How to Start Each Day with a Positive Outlook

I tried this and it’s true. It made me feel a lot better. I wish it was this easy.

HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK:

1. Open a new file in your computer.

2. Name it 'Barack Obama.'

3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.

4. Empty the Recycle Bin.

5. Your PC will ask you: "Do you really want to get rid of "Barack Obama'?"

6. Firmly click 'Yes.'

7. Feel better?!!

GOOD! - Tomorrow we'll do Nancy Pelosi!!

Urgent: Letter of Cardinal Dolan to his brother bishops in the U.S.

The letter below exhibits powerful words from Cardinal Dolan. But he also had a very urgent request. He called upon every Catholic in America to immediately contact their legislators to support the Respect for the Rights of Conscience Act.

The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday or Wednesday of next week on this legislation, which would repeal the HHS mandate – and provide conscience protections for ALL Americans.

The legislation is sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and it would protect the rights of conscience for religious organizations and for businesses so they wouldn't be forced by the federal government to pay for medical procedures which violate their moral beliefs.

Please contact your senators again to ensure they vote for the Respect for the Rights of Conscience Act.

A pdf version is available here.

Pax et Bonum to all!

Tom, S.F.O.


February 22, 2012
Letter of Cardinal Dolan to his brother bishops in the U.S.

Dear Brother Bishops,

Since we last wrote to you concerning the critical efforts we are undertaking together to protect religious freedom in our beloved country, many of you have requested that we write once more to update you on the situation and to again request the assistance of all the faithful in this important work. We are happy to do so now.

First, we wish to express our heartfelt appreciation to you, and to all our sisters and brothers in Christ, for the remarkable witness of our unity in faith and strength of conviction during this past month. We have made our voices heard, and we will not cease from doing so until religious freedom is restored.

As we know, on January 20, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a decision to issue final regulations that would force practically all employers, including many religious institutions, to pay for abortion inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraception. The regulations would provide no protections for our great institutions—such as Catholic charities, hospitals, and universities—or for the individual faithful in the marketplace. The regulations struck at the heart of our fundamental right to religious liberty, which affects our ability to serve those outside our faith community.

Since January 20, the reaction was immediate and sustained. We came together, joined by people of every creed and political persuasion, to make one thing resoundingly clear: we stand united against any attempt to deny or weaken the right to religious liberty upon which our country was founded.

On Friday, February 10, the Administration issued the final rules. By their very terms, the rules were reaffirmed “without change.” The mandate to provide the illicit services remains. The exceedingly narrow exemption for churches remains. Despite the outcry, all the threats to religious liberty posed by the initial rules remain.

Religious freedom is a fundamental right of all. This right does not depend on any government’s decision to grant it: it is God-given, and just societies recognize and respect its free exercise. The free exercise of religion extends well beyond the freedom of worship. It also forbids government from forcing people or groups to violate their most deeply held religious convictions, and from interfering in the internal affairs of religious organizations.

Recent actions by the Administration have attempted to reduce this free exercise to a “privilege” arbitrarily granted by the government as a mere exemption from an all encompassing, extreme form of secularism. The exemption is too narrowly defined, because it does not exempt most non-profit religious employers, the religiously affiliated insurer, the self-insured employer, the for-profit religious employer, or other private businesses owned and operated by people who rightly object to paying for abortion inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception. And because it is instituted only by executive whim, even this unduly narrow exemption can be taken away easily.

In the United States, religious liberty does not depend on the benevolence of who is regulating us. It is our “first freedom” and respect for it must be broad and inclusive—not narrow and exclusive. Catholics and other people of faith and good will are not second class citizens. And it is not for the government to decide which of our ministries is “religious enough” to warrant religious freedom protection.

This is not just about contraception, abortion-causing drugs, and sterilization—although all should recognize the injustices involved in making them part of a universal mandated health care program. It is not about Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals. It is about people of faith. This is first and foremost a matter of religious liberty for all. If the government can, for example, tell Catholics that they cannot be in the insurance business today without violating their religious convictions, where does it end? This violates the constitutional limits on our government, and the basic rights upon which our country was founded.

Much remains to be done. We cannot rest when faced with so grave a threat to the religious liberty for which our parents and grandparents fought. In this moment in history we must work diligently to preserve religious liberty and to remove all threats to the practice of our faith in the public square. This is our heritage as Americans. President Obama should rescind the mandate, or at the very least, provide full and effective measures to protect religious liberty and conscience.

Above all, dear brothers, we rely on the help of the Lord in this important struggle. We all need to act now by contacting our legislators in support of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, which can be done through our action alert on www.usccb.org/conscience.

We invite you to share the contents of this letter with the faithful of your diocese in whatever form, or by whatever means, you consider most suitable. Let us continue to pray for a quick and complete resolution to this and all threats to religious liberty and the exercise of our faith in our great country.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan
Archbishop of New York
President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Most Reverend William E. Lori
Bishop of Bridgeport
Chairman, Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty

Cardinal George - "... his successor will die a martyr..."

Later in 2010, [Francis Cardinal George] further outlined the degree to which he believed religious freedoms (in the United States and other Western societies) was endangered. After the passage of legislation that enabled Civil Unions in Illinois, his eminence stated, "I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square".

From Wikipedia article on Cardinal George

Archbishop Chaput Blasts Obama Administration’s ‘Insulting’ Mandate Revision

Archbishop Chaput Blasts Obama Administration’s ‘Insulting’ Mandate Revision
Written by: CNA

February 12, 2012


By Benjamin Mann

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput rejected the Obama administration’s attempt to revise its contraception mandate, saying the rule remained “insulting” and “dangerous” to believers’ rights.

“The HHS mandate, including its latest variant, are belligerent, unnecessary and deeply offensive to the content of Catholic belief,” he wrote in a Feb. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer column.

“Any such mandate would make it morally compromising for us to provide health care benefits to the staffing of our public service ministries.”

“We cannot afford to be fooled – yet again – by evasive and misleading allusions to the administration’s alleged ‘flexibility’ on such issues. The HHS mandate needs to be rescinded.”

Archbishop Chaput published his thoughts following a Feb. 10 announcement by the administration regarding religious institutions and what the government calls “preventive services” – a category including contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing drugs.

A rule announced Jan. 20 required many faith-based organizations to provide insurance coverage of these drugs and devices despite their moral objections. After three weeks of protest led by the U.S. Catholic bishops, the administration announced a change to the rule on Friday.

Under the revised rule, insurance companies would be forced to offer the “preventive services,” without a co-pay, to employees of religious ministries. The administration maintained that under the new policy, “religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception.”

Several critics of the move, including Princeton Professor Robert George and Catholic University of America President John Garvey, responded by pointing out that the new rule accomplishes the same goal – forcing employers to underwrite policies covering the offensive services – by a different means.

In his column, Archbishop Chaput highlighted this “withering criticism” of the new requirement, and said the “’accommodation’ offered by the White House did not solve the problem” of the original mandate.

“Quite a few Catholics supported President Obama in the last election, so the ironies here are bitter,” he noted. “Many feel betrayed. They’re baffled that the Obama administration would seek to coerce Catholic employers, private and corporate, to violate their religious convictions.”

For Philadelphia’s archbishop, however, the administration’s move comes as no surprise.

He cited its “early shift toward the anemic language of ‘freedom of worship’ instead of the more historically-grounded and robust concept of ‘freedom of religion,’” and noted its “troubling effort to regulate religious ministers, recently rejected 9-0 by the Supreme Court in the Hosanna-Tabor case.”

These steps, together with the 2011 termination of the U.S. bishops’ human trafficking grant over a refusal to make abortion referrals, have convinced Archbishop Chaput that the Obama White House “is – to put it generously – tone deaf to people of faith.”

“It’s clear that such actions are developing into a pattern,” he observed.

In this context, the archbishop indicated, Health and Human Services’ mandate did not seem like a “gaffe” or “mistake.”

“The current administration prides itself on being measured and deliberate. The current HHS mandate needs to be understood as exactly that.”

“It’s impossible to see this regulation as some happenstance policy. It has been too long in the making. Despite all of its public apprehension about ‘culture warriors’ on the political right in the past, the current administration has created an HHS mandate that is the embodiment of culture war.”

“At its heart is a seemingly deep distrust of the formative role religious faith has on personal and social conduct, and a deep distaste for religion’s moral influence on public affairs. To say that this view is contrary to the Founders’ thinking and the record of American history would be an understatement.”

“Critics may characterize my words here as partisan or political,” the archbishop acknowledged. “But it is this administration – not Catholic ministries or institutions or bishops – that chose the timing and nature of the fight.”

The burden, he said, was on the White House, which “has the power to remove the issue from public conflict.”

Catholics, meanwhile, “should not be misled into accepting feeble compromises on issues of principle.”

OFS not SFO

Important information regarding the name of our Order

February 6, 2012

As some of you are aware, the Secular Franciscan Order holds its Chapter at the International level every three years (every other time, or every six years, is an elective chapter). The International Chapter in 2011 was at the same time as our National Chapter. One of the items that came out of that chapter is a directive from our Minister General, Encarnación del Pozo, regarding the letters we use after our names to indicate our membership in the Order. That letter from Encarnita is included below.

Following some discussion with the National Executive Council and my fellow Regional Ministers, I can summarize the effect of this letter in one sentence:

Effective immediately, we are to use “OFS” rather than “SFO” after our names.

Please note that the name of the Order does not change — English is one of the four official languages, and “Secular Franciscan Order” continues to be our name in English. This, in turn, means that other places where we use “SFO” as an abbreviation for “Secular Franciscan Order” — where it is not the three letters after our names — can stay the way they are. So, our national website will continue to be nafra-sfo.org, and our regional website will continue to be ilsfo.org, to name two examples.

If we consider the efforts of CIOFS to encourage a common sense of identity within the Secular Franciscan Order (something which is probably very clear to those of you who have been using the ongoing formation dossiers), it makes sense that all Secular Franciscans throughout the world, regardless of language, will henceforth use the same set of letters after our names to indicate our status as professed members of the Order. Yes, it will take some getting used to, but please accept that small sacrifice as part of your Lenten journey this year.

Above all, as our National Minister, Tom Bello, said to us when communicating this change, “… I am absolutely certain that OFS or SFO does not make me or you … any more or less Franciscan. We are still permanently professed. Our Order is still, in English, the Secular Franciscan Order.”

Peace and blessings to you all,

Vickie Klick, OFS
Regional Minister
{Mother Cabrini Region)

- – - – -

Allegato n. 9

ORDO FRANCISCANUS SÆCULARIS
XIII. GENERAL CHAPTER
Saõ Paulo, 2011. October 22-29

THE OFFICIAL NAME OF THE ORDER

THE USE AND THE TRANSLATION OF THE NAME OF THE ORDER

1. The official name of the Order is Ordo Franciscanus Sæcularis.

2. Translations of the name of the Order
2. 1 The translation of the name of the Order is already made in the four official languages, and these are the ones to be used in these languages, namely in Italian, in English, in Spanish and in French.
2.2 The name can be translated into local languages only when the literal translation from Latin is easily understandable even by the civil society and does not change its meaning or substance.
2.3 When the translation into the national language distorts the meaning of the name, or is linguistically impossible to transfer the genuine meaning, Ordo Franciscanus Sæcularis must always be used, which can be followed by expressions to clarify and make more understandable the nature of the Secular Franciscan Order to everyone in the local language.

3. The acronym
The acronym which refers to the name Ordo Franciscanus Sæcularis is OFS and is always to be used regardless of the language. For example, when Secular Franciscans use the acronym after their name, they must use “OFS”.

Encarnación del Pozo, OFS
General Minister

Archbishop Chaput urges respect for life amid high disabled abortion rate

Archbishop Chaput urges respect for life amid high disabled abortion rate

An 80 percent abortion rate of those with disabilities shows the need to restore a fundamental respect for human dignity in America, said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia.

He underscored that the plight of disabled babies highlights "a struggle within the American soul" that will shape the future of the nation.

"These children with disabilities are not a burden; they're a priceless gift to all of us," the archbishop said. "They're a doorway to the real meaning of our humanity."

Archbishop Chaput delivered the keynote address at the thirteenth annual Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life on Jan. 22.

The conference, which was held at Georgetown University, took place one day before the March for Life, at which hundreds of thousands of Americans annually gather in the nation's capital to protest abortion and show their support for the dignity of all human life.

"Abortion kills a child, it wounds a precious part of a woman's own dignity and identity, and it steals hope," the archbishop said. "That's why it's wrong. That's why it needs to end. That's why we march."

He warned that without a strong foundation of faith and morals, America becomes "alien and hostile" to its founding ideals. This threat is clearly demonstrated in the country's treatment of the poor and disabled, which the archbishop said "shows what we really believe about human dignity."

In his talk, Archbishop Chaput focused on children with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects development, appearance and cognitive function, and can cause other health problems.

He observed that prenatal testing is now able to detect up to 95 percent of pregnancies that have a strong risk of Down syndrome, and more than 80 percent of the unborn babies who are diagnosed with the disorder are aborted.

These babies are killed because of a flaw in their chromosomes that is "neither fatal nor contagious, but merely undesirable," he said.

The archbishop lamented the growing tendency of medical professionals to emphasize the possible defects of Down syndrome, thus steering expectant mothers of children with the disorder towards abortion.

Parents and doctors should be realistic about the challenges, understanding that raising a disabled child will involve "some degree of suffering," he said. However, they should also see the potential and beauty of children with special needs, realizing that no child is perfect.

Archbishop Chaput noted that today, individuals with Down syndrome have longer life expectancies than ever before and can generally "enjoy happy, productive lives."

"The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is between love and unlove; between courage and cowardice; between trust and fear," he said.

This is a choice that must be faced on both an individual level and as a society, he added, emphasizing that "God will demand an accounting" of how we have used our freedom.

If we really "take God seriously," we will work to uphold the sanctity of human life and dignity of sexuality in our daily lives, he said.

This means that public officials should live out their Catholic faith in the laws that they support; doctors in the procedures they perform and the drugs they prescribe; and citizens in their actions on public issues, he explained.

He praised the work of people and organizations who aid those with disabilities, recognizing in them "an invitation to learn how to love deeply and without counting the cost."

Archbishop Chaput urged those present at the conference not to be afraid as they persevere in being an apostle to those around them.

"Fear is beneath your dignity as sons and daughters of the God of life," he said. "Never give up the struggle that the March for Life embodies," he added. "Your prolife witness gives glory to God."

Although changing the culture is "a huge task," we must recognize that we are being called by God to do so, the archbishop said. "He's waiting, and now we need to answer him."

Read more here.

2012 National Prayer Vigil For Life Homilies

2012 National Prayer Vigil For Life Homilies

Homily of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo
6:30 pm, Sunday, January 22, 2012
Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

It is the Lord’s Day and Christ gathers us for his paschal sacrifice. It is the Lord’s Day but also a somber day of remembrance, January 22, the Roe versus Wade Decision of our Supreme Court thirty nine years ago. It is the Lord’s Day at Mary’s House here in Washington and we gather from every place in this land and beyond to hear and thirst for the Word of God and the Bread of Life. With Cardinal Wuerl, our local Shepherd, the Apostolic Nuncio, with my brother Cardinals and Brother bishops from this land, I welcome all of you to this celebration preparing and enlivening us for our activity in the public square tomorrow for the Annual March for Life. It is particularly wonderful to welcome anew Archbishop Vigano, our Nuncio, who is here for the first time. Thank you and please give the Holy Father our heartfelt greetings and our pledge of prayers. I thank Cardinal George and Cardinal O’Malley for being with us.

There are so many priests, deacons, both permanent and transitional, seminarians, religious sisters and brothers, postulants, novices and newly professed sisters, how magnificent your presence is for all of us. May you remain committed to the human person at every stage of his or her life.

This pro-life assembly has many veterans in the pro-life movement, many adult leaders and many families. What stands out tonight, as always at this Mass, is the vast number of children, youth and young adults who are present. You are grand and eloquent witnesses to human life, enthusiasm unmoved by sour pundits who prefer to ignore you. You remain and abide in joy, a good infection that we all want to catch from you. A thousand thank yous! The staff of the National Shrine, beginning with Msgr. Rossi, are such generous hosts and so hospitable to us each year. Thank you! EWTN Network always televises this Liturgy and we are grateful that through them this Mass can be seen throughout the world. As always, we are grateful for this service!

A few years back I came across a sign in front of a Church announcing the following Sunday’s Sermon. It read: “Don’t be so hard on Jonah!” I presume it has to do with the fact that Jonah, on one level, is not one of the most stellar prophets. He receives a call from the Lord, runs away, tries to take a transatlantic cruise, is found out for his negligence by pagan sailors during a storm who toss him overboard to calm the waves, is then swallowed by a great fish, manages a most beautiful formal liturgical prayer while in the stomach of this whale-like-creature, is spit up on the beach, and finally realizes the Lord is serious about the call to Nineveh. The narrative of the First Reading today is the preaching of Jonah and the immediate repentance of Nineveh, yes Nineveh, that most hostile pagan city, ruthless in its destruction of Israel and seemingly implacable enemy of the Lord. Yet not even Jerusalem and Israel repent like this city in the narrative parable that is the Book of Jonah. Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezechiel seemingly could not do for Israel what the Lord manages through Jonah for Nineveh. This great little book written most probably after the exile of Israel to Babylon and Israel now back home, is a gentle and perhaps slightly humorous reminder to all God’s people, now reinforcing their wondrous Jewish identity of Pentateuch and Covenant after their exile, that the Lord is full of universal mercy and wondrous surprises. Receptivity to the Covenant is also an opening out of the glory and compassion of the one true God even to those hostile and seemingly incapable of turning around to the Lord. Jonah had at first run from his call and his mission and is not bubbling with joy when it meets success as the Lord’s ways are sometimes, maybe many times, not his and not ours. Perhaps that is why we are more like Jonah than we would care to admit, especially to those hostile to us. If we are to be critical of Jonah, we must see him as our mirror. (By the way, I wonder how many days it would take to go through Washington, D.C.?)

The Reading from Jonah prepares us for the Gospel Reading from St. Mark, that short but incandescent Gospel that accompanies us most Sundays this year in the Lectionary. We hear of the opening days of Jesus’ public life, the very beginning of his ministry after his baptism in the Jordan and his Spirit driven 40 day fast in the desert with the wild beasts and temptations from Satan, a real beast in himself. Chapter One is a day in the life of Jesus in those early joy filled and heady frenetic times of the initial announcement of the Kingdom of God. But St. Mark sets us straight that this happens against the background of John the Baptist’s arrest and imprisonment and sets the shadow of the Cross already in our hearts. Jesus’ message is a call for a turn around and a swift movement to the Lord, to God who is advancing towards us. It is Good News! God Reigns! The full meaning of the message, the Kingdom of God, will only become evident gradually when the “what is it” is replaced by “who is it.” Jesus Christ is the Kingdom, God’s merciful face turned towards the world and us that we can turn to Him.

Equally stunning is the swift way Jesus begins to call associates, those who will be apostles. In abrupt fashion he calls and the first disciples respond. What urgency and authority are in Jesus’ call. Not even the claims of work, family, business or culture can intervene in order for disciples to be “in Jesus’ company.” Good Grief! There is no HR person involved, not even a mention of a pension plan or benefits as yet! Perhaps with St. Paul who speaks to the Corinthians today, the message is that the time is short. In fact, there is a word in today’s Gospel that is repeated 32 more times in the Gospel of St. Mark. The word is “immediately.” There is no time for a Jonah run around. The response to Christ is always “immediately,” the same word used to describe Jesus’ miracles. They happen immediately. The invitation of Jesus is to pass from obscurity to light—and immediately. The history of salvation has reached its fullness with Jesus. That is fact. The imperative is to come follow him. Conversion is personal but immediately involves you in a fellowship, in a community, in the Church. To be engaged in this is to be introduced to Jesus’ new way of fishing, that is, catching them alive! Immediately!

Jonah gave Nineveh forty days and they repented. We are nearing the 40th year anniversary of Roe versus Wade. 53 million children have lost their lives since then; millions of men and women have lives that will never be the same because of their tragic choices. Our embrace of life must be clear. As we mourn the loss of precious human lives, most of them without a name but always known by the Lord, we cannot let our resolve to pray and work for change be such as to use so stringent a rhetoric against those hostile to us that we foreclose change and repentance. Yes, the Lord through his Son weeps over the loss of life; His simultaneous compassion and mercy opens up forgiveness to those who have greatly sinned. The more wounded his sinful children become the more he promises mercy and invitation to conversion. And through the Church’s ministry of Project Rachel, we witness the miracle of Christ’s mercy and healing grace as hearts broken are made whole, filled with peace and hope once again. Our rightful criticisms of policies of a given Administration, our clear work with legislators, even those who oppose us, our ability to persuade the media who most frequently refuse to give the truth, --- all these approaches must be imbued with Jesus’ Face. It is not weakness to show compassion for those with whom we have fundamental disagreement on human life, a matter of the greatest importance.

But clear we must be. Disturbing news came to us Friday from HHS and the Obama Administration: it fundamentally repeated the mandate that sterilization and contraception must be included in virtually all health plans. Never before in our US History has the Federal Government forced citizens to directly purchase what violates our beliefs. At issue here as our President of the Conference stated it this past Friday, is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for conscience and religious liberty. More on that in a few moments!

We are the people of the Gospel of Life. We are the People of Life. We first live our lives as credible witnesses. We are engaged in the truth about Faith and Charity, virtuous living in chastity, a must for all and especially for young people who are pro-life. We must be sensitive less the desire for good things becomes a huge form of acquisition for things, for gadgets and for glamour. The beauty of the human person made in the image and likeness of God gives us a different “immediately” in terms of “getting.” Our face is turned to the unborn, the elderly and very ill, the disabled and those traumatized by our economic troubles. These persons are beautiful and these “poor ones” are the most important in the Kingdom of God.

There is also good news in the pro-life arena. There are a record number of state laws that now restrict abortions. State prosecutors have begun to prosecute late term abortionists who deny life and injure and maim women. At the same time conscience protection and religious liberty for all of us who work for life has been put in jeopardy and represents a significant and troubling issue. We must be perseverant and very clear in fighting for this constitutional right and unfailing in bringing this matter to the administration and to the Congress. That can be part of your witness tomorrow.

A few weeks ago Our Holy Father, at his yearly address to the Diplomatic Corps, made young people and their life and concerns the main theme of his talk. He repeated the words of Blessed John Paul II that “the path of peace is at the same time the path of the young,” and then said that young people impel us to take seriously their demand for truth, justice and peace. Repeating words from the Annual World Day of Peace message, Pope Benedict spoke of education as a crucial theme today for it determines the healthy development of each person and the future of all society. He spoke of the primary setting of education as the family, which is not just a societal convention but the fundamental cell of every society. Openness to life in the family is a sign of openness to the future. The Holy Father then read a most clear statement: “ (…) (W)with particular reference to the West, I am convinced that legislative measures which not only permit but at times even promote abortion for reasons of convenience and for questionable medical motives compromise the education of young people and, as a result, the future of humanity.” You cannot get clearer than this. I beg and pray for the young people present and all youth and young adults not to be compromised in your dedication to the protection of life of each human person, born and unborn. Keep it before your eyes and in your hearts immediately. Threats against life and against the consciences of those who say “yes” to life must be met with timely and unwavering action, in our families and institutions, and yes, in the public square.

Just the other day the Holy Father gave another address to Region IV of the Episcopal Conference. He spoke to the bishops on religious liberty and the public nature of the Church’s witness. At one point he said: “(…) it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.” In light of last Friday’s announcement about health care mandates, it seems that the Holy Father has “nailed” the issue in advance. His calls for courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public life and debate have targeted the issues we face in our pro-life efforts, to defend those who defend human life and to defend their religious liberty!

Advocacy on behalf of human life is an essential dimension of the prolife cause and the prolife heart. I know that the prolife youth and young adults here and beyond will continue to be a source for renewed efforts and final victory in this truth and this reality. A “Year of Faith” begins this October for the whole Catholic Church throughout the world and will last till November of 2013. It will overlap with the sad 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade next year; may the new evangelization, which always begins with personal conversion, be a prime vehicle for re-invigorating the Gospel of Life here in the United States, for individuals, for the Church, and for the people of the United States. Please do not underestimate your presence and conscience here: Remember Jonah! Remember religious liberty and the current attacks against it!

Prayer leads to action and action leads us back to prayer and contemplation. We are about to approach the Lord’s Altar of Sacrifice and there place our own labor and life, our prayer and sorrows, our joys and anxieties there with the gifts of bread and wine. In the Eucharistic Prayer they are lifted up and the bread and wine are transformed into Christ’s Body and Blood, nourishment and food for all of us pilgrims on the way to the final glory of the Kingdom of God. At its beginning we hear the invitations: “Lift up your hearts” and “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.” We immediately respond to each: “We lift them up to the Lord” and “It is right and just.” Like the apostles we are called and brought into intimacy with the Lord Jesus in his free and life giving act of reconciliation to the Father for us. Activated by the Holy Spirit we enter into sacrificial contemplation. Once nourished we are sent forth: to be sent is to be apostolic. Like the four first apostles we go immediately. We are not afraid. We are gone fishing for good. Immediately.

It has been a privilege and an honor to be principal Celebrant of this Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life these past few years. I have been more than edified. The beauty, reverence and great joy of this assembly and their letters and notes to me afterwards have been transforming. Later this year the Chair of the Bishops’ Pro-Life Committee moves to Cardinal O’Malley of Boston, an ardent apostolic witness to Life who will in turn have the honor to preside at this Mass. I want to express my deepest thanks to Tom Grenchik and to all the staff of the Bishop’s Pro-Life Committee for their knowledgeable, unflagging and beautiful commitment to the pro-life reality and all that it means to us bishops and to the Catholic Faithful of this country. The staff is dedicated and persistent, at times even relentless with the Chair and the wonderful members and consultors of the Pro-Life Committee. Were I forced to articulate all they have done and mean, I would be left altogether helpless.

We are in the House of Mary. In all pro-life work and activity and prayer, she is the great model, disciple and friend who leads us to Christ and deeper commitment. For she was privileged to bear him; she was his mother not his incubator. In a brilliant early Russian icon of the Annunciation she is pictured, standing beside, not kneeling beside, the Archangel Gabriel. Both are seemingly ten feet tall. She is the youngest Virgin Mary I have ever seen painted and she is smiling. Her right hand gestures in a “let it be” to the Angel. The infant Christ, blessing, is already outlined within her. In her left hand she is holding needle and thread, for she will indeed weave the Eternal Word Made Flesh into our everyday existence, into our humanity. What a profound image of what the Incarnation means, what excellence is the human person, what magnificence is at stake in young people. When I think of that icon of the Virgin, I think of you young people, and I am put into a genuine state of joy and assurance for you too in many, in simple, but in deeply true ways are weaving Christ into our culture. You do so with energy and joy, with a love of life and a deep friendship with Christ, our Crucified and Risen
Lord. May the Holy Spirit overshadow your efforts.

The time is short! Come with Jonah! Repent! Come follow the Lord Jesus. Come with Peter, Andrew, James and John! Be sent fishing in behalf of Life. And God bless you all. Immediately!


Homily of Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan
7:30 a.m., Monday, January 23, 2012
Closing Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

You have just spent the night in your mother’s homes!

You have “kept vigil” that cherished tradition so frequently found in the Bible, and now we commence this somber anniversary her in our Mother’s home, our National Shrine, in the best possible way, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

I welcome all of you!
I whisper “good morning” to so many of you who have kept vigil here for the noble cause of life;
I thank you for the radiant inspiration you give all of us.

That radiant inspiration we need indeed as we persevere in this now two-score years of promoting a recovery of the culture of life gravely threatened by unlimited abortion.

Simply put, we are often tempted to give up hope that we can even turn it around.

In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus mentions some mysterious “unforgiveable sin against the Holy Spirit.” What is it?

Wise men and women, saints and scholars, tell us that Jesus is teaching that, really, the only unforgiveable sin…is to believe that there is any sin which cannot be forgiven, that God’s mercy is limited.

Nope! God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s power is unlimited! There is no evil, no horror, no sin that is exempt from the healing rays of His grace.

Not even the horrors of the culture of death!

From a human point of view, we may be tempted to surrender;

When our government places conception, pregnancy and birth under the “Center for Disease Control”;

When chemically blocking conception or aborting the baby in the womb is considered a “right” to be subsidized by others who abhor it;

When the ability of feeding, housing, and healing the struggling of the world is curtailed and impeded if one does not also help women abort their babies;

One can hardly be faulted for being tempted to the “sin against the Holy Spirit” and just consider all as lost.

Not us! Not for thousands who have stayed up all night in prayer in this, the home of a pregnant woman;

Not for hundreds of thousands who will march today with the words of “We Shall Overcome” ringing in our ears;

Not for those of us who whisper “Thanks be to God” as we behold untold numbers of young people with passion for the Culture of Life, those of us old enough to recall thirty-nine years ago when sophisticated voices told us that the “pro-life movement” was just a momentary fad that would soon crash upon the shores of a “brave new world.” We veterans who now smile as the pro-life cause is acknowledged as today’s premiere civil rights movement still, in spite of editorial pages and chic tsk-tsk the most pivotal, burning issue on the campaign trail.

Yes, like David in our reading from God’s word this morning, the pro-life movement has been dismissed by the Goliath of the well-oiled, well-inked, glitterati-crowded pro-abortion one…. But, Goliath the Giant didn’t win, did he? Trusting, shrewd,
Faithful, confident, energetic little David did!

Thank you, David…for the radiant inspiration you give us!

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MANDATE FOR CONTRACEPTIVE/STERILIZATION COVERAGE

I received this email from CatholicVote.org. I thought it very important to share. Please also read the links below.

Dear CV Friend,

The sleeping giant has been awakened.

Right now we're witnessing an unprecedented response to the Obama administration's decision last Friday to proceed with their new mandate forcing all Americans (including the Catholic Church) to fund birth control, sterilization, and some abortion-inducing drugs.

Since Friday we have been receiving reports from individuals and parishes across the country. Catholics of all stripes, left, right, and center -- "political" categories that are not typically helpful -- are nevertheless coming together like never before.

We are united as one Church.

Bishops, priests, pastors and the laity are rising up. Many priests and bishops preached last Sunday on the threat, with numerous reports of congregations spontaneously erupting with standing ovations. Blogs, news sites, and grassroots organizations (on both left and right!) have erupted. The emails and calls to CV are pouring in.

Retired Cardinal Mahoney in Los Angeles responded to the decision saying: "This decision must be fought against with all the energies the Catholic Community can muster...there is no other fundamental issue as important as this one as we enter into the Presidential and Congressional campaigns...[i]f any candidate refuses to acknowledge and to promote those rights, then that candidate will not receive my vote."

And just this morning, New York's Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan authored a blistering editorial in the Wall Street Journal in which he concluded:

"This latest erosion of our first freedom should make all Americans pause. When the government tampers with a freedom so fundamental to the life of our nation, one shudders to think what lies ahead."

The assault on our religious freedom may not come as a surprise to many of you. For years, hostile groups and some elected officials have been working to destroy the influence of the Church in America. For years they have flaunted our social teachings, insulted our clergy and hierarchy, and mocked our Pope. The attacks are endless.

And now they want us to fund their agenda.

NO WAY.

We will not accept this new mandate, and we will not rest until it is overturned.

Our goal: Ensure that every Catholic voter in every swing state understands this decision - and what is at stake in November.

Can you chip in $10 to help power this campaign?

As Catholics, we are a diverse bunch. We argue about politics, candidates, and the issues. We disagree on how to solve our economic problems, immigration, and the role of government. There are even some Catholics who struggle with the Church on the foundational issues of life and marriage.

But on the issue of religious liberty -- our First Freedom -- there must be unity.

This is not the time for "I told you so," or finger pointing.

We must lock arms with each other. Pray. Fast. And fight back like never before.

We are united.

We are Catholic.

And we won't back down.


Sincerely,

Brian



Federal Government Mandate for Contraceptive/Sterilization Coverage - by Cardinal Roger Mahoney
http://cardinalrogermahonyblogsla.blogspot.com/2012/01/federal-government-mandate-for.html

ObamaCare and Religious Freedom - by Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203718504577178833194483196.html

Homily of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo at National Prayer Vigil for Life
http://www.usccb.org/about/media-relations/resources/2012-national-prayer-vigil-for-life-homilies.cfm

Archbishop Carlson Calls on Every Pastor to Speak Out
http://stlouisreview.com/article/2012-01-23/archbishop-carlson

Your Baby's Development Month by Month

An Amazing Journey! LIFE!

At the miraculous moment of fertilization – when the egg of a woman and the sperm of a man unite, a new human life begins. From this moment on, it will take approximately nine months for the baby to develop and be ready to be born. Watch "85 Days," our TV commercial about your baby's development.

Babies come into this world one of three ways – early (premature), on time (born at the expected time), or late (after the expected due date). All babies, regardless of when they arrive, must go through the same developmental stages – usually a nine-month cycle. Let’s examine what happens before birth.

For the sake of clarity, please note that fertilization is placed at the beginning of Week 1. If you had intercourse multiple times since the end of your last menstrual period, it may be difficult to determine exactly the date of the baby’s conception and stage of fetal development.

Month One
Fertilization - the joining of the father's sperm and the mother's egg - this is when life begins. Fertilization can occur within minutes of intercourse or within two to three days afterwards. When fertilization occurs a new, unique human individual begins the journey of development. At the earliest stage, the new person is referred to as a zygote and is no larger than a single grain of sand. Cell division begins mere moments after fertilization.

Amazing Fact: At fertilization, every bit of genetic information necessary for the child's development is present. The "program" for everything is there: hair and eye color, skin tone, height - even likely giftedness as a pianist, vocalist or computer programmer.

A function called implantation happens from five to nine days after fertilization. Implantation occurs when the new human nestles him or herself in the wall of the uterus (or womb) and begins to draw nutrition. Once he/she has implanted, your baby is called a blastocyst and is about 0.1 - 0.2 mm in diameter.

This week your body will experience a hormone reaction to the presence of the developing baby. The result is that you stop menstruating. In other words, you miss your normal period.

Between weeks three and four (18 to 25 days after fertilization) the developing baby's heart begins to beat. Arm and leg buds form. The face – eyes, ears, nose and mouth - begin to take form.

Month Two
Your baby has only been developing for five weeks and is now 10,000 times larger than he/she was at fertilization. Your baby now is only about one inch long and weighs no more than one whole peanut. The lining of the placenta begins to develop but does not take over the production of hormones until about week 12. Brain waves are detected.

Amazing Fact: It's a good thing this blazingly fast growth rate slows down after the second month, otherwise the baby's birth weight would exceed 10 tons!

Your baby’s heart is bulging from the body and blood circulation is well established. Early evidence of the liver, pancreas, lungs and stomach can be seen. When you see your baby through ultrasound at week six, you'd be amazed by how much he or she has already developed.

Genitals are present but you can't distinguish boys from girls at this point. The pumping action of your baby's heart is about 20% of your own heart's capacity.

Amazing Fact: Your baby will actually go through three sets of kidneys during his or her development. By week seven, your baby is already on the second set!

By this time, the end of month two, your baby receives a new technical name to describe his/her development: fetus, a Latin word which means "young one." All organs are present - and most are functioning - although some need more time to develop. The irises of the eyes develop, fingernails are visible and your baby can curl his/her fingers around an object. He or she also hiccups, has taste buds on the tongue and tooth buds in the gums.

Amazing Fact: If your health provider uses a "Doppler," you may be able to hear your baby's heartbeat during your week 10 visit. It will sound very fast. Your risk of miscarriage is greatly reduced after you hear this sound. Just click either link to listen!

baby's heartbeat.mp3

baby's heartbeat.wav

The baby’s mother and father can also see their baby in the womb through 3D/4D ultrasound imaging. Most doctors use ultrasound to trace the baby’s development throughout pregnancy.

Month Three
Your baby can smile, make funny faces. She/he can practice “breathing” the amniotic fluid in/out of the lungs, all 20 teeth are formed and waiting to develop. Your baby is now approximately one ounce in weight, as is the placenta. The pancreas has now started to secrete insulin. This is also the time of peak movement for the baby. The movement can not be felt by the mother but the baby rarely pauses for more than five minutes at a time. He/she may change position as often as 20 times an hour even if the mother lies still. The baby also feels the mother’s motions at this time and rocks in the womb as the mother moves.

Amazing Fact: Amniotic fluid completely regenerates itself every three hours. While we know for sure that this fluid is partly made up of urine from the baby, science still has not discovered what makes up the other parts. As advanced as modern medicine is, some mysteries remain!

Amazing Fact: What was that noise? At 15 weeks, loud sounds may actually cause baby to startle. Some moms and dads find that quiet music played near mom's tummy will cause baby to relax and calm down.

Month Four
Your baby is now about eight inches tall from head to toe. Baby’s movements can now be felt by his/her mother and he/she can suck his/her thumb. The fingernails are now well-formed and often need to be trimmed at birth because they have grown so long. Baby is emptying his/her bladder every 40-45 minutes. The placenta is fully established by now. Another critical part of the baby’s growth is the umbilical cord. The umbilical cord is attached to the placenta, not the mother, and serves to provide baby with the needed nutrients for the rapid growth the baby is now experiencing. Fingerprints are now evident.

Month Five

Amazing Fact: "Why can't I sleep through the night?" Many moms find themselves asking this question. The simple answer is you have a son or daughter inside you who lives on a different sleep/wake cycle than you do. Some kids consistently wake mom at 3 a.m. every morning. Chances are, after baby is born, he or she will want to be active about this same time!

Baby’s weight will increase to approximately 15 ounces by the end of the fifth month. Hearing is very acute and activity continues to increase as the baby swims around in the amniotic fluid. The baby’s body shifts to a head-down position in preparation for birth in a few months. Eyebrows have developed. Lanugo, (fine hair) begins to appear on the baby’s body. Sometimes this lanugo remains on the body after birth. Also, a creamy white substance (named vernix) clings to the baby’s fine hair and in creases of the skin. It is believed that this “skin cream” protects the baby during the remaining weeks of pregnancy. This substance is sometimes seen after birth.

Month Six
By now your baby has gained another pound. His/her hand coordination has increased and the baby can now move the thumb in opposition to the fingers. Eyes are now open though the baby is still in the darkness in the womb. Little deposits of fat, which retain heat, begin to form. The uterus allows some light to be seen so the baby begins to distinguish between lightness and darkness.

Month Seven
Baby’s skin is wrinkled from so much time floating in water. The skin will stay this way until a few weeks after your child’s birth. Your baby’s eyelashes are developing and fat continues to be deposited beneath the skin. If you have a baby boy, his testes will probably begin descending. Now into his/her seventh month of development, a baby born at this time has a good chance of survival with the help of medical technology. Your baby also is beginning to regulate his/her body temperature. The baby’s temperature will always be warmer than the mother’s.

If you are having Braxton Hicks Contractions, they are a sign that your body is getting ready for labor. The baby notices the contractions, but is not adversely affected by them.

Your baby now weighs two to four pounds.

What are Braxton Hicks contractions?
Named for J. Braxton Hicks, who first made note of them in 1872, Braxton Hicks contractions are an occasional (and unpredictable) tightening of the uterus during the first and second trimesters of a pregnancy. Usually these contractions are not painful and do not indicate that labor has begun. Third trimester Braxton Hicks contractions may increase in frequency and may cause the mother some degree of pain. These contractions may even occur with a regular rhythm (10 to 20 minutes apart) and are sometimes called false labor pains. The only way to be absolutely certain that the contractions are indeed false labor pains is for mom to be examined by her doctor.

Month Eight
Baby’s irises can now dilate and contract in response to light; weight is now about four to six pounds. Sleep and waking become more differentiated toward the end of the eighth month. Four distinctive behavioral states become recognizable and these will continue to be characteristic in the baby’s behavior in the weeks beyond birth. These are sleep, awake, actively awake and crying. Your baby's body is now producing a chemical (called a surfactant) which helps baby breathe after birth. The surfactant is coating the alveoli in the lungs. Baby weighs about four pounds (1.8 kilograms). Babies born after this week have fewer breathing problems at birth.

Amazing Fact: Baby has put on about two pounds of weight, mostly fat and muscle tissue, since last month. Measurements to 40 cms or 15.8 inches.

Month Nine
Baby weighs about five to seven pounds, and puts on about half a pound a week now. All organ systems are completing development for birth. Baby gains his/her “fat cheeks” during the ninth month. Mother’s antibodies pass through the placenta to provide baby with immunity from measles, chicken pox, whooping cough and other illnesses.

Amazing Fact: In the days and hours prior to your baby's birth the amniotic fluid is continually replaced, even in labor, at the rate of once every three hours.

Chances are good that your baby is one of the 90% who is head down and deeply snuggled into your pelvis. The immune system is still immature and the baby receives antibodies from the placenta and after birth will receive antibodies continually from mother’s breast milk. Most of the lanugo has fallen off the baby's body, although you may still find some hidden in spots, particularly in the creases, and around the shoulders or ears.

The average baby will be about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kilograms) and 20 inches long at birth. The placenta will weigh about one eighth the size of the baby and the umbilical cord will be about the same length as the baby. The baby will be judged, at birth and five minutes later, with an Apgar score.

What is an Apgar score?
Virginia Apgar, M.D., gets the credit for developing the APGAR score in 1953. She wanted to provide moms, dads and hospital staff with a uniform method of measuring the initial health of a newborn. The test looks at five different signs of health: heart rate, respiratory rate, reflex irritability, muscle tone and color.

Happy birthday, baby!

Reprinted with permission Wisconsin Right to Life

Nazareth - Pope Paul VI

I have been rather remiss in posting here; too much activity and too many distractions.

But in today's Office of Readings, the second reading touched me, which I thought I would share. It is by Pope Paul VI on his visit to Nazareth; his Pilgrimage to the Holy Land at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, January 5, 1964

Lessons of Nazareth

Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ's life was like and even to understand his Gospel. Here we can observe and ponder the simple appeal of the way God's Son came to be known, profound yet full of hidden meaning. And gradually we may even learn to imitate him.

Here we can learn to realise who Christ really is. And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected his life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs, in brief, everything which Jesus used to make himself known to the world. Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning. Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discipline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by the teachings of his Gospel.

How I would like to return to my childhood and attend the simple yet profound school that is Nazareth! How wonderful to be close to Mary, learning again the lesson of the true meaning of life, learning again God's truths. But here we are only on pilgrimage. Time presses and I must set aside my desire to stay and carry on my education in the Gospel, for that education is never finished. But I cannot leave without recalling, briefly and in passing; some thoughts I take with me from Nazareth.

First, we learn from its silence. If only we could once again appreciate its great value. We need this wonderful state of mind, beset as we are by the cacophony of strident protests and conflicting claims so characteristic of these turbulent times. The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace and quiet, to reflect on the deeply spiritual, and to be open to the voice of God's inner wisdom and the counsel of his true teachers. Nazareth can teach us the value of study and preparation, of meditation, of a well-ordered personal spiritual life, and of silent prayer that is known only to God.

Second, we learn about family life. May Nazareth serve as a model of what the family should be. May it show us the family's holy and enduring character and exemplify its basic function in society: a community of love and sharing, beautiful for the problems it poses and the rewards it brings, in sum, the perfect setting for rearing children - and for this there is no substitute.

Finally, in Nazareth, the home of a craftsman's son, we learn about work and the discipline it entails. I would especially like to recognise its value - demanding yet redeeming - and to give it proper respect. I would remind everyone that work has its own dignity. On the other hand, it is not an end in itself. Its value and free character, however, derive not only from its place in the economic system, as they say, but rather from the purpose it serves.

In closing, may I express my deep regard for people everywhere who work for a living. To them I would point out their great model, Christ their brother, our Lord and God, who is their prophet in every cause that promotes their well being.