Election Perseverance

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

As the year 2006 begins, it is time to fire up the engines for another election, and focus on electing leaders who will provide the maximum possible protection to innocent human life. In the last several major elections, voters have increased pro-life majorities both on the state and federal levels of government. More voters each year say that the abortion holocaust influenced their vote, and even many pro-abortion candidates who are not yet ready to become pro-life are realizing that being pro-abortion does not win elections.

Momentum is on our side, and there is nothing the other side can do to take the stigma out of abortion. Therefore, there is no reason for delay on our part. The time to activate is now, and the reason is the same as it always was: those who are more willing to have babies killed must not be given the power to do so.

Notice that I phrase that in the negative. Elections are often not about getting a satisfactory person in office as much as they are about keeping a worse person out of office. Elections are exercises of power, and deal in the categories of "bad, worse, good, better" rather than "bad, perfect". If we go into elections hoping to find perfect candidates, we will constantly be disappointed. But if we go into elections determined to improve things as much as possible, recognizing the limits of what that means, but also recognizing its significance, we will be energized.

Some people may wonder what the pro-life candidates they elected have done, or may feel they have not done enough. Important progress has been made, but far more is required, and we always have to keep the pressure on those we have elected. But if you prevent someone from falling off a cliff, you have already achieved something quite significant. That is the first and perhaps most important success to keep in mind. In the last two elections, if the pro-abortion forces had been able to elect the people they wanted, the cause of abortion would be in a far stronger position than it is now. Much of the success of elections is in what we prevent.

There have been positive advances, including the fact that the makeup of the Supreme Court will again change this month and move in a pro-life direction. We could have had the situation this month of having two more committed pro-abortion justices on the Supreme Court for lifetime terms. We avoided falling off that cliff.

As for what we achieve, the work always remains ours. It is not easy to find pro-life activists running for office. But what we need at the very least is people who will not stand in the way of the work that we have to do. Politics is not our salvation; we the people are responsible for ending abortion. But that responsibility includes taking power away from those who take human rights away. Let's keep abortion supporters out of office in 2006, and let's start now!

- Published By Permission

America the Beautiful?

The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama. Judge Moore was sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom foyer. He has been stripped of his judgeship and now they are trying to strip his right to practice law in Alabama. The judge's poem sums it up quite well.

America the Beautiful,
or so you used to be.
Land of the Pilgrims' pride;
I'm glad they'll never see.


Babies piled in dumpsters,
Abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty;
your house is on the sand.


Our children wander aimlessly
poisoned by cocaine,
Choosing to indulge their lusts,
when God has said abstain.


From sea to shining sea,
our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God's love
and a need to always pray.


We've kept God in our temples,
how callous we have grown.
When earth is but His footstool,
and Heaven is His throne.


We've voted in a government
that's rotting at the core,
Appointing Godless Judges
who throw reason out the door,


Too soft to place a killer
in a well deserved tomb,
But brave enough to kill a baby
before he leaves the womb.


You think that God's not angry,
that our land's a moral slum?
How much longer will He wait
before His judgment comes?


How are we to face our God,
from Whom we cannot hide?
What then is left for us to do,
but stem this evil tide?


If we who are His children,
will humbly turn and pray;
Seek His holy face
and mend our evil way:


Then God will hear from Heaven
and forgive us of our sins,
He'll heal our sickly land
and those who live within.


But, America the Beautiful,
if you don't - then you will see,
A sad but Holy God
withdraw His hand from Thee.


~Judge Roy Moore

Ordinary Old “Ordinary Time”

In the Catholic Church the Liturgy is governed by the season of the Church year. There are two periods of Ordinary Time in the Church Year, the period between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, and the long period after the Easter/Pentecost Season. The Church is adorned with green during these two periods, and Ordinary Time is by far the longest Liturgical Season.

Due to this long season, many people get bored with Ordinary Time. On Sunday, the Holy Father addressed the beauty of Ordinary Time in his Angelus message. Let us hear what he has to say:

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Last Sunday, in which we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord, the Ordinary Time of the liturgical year began. The beauty of this time lies in the fact that it invites us to live our ordinary life as a way of holiness, that is, of faith and friendship with Jesus, continually discovered and rediscovered as teacher and lord, way, truth and life of man.

This is what John's Gospel suggests to us in today's liturgy, on presenting to us the first meeting between Jesus and of some of those who became his apostles. They were disciples of John the Baptist, and he in fact brought them to Jesus when, after the baptism in the Jordan, he presented him as the "Lamb of God" (John 1:36).

Two of his disciples then followed the Messiah, who asked them: "What do you seek?" The two asked him: "Rabbi, where are you staying?" And Jesus answered: "Come and see," that is, he invited them to follow him and to spend some time with him.

They were so impressed in the few hours they spent with Jesus, that immediately one of them, Andrew, went to see his brother Simon to tell him: "We have found the Messiah." We are before two particularly significant words: "seek" and "find."

We can extract these two verbs from today's evangelical passage and draw a fundamental guideline for the new year, a time in which we want to renew our spiritual journey with Jesus, with the joy of seeking and finding him incessantly. The most authentic joy, in fact, is in the relationship with him, having found, followed, known and loved him thanks to a continuous tension of the mind and heart.

To be a disciple of Christ: This is enough for the Christian. Friendship with the Master assures the soul profound peace and serenity, even in dark moments and the most difficult trials. When faith goes through dark nights, when one no longer "hears" or "sees" God's presence, friendship with Jesus guarantees that, in reality, there is nothing that can separate us from his love (cf. Romans 8:39).

To seek and find Christ, inexhaustible source of truth and life, is what the word of God invites us take up again, at the beginning of a new year, this journey of faith that never ends. "Rabbi, where do you live?" We also ask Christ and he answers: "Come and see."

For the believer, it is an incessant search and new discovery as Christ is the same yesterday, today and always, but we, the world, history, are never the same, and he comes to us to give us his communion and his fullness of life. Let us ask the Virgin Mary to help us follow Jesus, experiencing every day the joy of penetrating ever more in his mystery.

- Benedictus P.P. XVI

Abortion in the Philippines

Well, another nation contemplates turning their back on God and morality. Below is an article emailed to me by a Pro-Life friend who is a doctor. Nations should forever contemplate what Pope John Paul the Great has said, "A nation that kills its own children is a nation without hope!" Lord, have mercy!

+ Mason


Filipino Congress Considers Coercive Two-Child Limit

The Filipino Congress is set to vote on Monday on a bill that critics say would discriminate against families with more than two children and would require the Catholic Church to provide sex education in schools and to pay for the sterilizations of its employees.

According to reports from the Filipino Family Fund, various Filipino legislators, arguing that the Philippines needs a much more aggressive policy of population control, introduced a bill that is strikingly similar to the One-Child policy of Communist China. The "Responsible Parenting and Population Control Act of 2005" includes a preference in education for two-child families, free access to abortifacients, mandatory sex education for children as young as 10-years-old and imprisonment penalties for health care providers who refuse to perform or provide sterilization services for a population that is 87 percent Catholic and 5 percent Muslim.

Eileen Macapanas Cosby, Executive Director of the Filipino Family Fund, told the Friday Fax that the bill "paves the way" for "the kind of human rights nightmare that is already" taking place "in China, with its coercive sterilization and contraception practices." She calls the proposed bill "China-lite."

Cosby said the bill's sponsor is reporting that he has the votes of 135 of 238 members of the Filipino House. If the bill were to pass the House it would go to the Filipino Senate where Cosby said that another piece of legislation would be attached making it even more dangerous. "It will provide for a centralized bureaucracy that would be run by three non-elected officials from NGOs," she said. This new bureaucracy, she said, would oversee the implementation of the legislation.

Cosby said that Filipino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is likely to veto the bill if it passes both houses of Congress. Like the American system, the bill would then return to Congress where it must receive two thirds of the vote in both chambers to override the veto.

Dr. Pia de Solenni, Director of Life and Women's Issues at the Family Research Council, told the Friday Fax that "the activists" who were "working on" drafting the "Responsible Parenting and Population Control Act of 2005" and bringing it into the Legislature were "inspired by radical feminists in the West." She also pointed out that these Filipino activists have a "myopic vision of what women's issues are." Most Filipino women, she said, worry most about opportunities to have healthy children, irrespective of how many they choose to have.

Copyright 2005 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

Senate Confirmation

+JMJ

This has been a very busy week at the Paramore home, but we have survived. Amidst the many events that have taken time out of my hands, I have had time (made it) to watch some of the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito.

As many of you know, Judge Alito is a good, conservative, faithful Catholic. It is time for the Pro-Life community to stand up in prayer for this man and pray that God's Will be done for our lacking Supreme Court.

In a similar vein, I found it gratifying this week when former Senator Zell Miller told Sean Hannity of Fox News, "It is time for someone to look these people right in the eye and tell them, abortion is an abomination in the sight of Almighty God, and the United States Constitution does NOT protect it!" Boy, we lost a good one we he retired!

Pax,
+ Mason

Holiday is Over !!!

+ JMJ

Well, today means for me that the Christmas Holiday is over. Jessica and I must plundge back into our work and school activites. Because of our busy schedule, I will not be blogging as frequently over the next week or so, but rest assured, I will have plenty to say later.

Pax,
+ Mason

The Baptism of the Lord

+ JMJ

Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We remember today the great even of Our Lord coming to St. John Baptist in the River Jordan to be baptized of him.

There are two glorious phrases that ring out today. First of all, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” The other is “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

Let us meditate on these phrases today, and let us remember our own baptismal promises. May the intercession of the Blessed Virgin help us to live these vows perfectly. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, pray for us!

+ Mason

Feast of the Epiphany

+JMJ

Well, we made it! Christmas is officially over. Now comes down the lights, the trees, the crèches. But let us not put the spirit of Christmas away.

Christmas teaches us about love - the love of the Father to send us his Son through Mary who became the Mother of God, Mother of the Church, and our Mother. Let us love one another and share this gift of love everyday.

Today, Epiphany, reminds us of giving. The wise men came bearing gifts. Let us be giving of ourselves, our time and talents. Let us also remember that we can be holy givers at Holy Mass. These wise men came bearing the finest of gifts for the time. Let us be mindful not to come to Mass sloppy, and certainly not to perform/take part in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass sloppy either.

Remember these holy images, the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Epiphany, and carry them into this new calendar year. As the old cliché goes, wise men still seek him! Be wise, continue to seek Christ.

God Bless,
+ Mason

Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

+ JMJ

Today is the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus as restored by the late Pope John Paul the Great. At the name of Jesus every knee must bend and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Blessed be the wonderful name of Jesus!

+ Mason