St. Michael, Pray for Us

It is a long standing Church teaching that the Devil attacks the holiest the most violently. I was looking at abortion statistics earlier and I found a shocking one: "Forty-three percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% as Catholic." This is coming from the Guttmacher Institue, the research arm of the #1 abortion provider.

Why is it that Christians have the majority of all abortions in the US?

Church! Pray for each other and for the conversion of sinners both in and out of the Church.

May the Lord bless us and keep us safe our Enemy.

Happy Parents

I was glad to see a couple today that is young and excited about their pregnancy. She has just found that she is with child and the two have already picked out names. They both described how they met and what their plans are for the future. Yes, they are young, but I can tell that the Spirit is making them wise and prepared. It goes to show you that with our cooperation God can do amazing things.

Also, I met a couple at a restaurant down the street and they had triplets plus one more. It was comedic to the onlooker to see the children in one long, long stroller. The parents were laughing, too. I went to help them out the door and started a conversation. I'm fascinated with couples that so easily bear such a great load. They are happily married and have a beautiful family. It filled my heart and I thank God for such couples.

Please keep all young couples and their families in your prayers.

God Bless.

Conscientious Objection to Abortion

President Bush and the Department of Health and Human Services are drafting legislation that is causing some uproar in the "pro-choice" community. In the draft, any organization that uses federal funding (hospitals, researchers, med-schools, clinics, etc.) has to sign a contract stating that they will not discriminate hiring a person that objects to abortion or contraception based on moral grounds. If the organization does refuse to hire the pro-life person, they could lose their federal funding! One popular abortion mill receives millions a year in federal funding. If that financial backing were cut, it would be a serious blow. Here is the link to the Times article that describes all of it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/washington/15rule.html

Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, wrote an interesting letter to congress. You can read it here: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/rigali-conscience071808.pdf . Interestingly, he questions if the pro-choice crowd is truly pro-choice if they don't respect the choice of the health care provider to refuse abortion-related services or referals.

Peace of God be with us all.

Peace in the Midst of Chaos

It's been a busy day of cleaning up my desk space. Even in the chaos, the Lord shines a light. Found a quote from JPII that stirred my soul. I hope that it does the same for you.

"It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness. He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the mask of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocracy, the courage to commit yoursleves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal."- Pope John Paul II

Don't subdue the inner voice that pushes you to greatness. It might be difficult to follow but it is God Himself that calls. Your courage and faith will be rewarded. Stand up for what is right and holy! Pray for the unborn and the couples entrusted with the decision.

May the peace of His Sacred Heart shine on us.

God Bless.

40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae

That's right! Today is the fortieth anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae. This encyclical has largely defined the modern pro-life movement. He talks about, mostly, love in the family and the use of contraception.

Love, he writes, is four-part: Free, total, faithful, and fruitful. If one of the four is removed or violated, the love is incomplete.

Also, he writes that contraception is immoral. Why? It omits fruitfulness, specifically procreation, from love. It is also not total becuase to withhold one's fertility is not to give oneself totally.

God's interior life of love (God is Love) is the model for all love. It is free, total, faithful, and fruitful. The Father freely gives his self to the son (free), which begets the Holy Spirt (fruitful). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are inseperable (total) and eternal (faithful). This is deep stuff and is called Trinitarian Theology. It is implicit in the former Pope's encyclical.

Here's some homework for you: Go to the Vatican site and read this monumental encyclical http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html.

May we always mind God's will to take joy in life and build a lifestyle that respects and values it.

God Bless.

Morality and Politics

Hello friends. I’m Thom, the new Emily. I’m excited to be writing for this blog and I look forward to meeting many of its readers in the near future. Also, my friend and co-worker Karen Courtney is new to the blog. But, I’ll leave it to her to introduce herself to all our reader. We will do our best to follow Nicole and Emily’s excellent and informative writings.

Whether not you vote or you’re old enough to vote, consider familiarizing yourself with the presidential candidates. Even if you’re not casting your vote, you can influence others that do.

As my first post, I would like to paste a paragraph from Cincinnati Right Life’s most recent newsletter. It concerns Barack Obama’s position on abortion:
“OBAMA SUPPORTS ABORTION: Senator Barack Obama has firmly stated that if elected president, and if on his desk his first day in office, he would sign the Freedom of Choice Act. This would completely reverse any and all pro-life laws passed by Congress in the last twenty years. It would cancel the Hyde Amendment, and have government pay for all abortions. It would eliminate any conscientious objection clauses. It would cancel any requirements for parental notification or consent, and for informed consent for the woman. It would once again allow killing a baby during delivery by partial birth abortions. It would cancel out the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, allowing abortionists to smother or otherwise kill babies "accidentally" born alive from late abortions. The list goes on and on. All of this would come if the Freedom of Choice Act is passed as proposed, and if there were not enough votes to filibuster and stop its passage” (http://www.cincinnatirighttolife.org/newsletters/aug2008.pdf).

The bishops teach us that Catholics must mind the “five non-negotiables” when supporting a political candidate. They are as follows: 1. Abortion 2. Euthanasia 3. Stem-cell research 4. Human Cloning 5. Homosexual “marriage.” If the candidate supports any or all of those issues, a Catholic is strongly advised not vote for that candidate.

One might ask, “What if the candidate supports stem-cell research but is against abortion? Who do I support?” In this case, the faithful voter must recall that there is a hierarchy of sin. That is, some sins are graver than others. While all of the “five non-negotiables” are serious, serious sins- I’d argue that abortion is the worst. Every year there are approximately 1.2 million unborn children murdered. Right to life issues are directly related to a candidate’s entire platform. As Emily, the former administrator and contributor to this blog, asked me in one of our loving debates: “Do you think that a politician that doesn’t respect the rights of a defenseless child will respect your rights?” Well said Emily. (Thank you for reminding me that the end does not justify the means.)

So, I hope that all of you don’t stop here. Take some time to check out the candidates’ site, why don’t ya? Here are the links: http://www.barackobama.com/splash/ and www.johnmccain.com . Remember, whether or not you are voting or old enough to vote, it is important to inform yourself on some of these issues.
God Bless.

So long ... farewell

The time has come for my final blog post. Since we began this endeavor, it has been a wonderful challenge to update "The New View on Sex" with the latest theology of the body, chastity and pro-life information. Thank you to our regular readers, and those who are stopping by for the first time.

I am leaving Pregnancy Center East tomorrow to prepare to pursue graduate studies in Washington, DC. Consequently, I will no longer be contributing to this blog. In the mean time, you can find my writings here.

God bless you and keep you!

Finally, let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes from my hero, John Paul II:

"Life is a talent (cf. Mt 25:14-30) entrusted to us so that we can transform it and increase it, making it a gift to others. No man is an iceberg drifting on the ocean of history. Each one of us belongs to a great family, in which he has his own place and his own role to play. Selfishness makes people deaf and dumb; love opens eyes and hearts, enabling people to make that original and irreplaceable contribution which, together with the thousands of deeds of so many brothers and sisters, often distant and unknown, converges to form the mosaic of charity which can change the tide of history."

Pope Benedict on the gift of life at World Youth Day

This story is from LifeNews:
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Sydney, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- At the welcoming ceremony for the opening of World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, the pope told tens of thousands of young people that they have a responsibility to protect human life. Pope Benedict XVI told cheering throngs of students and young adults that they need to stand up against abortion.

Addressing a crowd estimated at 150,000 people, the Catholic leader said that newfound enthusiasm for protecting the environment must be match by an equal vigor to protect human life.

"At the heart of the marvel of creation are you and I, the human family, 'crowned with glory and honor,'" he told the audience.

While safeguarding the environment is important, Pope Benedict said a clean environment means nothing if people are not alive to benefit from it.
"How can it be that the most wondrous and sacred human space -- the womb -- has become a place of unutterable violence" through abortion? he asked.

The pope said that if the youth of the world would stand up for the worth and dignity of human life, it would help produce a world with more peace and harmony.

"Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses and the pain of false promises," he said.

"Our hearts and minds are yearning for a vision of life where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth and where unity is found in respectful communion," the pope added.

The young people responded to the pro-life message with considerable enthusiasm and Pope Benedict appeared to relish this.
"World Youth Day fills me with confidence for the future of the church and the future of the world," he said.

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Protect Cincinnati

News has been circulating for quite awhile that Planned Parenthood is building a new clinic in Price Hill. The news is quite disturbing, and fortunately, pro-life advocates have been hard at work to spread the word and fight the abortion giant's unwelcome arrival in the neighborhood. You can learn more about what you can do at the Protect Cincinnati website.

Prayers for Christa

I just received an e-mail from my alma mater asking for prayers for Christa Herbert, a young pregnant mother who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. Christa and her husband Todd are quite courageous and a beautiful example. They are asking for us to pray for the intercession of John Paul II.

You can read updates about Christa here. Below is a short excerpt from the site:
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The first 3 doctors I saw all indicated that a 'therapeutic termination' of pregnancy would be my best option to increase the chance of long term survival (>5 yrs). However we didn't find that that option would be very therapeutic to our child so we told them that it wasn't possible. I could kind of relate to the early Christians in that exam room that day, "kill your child or die!" - ok, so maybe I am over dramatizing it, but that's what it felt like.

Nobody could agree on any possibility of a positive outcome if I didn't just kill the kid and start on my merry treatment. Very uncreative from my viewpoint, and especially coming from a major research hospital, I would expect more than the one surgical option they offered me.

Anyway, Todd and I the next day, went for a meeting with surgeon #2 very disheartened- expecting more of the same. However, he did not give us that, in fact he didn't even mention it. He actually had several surgical options which could possibly take place in the 2nd trimester. He had already consulted research and 3 other surgeons from across the country and anesthesiologists to see what they could do for me in my unique circumstances. He is a man of faith and stated that he was committed to preserving both lives present even though many don't see it that way. Yes, that is what I expect from a major teaching institution. We were very encouraged and will likely be having surgery somewhere in my second trimester. Whether chemo would be added afterwards is yet to be seen- somewhat dependant on my surgery results.
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Love and Life in Australia

The Sisters of Life are meeting with crowds of young people in Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day. Even if you can't make it the world down under, you can check out their website from home.

American life losing value? Says who?!

It was rather shocking to me to click on the Firefox icon on the computer, only to be confronted with a story about American life losing value ... monetary value that is. Since when do we calculate the dignity of human life based on gas prices, output or other factors? John Paul II so beautifully said that each and every human person has inestimable value, regardless of who they are or what they do. Fortunately, this means that an American life being $1 million less now than five years ago should have no effect on our true dignity and value in God's eyes.

Newest milestone

Just had to share that The New View on Sex has just received its 4,000th hit since its inception in September 2007! Thanks to all of our regular visitors as well as though who are just stopping by via google.com or other random search engines.

Practical theology of the body, part II

Concept: Through the redemption, Christ gives us the "hope of everyday."

What it means: Christ's death on the cross was both redemptive and spousal love, because He totally gave of Himself for His bride, the Church. Not only did His death give us hope of eternal life, but it also resulted in the "hope of everyday" -- the grace to conquer sin and concupiscence (tendency toward sin) in everyday situations and to live out our vocation.

Practical application: Place a crucifix in a prominent location in your home or office as a reminder of the "hope of every day." Do not let Christ's sacrifice for you be in vain, but allow Him to

Practical application: Place a crucifix in a prominent location in your home or office as a reminder of the “hope of every day.” Do not let Christ’s sacrifice for you be in vain, but allow Him to transform your life and your every day decisions.