Monthly Archives: February 2012

All Christians Should Hear This, Crying In The Wilderness

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 ProLifeCorner.com -  All Catholic/Christians  Should hear this..if only all could hear it from the pulpit …Perhaps they can now that obama has called for the churches to become involved.  On February 5, 2012 Father Sammie Maletta delivered a Homily at St. John the Evangelist Parish in St. John, Indiana. This Homily addressed how President Obama is threatening our Religious Freedom and declaring war with the Catholic Church.

 
Please take a few moments to listen. No one sums it up quite like Father Maletta. Go to http://bit.ly/zPdgpw to fight the HHS Mandate.

SHOULD CHILD RAPISTS BE PROSECUTED?

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February 29, 2012 Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows: For the past several years, New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has sought legislation targeting the sexual abuse of minors. Yet never once has she introduced a bill that would apply to public institutions—just private ones. Now she is back again asking her colleagues to pass a bill that would suspend the civil statute of limitations for a one-year period; it would allow alleged victims who claim they were molested in a private institution to sue, regardless of when it supposedly happened.

 
 
But what if a kid was sodomized by a public school teacher in Albany just before Thanksgiving? New York State law says it is already too late for him to sue. Markey agrees with this condition—the kid is out of luck. She could have attempted to correct this situation, but she has chosen not to. In other words, child rape in public schools is not something she will ever confront. However, if a student was allegedly groped by a Catholic teacher in the 1950s, Markey wants it to be legal to sue the teacher, the school, and the diocese in which it is located.
 
In the month of February alone, six public school employees have been arrested for sexually abusing a minor. And this is just in New York City! Common decency, as well as common sense, dictates that new laws designed to curb this problem should begin by targeting the public schools. Instead, Markey wants to give them a pass.
 
There is a bill that does not discriminate between private and public institutions. Assemblyman Michael Cusick and State Senator Andrew Lanza do not care where a child may have been molested, and that is why their bill covers students in all schools. Assemblywoman Markey thinks that equal coverage is wrong; she believes in selective justice, which is the highest expression of injustice.
 
Contact Markey: MarkeyM@assembly.state.ny.us

Contact our director of communications about Donohue’s remarks:
Jeff Field
Phone: 212-371-3191
E-mail: cl@catholicleague.org

Freeport Il. Paper Prints Bigotry

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Freeport, Il – (ProLifeCorner.com) – 2-29-2012 – by Staff – The Freeport Journal Standard recently posted a very bigoted, anti-Catholic guest editorial by a couple named the Wernstroms.  They appear to be radical leftists and are almost always in support of any left wing cause or opinion.  They are allowed by the JS to post editorials on a weekly basis.  They profess to be former educators from the Chicago area and are now retired in a rural community.  It is disturbing to think that for 30 years these two misguided souls have poisoned the minds of their young students. 

Below is a comment left in response to their diatribe against the Bishops and the Catholic Church.  At the end of the article, if you have the stomach for it, we will provide a link to their editorial.
 
 
Amazing! Now the Wernstroms are the authority on the Catholic Church! Well, its obvious they know next to nothing about the Church and are spewing the venom that has intensified during the present administration. The very idea that the Church is somehow anti-woman is so ludicrous it could be laughable if they weren’t so serious in their rant. To begin with the Church holds in high honor Mary, the mother of Jesus Many of the saints honored are women, for example St Gianna, St. Catherine, St. Theresa, the list goes on and on; many of them have been titled with doctor of the Church. This hardly seems an affront to women. Now if we want to talk about treatment of women as objects, let’s talk about the religions that trade women/children as payments or gifts. Or that force women to completely cover themselves, top to bottom; or who punish women who merely speak with a man. Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? But you need only to read news reports to find these very things are happening. Women in our country are treated as objects when men expect women to have sex at the mans desire or convenience, just for recreation. The 1960s were one of the worst decades in history simply because they demeaned women in the name of equality. What rubbish! Yes, equal pay for equal work is fine and proper, but allowing women to be treated as no more than sex objects is hardly respecting or honoring women, it is using them and discarding them when they are no longer desirable or interesting to the man.

Now let’s discuss the abuse situation: Yes, the homosexual movement has infiltrated the Church and the result is the sex abuse scandal. This is a terrible thing, but if you will do some research you will find that this problem has been addressed and rectified greatly. Many of the charges of abuse have been brought against priests who are now dead and cannot defend themselves; many of the victims are bringing false charges to get as much money as they can. Some of the organizations that are supposedly helping the victims are doing so to try to bring down the Church and for no other reason. Those who have been abused deserve recompense and the offender deserves just punishment. And by the way, that goes for the other religions who have abusive clergy as well. The Catholic Church is not alone in this situation. The sexual abuse of children by school teachers, however, continues to this day, even locally. The abuse by teachers is an ongoing problem and many of the abusive teachers are transferred or protected by their unions; very little is written about them. Michael Goodwin, a columnist for the New York Post, recently cited documents showing that 7,300 teachers in New York City have been found deficient to teach but are protected by unions, at a cost of well over $100,000 each in salary and benefits. Moreover, there are some 500 teachers who have been convicted of criminal offenses, including assault, sex crimes, kidnapping, burglary, prostitution and lewdness. This is NYC alone-what must the nationwide figures be?

As far as the Church being out of step with the faithful I think it’s more of a case of the faithful being out of step with the Church! If a person, man or woman, does not agree with the teachings of the Church, they are free to leave and join another church of their choice; they are not held against their will. If someone is unhappy with the teachings of the Church why would they want to stay? Why would they want to change the Church when all they need to do is walk away and find a church that is in tune with their beliefs? Let me ask a question-if I were to join a fraternal organization would I need to adhere to their by-laws? Would I need to agree with their objectives? Or would I join and then try to change them to suit my thoughts? I hardly think I would be tolerated as many of the dissidents in the Catholic Church have been tolerated. And are any of those fraternal organizations barring women from joining? Many of them have within their organization a group which is formed especially for women. Good. But women are not allowed to join the original group; its men only. Why is no one upset about this discrimination?

And finally, the HHS mandate which is causing such a stir at this time is primarily an attack against the 1st Amendment rights of freedom of religion. If this is allowed to continue then many other rights and freedoms will be at risk for everyone, not just Catholics and Christians. The WH and administration, along with the willing media, are making this out to be a matter of contraception, which is merely a smokescreen. Now I must ask another question- if the left is so intent on the phrase get out of my bedroom when it comes to abortion, why should the rest of us be forced to pay for them? Why should we be forced to pay for birth control if we have religious tenets that oppose it? Oh, and by the way, the Catholic Church approves and highly recommends Natural Family Planning, not the rhythm method. Times have changed and much has been discovered medically since the 60s. We can now see into the womb and watch the baby within developing, waiting to be born. If more people regarded a baby as a gift and not a disease, the world would be a much better place in which to live.

Our freedoms are being attacked one by one and we need, as a nation, to say NO to this attack. We must protect our liberty, which according to our early founders, cannot exist without faith and morality.
 
 

Lent Brings Out Those Who Hate Christ

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 Freeport, Il – (ProLifeCorner.com) 2-29-2012 – by James – The Freeport Standard Journal printed the following editorial and showed its complete lack of basic knowledge of Christian teaching or even basic common sense. The sexual revolution has destroyed millions of lives and souls, but the two authors of this editorial and the Journal Standard haven’t seemed to notice the millions of deaths from abortion, HIV, STD’s, and the broken families and lives from our country’s moral breakdown.
 Lent always bring the worst out of those who hate Jesus Christ and His Church.  This editorial mixes lies, outdated and discredited sexual revolution thinking and in the end is a pathetic attempt to compare the morals of liberalism and the culture of death against Christ and the Gospel of life. Our comments in red.
 
 
 
We are amazed that our Catholic friends, the laity, parish priests and many Catholic Universities have allowed the bishops to speak on their behalf (Why are they amazed?  That is the way Jesus Christ Himself ordered and designed the Church.), especially when the hierarchy is so out of step with the faithful (The hierarchy is in step with the Holy Spirit, the teachings of Christ, and the 2000 year history of the Catholic Church). Many Catholics we know are embarrassed by the Church’s stand on women’s issues (If they are embarrassed by the only institution that truly defends the dignity of women, then that’s their problem.) However, abortion and contraception (The reality is these writers are for the destruction of human life.) can be discussed only in a context that recognizes the Church’s sexism and her desire to exert power in the secular sphere (Yes, the Church does want to end the murder of God’s children by abortion.)
 
The Church is for abstinence-only sex education (the only kind of sex education that works). Many people think that position makes sense for young teens. They don’t realize that what the bishops mean is no sex before marriage, no matter how old the individuals are (Yes, that’s what it means to be Christian, saving the beautiful gift of sexual love for marriage as God created us to do. To do otherwise is a mortal sin.).  It’s not about teens, it’s about all women. Some commentators have asked whether there is a difference between a twelve-year-old pre-teen and a twenty-two-year old adult woman (As far as sex outside of marriage, there is no difference.  It’s kind of strange how these authors as so obsessed with sex.).  The Church’s answer is no. No sex, ever, outside of marriage (That’s correct because sex outside of marriage destroys human love and the image of God in human beings – it is mortally sinful.).
 
Many reasonable people think that the bishops don’t really mean, “No birth control, ever.” But that’s just exactly what they mean (Of course, because birth control is condemned by God and the Church. Birth control destroys life, love, marriage and in many cases the health of the women who use it.). The bishops claim that they’re reasonable because they are willing to compromise and allow married couples to use the rhythm method (No, the rhythm method is no longer used; NFP is. And NFP is 99% effective and is a natural God-given way to build life and love.  These authors’ thinking and knowledge of the issues seems stuck in the 1960′s.).  And if you are worried about STDs or HIV-Aids, too bad; no condoms. (Condoms don’t protect against most STD’s.  New York City is the condom capital of America – it is also the STD capital of America.  When the country of Uganda rejected condoms, its STD rate and HIV rate fell and continue to fall because people saved sex for marriage.)
 
Until recently, forty percent of all marriages, including Catholic marriages, ended in divorce (This is the direct result of contraception being used – contraception destroy marriage and souls.  Pope Paul VI predicted this in 1968 – but these authors don’t like white Catholic males so they would not have known this.).  However, most Catholics support divorce as necessary only after everything else has failed. But the bishops say no—No Divorce (Jesus said NO DIVORCE.).
The bishops are not only against divorce but against second marriages. So if you divorce, according to the bishops, your sex life is over (These writers seem obsessed with sex.). Unless you’re rich and powerful (A little birdie tell us these authors aren’t hurting for money themselves.), then exceptions, an annulment can be made. (This is an outright lie.  No matter who a person is, he can seek an annulment.  Money has nothing to do with it.  An annulment is not "made".  It is granted if the marriage did not contain proper sacramental matter.)
 
So from puberty (Do these writers want children to have sex?) to death the bishops want to control every aspect of a woman’s sex life (No, the bishops explain the teachings of Jesus Christ and the natural law.  These writers believe they [Not sure who "they" is in this use.]  are being controlled because they reject Christ, morality, and the natural law.) The simple reason is that they want to control women.
 In their worldview the male hierarchy extends from the paternalism of the pope to the cardinal, to the bishop, to the parish priest, to the husband (Somebody is reliving his hippie days with that statement.).   And at every stage a man is in complete control. A perfect example: thousands of priests were involved in a world-wide pedophile scandal. The bishops tried to cover it up (More lies.  The Bishops did not try to cover it up.  A few liberal Bishops who accepted homosexuality did not do their job of reporting these abuses.  This was more damage against the Body of Christ by liberal Bishops and the sexual revolution and homosexuality these writers are promoting.)..
 
The bishops claim they opposed Obama’s health care plan (The bishops supported it before it was proven Obama lied about abortion and contraception.) because it contained some weak provisions for abortion. They really opposed the plan because it would give women access to reproductive health care and health education (It’s amazing how these authors know what the bishops are thinking, LOL.).  The bishops don’t believe that women have any right to control their own bodies (The bishops just believe that a woman should not be able to dismember and murder her daughter or son in her womb.). When a nun allowed one abortion to save a woman’s life (Abortion was NOT the only option for this mother.), she was excommunicated (As she should have been.  And the authors of this editorial have excommunicated themselves from the Church for publicly supporting grave evil, child-killing, lying about the bishops, and in general trying to destroy lives and souls through promoting the culture of death.).  No double standard there!
They are deaf even to the dangers of overpopulation (If the author of this tripe knew anything about demographics, they would know the world will have a major under population problem in the coming decades.).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG2IZEzUmA.  They counter that there has been a dangerous decline in population, that governments, instead of discouraging large families, should be encouraging them because Europe and the US need more white children (This is a stupid and blatantly racist remark by the author.  By the way it was God who said, "Be fruitful and multiply.").  And women are just going to have to get on board and have more children, it is their Catholic, patriotic duty (The Bishops have never said this.  Lies seem to be these authors’ stock and trade.).
In the 1960s conservative Church leaders lost most of the cultural battles as Americans and Europeans embraced a more modern, nuanced view of the world (The authors are correct here.  That is why we have massive increases in child abuse, divorce, hundreds of millions of babies murdered by abortion, tens of millions dead from HIV and other STD’s, broken homes, a huge increase in wife abuse, suicide, school shootings, and a complete moral breakdown.). 
 
The Church was even led for a short period by Pope John XXIII, who convened Vatican II.  Millions of Catholics enthusiastically embraced the reforms that came from his administration (Vatican II NEVER changed any teachings of the Church and even called abortion the most horrific crime against both God and humanity.  The author of this editorial is just upset that Vatican II NEVER said anything that broke the continuity of Catholic teaching.).  Sadly, the conservatives regained the pontificate and have been fighting to regain political and cultural dominance ever since (No, the Pope and Bishops have been trying to restore faith, justice, morality, and love for God and neighbor to society.  The liberal agenda and sexual revolution destroy both faith in God and respect for life.).  The fight is especially bitter because even as the bishops make some headway, for example on the abortion question, they continue to lose ground on other fronts, especially the whole issue of gay rights (The Bible calls sodomy a grave crime against God, deserving of hell.) and same-sex marriage (a perversion of God’s law and the natural law).
 
Catholic nuns fifty years ago embraced the reforms and new freedoms of Vatican II (Now nuns are almost nonexistent because when you embrace liberalism, you lose both God and respect for the rights of humanity.).  They threw away their habits and left the convent (They also threw away the faith.).  Those who stayed embraced a new world, a modern mix of Catholicism and feminism.  Sister Joan Chittisten, a Benedictine nun who stayed (who has been banned in many diocese because of heretical teaching), continues to fight for the rights of women. She has said, “Modern Catholics need community, not patriarchal clericalism; they need the human, not the homophobic; they need more prophets of equality, not more pretenders to a priesthood of male privilege; they need discipleship, not canonical decrees.”  (This Church- and man- hating nun also supports the murder of babies in the womb.) She has also said, “To preach a theology of equality and at the same time maintain a theology of inequality, a spirituality of domination that bars half of the human race on the basis of gender from full participation . . . is to live a lie.” (Then she should stop living her lies and embrace the faith of the Catholic Church.)
 
Ultimately, it comes down to a choice not simply about abortion and contraception (We may have the ability to but we do not have a right to "choose" to murder a child in the womb.), but a choice between a world ruled by a small group of white men (boy, they sure hate white men, don’t they – wasn’t Jesus a white man?),the bishops, who want to rule and give commands (Actually, it sounds like these authors want to rule and give commands.), and a world where the voice of the Church is only one voice among many men and women who, as Americans, are allowed to make their own choices (The authors want the choice to kill babies in the womb, destroy life with contraception, have sex outside of marriage, empower the sexual revolution, and  legitimize sodomy – this is a vision of hell itself.).
 
 

Stop The Obama-Nation!

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Freeport Il.-  ProLifeCorner.com-  People from all across America are planning a nationwide rally in defense of religious freedoms.  Freeport, IL will be a part of this most important expression in defense of our religious freedoms.  The leaders of this event felt it would be best served if held in our historic site, Debate Square, the location of the second and possibly the most famous Lincoln-Douglas debates.  The event will start at 12:00 noon and run until 1PM on March 23rd.  The event is being sponsored by Stephenson County Right to Life.

 
 
Go to www.prolifecorner.com to get news as this unfolds nationwide.  We will have more on Freeport and Rockford soon.
The following report on the nationwide event is by Lifenews.com 
 
 
 
 
Obama’s HHS Mandate Sparks Nationwide Pro-Life Protests
by Steven Ertelt | LifeNews.com | On March 23, concerned citizens in over 60 cities — including Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco — will gather at federal buildings for a rally with the theme, “Stand Up for Religious Freedom — Stop the HHS Mandate!”
 
The controversy over pro-abortion President Barack Obama‘s HHS Mandate is now pouring out onto the streets as pro-life advocates and those who support religious liberty and freedom protest it.
Thousands of Americans of all faiths are expected to participate in these rallies, organized by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and the Pro-Life Action League, to oppose the new mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that requires all employers to provide free contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs through their health plans. Religious leaders and other public figures will speak out against the HHS Mandate.
The opponents of the mandate say HHS provided a “religious exemption” so narrow that it would exclude Catholic hospitals, universities, and charities, forcing these institutions to act in direct opposition to Catholic teaching through the health care plans they provide.
“With the HHS Mandate, the Obama administration has presumed upon itself the authority to decide what counts as a religious institution in this country,” said Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League. “This is an unprecedented attack on the free exercise of religious faith protected by the First Amendment.”
“The Obama mandate is a complete affront to religious liberty,” said Monica Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. “Persons of faith or no faith at all should be alarmed at Obama riding rough-shod over the conscience of American citizens. We are calling on all people of good will to rise up and vigorously oppose this ruling.”
Scheidler and Miller have formed the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Coalition, comprised of dozens of local and national pro-life and pro-family organizations, to fight the HHS Mandate through direct action. The Coalition declares:
We protest the federal government’s definition of what constitutes a religious institution through the narrowly constructed “exemption” to the HHS Mandate, a definition which is both false and beyond the federal government’s authority to make.
We protest the fact that religious institutions, even after President Obama’s so-called “accommodation,” are being forced to facilitate contraception, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs through the health plans they are mandated to provide.
We protest the Mandate forcing all businesses — not just religious institutions — to provide coverage of contraception, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, if even doing so violates their own moral convictions on these matters.
We protest the HHS Mandate because, in requiring all health plans to provide free contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs as “preventative care,” it treats pregnancy and childbirth as a disease.
Coalition members and more information about the Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom — including rally sites coast to coast — can be found at StandUpForReligiousFreedom.com.
Seven states have filed lawsuits seeking to overturn the controversial mandate the Obama administration put in place that has sparked strong opposition from pro-life groups because of its violations of religious liberty. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning started coordinating a lawsuit with other states attorney general recently. He led seven states in asking a federal judge to block the Obama administration mandate by filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court of Nebraska alleging that it violates the First Amendment rights of groups that object to the requirement to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions.
He said it “unconstitutionally expands congressional authority and infringes upon individual liberty.”
A new national poll Rasmussen Reports conducted finds Americans oppose the Obama administration mandate requiring religious employers to pay for coverage for birth control (which also includes drugs that may cause early abortions).
This new survey follows a previous Rasmussen poll asking, “The requirement to provide contraceptives for women violates deeply held beliefs of some churches and religious organizations. If providing such coverage violates the beliefs of a church or religious organization, should the government still require them to provide coverage for contraceptives?”
Some 50 percent of those polled said no while 39 percent of Americans agreed.
Leading pro-life groups are pushing for an amendmentin the Senate to overturn the mandate.
The mandate has already become the subject of several lawsuits.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen state attorneys general have signed onto a joint letter Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning started coordinating against the controversial Obama mandate requiring religious employers to cover birth control and drugs that can cause abortions
Bruning has contacted each of his colleagues in 49 states and has already been joined by a dozen, including South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Together, the three lawmakers have co-signed a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebilius, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis over the Obama mandate.
Also, the largest Catholic pro-life group and Catholic television station have filed suit against the new Obama mandate that forces religious employers like them to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs in employee health insurance. The EWTN Global Catholic Network filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Alabama against the Department of Health & Human Services, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and other government agencies seeking to stop the imposition of the anti-conscience mandate as well as asking the court for a declaratory judgment that the mandate is unconstitutional.
Priests for Life, a New York based international pro-life organization of Catholic clergy and laity, filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration in an effort to seek injunctive relief from impending regulations that would require the organization to pay for employee health insurance that covers abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization.
Late last week, the Obama administration asked a federal court to dismiss yet another lawsuit filed against the Obama administration over its mandate.
This was its first opportunity to explain to the court and the country why the mandate is not illegal and unconstitutional. The Obama administration did not defend the constitutionality of the mandate, but said the lawsuit should be thrown out because the administration plans to revise the mandate to make it on insurance companies to pay for coverage rather than employers, who will still have to make referrals.
“Plaintiff’s challenge to the preventive services coverage regulations is not fit for judicial review because defendants [Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius] have indicated that they will propose and finalize changes to the regulations that are intended to accommodate plaintiff’s religious objections to providing contraception coverage,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote in its brief to the Washington, D.C. District Court.
Obama officials claim the mandate does not put forth any “immediate injury” to religious groups.
Luke Goodrich, Deputy General Counsel of the Becket Fund, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic university, says he thinks the Obama administrations argument will not stand up in court.
“It doesn’t argue that the mandate is legal; it doesn’t argue that the mandate is constitutional,” Goodrich said. “Instead, it begs the court to ignore the lawsuit because the government plans to change the mandate at some unspecified date in the future.”
“Apparently, the administration has decided that the mandate, as written and finalized, is constitutionally indefensible,” said Hannah Smith, senior counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty “Its only hope is to ask the court to look the other way based on an empty promise to possibly change the rules in the future.”
The panel that put together the mandate has been condemned for only having pro-abortion members even though polling shows Americans are opposed to the mandate.
More than 50 members of Congress banded together at a press conference to demand legislation to stop the new mandate pro-abortion President Barack Obama put in place forcing religious employers to pay for insurance coverage including birth control and abortion-inducing drugs.
Congressman Jeff Fortenberry held a press conference with supporters of the bipartisan, bicameral Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. His legislation would protect the religious liberty and conscience rights of every American who objects to being forced by the strong-arm of government to pay for drugs and procedures recently mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The Fortenberry bill currently has the support of approximately 220 Members of Congress and Senators, the most strongly-supported legislative remedy to the controversial HHS mandate. This measure would repeal the controversial mandate, amending the 2010 health care law to preserve conscience rights for religious institutions, health care providers, and small businesses who pay for health care coverage.
H.R. 1179 enjoys the endorsements of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Right to Life Committee, Americans United for Life, and other organizations. Numerous other organizations, including the Christian Medical Association and Family Research Council, have urged support of the bill.
Sen. Roy Blunt, a pro-life Missouri Republican, is putting forward the Blunt Amendment, #1520, again, and it is termed the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. According to information provided to LifeNews from pro-life sources on Capitol Hill, the Blunt Amendment will be the first amendment voted on when the Senate returns to the transportation bill. The amendment would allow employers to decline coverage of services in conflict with religious beliefs.
Republicans are moving swiftly with legislation, amendments, and potential hearings on the mandatethe Obama administration has put in place that forces religious employers to pay for birth control and abortion-inducing drugs for their employees.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement saying Obama’s revised mandate involves “needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions” and it urged Congress to overturn the rule and promised a potential lawsuit.
Meanwhile, the Republican presidential candidates had been taking verbal swings at Obama for imposing the original mandate on religious employers, which is not popular in the latest public opinion poll and which even some Democrats oppose.
Congressman Steve Scalise has led a bipartisan letter with 154 co-signers calling on the Obama Administration to reverse its mandate forcing religious organizations to include drugs that can cause abortion and birth control in the health care plans of their employees.
The original mandate was so egregious that even the normally reliably liberal and pro-abortion USA Today condemned it in an editorial titled, “Contraception mandate violates religious freedom.”
The administration initially approved a recommendation from the Institute of Medicine suggesting that it force insurance companies to pay for birth control and drugs that can cause abortions under the Obamacare government-run health care program.
The IOM recommendation, opposed by pro-life groups, called for the Obama administration to require insurance programs to include birth control — such as the morning after pill or the ella drug that causes an abortion days after conception — in the section of drugs and services insurance plans must cover under “preventative care.” The companies will likely pass the added costs on to consumers, requiring them to pay for birth control and, in some instances, drug-induced abortions of unborn children in their earliest days.
The HHS accepted the IOM guidelines that “require new health insurance plans to cover women’s preventive services” and those services include “FDA-approved contraception methods and contraceptive counseling” — which include birth control drugs like Plan B and ella that can cause abortions. The Health and Human Services Department commissioned the report from the Institute, which advises the federal government and shut out pro-life groups in meetings leading up to the recommendations.
 

A Celebration Of Life Held In Rockford

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Rockford, Il – (ProLifeCorner.com) – 2-28-2012 – by James – Christians from throughout the Rockford area gathered at the People Of Praise building for a dinner and prayer celebrating the closing of Rockford’s abortion mill.

This celebration of life also raised money to help a local pro-life college student deal with the expenses from his courageous battle against leukemia.

A spirit of joy filled the room as pro-lifers were led in prayer by Fr. Kevin Butler and Fr. Steve Sabo.  Eric Scheidler from the Pro-Life Action League spoke with passion about the faithful Rockford pro-life community that worked so long and hard to end the killing of children in this city.  Eric also invited Rockford pro-lifers to bring their faith and love to the sidewalks outside the Aurora abortion mill that is only an hour from Rockford.

The heroic Christian witness of people such as Marie Gestrich, Danny McCarty, Vicki Johnson, and Mary Jane Stephan was celebrated at this dinner. 

Each of these pro-life Christians spent over 25 years each praying and offering love and help to mothers in need at Rockford’s abortion mill.

The Brady family was also honored for their decades of opposition to abortion and for providing pro-lifers a safe and warm place in the Labor News building to rest while picketing.  Using the Rockford Labor News, the Brady family ran an illegal abortionist out of Rockford in the 1940′s and played a major part in exposing to the public the evils of the Northern Illinois Women’s Center. 

This was a celebration of the love of God and an evening of heartfelt thanksgiving that the killing of innocent children has ended in Rockford.

The following video is the first of two to be presented here at the Pro Life Corner.  Please check back soon for part two.

 

 

Former Rockford Abortionist Picketed In Wisconsin

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On Saturday March 25, 2012 about 20 of Christians gathered in the neighborhood of abortionist Stewart Kernes. This picket was directed at abortionist Kernes who murders preborn children in Milwaukee and was the medical director of the disgraced and closed Rockford abortion mill known for unsanitary surgery rooms and for not sterilizing surgical instruments. Kernes is still under investigation in Illinois for his alleged crimes against women and children.

 
 
Kernes lives in a cul-de-sac at the end of a road where four houses sit (one of which is his).  The kids with this group built a pillar of snow in the center of the cul-de-dac, and placed a sign on a stick which read: Dr. Kernes: quit murdering babies!
 
The Christians were there for about an hour and a half. The sign was still there as the Christians drove away.  Please pray that the Lord would use these simple efforts in defense of the preborn and His Holy Law. Pray that Stewart Kernes would stop murdering the preborn.
  

Obama Takes A Million Dollars From Anti-Catholic Hate Monger and Bigot

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Rockford, Il – (ProLifeCorner.com) – 2-27-2012 – by Rockford Pro-Life Initative – Bill Maher who is known for his anti-Catholic and anti-Christian hatred and perverse bigotry recently gave $1 million to pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA Action. America has always had bigots and people who base their lives on hatred of others like Bill Maher, but America has never had a President like Barack Obama, who is trying to destroy Christian institutions by forcing them to provide aborting inducing drugs to their employees.  America also has never had a President like Barack Obama who, with one had is trying to destroy Christianity and with the other hand takes millions of dollars from ant-Christian hate-mongers.

 
Bill Maher is America’s Biggest Bigot and Obama’s Million Dollar Man.
Bill Maher, comedian and famed atheist, has long been the biggest bigot in Hollywood. While Maher professes to loathe all religions, his favorite target is the Catholic Church. Indeed, he rarely aims his venom at Islam or Judaism. And while he does enjoy taking shots at Evangelicals, it is clear that he is monomaniacal in his contempt for Catholicism. Below is a sampling of what he has said about the Church throughout his years in showbiz.
 
-Bill Maher, May 8, 2002 on “Politically Incorrect”
“I have hated the Church way before anyone else.”
 
November 10, 1999 on “Politically Incorrect”:
“The synagogue—and I’m not Jewish, but I was raised Catholic—was never as corrupt as the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, which is people, not God running it, OK, hugely corrupt, did horrible things through history, maybe…because they were that powerful.”
“Priests are supposed to be celibate. They’re not having sex with women…. Just with the boys.”
 
March 20, 2000, on “Politically Incorrect,” discussing the Annunciation:
Maher commented that the Archangel Gabriel didn’t tell Mary that she was pregnant with Jesus, rather he showed her that his “horn had turned pink.”
 
July 11, 2000, on “Politically Incorrect,” discussing celibate priests:
“Be fruitful and multiply. What’s more weird than being celibate? There’s nothing more perverted than that.”
 
August 9, 2000, on “Politically Incorrect,” discussing sex abuse:
“Looks, it’s just a fact of life. Priests, a lot of times, molest boys, OK? They are celibate and it’s a magnet for homosexual pedophiles.”
 
October 27, 2000, on “Politically Incorrect,” discussing Halloween:
“Christianity is grafted on paganism… And it’s all about a man in the sky who’s going to send you in a burning lake of fire if you screw up…. What is scarier than drinking the man’s blood every Sunday? That’s not a spooky ritual? Here kids, drink his blood and eat his body. Like that’s not pagan? What can be more pagan than that?”
 
May 7, 2002, on “Politically Incorrect”:
“You’re right. In African countries, they [priests] rape nuns.”
 
June 20, 2002, on “Politically Incorrect”:
“Pope John Paul canonized [Padre Pio] and the reason it sticks in my craw is because it just seems like they needed a saint badly, because they had a lot of bad P.R. with the whole, you know, we’re having sex with the kids thing.”
 
May 7, 2003, in his one-man show, “Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home”:
“What’s the reason for this insanity? [He had been discussing Islam.] One word: religion. The Catholics got away with fucking kids.” When the audience gave a mixed reaction, he said “Oh come on! Get the rod out of your ass!” He then impersonated a priest saying to an altar boy, “Put some more lotion on Father,” and said “Holy lubricant, Father!”
 
“Don’t regulate drugs: regulate religion. I was raised Catholic and I was not molested. I’m a little insulted. Apparently, I wasn’t attractive enough.”
“The problem is they drill it into your head when you are very young. Well, when you are four years old you believe in Santa Claus too. Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, the Virgin Birth, sure! When you’re a priest everyday spewing this bullshit about the apple and the snake, etc., you can see him just saying, ‘Ah fuck it, just blow me kid!’”
Maher: “Come on, it’s so gay, the Church! With the robes and the smoke and the kneeling in front of the priest with your mouth open [doing an imitation], eating God.”
 
April 8, 2005, on “Real Time”:
“People waited in line for 24 hours to see the pope’s [John Paul II's] body and when they got to see the pope they smelled worse than he did.”
“For those who could not make the funeral, the Vatican has asked that in lieu of flowers, just stop touching your d*ck.”
“American Catholics say we love the pope, he should be a saint but he is kind of full of sh*t on everything we believe.”
 
May 22, 2007,  on “Real Time,” urging gays to start their own religion:
“And it’s easy to start a religion! Watch, I’ll do it for you: I had a vision last night! A vision! The Blessed Virgin Mary came to me—I don’t know how she got past the guards—and she told me it’s high time to take the high ground from the Seventh Day Adventists and give it to the 24-hour party people. And what happens in the confessional stays in the confessional. Gay men, don’t say you’re life partners, say you’re a nunnery of two. ‘We weren’t having sex, officer, I was performing a very private Mass, here in my car. I was letting my rod and staff comfort him. Take this and eat of it, [our emphasis] for this is my roommate Barry. And for all those who believe there is a special place for you in Kevin.’”
 
April 13, 2007, on “Real Time”:
The comedian showed a picture of guitarist Keith Richards in his “New Rules” segment and said, “New rules, snorting your father isn’t crazy” (this was a reference to Richards’ hoax about snorting the ashes of his dead father). Maher then showed a picture of a Catholic priest giving Communion, saying, “Eating your father, that’s crazy.”
 
January 7, 2008, on “The Late Show with Conan O’Brien”:
“You can’t be a rational person six days of the week and put on a suit and make rational decisions and go to work and, on one day of the week, go to a building and think you’re drinking the blood of a 2,000-year-old space god. That doesn’t make you a person of faith…. That makes you a schizophrenic.”
 
January 28, 2008, on “Real Time,” on the Virgin Birth:
“But I think it is much more likely that there could be space ships from outer space, than what a lot of things people believe. People still believe, you know–excuse me I know I may inject religion into every show but UFO’s are a lot more likely than a space god flew down bodily and, you know, who was the Son of God and, you know, had sex with a Palestinian woman.”
 
April 11, 2008, on “Real Time”:
“And, finally, New Rule: Whenever you combine a secretive compound, religion and weirdos in pioneer outfits, there’s going to be some child-fucking going on. [laughter] [applause] [cheers] In fact, whenever a cult leader sets himself up as “God’s infallible wing man” here on earth, lock away the kids.
“Which is why I’d like to tip off law enforcement to an even
 larger child-abusing religious cult. Its leader also has a compound. And this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats. [photo of the Pope shown] [mixture of laughter, shock, scattered applause]
“That’s right. The Pope is coming to America this week, and, ladies, he’s single! [laughter] Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Bill, you can’t be saying that the Catholic Church is no better than this creepy Texas cult! For one thing, altar boys can’t even get pregnant.” [mixture of laughter and other reactions]
 
“But, really, what tripped up the “little cult on the prairie”—[laughter]—was that they only abused hundreds of kids, not thousands all over the world. Cults get raided. Religions get parades. How does the Catholic Church get away with all of their buggery? VOLUME, VOLUME, VOLUME! [laughter] [applause]
“If you have a few hundred followers and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you ‘Pope.’
 
“It’s like if you can’t pay your mortgage, you’re a deadbeat, but if you can’t pay a million mortgages, you’re Bear Stearns, and we bail you out. [laughter] [applause] [cheers] And that’s who the Catholic Church is, the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia. [laughter] Too big to fail.
 
“When the – when the current Pope was in his previous Vatican job as John Paul’s Dick Cheney—[laughter]—he wrote a letter instructing every Catholic bishop to keep the sex abuse of minors secret until the statute of limitations ran out. And that’s the Church’s attitude: ‘We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.’ [applause]
 
“Which is fine. Far be it from me to criticize religion. [laughter] But, just remember one thing: if the Pope was, instead of a religious figure, merely the CEO of a nationwide chain of daycare centers where thousands of employees had been caught molesting kids and then covering it up, he’d be arrested faster than you can say, ‘Who wants to touch Mister Wiggle?’ [laughter] Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, panel. That’s our show.”
 
 

OBAMA URGES CHURCHES TO GET POLITICAL

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Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a new video by President Barack Obama that was cut to launch his “African Americans for Obama” campaign: It is hardly newsworthy for President Obama to beckon African Americans to support his presidential campaign, but his clarion call to black churches to get on board represents a break with presidential politics: it is a deliberate challenge to the IRS stricture governing the role of religion in politics.
 

 
In the video [click here], President Obama explicitly calls on African Americans to go “to your faith community” to get the word out about his campaign. He even goes so far as to say that “congregation captains” should be organized to accomplish this goal.
 
This is good news. It means that the IRS harness on the clergy is officially off. Priests can now appoint “congregation captains” who will inform the faithful about attempts by the Obama administration to deny Catholics their First Amendment rights. By formally appealing to their parishioners to mobilize against the Obamacare legislation, priests will be faithfully implementing the president’s new initiative.
 
Bishops, of course, will be able to seize on this ground-breaking proposal by asking priests, nuns, brothers, school teachers—lay leaders of every cause—to get the word out about the draconian Health and Human Services edict.
 
In other words, by undoing the IRS muzzle on black ministers, Obama has also made it possible for bishops and priests to organize against his war on Catholics with impunity. The timing is auspicious

Contact our director of communications about Donohue’s remarks:
Jeff Field
Phone: 212-371-3191
E-mail: cl@catholicleague.org

 

HHS Mandate Not Just About Religious Liberty

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By Mitch Striedl -The recent decision by Health and Human Services (HHS) to mandate all employers, including religious institutions, cover the costs of abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraceptives, has rightly been discussed by our Bishops as an issue of religious liberty. The so-called accommodation put forth, which is nothing more than a gimmick, has not changed this assault on the long standing protection of religious institutions framed in the Bill of Rights.

 
 
While we need to continue to push back against this assault on our freedom, we should also not lose sight that this mandate highlights a need to better understand and evangelize on the Church’s teaching regarding contraception. Government officials and their friends in the media are trying to focus the discussion on contraception, avoiding the larger issue of religious liberty.
This misdirection is being done by the Administration because they believe that if it is about contraception rather than religious freedom, they are forming a winning message that can drive a wedge in the Catholic community.
 
The reason the Administration and their friends in the media believe the focus on contraception is a winning message is because surveys highlight that the vast majority of women, Catholic or otherwise, have used artificial contraception. While it is not 98% of women as the recent media coverage has suggested, it is still a high percentage. The percentages highlight a pressing need for evangelization on the physical, emotional, and spiritual harms of contraception. Too many women have been lied to.
 
One of the arguments by the Administration is that women are being denied access to a vital health benefit. First, studies by the Guttmacher Institute and others have shown that very few sexually active women forgo contraception due to lack of availability or cost. Secondly, the Administration should be challenged on the notion that artificial contraception is a health benefit. What other health benefit is designed to take something that is healthy and treat it like a disease to be rendered useless.
 
While a small percentage of people use contraception for medical purposes, there exists no medical problem that cannot be treated with much healthier alternatives. And considering the laundry list of potential health risks associated with artificial contraception, including infertility, it would be wise to seek and promote these alternatives.
 
There is a significant body of peer-reviewed research that shows that hormonal contraception increases a woman’s risk for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and liver cancer. Studies have also shown that it increases a woman’s risks for HIV, blood clots, bone loss, and a host of other physical problems.
 
While the birth control pill is not the only "medication" that has a laundry list of potential side effects, it is the only "medication" that is not designed to specifically treat a health problem. Fertility and pregnancy are not diseases!
 
In addition to the physical harms, more studies are indicating that hormonal contraception is harming our environment as well. The Church does not oppose artificial contraception because of the physical or environmental harms it causes, but rather because it goes against the very nature of married love and the sexual act.
 
The one flesh union is meant to be an intimate expression of the total, mutual, sacrificial, and self-giving love of husband and wife. However, artificial contraception turns the act into a partial, self-serving love between two people. The entire purpose of artificial contraception is to actively intervene to nullify the procreative potential of this most intimate union.
 
God created married love to be both unitive and procreative, something which is built into and revealed through the natural order of the sexual act. The couple using artificial contraception is seeking to redefine the true purpose and nature of the sexual act. And if the one flesh union is no longer tied in any way to procreation, the logic follows that it doesn’t have to be tied to a married couple or tied to a heterosexual couple.
 
Artificial contraception also allows a woman to be sexually available all the time for man’s selfish desires. Because there is no possibility of new life coming from this union, there is no responsibility or faithfulness required of the man. This can leave many women feeling like objects rather than beloved children of God; being used for sex rather than participating in a mutual gift of self.
 
Furthermore, since a couple using artificial contraception is trying to actively intervene to prevent the possibility of new life while having sex, rather than practicing periodic abstinence with NFP, if a pregnancy does result they are more likely to view it as "unwanted" rather than a surprising gift from God. This "unwanted" mentality opens the couple up to considering abortion as the option for making the "problem" go away. In fact, several studies have shown that increased use in artificial contraception leads to an increase in abortions as well.
 
The self-centered love nurtured by artificial contraception, even if the couple is not fully aware, slowly tears apart at their union. A married couple, like all of us, is called to mirror Christ’s love, who gave of Himself completely by sacrificing His life for us. Using contraception does not mirror this love, but allows a couple to focus on their own selfish desires and be closed to the possibility that God wants to grow their love with the gift of a child. This selfishness can build distrust and disunity because the couple is no longer focused on being a gift to the other. Rather than being free to love, the couple becomes slaves to their own selfish desires.
 
This coercive government mandate has provided a unique opportunity to not only discuss religious liberty, but also to discuss the destructive harms of artificial contraception to a society that largely views contraception as a good thing. I sure hope this conversation and evangelization continues, for it is much needed. Let us resolve to better understand the Church’s teaching on contraception and help evangelize others.
 
If you or someone you know is on the birth control pill for medical reasons and you would like more information about alternatives please call the Respect Life Office at 815-399-4300 or visit our website at
For additional commentary on life issues, check out "Life Lines" on the first Friday of each month in The Observer.