In anticipation of Sunday, 10/11/15

The 10/8/15 Courier Times featured an "opinion" piece in which abortion proponents Kate Michelman and Carol E. Tracy tell us that: "We, like many leaders in the reproductive rights [sic] and women's rights [sic] movement, were baptized and raised as Catholics."  Michelman and Tracy go on to praise Saint Pope John XXIII and Pope Francis; they have bought into the lie that the Church is backing away from the truth.  Michelman and Tracy's absolutely ill-informed opinion piece should be a wake-up call to every Catholic within the Courier Times' readership.  From the top of every roof top, our clergy and ourselves should be shouting the truths the Church proclaims about the Sanctity of Human Life and Marriage/Family/Sexuality.

"I prayed and prudence was given to me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me" (from the First Reading for Sunday, 10/11/15).

• Let us pray that the Synod will beautifully present God's plan for marriage and family, so that all will recognize the Creator's Indescribable love for us.  As magnificently explained in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 

347. What sins are gravely opposed to the sacrament of Matrimony?
“Adultery and polygamy are opposed to the sacrament of matrimony because they contradict the equal dignity of man and woman and the unity and exclusivity of married love.  Other sins include the deliberate refusal of one’s procreative potential which deprives conjugal love of the gift of children and divorce which goes against the indissolubility of marriage.”

456. What is the nature of the family in the plan of God?

"A man and a woman united in marriage form a family together with their children. God instituted the family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. Members of the same family establish among themselves personal relationships and primary responsibilities. In Christ the family becomes the domestic church because it is a community of faith, of hope, and of charity."

458. What are the duties that society has toward the family?
"Society, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity, has the duty to support and strengthen marriage and the family. Public authority must respect, protect and foster the true nature of marriage and the family, public morality, the rights of parents, and domestic prosperity."

465. When is a citizen forbidden to obey civil authorities?
"A citizen is obliged in conscience not to obey the laws of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order: 'We must obey God rather than men' (Acts of the Apostles 5:29)."

492. What are the principal sins against chastity? "Grave sins against chastity differ according to their object: adultery, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, and homosexual acts. These sins are expressions of the vice of lust. These kinds of acts committed against the physical and moral integrity of minors become even more grave."

493. Although it says only “you shall not commit adultery” why does the sixth commandment forbid all sins against chastity? "Although the biblical text of the Decalogue reads 'you shall not commit adultery' (Exodus 20:14), the Tradition of the Church comprehensively follows the moral teachings of the Old and New Testaments and considers the sixth commandment as encompassing all sins against chastity."

 494. What is the responsibility of civil authority in regard to chastity?
"Insofar as it is bound to promote respect for the dignity of the person, civil authority should seek to create an environment conducive to the practice of chastity. It should also enact suitable legislation to prevent the spread of the grave offenses against chastity mentioned above, especially in order to protect minors and those who are the weakest members of society."

As per the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "The First Amendment Defense Act (H.R. 2802, S. 1598) would bar the federal government from discriminating against individuals and organizations based upon their religious beliefs or moral convictions that marriage is the union of one man and one woman or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage. The Act provides broad protections against adverse federal actions directed toward individuals and organizations that act on such beliefs."  Representative Fitzpatrick is NOT among the 148 co-sponsors of HR2802; NEITHER Senator Casey NOR Senator Toomey are among the 37 co-sponsors of S1598.  The USCCB has an "alert" for contacts to Fitzpatrick, Casey, and Toomey, re: the First Amendment Defense Act: http://cqrcengage.com/catholicbishops/app/make-a-call?0&engagementId=113753

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference explains that Pennsylvania "House Bill 1510/Senate Bill 974 would add 'gender identity or expression' and 'sexual orientation' to Pennsylvania's non-discrimination law. Changing the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) will jeopardize many churches and their charitable outreach if they continue to adhere to their religious beliefs.  In other states, this law has closed Catholic adoption agencies and violated religious liberty....HB 1510/SB 974 exposes even more Pennsylvanians to discrimination based solely on their religious beliefs. Simply put, this legislation is intolerant and prejudiced against people of faith. "  From Bucks County, Representatives Steve Santarsiero (D), Tina Davis (D) John Galloway (D), Scott Petri (R), Marguerite Quinn (R), and Kathy Watson (R) are among the 84 co-sponsors of HB 1510.  Senator Chuck McIlhinney (R) is among the 26 co-sponsors of SB 974.  As per the Pennsylvania Family Council, "Stand for true tolerance: oppose Senate Bill 974 and House Bill 1510."

As per the Family Research Council, the so-called "Equality Act" (S. 1858 and H.R. 3185) "would essentially obliterate gender-specific designations in virtually every realm of public life in America and possibly even many private areas."

"Fill us with Your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy" (from the Responsorial Psalm for Sunday, 10/11/15)!

• To aid us in loving one another in our modern world, the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference offers "alerts" and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) offers "Alerts Central."  The USCCB notes that "Action alerts for pro-life issues can also be found through our partner organization, the "National Committee for the Human Life Amendment" (NCHLA), and that "Action alerts for issues related to immigration reform can be found through the USCCB-led Catholic coalition, "Justice for Immigrants." 

"everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to Whom we must render and account" (from the Second Reading for Sunday, 10/11/15).

• Planned Parenthood Is Still Getting Your Hard Earned Dollars!

Email Representative Fitzpatrick, Senator Casey, and Senator Toomey, asking for all federal funding of Planned Parenthood to stop.   
Email all of Bucks County's representatives and senators in Harrisburg, asking for all state funding of Planned Parenthood to stop.

• "Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally 'boy play,' and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records....The policy of instructing soldiers to ignore child sexual abuse by their Afghan allies is coming under new scrutiny, particularly as it emerges that service members like Captain Quinn have faced discipline, even career ruin, for disobeying it....the Army relieved Captain Quinn of his command and pulled him from Afghanistan....the Army is also trying to forcibly retire Sgt. First Class Charles Martland....'The Army contends that Martland and others should have looked the other way (a contention that I believe is nonsense),' Representative Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who hopes to save Sergeant Martland’s career, wrote...to the Pentagon’s inspector general" (NY Times, U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies, 9/21/15).  The Family Research Council has an online petition for the Senate and House Armed Services Committees:

"I, the undersigned, urge you to pressure the Pentagon to clear Sgt. Charles Martland's record on the matter concerning his intervention to protect a young Afghan boy from sexual abuse. I also ask that you investigate the policy concerning the ability of U.S. military personnel to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation."

•  As per The Atlantic Monthly, “The United States now accounts for less than 5 percent of the world’s inhabitants—and about 25 percent of its incarcerated inhabitants....In 2010, a third of all black male high-school dropouts between the ages of 20 and 39 were imprisoned, compared with only 13 percent of their white peers....The suite of drug laws adopted in the 1980s and ’90s did little to reduce crime, but a lot to normalize prison in black communities....Surveys have concluded that blacks and whites use drugs at roughly the same rates....the chasm in incarceration rates is deeply tied to the socioeconomic chasm between black and white America.”  "It is painful when we see prison systems which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities. It is painful when we see people who think that only others need to be cleansed, purified, and do not recognize that their weariness, pain and wounds are also the weariness, pain and wounds of society....All of us have something we need to be cleansed of, or purified from. May the knowledge of that fact inspire us to live in solidarity, to support one another and seek the best for others" (Pope Francis, 9/26/15).

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their is the kingdom of heaven" (from the Gospel Acclamation for Sunday, 10/11/15).

497. When is it moral to regulate births?

"The regulation of births, which is an aspect of responsible fatherhood and motherhood, is objectively morally acceptable when it is pursued by the spouses without external pressure; when it is practiced not out of selfishness but for serious reasons; and with methods that conform to the objective criteria of morality, that is, periodic continence and use of the infertile periods."

498. What are immoral means of birth control?  “Every action – for example, direct sterilization or contraception – is intrinsically immoral which (either in anticipation of the conjugal act, in its accomplishment or in the development of its natural consequences) proposes, as an end or as a means, to hinder procreation.”

 

499. Why are artificial insemination and artificial fertilization immoral? "They are immoral because they dissociate procreation from the act with which the spouses give themselves to each other and so introduce the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Furthermore, heterologous insemination and fertilization with the use of techniques that involve a person other than the married couple infringe upon the right of a child to be born of a father and mother known to him, bound to each other by marriage and having the exclusive right to become parents only through each another."

• With the Compendium of the Catechism speaking so clearly, what are we to think of "Catholic" hospitals in our own archdiocese?

Among OBGYNs with privileges, there is a paucity of NFP-only physicians!

There are privileges for IVF specialists!

There are privileges for associates of a practice involved with so-called fetal reduction!

Holy Redeemer's Making Your Own Health Care Decisions (http://www.holyredeemer.com/Main/AdvanceDirective.aspx) fails to specify Catholic teaching with regard to nutrition and hydration, and that health care services cannot honor advance directives (e.g., non-specific directives to forego nutrition and hydration) opposed to Catholic teaching.

Email Archbishop Chaput.

• Since all but a handful of pharmacies - across the country - sell abortifacients and contraceptives....

St. John the Evangelist and St. Martin of Tours should not be advertising ShopRite, especially as Shop Rite even sells the Plan B abortifacient!  
Our Lady of Angels (Trenton) should not be advertising Vizzoni's or Episcopo's. 
Our Lady of Sorrows/St.Anthony (Trenton) should not be advertising Episcopo's. 
St. Ann (Lawrenceville) should not be advertising McGrath's or Penlar.  
St. Ephrem and St. Charles Borromeo should not be advertising Riccio's.  
St. Thomas Aquinas should not be advertising Mat's.

Email local parishes with bulletin advertisements for providers of contraceptives and abortifacients.

"For human beings it is impossible, but not for God.  All things are possible for God" (from the Gospel for Sunday, 10/11/15).