September Newsgram, Part 1, 1995

Monthly Issues

A Child Prays For Other Children at Abortuary

Pro-lifers gather to assemble the Newsletter

The Explanation

By Katherine Sabelko

As a Newsgram reader, you have faithfully supported the work of Children of the Rosary. We have operated for six years with the policy of sending out quarterly Newsletters for free for an unspecified time. Many times we have questioned this policy, knowing some people, though very pro-life, have not responded to our pleas for financial support.

As president of the group, I have spent time discussing this issue with the officers and directors. We have attempted to find a way to support this group by indirect means, ranging from multilevel marketing to telemarketing fundraising. The result of every method we tried or considered would take valuable time from the fight to end abortion.

The free distribution of the quarterly publication is a major drain on our scarce funds. The most important factor of the Newsletter is that we continually add new people to our mailing list. By instituting the policy of two complimentary quarterly Newsletters for new readers, we present the needed pro-life news to them; and then, after six months, they hopefully will decide to support any further mailings. If they do not want to donate to CoR, we need to replace them with people who have not yet had the opportunity to receive the Newsletter.

Children of the Rosary was greatly encouraged by a generous donation of $1,000 in response to our plea in the August Newsletter. Unfortunately, we could not raise enough additional funds from the plea to avoid activating the new policy.

To send you the notice of policy change by separate mailing would have been an undue expenditure of funds. In our continued effort to avoid any unnecessary cost, I have included the letter that was sent to all people on our mailing list who would not receive this Newsgram. Though the officers and directors have avoided this decision for some time, we now feel that this is the correct decision and the proper time.

This group is led by Our Lord and His Blessed Mother. I firmly believe that if there wERE another way, God would have showed it to us.

Your prayers are requested to help us stay on the right path. We are all the servants of God, seeking only His Will. We must continually seek to be good stewards in the work in which He directs us.

Self-worship Isn't Compatible With Christianity

By George Weigel

This article is presented because of many requests for reference. It has been a major topic of Letters To The Editor in The Children of the Rosary publications. Since many people did not read the article published in Phoenix, we are pleased to present the article here. Easter seems a good time to ponder "self-esteem" and its compatibility - or lack thereof - with Christian orthodoxy.

Those of us with school-age children know that "self-esteem" is big business these days -- a movement replete with trainers, seminars, videotapes, audiotapes, and all the other accoutrements of modern psychobabble. But the small fry aren't the only targets. President Clinton's recent shmoozing of "effectiveness" gurus was another example of the "self esteem" gang at work.

The late Philip Rieff has it right: this "triumph of the therapeutic" means that victory of an alternative religion, in which "nothing (is) at stake beyond a manipulatable sense of well-being." I feel good, therefore I am (somebody!).

NOW I'M ALL FOR people knowing that they're "somebody." And having seen the pain in the faces of children whose parents give them the impression they're dirt, I understand that the beginning of a sense of possibility in your life is the conviction that your life is valuable and valued. But what does any of this have to do with "self-esteem?"

A few years ago a young friend went on a retreat; those in charge asked that she be sent a letter to open while she was away.. Here, slightly edited, is what I wrote:

"On your retreat, you're going to hear about 'self-esteem,' as indeed you've probably heard already in school. You surely are a young woman worthy of respect: responsible, intelligent, dedicated to good causes. But the greatest respect that has ever been shown you, or that ever will be shown you, is the respect and surpassing love that Christ showed you when, in the person of the priest who baptized you, he welcomed you into the company of the saints for whom He died.

"'Self-esteem' is not....among the Christian virtues. Obedient, self-giving, sacrificial love is the form, the shape, of Christian life, because it was the form of the life of Christ. On your retreat, I hope you'll pray over St. Paul's description of that love in Philippians 2:6-11: 'Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.

" 'HE WAS KNOWN to be of human estate, and it was thus that he humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross. Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name, so that at Jesus' name every knee should bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ is Lord.'

"...That is what I hope you get a chance to do on your retreat: be quiet, empty yourself of yourself, let the Spirit speak to you about the one great thing that is God's will for your life....

"You know that there are many people who love you. But even more importantly, Christ loves you. Think about that. Pray over it. Be happy, because of it."

"Self-esteem" in America today means self-worship -- the veneration of the Imperial Autonomous Self. This is not, and cannot be, a Christian's self-understanding. Those who worship the great god "I" soon discover that he (or she) is a jealous god who doesn't cotton you other gods before him (or her).

TO REJECT the heresy of "self-esteem" is not to fall into neurotic self-abnegation; St. Paul bids us to rejoice, always, in the Lord who has saved us. But he has saved us from, among other things, our self-centered selves. We enter more deeply into the mystery of Easter when we recognize that distinctive liberation, and when we decline to indulge those petty schemes of self-perfection on sale, discount, at your local Waldenbooks.

Mr. George Weigel is the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Previously printed in The Catholic Sun, April 6, 1995. Printed with permission of Mr. George Weigel.

Pro-lifers gather outside A-Z abortuary singing hymns and praying. United Methodist Chuch members lead the music ministry.

SHE'S PRO-LIFE!

By Sue Widemark

I was showing one of my computer software programs to another computer programmer today. The one I demonstrated was one I wrote to keep track of my pro-life files and which have been posted and which haven’t been posted. As I showed her the features of it, she kept saying "Pro Life?" "Abortion?"

I try to keep things professional at work. However, if someone brings up questions, I feel I must comment. Because of her responses, I told her that I ran a computer bulletin board which featured pro-life files.

She asked, "Then why are some of them about abortion?"

I explained that I was providing information about abortion, the process, how developed the baby was, how dangerous abortion is and so on. But, by then, I too was curious. Why was she so interested in this? I asked her, "Are you pro-life?"

She looked surprised and then thought for a moment and answered, "Well, I’ve believed in choice. But you know I have a five year old child, and, every time I look at him, I think of how awful it would have been if I had had an abortion. He just — wouldn’t be here! He wouldn’t — exist!" (She evidentially became p-g out of wedlock in her forties, so considered an abortion). "He’s such a .... person! Such an individual," she continued.

It’s one thing to shout about how women must have the choice and to ‘fight’ for rights to destroy the infant in utero, and another thing to BE THERE. Many new pro-choicers become pro-life when they realize that their adorable child, who is such a blessing, could have been wantonly destroyed by the surgeon’s knife or the abortionist’s suction device. Then, the pro-life issue comes alive for them in a way it never did before. It’s not just killing babies. It’s killing THEIR baby whom they KNOW IS a person despite any pro-choice rhetoric to the contrary.

And, if you think of the media is trying to brainwash us otherwise, and the voice of the Church and the Pro-life movement is small compared to the glitzy TV media, you must conclude that there must be a lot of truth in the Pro-life story because people convert to Pro-life thinking anyway, despite all the stumbling blocks placed in their paths.

CHIPPING AWAY AT THE WALL

Pennsylvania passed a law in 1994 which did not end abortion, but simply provided the woman more time to consider a highly-emotional decision. At the same time the state moved to protect minors in the case of abortion.

For anyone seeking an abortion in Pennslyvania, a 24-hour waiting period was established to provide the woman with enough time to consider all the information that was presented to her. It also eliminated the possibility of being pressured by the abortion mill to "get it over with and eliminate the problem."

In Arizona, unfortunately, the legislators have not found the courage to try to protect minors from having an abortion without parental consent as did Pennslyvania. That state's 24-hour-waiting-law has been effective. Abortions were down 17 % in 1994 V -K.S..

THE OVERPASS

A novel idea, successful in its execution, shows that the pro-life movement is growing rich in ideas and stronger nationwide.

For example, Milwaukee, WI pro-lifers spread the pro-life message in this different way: gathering pro-lifers from the surrounding area, they made huge banners with now well-known phrases like "Abortion is Murder." and "Abortion Kills Children." One banner displayed the words, "Why Is The Church Silent?" as a strong statement to all Christians. Then the signs were held up along freeway overpasses for thousands of motorists to read on their way to work.

The plan, called "Operation Overpass," was deemed a success for several reasons. The pro-life message was exposed to thousands of people at minimal cost. Also, since the banners were displayed during the morning rush hour, Operation Overpass activists succeeded in having the "A" word, abortion, discussed truthfully in the media and in the office place that day.

Education about abortion plus novel advertising techniques - a powerful force! - K.S.

Russian Abortuary Shows pro-life film

Amazingly, Russia is leaning toward the pro-life agenda. It has been verified that in Russia, the well-known pro-life film "Silent Scream" is being shown in state clinics.

Russia is known worldwide for performing the greatest number of abortions, both as a member of the U.S.S.R. and now as an independent state. Their policy has changed, since now they realize they are close to aborting their future.

As reported in the Life Advocate, September, 1995, the International Right To Life Federation has not only been able to function in Russia; they can actually help in counselling in the state clinics.

" 'I am thinking of course of the future of their country," one clinic director, Tsvetkova, answers when asked why the anti-abortion message appeals to her.

Russia's birth and life expectancy rates have plummeted, and nationalists say abortion is a crime against the nation. Vitaly Savitsky, a parliament member who is drafting a bill aimed at sharply restricting abortion and encouraging birth, says Russia is otherwise "doomed to extinction."

The Life Advocate article, Silent Scream Shown In Russian Abortuaries, is clear in stating that Russia has not come to the realization of the sacredness of life, but rather the need for more productive individuals to further the desires of the state.

It is a strange twist of fate that Russia's abortuaries acknowledge that when women are presented the truth about abortion, they will choose life. Does anyone want to call Mr. Clinton? -K.S.

End of Part 1 of the September Newsgram, 1995.

NewsGram, September, Part 2, 1995
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