A Grave Mistake and an Abiding Hope

A Grave Mistake and an Abiding Hope
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life

Americans have made a grave mistake in electing Barack Obama to the presidency. Yet America herself remains great and is not a mistake, which is why so many of her citizens will continue, with even greater energy and determination, to defend her founding principles.

The man elected to the Presidency said during the campaign that he does not know when a human being starts to have human rights. How can one govern from that starting point of ignorance? Governing is about protecting human rights; to do it successfully, you have to know where they come from, and when they begin.

The President-elect has already failed that test miserably.

The American people do not share Barack Obama’s extreme and offensive views on abortion. They never have and they never will. The coming four years will see a widening gap between the people and their President on this fundamental issue. As Americans come to know how extreme his position is, the intensity of the struggle to protect these children will only increase.

The pro-life movement has made significant gains in the courts and in the law in these last eight years. For the next four, the movement will work to prevent the erosion of that progress.

It would be a serious mistake for people to think that this election means the pro-life movement has no political power. All politics is local. Political power is about people. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was once told that given the political realities, civil rights legislation would be impossible to pass. “We’ll just have to see about that,” he replied. And the civil rights movement was born, stirring the hearts of the people to lead the nation to the victory of justice.

So it is with our movement. The vast majority of Americans are pro-life. They will fight abortion on the local level, opening pregnancy centers and closing abortion mills, activating their Churches and educating their children, proclaiming the message in the media and demonstrating in the streets. The pro-life movement is winning this battle in the hearts and minds of the American people, as opinion polls show and as the shrinking number of abortion mills and abortion providers prove.

Political races are always a swinging of the pendulum. As soon as you win, you begin to lose, and as soon as you lose, you begin the ascent again to winning. In the next two election cycles (2010 and 2012) the pro-life movement will make up for political ground lost in this one.

It is all right to be disappointed at the end of an election season, but one must never walk away. Amidst disappointment is abiding hope in America, where everything remains possible, and where a new chapter of the pro-life movement has just begun. The efforts that were made, and the sacrifices endured in this election season made a difference, and we will build on that difference to see another day when the work and the ballots of pro-life people will dismantle the Culture of Death. We will keep marching toward that pro-life America we seek, and won’t stop until we get there.

Priests for Life

No Matter Who Wins

NO MATTER WHO WINS....

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.

2. Prayer will still work.

3. The Holy Spirit will still move.

4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.

5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.

6. There will still be singing of praise to God.

7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

8. There will still be room at the Cross.

9. Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost.

ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS STILL IN CONTROL?

(Amen!)

St. Jude, Pray for Us

With the election drawing closer, and the growing possibility of a pro-abortion administration and congress, it seemed fitting that St. Jude's day would come now. As the patron of desperate causes, now seems to be the proper time to ask him to join us in prayer.



St. Jude, pray with us, that our nation will be responsible in electing those who will lead us, that all will recognize that the right to life is the most important issues, and that our elected officials will work together to build a culture of life, and protect the family. Amen.

Talk To Your Parents About Voting for Obama

I don't know if its just my bias or what, but the Obama campaign seems to do a lot of creepy things, especially involving children in their campaign. Kids are going to get involved because of their parents, but the Obama campaign really seems to be trying to harness kids.

Talk to your parents, change the world

Are you sure if your parents are voting for Obama?

If not, you may be the only person who can convince them. If you haven’t already, it’s time for you to have “The Talk” with your parents and other family members.

And tell all your friends to do the same!

If I had kids the last thing I would want to hear coming from them is why I should be voting for Obama.

Do’s & Don’ts

Do share your personal reasons for voting for Barack Obama;
Do have confidence -- your opinion matters to people who care about you;
Do read up on Barack’s positions on the issues you know matter to them;
Do find a good time when both you and they will be open to a conversation;
Do talk to them in person if you live nearby, or on the phone if you don’t;
Do ask your friends to talk to their parents and grandparents as well;
Don’t worry about knowing everything about policy positions before you have this conversation;
Don’t feel defensive. Stay calm, cool and collected;
Don’t wait until the last minute -- it might take a few conversations for you to convince them, so start as early as possible;
Don’t catch them at a bad time -- make sure you have their attention and enough time to have a conversation.

What could be worse than having the kids trying to convince you to vote Obama? Having them trying to convince you on more than one occasion.

Ideas to Get the Conversation Started
Approaching your parents about who they are voting for can be intimidating if you’ve never talked about politics with them before. But this campaign has been built by supporters sharing their stories about what inspires them and why they want to see change in this country. Here are some ideas for ways you can talk to your parents about why you support Barack:

Call or ask in person if they saw the debate and what they thought about it.
Tell them why you are voting for Obama and why it’s important to you.
Print out for them information on some issues you know are important.
Share Barack's speech from the Democratic National Convention or Meet Barack, a video about who Barack Obama is, where he comes from, and what his values are.
Email them and tell them why it's important to you that they vote for Obama.
Think about their perspective. If they are Republican, or are concerned about Barack’s policies, think about where they are coming from and what makes them think the way that they do.

I'm at work so I can't watch the video, I'll check it out when I get home, but I'll include it here - I'm sure its... great.

A Call for a Rosary Novena

A
Call
for
a
Rosary
Novena

By
Fr.
John
Corapi

www.fathercorapi.com


Among
the
most
important
titles
we
have
in
the
Catholic
Church
for
the
Blessed
Virgin
Mary
are
Our
Lady
of
Victory
and
Our
Lady
of
the
Rosary.
These
titles
can
be
traced
back
to
one
of
the
most
decisive
times
in
the
history
of
the
world
and
Christendom.
The
Battle
of
Lepanto
took
place
on
October
7
(date
of
feast
of
Our
Lady
of
Rosary),
1571.
This
proved
to
be
the
most
crucial
battle
for
the
Christian
forces
against
the
radical
Muslim
navy
of
Turkey.
Pope
Pius
V
led
a
procession
around
St.
Peter’s
Square
in
Vatican
City
praying
the
Rosary.
He
showed
true
pastoral
leadership
in
recognizing
the
danger
posed
to
Christendom
by
the
radical
Muslim
forces,
and
in
using
the
means
necessary
to
defeat
it.
Spiritual
 battles
require
spiritual
weapons,
and
this
more
than
anything
was
a
battle
that
had
its
origins
in
the
spiritual
order—a
true
battle
between
good
and
evil.


Today
we
have
a
similar
spiritual
battle
in
progress—a
battle
between
the
forces
of
good
and
evil,
light and
darkness,
truth
and
lies,
life
and
death.
If
we
do
not
soon
stop
the
genocide
of
abortion
in
the
United
States,
we
shall
run
the
course
of
all
those
that
prove
by
their
actions
that
they
are
enemies
of
God—total
collapse,
economic,
social,
and
national.
The
moral
demise
of
a
nation
results
in
the
ultimate
demise
of
a
nation.
God
is
not
a
disinterested
spectator
to
the
affairs
of
man.
Life
begins
at
conception. This
is
an
unalterable
formal
teaching
of
the
Catholic
Church.
If
you
do
not
accept
this
you
are
a
heretic
in
plain
English.
A
single
abortion
is
homicide.
The
more
than
48,000,000
abortions
since
Roe
v.
Wade
in
the
United
States
constitute
genocide
by
definition.
The
group
singled
out
for
death—unwanted,
unborn
children.


No
other
issue,
not
all
other
issues
taken
together,
can
constitute
a
proportionate
reason
for
voting
for
candidates
that
intend
to
preserve
and
defend
this
holocaust
of
innocent
human
life
that
is
abortion.


I
strongly
urge
every
one
of
you
to
make
a
Novena
and
pray
the
Rosary
to
Our
Lady
of
Victory
 between
October
27th
and
Election
Day,
November
4th.
Pray
that
God’s
will
be
done
and
the
most
innocent
and
utterly
vulnerable
of
our
brothers
and
sisters
will
be
protected
from
this
barbaric
and
grossly
sinful
blight
on
society
that
is
abortion.
No
woman,
and
no
man,
has
the
right
to
choose
to
murder
an
innocent
human
being.

May
God
grant
us
the
wisdom,
knowledge,
understanding,
and
counsel
to
form
our
conscience
in
accordance
with
authentic
Catholic
teaching,
and
then
vote
that
well‐formed
Catholic
conscience.


Please
copy,
email,
link
and
distribute
this
article
freely.


God
Bless
You

Fr.
John
Corapi

www.fathercorapi.com


Father Corapi's Website

The Catholic Vote

Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 03, Number 39 | Friday, October 24, 2008
.................................................................................. www.hli.org
The Catholic Vote

I have been asked by many people to help clarify Catholic teaching on exercising one's voting rights, especially with respect to the abortion issue. There are many candidates across the nation running on many issues, and Catholics are trying to sort through them all, so I will state the Church's position as unequivocally as possible for the education of the faithful and not as an endorsement of any particular candidate or candidates: true Catholics are not "single-issue" voters - we are principled voters. That determines which candidates we give our vote to and it determines the state of our souls after we vote.

With respect to the abortion issue, the principle in question is the moral impossibility for a Catholic to cooperate in an act or an institution that is "intrinsically evil." Now, something that is "intrinsically evil" is not just a bad thing - it is a heinous thing, trumping all other moral considerations, and we can never legitimately commit the act ourselves or approve of it in anyone else. Casting a vote for a candidate who forcefully advocates the killing of innocent unborn babies shows approval or unacceptable toleration of that heinous crime against humanity, and Catholics can never do it in good conscience. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls such an attitude and action "formal cooperation" in evil (#2272). This does not mean that I commit the evil myself. It means that I agree with it and have made it possible for a person in public office to continue and/or advance that evil in my society.

Formal cooperation in the evil act of another is a sin, and depending on the gravity of the person's evil act, formal cooperation in it can be a mortal sin. Since procured abortion is an intrinsically evil act, and all promotion of it fits into the same moral category, voting for a person who forcefully advocates it must be a mortal sin. Add to the sin of formal cooperation in evil the sin of disobedience to legitimate Church authority. To date the USCCB and more than a dozen US bishops and state bishops' conferences have clarified these principles for Catholics, and their teachings couldn't be clearer.

Further, add the sin of scandal that a regrettable number of priests and religious are giving by their appalling disingenuousness about Church teachings both in and out of the pulpit. Catholic parents and teachers equally give scandal when they do not teach their children the principles that undergird moral behavior or properly form their consciences according to the Truth that is in Christ.

Some ask if a Catholic may vote for someone whose policies would advance an agenda that is mostly in line with the Catholic Church's teaching? Also, what if the Catholic disagrees with the candidate's position on abortion but still wants to vote for this candidate for other reasons consistent with our values? Here the Church uses the term "proportionate reason" to indicate that there must be some kind of balance in the candidate's position that indicates it is likely that a greater good would be accomplished for society despite the evil he or she advocates. Proportionate reasoning usually has to do with positions that are not intrinsically evil in themselves or that, if they are, would constitute such a minimal part of the platform that they would be "outweighed" somehow in the grand scheme of the candidate's public service. According to the above principle, however, the degree to which the candidate would promote something as heinous as abortion can literally nullify all the other "good" that he or she would do for humanity! When the fundamental right to life is denied in society, all other rights and goods are therefore threatened. The very moral foundation of a people is eroded. So the answer has to be no, it is not legitimate to disagree on abortion and still vote for a radical abortion candidate.

May a Catholic vote for an "imperfect" candidate if the radical abortion candidate is worse? The Church says yes, but only if the vote is not expressed as an agreement with the "imperfect" elements of the candidate's policies and only if the vote is intended to limit the evil that other candidate would inevitably do.

It is truly regretful that we have gotten to the point where we might have to surrender some of our basic values in the voting booth because we have not successfully insisted on the very best candidates for public office to serve the common good. That is a discussion for another day, but I anticipate that if Catholics do not assert Catholic values forcefully in elections and public policy from here on out, we may be faced in future elections with no choice whatsoever that can morally satisfy the Catholic conscience. Heaven help and guide us all on November 4th.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,


Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

I'm Voting For McCain

McCain has not been one of my favorite people, I have a lot of problems with his policies. But faced with the choice of an Obama presidency I know who I'm voting for. I base this decision on basically two things: abortion, and foreign policy.

I don't like McCain on a lot of issues, but I know he loves this country. Not to sound like a campaign slogan, but I know he will fight for us because he has fought for us.

He may not be the most pro-life candidate ever, but Obama is the most pro-choice candidate ever. Fr. Pavone has said that if Obama wins we will see every pro-life victory washed away.

I like Sarah Palin. I know she's pro-life. I know she's more closely aligned with the things I believe.

Earlier in the election I thought about voting for a third party candidate (like Alan Keyes). Its appealing to me because I live in a navy blue state my vote doesn't matter so much. But my vote for a third party candidate doesn't translate into anything, its not doing anything to stop a radical like Barack Obama from getting into the White House.

In the primary I had originally supported Senator Brownback. He was one of the first, if not the first, to drop out. I loved him especially for his pro-life stedfastness. He endorsed McCain. At the time I didn't understand it. Actually I still don't understand it, at the time McCain's campaign was failing. But McCain pulled it out.

Charles Krauthammer wrote this column which I heard read on Rush today, reprimanding certain conservatives who have flipped to Obama.

Today's economic crisis, like every other in our history, will in time pass. But the barbarians will still be at the gates. Whom do you want on the parapet? I'm for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb.

Just One Judge

Just One Judge

Senator Government

The folks over at Conservababes have been making up Obama posters. There were quite a few good ones, but this one is my favorite.

St. Barack Obama?

Poor St. Martin de Porres.

Votive Early, Votive Often [Mark Steyn]

A reader took this picture today at a street fair at Hayes and Octavia in San Francisco, of all places:

Mark Steyn

Bitter American

Voting for Vitae

Fr. Pavone is on a roll today.

Voting for Vitae

One of the most striking, bold, and sobering paragraphs ever written about the impact of abortion on the common good is the 20th paragraph of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life). It is a great antidote for the thinking that says we can elect a “pro-choice” candidate because “their other positions are good.” It’s easy to start counting the positions we think a candidate has “right” and see what candidate has the greater “sum” of right answers or “Catholic” answers. But that’s a very superficial and flawed way of doing moral analysis. It’s like saying to a supporter of terrorism, “I disagree with you on the one issue of terrorism, but what’s your health care plan?”

Paragraph 20 of Evangelium Vitae starts by showing the radical and practical impossibility of living with the implications of “pro-choice.” The same illusion that separates “choice” from the demands of respect for life is the illusion that makes us think we can separate other “rights” from the right to life. But human rights are integrally interconnected. Take away the basis for respecting life and you’ve taken away the basis for all human rights. As the Pope says, “At that point, everything is negotiable, everything is open to bargaining.”

The Pope then takes aim at the idea that if abortion has been legalized according to proper democratic procedures, then that’s all that matters. He says, “The appearance of the strictest respect for legality is maintained …. Really, what we have here is only the tragic caricature of legality; the democratic ideal, which is only truly such when it acknowledges and safeguards the dignity of every human person, is betrayed in its very foundations: How is it still possible to speak of the dignity of every human person when the killing of the weakest and most innocent is permitted?”

Along with this, he has some of the strongest words ever written about what happens when the state legalizes abortion: “In this way democracy, contradicting its own principles, effectively moves towards a form of totalitarianism. The State is no longer the ‘common home’ where all can live together on the basis of principles of fundamental equality, but is transformed into a tyrant State, which arrogates to itself the right to dispose of the life of the weakest and most defenseless members … When this happens, the process leading to the breakdown of a genuinely human co-existence and the disintegration of the State itself has already begun. To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom.”

“The disintegration of the State itself…totalitarianism…the death of true freedom.” In other words, no “common good” can co-exist with legal abortion. The very foundations of civilization break down. It sure sounds like abortion is more than just one issue among many.

Fr. Frank

Link

I’m Motivated to Vote

I’m Motivated to Vote

Election Day is right around the corner, and I’m motivated to vote and to influence many other votes. I’m motivated because voting is part of what I need to do to fulfill my life’s dream – a dream shared by many others – that abortion, the biggest holocaust the human family has ever known, will cease.

Some, even in the Church, don’t seem to get the fact that there’s no problem in society bigger than abortion. But it’s a fact nonetheless. Curiously, those who don’t seem to understand this tend to be the least willing to hear the descriptions of abortion or look at the pictures.

I’m motivated to vote, not because one election will end abortion, and certainly not because I expect our elected officials to be perfect or to do my work for me. The People of God have to do the work of ending abortion – providing alternatives, educating minds, changing hearts, changing laws. But part of that work is electing the people who will pose the least obstacle to that mission. We don’t elect people to do our work for us, but rather people who will let us do our own work. So often it’s a choice of the person who will do the least damage, or permit the fewer numbers of abortions. And to choose to limit evil is a good.

I’m motivated, because we’ve made progress. We have two new Justices on the Supreme Court who don’t believe in inventing new rights from “penumbras” – and just like in 2004, the Supreme Court is at stake again. The next President and Senate will move the Court in one direction or another.

We have also gained many new federal judges, who understand the limits of judicial authority. And we have new laws that bring us closer to the protection of the unborn, like the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and the first ban on an abortion procedure since Roe vs. Wade, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

So now it’s a numbers game. We have to spend our time and energy not convincing the one stubborn person, but reminding the many who will listen, if we simply nudge them a little and tell them who the best candidates are. We should go for the “low-hanging fruit,” those easiest to mobilize. And we should vote early. Many states allow voting before Election Day. Let’s get others to vote early, so that unforeseen circumstances don’t stop them from voting later. Let’s help the people who may need a ride to the polls. Let’s get our churches to send out reminders to vote.

Let’s also donate to and volunteer for the candidate of our choice, and let our lawn signs and bumperstickers be seen. Let’s hand out literature, make phone calls, send emails, and put links on our websites to urge people to vote the right way.

And remember, polls don’t determine elections; the people who show up at the polling places do. Let’s bring them out!

-Fr. Frank

Link

Catholic Vote

Catholic Vote

Palin More Qualified Than Obama

Bristol, not Sarah.

Seventeen-year-old Bristol Palin is better qualified than Barack Obama to be president of the United States in at least one respect: Figuring out when a baby gets human rights is apparently not above her pay grade.

Maggie Gallagher

Obama's Acceptance Speech

Planned Parenthood at the Convention

Disgusting, but what can be expected from Planned Parenthood?

Condoms a hit at convention
By Rachelle Cohen / Convention Notebook
Monday, August 25, 2008 - Updated 11h ago

DENVER – Forget the T-shirts and the Obama buttons, the convention souvenir to score (dreadful pun intended) come courtesty of Angus McQuillken, vice president for public affairs of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.

It’s a condom wrapped in a bright magenta matchbook cover that says, “PROTECT YOURSELF FROM JOHN MCCAIN (in this election).”

Actually there’s a series of 10 -- because there are “10 things everyone should know about John McCain” says Planned Parenthood. So delegates may want to collect them like playing cards -- you know, trade them with your friends, etc. Number 8 happens to want that McCain “wants to nominate Supreme Court justices who are ‘clones’ of conservative justices Alito and Roberts.”

More

'Obligation to deny' communion to pro-abortion politicians

'Obligation to deny' communion to pro-abortion politicians
- OneNewsNow - 8/20/2008 12:10:00 PMBookmark and Share

ROME - The head of the highest court in the Vatican has given an interview with a Roman magazine in which he notes that when dealing with pro-abortion Catholic politicians, "the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it (Communion) to him."

More

Biden on Abortion

Project Vote Smart

Abortion Issues
(Back to top)

2007 In 2007 NARAL Pro-Choice America gave Senator Biden a grade of 75.

2006 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 100 percent in 2006.

2006 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 100 percent in 2006.

2005-2006 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association 93 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 0 percent in 2005-2006.

2005 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 100 percent in 2005.

2004 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 100 percent in 2004.

2003-2004 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Democrats for Life of America 33 percent in 2003-2004.

2003-2004 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 17 percent in 2003-2004.

2003 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 36 percent in 2003.

2001-2002 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 0 percent in 2001-2002.

2001 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 100 percent in 2001.

2001 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 75 percent in 2001.

2000 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 90 percent in 2000.

1999-2002 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association 67 percent in 1999-2002.

1999-2000 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 22 percent in 1999-2000.

1999 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 46 percent in 1999.

1999 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 25 percent in 1999.

1999 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 71 percent in 1999.

1998 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 65 percent in 1998.

1997-1998 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 40 percent in 1997-1998.

1997 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 34 percent in 1997.

1997 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 42 percent in 1997.

1996-2003 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 83 percent in 1996-2003.

1996 On the votes that the NARAL Pro-Choice America considered to be the most important in 1996 , Senator Biden voted their preferred position 43 percent of the time.

1996 On the votes that the National Right to Life Committee considered to be the most important in 1996, Senator Biden voted their preferred position 43 percent of the time.

1995-2004 On the votes that the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association considered to be the most important in 1995-2004, Senator Biden voted their preferred position 82 percent of the time.

1995-1998 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 50 percent in 1995-1998.

1993-1996 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 66 percent in 1993-1996.

Way to Go Obama

He's picking pro-choice Catholic Joe Biden as his running mate.

I hope it backfires on him big time. He's been losing more and more of the Catholic vote in the past month or so, I hope this makes him lose more (although I'm not completely convinced it will).

I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. I am surprised it is Biden, he never seemed to me like VP material, but who knows. Now we just have to see who McCain will pick.