40=55M

January 22 was the 40th anniversary of the US supreme court decision Roe Vs Wade, which legalised abortion in America. Since then it is estimated that 55 Million babies have been aborted in America alone.

The annual March for Life took place yesterday (January 25) in Washington DC with 500,000 people in attendance.

Please take the time to visit their excellent website:

http://www.marchforlife.org/

Please also take the time to visit EWTN’s pro-life resources website:

http://www.ewtn.com/prolife/

 

 

 

Today (January 26) will also take place the Walk for Life West Coast

---

Further Reading

Abortion : Pain for Babies, Pain for Mothers

Abortion, The Natural Law and The Sacred Scriptures

Do Not Legalise Euthanasia

(Source: BBC Ethics Website)

Euthanasia is initially targeting those with terminal illnesses on the grounds of compassion for their suffering and wanting to alleviate it by ending it. This attempt for justifying euthanasia is based on misguided compassion. “Most people regard life as something sacred and hold that no one may dispose of it at will” (Declaration on Euthanasia, Chapter 1, Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, May 5 1980).

Genuine compassion for the terminally ill has for many years been offered by medical, palliative and hospice care. This care fulfills the emotional, spiritual and medical needs our terminally ill brothers and sisters. Euthanasia will devastate these services and undermine the doctor-patient relationship as has been seen in places which have legalized euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (PAS) e.g. in Oregon and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands this law has degenerated into allowing euthanasia for infants and also for patients with psychological illnesses. It has even been exposed that 38 % of all euthanasia victims were killed by their “doctors” against their will with doctors refusing to report such cases. This is an outrage!

In these places we have seen euthanasia being promoted among our frail, elderly and the disabled as a viable and preferred option with utter disregard to their human dignity. These people are vulnerable to the suggestions of their “doctor” and can be easily persuaded, particularly if there is no one there to support them. This is morally intolerable and is “an offense against the dignity of the human person, a crime against life and an attack on humanity” (Declaration on Euthanasia, Chapter 2).

Our compassionate efforts to support our disadvantaged, elderly and ill citizens irrespective of their status in society is what has set Australia and all civilized nations apart from those with low morality and barbarism. Currently the majority of the world view suicide and intentionally causing ones own death as illegal under the moral law and contrary to the Hippocratic oath. Doctors are meant to save lives not take lives!

What to do when there is a Liturgical Abuse: Redemptionis Sacramentum

 

Some Excerpts from Redemptionis Sacramentum (2004) issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments and approved and ordered for publication by Bl. Pope John Paul II:

“[169.] Whenever an abuse is committed in the celebration of the sacred Liturgy, it is to be seen as a real falsification of Catholic Liturgy. St Thomas wrote, “the vice of falsehood is perpetrated by anyone who offers worship to God on behalf of the Church in a manner contrary to that which is established by the Church with divine authority, and to which the Church is accustomed”.[278]

[170.] In order that a remedy may be applied to such abuses, “there is a pressing need for the biblical and liturgical formation of the people of God, both pastors and faithful”,[279] so that the Church’s faith and discipline concerning the sacred Liturgy may be accurately presented and understood. Where abuses persist, however, proceedings should be undertaken for safeguarding the spiritual patrimony and rights of the Church in accordance with the law, employing all legitimate means.

[171.] Among the various abuses there are some which are objectively graviora delicta or otherwise constitute grave matters, as well as others which are nonetheless to be carefully avoided and corrected. Bearing in mind everything that is treated especially in Chapter I of this Instruction, attention should be paid to what follows.

2. Grave Matters

[173.] Although the gravity of a matter is to be judged in accordance with the common teaching of the Church and the norms established by her, objectively to be considered among grave matters is anything that puts at risk the validity and dignity of the Most Holy Eucharist: namely, anything that contravenes what is set out above in nn. 48-52, 56, 76-77, 79, 91-92, 94, 96, 101-102, 104, 106, 109, 111, 115, 117, 126, 131-133, 138, 153 and 168. Moreover, attention should be given to the other prescriptions of the Code of Canon Law, and especially what is laid down by canons 1364, 1369, 1373, 1376, 1380, 1384, 1385, 1386, and 1398.”

The following is especially relevant to all Catholics when they encounter Liturgical Abuses:

“6. Complaints Regarding Abuses in Liturgical Matters

[183.] In an altogether particular manner, let everyone do all that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected. This is a most serious duty incumbent upon each and every one, and all are bound to carry it out without any favouritism.

[184.] Any Catholic, whether Priest or Deacon or lay member of Christ’s faithful, has the right to lodge a complaint regarding a liturgical abuse to the diocesan Bishop or the competent Ordinary equivalent to him in law, or to the Apostolic See on account of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff.[290] It is fitting, however, insofar as possible, that the report or complaint be submitted first to the diocesan Bishop. This is naturally to be done in truth and charity.”

The following is related to the duties and obligations of the Diocesan Bishop

“4. The Diocesan Bishop

[176.] The diocesan Bishop, “since he is the principal dispenser of the mysteries of God, is to strive constantly so that Christ’s faithful entrusted to his care may grow in grace through the celebration of the sacraments, and that they may know and live the Paschal Mystery”.[285] It is his responsibility, “within the limits of his competence, to issue norms on liturgical matters by which all are bound”.[286]

[177.] “Since he must safeguard the unity of the universal Church, the Bishop is bound to promote the discipline common to the entire Church and therefore to insist upon the observance of all ecclesiastical laws. He is to be watchful lest abuses encroach upon ecclesiastical discipline, especially as regards the ministry of the Word, the celebration of the Sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and the veneration of the Saints”.[287]

[178.] Hence whenever a local Ordinary or the Ordinary of a religious Institute or of a Society of apostolic life receives at least a plausible notice of a delict or abuse concerning the Most Holy Eucharist, let him carefully investigate, either personally or by means of another worthy cleric, concerning the facts and the circumstances as well as the imputability.

[179.] Delicts against the faith as well as graviora delicta committed in the celebration of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments are to be referred without delay to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which “examines [them] and, if necessary, proceeds to the declaration or imposition of canonical sanctions according to the norm of common or proper law”.[288]

[180.] Otherwise the Ordinary should proceed according the norms of the sacred canons, imposing canonical penalties if necessary, and bearing in mind in particular that which is laid down by canon 1326. If the matter is serious, let him inform the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

5. The Apostolic See

[181.] Whenever the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments receives at least a plausible notice of a delict or an abuse concerning the Most Holy Eucharist, it informs the Ordinary so that he may investigate the matter. When the matter turns out to be serious, the Ordinary should send to the same Dicastery as quickly as possible a copy of the acts of the inquiry that has been undertaken, and where necessary, the penalty imposed.”

---

Read the Complete Document of Redemptionis Sacramentum Here

 

Abortion and Ireland

Please take the time to read the following excellent articles, relating to current events about abortion in the country of Ireland.

 

‘Legalize abortion now!’: The whole world is baying for the blood of Irish children

Opinion Piece from Hilary White on LifeSiteNews.com

(http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-whole-world-is-baying-for-the-blood-of-irish-children)

 

IRISH ABORTION RATE DECLINES FOR 9TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR

Zenit.org

(http://www.zenit.org/article-32670?l=english)

 

Irish Mother’s Death Tragic, And Exploiting It to Promote Abortion

Paul Coleman - LifeNews.com 

(http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/20/irish-mothers-death-tragic-and-exploiting-it-to-promote-abortion/)

Changing Ireland’s Abortion Law Will Not Save Women’s Lives

Dr Peter Saunders - LifeNews.com
(http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/19/changing-irelands-abortion-law-will-not-save-womens-lives/)

---

Further Reading

(On the issue of abortion in general)

Abortion : Pain for Babies, Pain for Mothers

Abortion, The Natural Law and The Sacred Scriptures

Do Not Legalise Prostitution

Prostitution is a serious moral issue that greatly affects society at all levels. The legalisation of prostitution is seen by some as a solution to the problem of the global sex market. This is partly based on the false assumption that legalisation of “the industry” will diminish the problems of the current illegal industry, such as, street prostitution, high visibility brothels and related organised crime. However, the legalisation or decriminalisation of prostitution increases, rather than decreases the activity of the sex industry, which in turn devalues and enslaves women. This is essentially a form of state-sanctioned exploitation of women. The criminalisation model, used in countries such as Sweden, Norway and Iceland, is the best way to control the sex industry and is the only model that values, honours and protects women. Legalising prostitution will give the illusion that such activity is acceptable and moral and that brothels are like any other reputable business.
The legalisation or decriminalisation of prostitution is seen by some as a harm minimisation effort. However, the opposite has proved to be the case, such as in Victoria, where prostitution has been legal for over two decades and far greater harm and exploitation of women has resulted. The most effective and morally sensible approach is one which aims for harm elimination, which is best achieved through the criminalization of sexual purchases. This approach best protects and defends the dignity of women and prevents the entry into an industry that greatly damages them and an one in which women find it increasingly more difficult to leave.
“The Victorian experience demonstrates that legalisation does nothing to protect the health and safety of those within the industry.”[1]
The legalisation of prostitution in Victoria has not seen the disappearance of illegal or street prostitution; rather, it has increased at a rate greater than the legal prostitution industry. In Queensland, brothels were legalised in 1999, however, 90% of the sex trade in that state is illegal. Organised crime, also, has not decreased with the legalisation of prostitution, contrary to the thoughts of those who support prostitution legalisation, and trafficking of women occurs in both legal and illegal brothels.
With the legalisation of prostitution in Victoria, the demand for sexual services has sharply increased. This means that more women and girls enter the prostitution industry in order to support the increasing demand. However, once in the industry many feel they are trapped. “In fact 64% of women in prostitution in Victoria want to leave the industry”[2].
When prostitution is seen as a legitimate business (this happens when prostitution is legalised), brothel owners and the industry in general, attempt to maximise profits and meet the increasing demands of the male consumers. Unfortunately, the rights and dignity of women is relegated while the increasing of profits and expansion of this lucrative industry is promoted. Some argue that with the expansion and legalisation of the industry women “workers” have improved pay and working conditions. This is false, as the Victorian experience shows; the implicit violence of prostitution is in fact very real and remains in the “work” practices of both legal and illegal prostitution “businesses”. Prostitutes continue to suffer long and lasting physical and mental harm. Prostitutes may take illicit drugs in order to numb the physical and psychological pain they experience and some in fact may take their own lives in the tragedy of suicide. Furthermore, a legal prostitution industry in Victoria has not resulted in a proportionate increase in pay over the years :
“At the end of the 1990s,IBIS Business Information Services exposed that fees charged by prostituted women had not changed significantly over the previous ten years. Women on average earned between A$400 to A$500 per week, did not receive holiday pay or sick leave, and worked around four ten-hour shifts per week”[3]
Overall, the legalisation of prostitution, is essentially state-sanctioned exploitation of women through sexual enslavement and abuse. Once prostitution is legalised demand for “sexual services” will increase and illegal prostitution will increase at a greater rate than legal prostitiution. Legitimising prostitution by its legalisation or decriminalisation will promote and increase human trafficking of both women and children. Prostitution legalisation does not solve any problems of the current situation but rather entrenches them and creates problems of its own. The best way to solve the problems that exist is to criminalise sexual purchases as this protects and defends women from exploitation, by reducing the demand for prostitutes.

---

[1] What Happens When Prostitution Becomes Work?
An Update on Legalisation of Prostitution in Australia
Mary Sullivan
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Australia, 2005
p.6
[2] Ibid p.11
[3] Ibid p.9

---

Further Reading:

What Happens When Prostitution Becomes Work?
An Update on Legalisation of Prostitution in Australia
Mary Sullivan
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Australia, 2005

http://action.web.ca/home/catw/attach/Sullivan_proof_01.pdf

Learning lessons from legalising prostitution in Victoria
Tasmanian Times.com
http://tasmaniantimes.com.au/index.php/article/learning-lessons-from-legalising-prostitution-in-victoria


Red-Green politics retrograde on prostitution
ON LINE opinion
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14380

A Moment with Our Lord

 
I adore thee O Jesus, God of love, truly present in the most Holy Eucharist.
I adore thee who has come to thy own but was not received by them.
I adore thee whom the majority of mankind reject and despise.
I adore thee whom the impious incessantly offend by their sacrilege and blasphemies.
I adore thee who are grieved by the coldness and indifference even of a vast number of Christians.
I adore thee O infinite goodness who has wrought so many miracles in order to reveal thy love for us.
I adore thee with all the angels and Saints and with those chosen souls that are now all ready, the blessed of thy Father and are all aglow with burning love for thee.
I adore thee with all thy friends oh Jesus, with them I prostrate myself at the foot of the altar to offer thee my most profound homage, to receive thy Divine inspirations and to implore thy grace. Oh how good it is for me to be here with thee- how sweet to hear the voice of my beloved. O victim of Divine love a piercing cry breaks forth as once it did on Calvary. It is the cry of love. I thirst; thy call is to thy children; I thirst for your love. Come all you who I love as the Father has loved me. Come and quench the thirst that consumes me.
Lord Jesus, behold I come. My heart is small but it is all thine, thou art a prisoner in our Tabernacle, thou the Lord of lords and love it is that holds thee here as such thou leavest the tabernacle only to come to us, to unite thyself with the faithful soul and allow thy Divine love to reign in her.
O king of love come, live, reign in me, I want no other law, but the law of thy love. No no, I henceforth desire to know not neither of the world nor what is in it nor of myself, thy love alone shall rule in me eternally. O Jesus, grant me this grace. Break my fetters strip me of all that is not thyself in order that thy love may be my life here below and my happiness and delight in eternity.
Amen.

(A prayer prayed by Mother Angelica of EWTN)

Atheism and Anni Sacri

Anni Sacri (Pope Pius XII, 1950) 
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XII
ON A PROGRAM FOR COMBATING
ATHEISTIC PROPAGANDA THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
TO THE VENERABLE BRETHREN THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES,
ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, AND OTHER ORDINARIES
IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE

3. That which seems to Us not only the greatest evil but the root of all evil is this: often the lie is substituted for the truth, and is then used as an instrument of dispute. On the part of not a few religion is passed by as a thing of no importance, and elsewhere absolutely prohibited in family and social life as a remnant of ancient superstitions; public and private atheism is exalted in such a way that God and His law are being abolished, and morals no longer have any foundation. The Press also too often vulgarly reviles religious feeling, while it does not hesitate to spread the most shameful obscenities, agitating and with incalculable harm leading into vice tender childhood and betrayed youth.
4. By means of false promises a people is deceived and provoked to hatred, rivalry and rebellion, especially when the hereditary faith, the only relief in this earthly exile, is successfully torn from its heart. Disturbances, riots and revolts are organized and fomented in continuing series, which prepare for the ruin of the economy and cause irreparable harm to the common good.
5. We must above all deplore with overwhelming sadness that in not a few nations the rights of God, Church and human nature itself are outraged and trampled upon. Sacred ministers, even those invested with high dignities, are either driven from their proper Sees, exiled and imprisoned, or impeded in a manner preventing them from exercising their ministry. In the field of education, whether of lower or of university level, as well as in publications and the Press, permission to explain and defend the doctrine of the Church either is not given or is so restricted and subjected to such surveillance by official censorship that the arbitrary proposition that truth, liberty and religion must submissively serve only the civil authority seems to be the established principle.
6. Since these innumerable evils spring, as We have said, from one source only, the repudiation of God and contempt for His law, it is necessary, Venerable Brethren, to offer to God fervent prayers and recall all to those principles whence alone can come enlightenment for minds, peace and concord for souls and well ordered justice between the various social classes.
7. As you know, once religion is taken away there cannot be a well ordered, well regulated society. In this point lies the urgency to spur on priests under your guidance in order that, especially during the Holy Year, they spare no efforts so that souls entrusted to them, with their false prejudices and erroneous convictions cast aside, and hatreds and discords settled, may nourish themselves on the teachings of the Gospel and thus participate in Christian life so as to hasten the desired renewal of morals.
8. And since the priest can reach neither everybody nor everything, and as his work is not always able to meet adequately all needs, those who serve in the Catholic Action ranks must offer the aid of their own experience and activity. No one must be idle and lazy in the face of so many evils and dangers while those in the other camp strive to destroy the very basis of Catholic religion and Christian worship. Let it never come to pass that "the children of this world are wiser than the children of light" (Luke xvi. 8); let it never be that the latter are less active than the former.
9. But human efforts are ineffective unless strengthened by Divine Grace. We exhort you, therefore, Venerable Brethren, to begin a veritable crusade of prayer among your faithful to implore from the Father of Mercies and the God of Consolation (2 Cor. i. 3) suitable remedies for the present evils. We intensely desire that, united with Us, they offer public prayers on March 26th Passion Sunday, when the sacred rites of the Church begin to commemorate the bitter sufferings by means of which the Divine Redeemer liberated us from slavery to the demon and led us back to the freedom of the sons of God. It is Our intention on that day to descend into the Basilica of St. Peter to unite Our prayers not only with those present but - as We hope - with those of the whole Catholic world. Let those who, because of illness or old age or other reasons, cannot come to church, offer to God with humble and trusting heart their sufferings and their fears so that the prayer of all, the yearning of all and the wish of all may be one.
10. Let all, united with Us in prayer, implore from Divine mercy that a new order, based on truth, justice and charity, may arise from the longed-for restoration of morals. May the Heavenly Light illuminate the minds of those who have in their hands the destinies of peoples; may they realize that just as peace is the work of wisdom and justice, so war is the fruit of blindness and hatred; let them consider that one day they must render account not only to history but to God's eternal judgment.
11. Those who profusely sow the seed of hatred, of discord and of rivalry; those who secretly or openly arouse the masses and provoke rebellions; those who deceive with empty promises the easily agitated masses, even they must understand that the justice demanded by Christian principles, which gives birth to equilibrium and fraternal concord, is achieved not through force and violence, but with the application of the law.
12. Guided by the supreme light gained by collective prayer, let all be persuaded that only the Divine Redeemer can compose the many and formidable conflicts; only Jesus Christ, We say, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John xvi. 6), Who bestows celestial clarity to clouded minds and Divine strength to doubtful and indolent wills (Imitation of Christ, III, 50 8, 5); He alone can set on the road to eternal happiness the souls of men joined by the bond of brotherhood.


13. With faith, love and hope, therefore, We address to Him Our prayers. May He then, especially during this Holy Year, benignly look down upon humanity, oppressed by so many misfortunes, assailed by so many fears and by waves of so many discords. And as one day, by His divine sign, He calmed the tempest on the Lake of Galilee, so today may He quieten human storms.
14. Let the lies of the wicked be exposed by His light, let the surly arrogance of the proud be humbled, let the rich be led to justice, generosity and charity, let the poor and wretched take as their model the family of Nazareth, which also earned its bread through daily labor; finally, let those who hold the Government of State be persuaded that there is no more solid social foundation than Christian teaching and the safeguarding of religious liberty.
Read more:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12031950_anni-sacri_en.html
Given at Rome at St. Peter's, March 12th, 1950, the twelfth year of Our Pontificate.
PIUS XII

O Lord the Giver of all Life

♪

O Lord the Giver of all life

O Lord, the Giver of all life

 Whose ways are ever just,

 Your people lift their hearts to you

In praise and prayer and trust.

 Protect the lives of those unborn;

 Let laws reflect your will;

 Give us your strength to work for life,

 That man may cease to kill.

 Help us to know your will for us;

 Give courage for the fight.

 Dismiss our doubts; renew our hearts

To struggle for the right.

 O Mother of the Crucified,

 Who bore the Lord of life,

 For every mother intercede;

 Be with us in our strife.

Lord Christ, to whom each soul is dear,

 For whom each child has worth,

 Receive your children who have died

Before their time of birth.

 Blest Trinity, O living God,

 To you our prayers ascend,

 Bring all at last to dwell with you,
Where life shall never end.

---

Listen to the first stanza sung by the Adoremus Hymnal Choir here

---

Same-sex “Marriage” Submission and Survey

As you may be aware, there are a number of Bills in Australia’s Federal Parliament aiming to change the definition of Marriage from one man and one woman to a man and a man or a woman and a woman.

There is currently an Australian Senate Committee inquiring into the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2010. 

I encourage you to send a submission stating your opposition redefining Marriage.
You can read about it here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=legcon_ctte/marriage_equality_2012/index.htm

 

 

I also encourage you to complete the Australian House of Representatives Online Survey on the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2012 and the Marriage Amendment Bill 2012.

You can complete the survey here:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=spla/bill%20marriage/index.htm

 

 

---

Further Reading

Do Not Redefine Marriage

 

 

 

 

---

Queensland Pro-Life Voting Guide

Family Life International’s Pro-Life voting guide has been released. It is an excellent resource for any Queenslander who wants to make an informed Pro-Life Vote.

I highly recommend it.

Read it here, www.fli.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Queensland-2012.pdf