The most fundamental reason to keep our kids Catholic is because it is God’s will for them, and the surest way to help them to gain the eternal salvation which is their destiny. But it is also true that there is a crucial role for them to play in society as Catholics.

One of the greatest evils and injustices in our society is abortion, and I believe it our kids generation that will be able to resolve this. To some extent the tide is already turning: the number of medics prepared to undertake abortions is in decline, and polls of medical students (in the UK at least) suggest that trend will continue.

The idealogues who are committed to abortion are largely of the 60’s and 70’s generations: many younger adults and teens have an appreciation that it is not the great solution to all women’s problems that the earlier feminists thought it was.

But we need to ensure that the generation that follows is as strongly pro-life as possible: and our kids are a great place to start.

People occasionally assume that I am pro-life because I am Catholic. In fact it would be as accurate to say that I remained a Catholic because I am pro-life. As a student, when it would have been easy to drift away from the Church it was the Church’s strong pro-life stance that kept me committed.

In my experience, kids – especially as they reach adolescence – need causes to believe in and to fight for, and the pro-life one is a great example of that. So bringing your kids up with an awareness of the pro-life cause, and the chance to engage with it serves several ends:

It addresses one of the greatest evils of our age – and at a time when there is a real chance for progress (I mean over the next decades, not this year, alas…)
It gives them a cause – tangible and value-driven – to which they can commit
It helps them see the importance and relevance of Catholic witness in today’s world
It may help them stick with the Church at a phase in their life when it would be easy to lapse

The pro-life cause also provides a great way into catechesis on so many levels: the Church’s teaching about morality, clearly; but also the commandment to offer practical help to those in distress; to speak the truth in charity, when you may be rejected and reviled; to bear courageous witness on behalf of the voiceless – and so on.

So there’s this week’s challenge: how can we, as Catholic Dads, raise pro-life kids with a truly Catholic perspective on this vital issue?

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Stairway to Heaven is a weekly feature exploring how to live our Catholic faith in our culture.

Are you pro-life?

Do you want to DO something?

We’re up to 50 million babies killed by abortion in this nation since Roe v. Wade.  Something like  1/3^rd of all babies conceived are killed in the womb. 

Not exactly what God intended. 

Abortion is especially thrust upon the poor and marginalized.

Not exactly what God intended.

Abortion allows for sex without responsibility; sex for the sake of sex; sex sans love. 

Not exactly what God intended.

So, do you want to do something about it?

Remember the passage in the Gospels where Jesus tells the apostles that there are some demons that can only be cast out by prayer and fasting?  Well, for most of us, abortion is that kind of demon.  The only thing we can do is to pray and fast.

There is a campaign underway called 40 Days for Life.  It started in 2004 in a community in Texas, spread to some other communities in 2005 and 2006 and then started exploding nationally in 2007.  It has now grown to 337 U.S. communities and five other nations.  There are two campaigns a year, with one occurring during Lent.  Each campaign lasts 40 days and the goal for each community is to have a group of people praying outside an abortion clinic in that community during daylight hours for the 40 days. 

The campaign has met with great success.  Babies have been saved, clinics have closed, clinic workers have converted to the pro-life cause.  40 Days works.

You can help in this current campaign several ways.

1. Sign up to pray in front of a clinic.  Follow this link to see if your community has a campaign and contact the coordinator to sign up.  Even if you are a single prayer warrior, you can provide divine witness to the human dignity of the child in the womb.  For the hour that you are in front of the clinic, all you have to do is pray.  The Rosary would fit the bill.
2. Contact your parish’s pro-life committee and encourage them to participate in the campaign as a church organization.
3. Pray on your own.  You can sign up for a daily email that provides a devotional for each day of the campaign.   If you pray the Rosary, include the 40 Days campaign as an intention.
4. Fast.  It’s Lent, so if you are already fasting from something, offer that fast in part for the 40 Days campaign.

We all need to do something to end this affliction on our land.  40 Days for Life gives us that opportunity.

So, go out and do something.

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You knew it was coming. You hoped it wasn’t, but in a society as debauched as ours, it is hardly surprising.

[ABCNews] Angie Jackson says nothing is off-limits on Twitter, not even the details of her abortion [to] chronicle her experience taking RU-486, commonly known as the abortion pill, in an attempt to “demystify” abortion for other women.

Already the mother of a 4-year-old son with special needs, Jackson, who lives in Tampa, Fla., with her boyfriend, said that after a difficult and life-threatening first pregnancy her doctors advised her to not get pregnant again.

“I had made a decision when my son was born to try to not get pregnant again, and if that failed I’d planned that I would get an abortion if I needed one,” Jackson said.

“It’s not that bad. It’s not killing a child.” she says in her YouTube post.

I’m not sure what is mystifying about the abortion drug, unless it’s the idea that it’s either safe, painless, or doesn’t kill a child. One has to be willfully ignorant to gloss over the basic science and purpose of RU-486.

Jackson adds, “I’m not trying to ignite a culture war, I’m just offering one person’s personal experience and true story.”

Here is where the story starts to unravel. Jackson’s Twitter handle is “AntiTheistAngie” — not atheist, anti-theist. She signs off her posts, “Hope everyone has a Godless day”. People who are “not trying to ignite a culture war” don’t throw grenades. I don’t believe in little green men, but I don’t spend much time and energy trying to debunk those who do.

It would be easy to be simply incensed, but I am actually moved to pity. How does a person get that far removed from reality; the conscience that dulled? According to the article, Jackson is a self-professed atheist who says she grew up in a fundamentalist cult and survived sexual abuse. Any one of those things would have long lasting and damaging effects; she has the trifecta. Jackson’s stated goal is to “demystify” (and even encourage) abortion in other women, which is the real tragedy.

As long as we are “demystifying”, here is a gripping counterpoint from Catholic blogger and one of our favorites, the Mom, at Shoved To Them. Her experience shows the grim reality of the abortion drug RU-486, but also the grace and healing that comes from knowing God and acknowledging the humanity of each and every person. This is both heart-wrenching and grace-filled at the same time.

I wanted to write about my own experience taking Mifeprex, the abortion drug known as RU-486. Our baby had died at some point during the previous week.

[...] Really, I just wanted them to give me the drugs and let me go home. I didn’t want to spend 24 hours on the maternity ward listening to the cries of other people’s healthy babies and wait for my own heartbreak to begin. I have been in labor a few times and thought it was reasonable to think that I would know when to come to the hospital. I was told I could bleed to death. I stayed.

Labor began for me about 3 hours after I took the first dosage. It was administered both orally and vaginally. Within the first hour, I understood why I couldn’t have gone home. I began to pass blood clots. They came in steady succession as if on a string. They ranged in size from the size of a chicken’s egg to as large as my fist. Every time I moved another clot would become loose and come out. I thought I was hemorrhaging; I thought I was going to bleed to death. It was horrific. I forgot why I was there for a while and just sat on the bed crying and shaking in fear that my 4 living children would grow up without me. I have no idea how much blood came out of my body. I stopped counting clots at 20. After 20, it just didn’t seem to matter any more. I asked the nurse if my experience was normal and she assured me that this was what an RU-486 abortion looked like and that I was fine.

Our daughter’s body was delivered four and a half hours after the first contraction. She was the size of my hand. She was smooth and shiny and pink with perfect fingers and toes. Heartbreakingly small and achingly perfect. Our midwife wiped her clean and laid her on a blanket before handing her to me. I have never seen such agony as I saw on my husband’s face when he heard her whisper, “It’s a girl.” His face looked like it folded in on itself. Our baby was really and truly dead. Somehow it didn’t seem real until we held her in our hands and looked at her through our tears.

It wasn’t over yet. I still had to deliver the placenta. It took another two hours for it to let go and come out of me. The doctor who was supervising kept coming by to check and ask “Is it out yet?” in a strangely cold voice. I later learned from my midwife that she performed abortions herself and was deeply disturbed by our pain. She told our midwife to get us out of the hospital as quickly as possible because we were upsetting the staff, and that she didn’t understand why we were crying over something which was little more than a tumor in medical terms.

I can not imagine being 14, at home, trying to hide this from my mother, and having this experience. My brain can’t even get to that place of fear. A child, scared and alone, passing blood clot after blood clot, thinking you’re bleeding to death, but afraid to tell in case you aren’t. And then, delivering that impossibly small body. Perfect, lifeless, and undeniably human. What does a little girl do when her body hurts that much, and her mind fears that much, and her baby lies dead in her hand? How is this okay?

I am not sure what the answers are, but I do know that women deserve better than to be treated this way. Our bodies and our minds deserve better protection. People can chant and scream about the rights of women, but I know that women and girls have a right to something better than this. They have a right to something better than abortion.

Like she said: Women Deserve Better.

Posted at: Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

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These events originally happened to me on April 21, 2009.

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It was a day like today.

It was neither especially warm nor cold. It was slightly overcast, but nothing to speak of. The work day had been especially average, with nothing particular to recommend it. Things were quiet, no dramas unfolded.

It was a day like today.

We were walking down the street. I had heard snippets, but I wasn’t paying particular attention. Small details flitted through my mind. It didn’t even have to do with me, just a friend of an acquaintance, really. She was on her way to pick her up after the procedure.

It was a day like today.

She turned to me. “You’re pro-choice, right?” So cavalier. A heartbeat passed. Then two. “No. Pro-life.” A taxi blocked the crosswalk. The light changed. I added, “I just think everyone deserves the chance to live.”

It was a day like today, when a child died.

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.” Charles Dickens wrote this in the Tale of Two Cities back in 1859.

He might as well describe Notre Dame, Indiana this summer as people from all walks life will unite in solidarity with the poorest in American society - the children who do not even have their mother’s love and have been deprived of their chance and right to live. They are being executed in cruel and barbaric ways – vacuumed to pieces, chemically burned, et. al. And that has been audaciously promoted by the president by removing the right of conscience for Christian health care workers, reversing the Hyde amendment and thus using Medicaid dollars to pay for abortion and
covering abortion in the new health care plan.

What started as an imprudent invitation for a commencement speech in the Catholic university of Notre Dame is turning into an unprecedented expression of rage and anguish for the murdered babies and the healers who are being forced to murder. More than another march for life, this will become the historic stance to define the vigorous and unyielding opposition to the culture of death in America and the world.

Notre Dame, Our Lady, will become the rallying figure for all who defend life. Then again, who is to say that she has not been the one summoning her children.

When it comes to the right to live versus the choice to murder, there is no middle ground. The inalienable right to live cannot be summarily dismissed. It is absolute regardless of the belief system. If one sincerely seeks the truth, then the right to life is self evident because, it is granted by the Creator to His creature. And no other creature can deprive another of it. That is why, abortion is an affront and offense to the Creator first and foremost. This makes the battle lines clearer as between those who submit to God and those who refuse to serve Him.

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We have four new children in our family.

We spiritually adopted four children conceived on the feast of the Annunciation, and due to be born on Christmas day, but who are at risk of being aborted.

We do not know who or where these unborn children are, but we will pray for them every day from now to Christmas. Anna initiated this with the pro-Life group she has established in the parish, and Ant, Bernie and I have all joined and adopted a child each.

You could do the same. The idea was Bishop Fulton Sheen’s and there’s a www site explaining the details.

(Cross-posted from my blog)

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This post might make me look like a nut; but, if it will inspire at least 1 person to venture out and protect the unborn, to keep God from being offended, then it will all be worth it.

In earlier posts, I’ve written about our campaign to save the unborn and all the troubles that it brought. Now I want to share what I thought are consolations that came my way because of that. The way I see it is that, if you put yourself on the line for God, then God will reward you – even in the here and now.

First of all, I woke up one day with the certainty that I shall meet the Blessed Mother that very day. I did not feel scared or apprehensive. I anticipated the event with peace. I was off that day, so I went to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. I went to the bookstore and got at statue of our Lady of the Americas. Then, I went up to the main Church where I started going through the side chapels. Then a lady stepped out of the Guadalupe chapel. She was white, in her 30s, white T-shirt, blue jeans, badly polished toes, flat hair and average beauty. She smelled like urine. “What’s in the bag?” she asked. I was kind of nervous, awed, and wondering as I replied, “It’s a statute of our Lady.” She asked to see it and I handed it to her. “It’s beautiful.” She says. I asked her name and she answered, “Sophia.” I forgot what else we talked about if any, but after parting from her I kept thinking and I saw her walking away. It might be lame but I got a couple of bucks from my wallet and walked to her. I looked at her and handed her the money as I asked, “Will you pray for me?” She took my gift and said, “Yes.” Then she walked to the center of the Church and I went my way wondering if it was indeed our Lady. Later I’d find out that our Lady of Guadalupe in the Patroness of the Pro-life Movement.

The second consolation happened as I was driving into the company garage, a vintage car (circa ~ 1950s) in mint condition, chrome and all, drove out. The driver honked his horn that sounded like church organ music so I turned to him. He smiled ear to ear with his jolly and full-bearded Santa Claus face. I’ve been working there for over 6 years and have never seen him or his car. So, I think it might have been an angel. Years later, I was browsing one of those coffee table books when I saw that very face and the title of the picture was Angel Gabriel.

The third was meeting Bo Sanchez shown in the picture. In his Wiki page, one would place him in a league next to the that of the late Blessed Teresa.

Bottom line, it is not about me. It is about protecting the unborn and how God rewards those who do it.

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These are friends from a prayer group who tried to save the mothers and their children from abortion. On many Saturdays, we stood and prayed at the entrances of the abortion mill hoping to change the mother’s choice. We know that the mother herself is a victim; probably abandoned by the boyfriend. We just want her to consider options before she makes matters worse. Women have been known to go nuts on the anniversary of their unborn child’s demise. We showed a picture of a fetus at 8 weeks to inform the mother that it is a child and not a mass of undifferentiated cells. She’s not popping a zit but killing her son or daughter. During those days:

Cars passed and honked in support; others yelled in disapproval.

A lady turned around, stopped at a convenience store & bought us bottled water. “It’s the least I can do”, she said.

A tough looking guy who looked at me menacingly as he stood close by. I glanced at my duffle bag when he did. He probably thought I had a weapon, so he left.

A fender bender happened in front of us and the drivers came out to get our names as witnesses.

An entire family came and yelled in our faces. When I shouted back, I got threatened with a lawsuit. Then, they went to the parking lot to copy our plates.

There was a kindly man who offered us $50 just to go home and make love to our spouses.

The scariest one was when a man gave us leaflets with the names of alleged abortionists. The leaflet had biblical quotes and a suggestion to have the list published in the newpaper. As soon as he left, I gathered the leaflets and instructed the group about not taking any action. That is one of the few times when I felt evil personified.

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To grow in the spiritual life, one needs direction. General spiritual guidance is provided in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Specific guidance needs to be arranged with a director preferably with a priest because of his training. The specific guidance is absolutely necessary when discerning a calling or making decisions like supporting a certain law. It is required for priests and religious.

When I was at the order and had to take classes in different schools, I changed directors every year. It is cheaper than making long distance calls and also the non-verbal communication is essential during the session.

That may sound like common sense, but not when one considers the position of the Archbishop of the nation’s capital. In a statement, he says that the spiritual direction for Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion, “can best be made by the bishop in the person’s home diocese with whom he or she presumably is in conversation.” It is like the politician from CA who works in DC for a year is suppose to be guided by her bishop in CA even if she commits scandal in DC – like supporting abortion despite the explicit prohibition of the Pope himself.

The problem with the right to life issues is that only one party is considered and others are overlooked e.g. the mother but not the child and in this case the visiting politician but not the resident parishioners.

Correct me if I am wrong, but what some bishops don’t get or refuse to understand is the impact of the politician’s reception of the Eucharist to the faith community. The politician who defies the bishops’ and pope’s teaching, guidance and orders about defending life goes and receives the Communion as though she did nothing wrong or was unaware of any wrongdoing scandalizes the community.

There is a pastoral approach to help the politician by tolerating that until she sees the light. But what about the pastoral approach to the faithful who are confused and scandalized into wrongdoing. They would think, “The bishop allows her to receive communion even if she supports abortion, so abortion might not be that bad. Then, they go and procure it themselves or advise others of the moral relativity based on that praxis. And all this from the perception that the local bishop gave when he relegated the duty of spiritual guidance to another bishop and worse when he neglected his pastoral responsibility to control scandal in his local faith community.

I have been writing my bishop about this and have not received any response. When I searched the web, I saw his position and I doubt whether I will ever get a response. But, I will give him a chance. If he does not follow the Pope’s orders, then I shall stop donating to my diocese. I shall encourage others to do the same. If this still does not work, the I shall appeal humbly to the Holy Father and suggest that my bishop be replaced by Cardinal Justin Rigali, Bishop Joseph Martino, Bishop William Murphy, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, Archbishop Charles Chaput or some other bishop or priest who is faithful to the Pope, the Church and ultimately the Lord in defending the life of the unborn.

We need apostles in the Church, not politicians – even if the Church is at the nation’s capital.

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