviously, because a human being was being tortured – or good – because her torturers are being brought to justice. Truly this is humanity at its ugliest.

***BONUS***
Thanks to FoundationLife.net for choosing me for their “Columnist of the Month Award” for the month of September! I am very flattered (especially since I still don’t feel like I’m writing as well or as much as I’d like to). Please check out their website for all the pro-life, pro-family information you could ever want!

Eugenics in California: A Legacy of the Past?

ChelseaAbortion, Eugenics, video1 Comment

Generally speaking, I’d say that the United States is not on most people’s radar when they think of eugenics throughout history. But we have a very sordid eugenics past here in America and I think it’s important to know where we’ve been in in this regard.

If you’ve ever got an hour and a half to kill, check out this August 28 presentation at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law on California’s eugenic legacy:

The description of the video on YouTube states:

For much of the 20th century, California was at the forefront of eugenic ideology and practices in the United States, and holds the dubious distinction of being the state with the highest number of eugenic sterilizations performed under the authority of law – some 20,000 procedures between 1909 and the mid-1950s. Coerced sterilizations continued in public hospitals into the 1970s, and it has recently come to light that in very recent years, women prisoners in California have been sterilized without their consent or knowledge. Today, California is a leader in research and services related to human genomics and assisted reproductive technologies. Speakers at this public event considered the long history of eugenics in California and explored continuities and discontinuities in the uses and misuses of genetic ideas and practices.

We’ve come a long way since the days of forced sterilization and institutionalization, but that progress is being undermined by the now standard procedure killing unborn children diagnosed with various diseases and disabilities.