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November Newsletter, 1995, Part 1
Quarterly Issue
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During a brief stay in Phoenix, (left to right)Joe Schiedler visits with Matt Engelthalar and Mark Williams from Children of the Rosary.
If you care to reprint or use references from this issue, the following credits and information must be attached: Children of the Rosary Publication, November Newsletter, 1995, Part 1.
LETTER OF LIFE
CAN SERMONS' LACK OF KNOWLEDGE BE FATAL?
TURNING IT AROUND
PRO-LIFE HINTS OF THE MONTH
LETTER OF LIFE
Rep. Henry Hyde was the last person to speak in the debate on the house bill, HR 1833, commonly referred to as the ban on partial-birth abortions. After a few introductory remarks, he read a letter that had been sent to Rep. Canady, the sponsor of the bill, to ban this horrific procedure:
Dear Mr. Congressman,
Opponents of HR 1833 claim that partial-birth abortion is justifiable when performed on babies with disabilities. Please consider the personal experience of our family as you debate this bill.
In June, 1993, I was five months along carrying twins. My husband and I were notified that one of our twins, our daughter Mary, suffered from a severe neural tube defect. Mary's prognosis for life was slim and her chance at normal development nonexistent. Her severe abnormality complicated the twin pregnancy and specialists encouraged amneosantecis and Mary's abortion. Thought severely disabled, we knew that Mary was a member of our family and was entitled to live out her allotted time without being assaulted by instruments or chemicals. When it became clear that Mary, whose brain had developed outside of her skull and would not survive normal labor, we opted for a Ceasarian delivery.
Born December 13, 1993, a minute after her big brother, Will, Mary lived six hours, cradled peacefully in her father's arms. She was with us long enough to greet her grandparents and our close friends. She also gave a special gift to other children, the gift of life. On the day of her funeral, we received a letter from the regional organ bank of Illinois. Our daughter's heart valves were a match for two Chicago infants critically ill at the time of Mary's birth. We have learned that other babies with serious disabilities like our Mary can give life, or sight, or strength to others.
"The death of a child is the most tragic experience that many of us will face. As parents, we do what we can, ensure that our children do not suffer.
"As we now know, when the natural time comes, it can be comforting that their short life has become a gift to others. Our daughter lived less than a day, saved the lives of two other children. Which of us even after decades of living can make the same claim."
Jeanne Wallace French
CAN SERMONS' LACK OF KNOWLEDGE BE FATAL?
By Sue Widemark
Somewhere in the Bible, it says that our ignorance is killing us. Is this an exaggeration? I’m beginning to see the wisdom of that Bible passage.
I’m also beginning to see that in this society of information, (where we are bombarded by more information in one week than our ancestors, 100 years ago, received in a year) often, the information we need to get is omitted. For example, we know that 60 percent of Catholics use the oral contraceptive for birth control. Many Catholics have had abortions. It’s undisputed medical information that the oral contraceptive increases the risk of cancer, heart attack and stroke as well as the fact that it performs its duty, at least in part, by causing an abortion of the newly fertilized egg.
The dangers of abortion have been written about in volume. Assuming that women don’t care about the well-being of their unborn babies, women having a first trimester abortion face, at least, a 50 percent greater chance of breast cancer. Abortion also carries a 25 percent chance of problems with the next pregnancy, including sterility, and an 85 percent chance of scarring psychological side effects which could last a lifetime.
Medicine agrees that the Catholic church offers the best method of birth control in the Natural Family Planning method, which is 100 percent safe and 99 percent effective (as effective as the Pill).
So why don’t Catholics know about this? I hate to say it, but I have to fault the priests in part. Since this is an almost illiterate generation, we cannot assume that people will selectively read the information they need to know. Thus, for many people, the sermon or homily at church is the only source of Catholic information to which they are exposed. Yet so many sermons present the same tired old things, love your neighbor, be nice to your kids, cook for your husband and give to St. Vincent de Paul.
While I’m not denigrating those precepts which, after all, are good ones to follow, it strikes me as ironic that Catholic people are sitting there as a captive audience, starving for good information about the real issues in their lives, like birth control medication, abortion dangers and euthanasia issues as well as how to obtain a real personal relationship with Jesus, and Catholic priests so often preach tired old sermons which tell the people nothing that they really need to know. If we are not going to use the sermon to educate people, why waste our time with it? Why not drop it all together and get on with the meat and potatoes of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist?
Why are these issues so seldom touched? Probably because they might make people uncomfortable, they would make people think and perhaps change their lives and the people might get angry at the priest. So does that mean that priests are running a popularity contest? To priests of that mindset, please allow me to point out Mother Angelica, who courageously tells people exactly what she thinks and does not compromise anything. As a matter of fact, our Holy Father also speaks his mind. Both figures are respected and are anything but unpopular. Perhaps the priests who are not preaching hard-hitting sermons are wrong about the effect these sermons would have on the people.
Because you see, people want to know what is right, and, even though they may fight it at first (conversion never comes easy), they appreciate it in the long run.
Regardless of how real informational sermons may effect the listeners, I feel that it’s a loving thing to furnish life-giving information to people. I would hope that priests would consider that aspect and the general lack of good information available to the public and that they would consider changing their tack. Not only will their listeners appreciate it but their God in Heaven as well, Who grieves at the sad manner in which mankind is slowly destroying our world due to ignorance. V
TURNING IT AROUND
By Katherine Sabelko
On November 1st, the Feast of All Saints, on a vote of 288 to 139, the House of Representatives voted to ban a horrible procedure which abortionists have used to kill preborn babies up through the ninth month of pregnancy. Though seemingly inconceivable, pro-abortion Democrats fought hard to block the ban.
Though pro-choice legislators such as Rep. Nita Lowey, (NY) declare that this legislation is nothing more than a 'round-about attack on Roe. v. Wade, most people realize that this procedure is truly murder.
The procedure, performed in the later months of pregnancy, is actually a partial-birth, with the abortionist bringing out the child, except for the head. When the head of the child still held in place in the birth canal, the doctor uses scissors in the back of the child's neck to cut a hole in which he inserts a tube and then sucks the brains out of the child's skull.
Though the main argument used to defend this type of abortion is that it is necessary to save the life of the mother, the argument is indefensible. On Nightline, a national TV program, November 2nd, Sen. Bob Smith, (R), from New Hamshire asked Sen. Boxer "if it's really the issue of the mother's life, why is it that when the baby comes through the birth canal, all the body, with the exception of the head - that they hold it? They have to stop it and keep the head from coming into the world so that they can insert scissors in so that they can kill the child, to abort the child, if you will. To kill the child so they hold the head in so the life of the mother in this discussion is simply not valid."
Sen. Boxer evaded a response even when Ted Kopel, host of the show asked her again to answer the question. There is no defense!
The bill now sits in the Judicial committee in the Senate. Prayer is needed to assure that the Senate will pass this legislation.
PRO-LIFE HINT OF THE MONTH
By Katherine Sabelko
We have all thought, "I am just one person. What can I do to fight abortion?" You'll be happy to know that there are a lot of things that you can do that are effective, fast and fun!
Some ideas we present might not be something you feel comfortable doing, while other ideas seem to strike a bell.
We encourage you to try at least three different ideas and let us know how it goes! This month we will list inexpensive ideas using paper: