The Divine Lamp

The student newspaper at UCLA, The Advocate, reveal more racism at Planned Parenthood clinics.

This new video demonstrates a disturbing trend of racism at Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has no shame in accepting donations to purposely abort minority populations. People have forgotten the organization was founded on these principles and has continued to operate under the same racist views for decades.”-Lila Rose, editor.

To view the video/hear the audio, CLICK HERE.

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Sure, Bioethics sounds about as exciting as a William Hung concert, however, as our nation continues its slouch towards Obama andGomorrah it seems to me that Christians need to be better informed on the issues involved and on the manipulations and deceits of the secular press.  HERE is an excerpt from an interview with David Gibbs III, lead attorney for Terry Shciavo’s family.  And HERE is a lecture on “Bioethics and Human Worth” by bioethicist Wesley J. Smith.

Source:  SONITUS SANCTUS

Posted by Dim Bulb.  Check out my OTHER SITE

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  (Click on photo to get a better look at this fine human being)

Psalm 124 Our Help Is In The Name Of The Lord

Antiphon: Rise and conquer, O Lord, that there may be peace upon the Church, the true Israel of God (see Galatians 6:16)

“If the Lord had not been on our side,”
this is Israel’s song.
“If the Lord had not been on our side when men rose against us,
Then would they have swallowed us alive
when their anger was kindled.

Then would the waters have engulfed us,
the torrent gone over us;
over our head would have swept
the raging waters.”

Blessed be the Lord who did not give us
a prey to their teeth!
Our life, like a bird, has escaped
from the snare of the fowler.

Indeed the snare has been broken
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

Antiphon: Rise and conquer, O Lord, that there may be peace upon the Church, the true Israel of God

First Reading: The Canticle of Judith (16:1-17)

“Strike up the instruments, a song to my God with timbrels, chant to the Lord with cymbals; Sing to him a new song, exalt and acclaim his name.

For the Lord is God; he crushes warfare, and sets his encampment among his people; he snatched me from the hands of my presecutors.

“The Assyrian came from the mountains of the north, with the myriads of his forces he came; Their numbers blocked the torrents, their horses covered the hills.

He threatened to burn my land, put my youths to the sword, Dash my babes to the ground, make my children a prey, and seize my virgins as spoil.

“But the Lord Almighty thwarted them, by a woman’s hand he confounded them.

Not by youths was their mighty one struck down, nor did titans bring him low, nor huge giants attack him; But Judith, the daughter of Merari, by the beauty of her countenance disabled him.

She took off her widow’s garb to raise up the afflicted in Israel. She anointed her face with fragrant oil;

with a fillet she fastened her tresses, and put on a linen robe to beguile him.

Her sandals caught his eyes, and her beauty captivated his mind. The sword cut through his neck.

“The Persians were dismayed at her daring, the Medes appalled at her boldness.

When my lowly ones shouted, they were terrified; when my weaklings cried out, they trembled; at the sound of their war cry, they took to flight.

Sons of slave girls pierced them through; the supposed sons of rebel mothers cut them down; they perished before the ranks of my Lord.

“A new hymn I will sing to my God. O Lord, great are you and glorious, wonderful in power and unsurpassable.

Let your every creature serve you; for you spoke, and they were made, You sent forth your spirit, and they were created; no one can resist your word.

The mountains to their bases, and the seas, are shaken; the rocks, like wax, melt before your glance. “But to those who fear you, you are very merciful.

Though the sweet odor of every sacrifice is a trifle, and the fat of all holocausts but little in your sight, one who fears the Lord is forever great.

¹ “Woe to the nations that rise against my people! the Lord Almighty will requite them; in the day of judgment he will punish them: He will send fire and worms into their flesh, and they shall burn and suffer forever.”

Psalm 125 The Lord guards His people

Antiphon: Rise and conquer, O Lord, that there may be peace upon the Church, the true Israel of God

Those who put their trust in the Lord
are like mount Zion, that cannot be shaken,
that stands forever.

Jerusalem! The mountains surround her,
so the Lord surrounds His people
both now and forever.

For the scepter of the wicked shall not rest
over the land of the just
for fear that the hands of the just
should turn to evil.

Do good, Lord, to those who are good,
to the upright of heart;
but the crooked and those who do evil,
drive them away!

On Israel, peace!

Antiphon: Rise and conquer, O Lord, that there may be peace upon the Church, the true Israel of God

Second Reading: Jeremiah 1

Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations… Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak. Don’t be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you,” says Yahweh. Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant…You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you,” says Yahweh, “to deliver you.””

Psalm 128 May the Lord bless you from Zion, that is the Church

Antiphon: Rise and conquer, O Lord, that there may be peace upon the Church, the true Israel of God

O blessed are those who fear the Lord
and walk in his ways!

By the labor of your hands you shall eat.
You will be happy and prosper;
your wife like a fruitful vine
in the heart of your house;
your children like shoots of the olive,
around your table.

Indeed thus shall be blessed
the man who fears the Lord.
May the Lord bless you from Zion
all the days of your life!
May you see your children’s children
in a happy Jerusalem!

On Israel, peace!

Antiphon: Rise and conquer, O Lord, that there may be peace upon the Church, the true Israel of God.

Photo by Gerald Augustinus of THE CAFETERIA IS CLOSED

Prolife posts of interest on the web:

From AN EXAMINED LIFE

From WAY OF THE FATHERS 

From CATHOLIC CULTURE (use their search engine for more)

From CATHOLIC EDUCATOR’S RESOURCES (lots of articles)

From AMERICAN PAPIST

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Father Stephanos, O.S.B., on his Me Monk, Me Meander blog is not in the habit of pulling punches:

 It is the anniversary of his ordination as bishop.

I want to nominate him as a patronal monitor-saint for Catholic politicians.

He wrote, “The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.”

Any Catholic politician who is honest with himself, with other men, and with God is not going to divide his moral integrity into a private piece and a public piece. A man either has moral integrity or he does not. The word “integrity” comes from the Latin word for “the entire.” If the pieces of a thing are separated from each other, the thing no longer has integrity.

Am I saying that a Catholic politician should impose his Catholic morality on his own political decisions? Yes. However, I will also say that a Catholic politician unwilling to do that should get out of politics, because he is morally divided (lacking objective integrity), he is objectively dishonest (being two-faced), and he is objectively unjust (not giving God what God has a right to have from him). No one, Catholic or not, should trust such a man. (Read the rest here.)

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In response to the Pope’s recent statement concerning Catholic politicians who support abortion 18 Deathocrats issued a repudiation of his words, saying in part that any punishment of Catholic politicians for pro-choice legislation “offends the very nature of the American experiment and does a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done.” In other words when Jochebed and Miriam, the mother and sister of Moses, hid him from Pharaoh’s murderous machinations intended to protect his own political interests, they were on the wrong side of “good work”. Ditto the Hebrew midwives. Ditto too, God, who blessed those midwives. And good St Joseph must have been truly unrighteous for his reprehensible actions, protecting the infant Jesus the way he did against the Herodian experiment in politically justifiable infanticide.

It’s very clear what these politico-abortionists are up to. They are trying to protect their status as pseudo-Catholics by hiding behind their political authority. In what they no doubt think is a brilliant ploy, they attempt to turn this into an Ecclesiastical usurpation of American politics. Here they show their deceit, or at least their stupidity; for one does not have to be a Catholic to be an American politician. To kick a Catholic politician out of the Church or deny him the Eucharist does not in any way hinder his actions as a politician.

I’ll try to make it real simple for these 18 dim-o-crats:
1) You DO NOT have to be a Catholic in good standing to be a politician.
2) You DO have to be a Catholic in good standing to validly receive the Eucharist.
3) Being denied the Eucharist or being excommunicated for not following the Church’s moral and sacramental teaching has no bearing on you as politicians and you’re being disingenuous for claiming otherwise. The very fact that you are already flouting the Church’s moral teaching shows that you have little if any real concern for the consequent disciplinary action of the Church.
4) By appealing to the “American experiment” and to your political positions you are attempting to thwart the Church’s mission and freedom. This attempt by you, members of the government, to hinder the Church’s mission and freedom is a direct violation of one of the founding ideals of this nation.
5) to repeat: you do not have to be Catholic to continue your support for baby-killers. You do have to be a good Catholic to receive communion.

Is this simple enough to sink into your heads or do you need funnels stuck into your ears and the information poured in?

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This post has been removed by me.  Abortion brings out the worst in me (which is still infinitely superior than advocating or engaging in abortion) and I sometimes forget charity.  I hope to have a more charitable response up to the journalist in question in the next day or two.

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(I’d like to quote an article from LifeSiteNews.com and follow it with some brief thoughts

British PM ~ No Religious Exemption Forcing Provision of Goods and Services to Gays

MP’s will not be allowed free vote on issue

By Hilary White

LONDON, January 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – British Prime Minister
Tony Blair has announced today that there will be no exemptions
possible for Catholic adoption agencies who attempt to refuse services
to homosexual partners.

“I start from a very firm foundation. There is no place in our society
for discrimination,” Blair said. “That’s why I support the right of gay
couples to apply to adopt like any other couple.”

“While views obviously differ, everyone is agreed that above all the
interests of the children and particularly the most vulnerable children
must come first,” he added.

Blair is expected to announce a “transition period” after the SOR’s
come into general effect to allow Churches to become accustomed to
compromising their beliefs. Blair said the rules will not come “fully”
into force until the end of 2008. In the meantime, Catholic agencies,
he said, had a “statutory duty” to refer homosexual couples to other
agencies. Blair also added that the House of Commons Labour MP’s would
not be allowed a free vote on the issue.

The PM’s decision has been expected since last week to be in line with
his cabinet who, it was said, were appalled and in a state of near
revolt over the possibility that he would allow Catholics to act
according to their religious principles.

Blair’s announcement comes in the midst of what some are calling the
most serious Church/state crisis in Britain in a century. It also comes
at the end of Blair’s long tenure as Prime Minister and leader of his
party with polls showing slipping support for Labour.

The recently-passed Equality Act’s Sexual Orientation Regulations
(SOR’s) specify that no one may “discriminate” against homosexuals in
the provision of goods and services, including in religious schools,
adoption and social aid agencies, hotels or rental facilities.

Last week, the head of the Catholic Church of England and Wales, Cormac
Cardinal Murphy O’Connor, addressed a letter to MP’s saying that
Catholic adoption agencies, that handle the bulk of the “difficult”
cases of child adoptions, would be forced to close instead of allow the
government to coerce their religious conscience.

The controversy between the government and the Catholic Church over the
impending implementation of the SOR’s had by the weekend descended into
name-calling with some British MP’s dusting off some of Britain’s
nearly-forgotten traditional anti-clerical and anti-papal slurs.

Cardinal Murphy O’Connor responded today saying he was “deeply
disappointed” at the decision. “We are, of course, deeply disappointed
that no exemption will be granted to our agencies on the grounds of
widely held religious conviction and conscience,” he said.

“We look to the forthcoming Parliamentary debate to address some of the
fundamental issues centred on the well-being of the child, whose needs
must always be put first.”

British Catholics can expect little from a change in government. The
head of the opposition Tories, David Cameron, announced that he also
does not favour an exemption for Catholic or other religious agencies
or services. He said, however, that his party members would have a free
vote.

The opt-out proposal had the support of some Jewish and Muslim groups,
as well as the Church of England’s leadership, Archbishop of Canterbury
Rowan Williams and John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Archbishop of York.

“I start from a very firm foundation. there is no place in our society for discrimination,” Blair said. Apparently, this Pontius Pilatician doesn’t seem to understand that to discriminate means “too choose.” In its classical meaning it referred to an act of judgement or choice in accoprdance with right reason and morality. To act towards or choose one thing over another for any reason is to engage in a form of discrimination. What classifies the act as just or unjust discrimination is the morality (or lack thereof) underlying it. Mister Blair talks about the firm foundation he starts from, that there can be no discrimination in his society, yet it is clear his statement is a begging of the question.

“The controversy between the government and the Catholic Church over the impending implimentation of the SOR’s had by the weekend descended into name-calling with some British MP’s dusting off some of Britain’s nearly-forgotten traditional anti-clerical and anti-papal slurs.” How firm is the foundation Mister Blair claims to be starting from-that there can be no discrimination in his society- when his fellow advocates for the SOR’s act are clearly doing operating from anti-Catholic bigotries?

“While views obviously differ, everyone is agreed that above all the interests of the children and particularly the most vulnerable children must come first.” This is just so much horse manure. The SOR’s act has nothing to do with children up for adoption, its only concern is the interests of the gay lobby. the children’s well-being never factored into the act. Blair is here just giving lip service to the concerns of his opponents. Here is some testimony from some people who are growing or have grown up in same sex homes. And here are some facts from psychological studies.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states this: “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every UNJUST discrimination in their regard should be avoided” (2358 my emphasis). Is it unjust not to allow two people of the same sex to adopt a child and thus form an un-natural family? Is it unjust not to allow a same sex couple to adopt a child because, as is well known, same sex relations tend to be much more prone to violence than heterosexual ones; not to mention much more promiscuous as well?

For more stats and figures, go here.

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Democrats Plans for Dividing and Demonizing Pro-Lifers
Plan to promote more contraception and thereby make pro-lifers look like hypocritical extremists

By Joseph A. D’Agostino
FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, January 26, 2007 (pop.org/LifeSiteNews.com) - Democratic leaders in Congress have quietly begun the next phase of their new strategy to divide and demonize pro-life Americans. This strategy includes targeting crisis pregnancy centers because of their tremendous success, a strategy led by Rep. Henry Waxman (D.-Calif.), the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee thanks to last fall’s election results.

Waxman and others are miffed because CPCs tellwomen about the incontrovertible connection between abortion and breast cancer. He is also the Democrats’ point man against teaching children to abstain from sexual relations. Yet going after CPCs is unlikely to divide pro-lifers or go far in demonizing us outside of the Dems’ base voters.

More insidious is the issue of contraception. Having learned the hard way that the unabashed celebration of abortion was losing them votes, Democrats in the last election cycle sought to portray themselves as moderate on the issue and even recruited a fair number of pro-life candidates to run for Congress, with considerable success. Now that they have taken control of our national legislature, they must appear to care about reducing abortion while not doing anything that would actually reduce abortion and alienate their fanatically pro-death base, and at the same time isolate truly pro-life Americans in the minds of the so-called “abortion grays.”

These are American voters who have qualms about abortion but do not wish it outlawed, and are thus susceptible to appeals from either side of the abortion divide. Most abortion grays view as unpleasantly extremist both the NARAL, Barbara Boxer types who embrace even partial-birth abortion and principled anti-abortion activists who believe every single unborn child should be saved however inconvenient he may be.

Because of Roe v. Wade and political realities, banning most abortions is not on congressional pro-lifers’ agenda for the time being, so pro-abortion forces have found another way to do harm, in more ways than one. Their approach could not only divide and demonize pro-lifers, but would spread disease among youth, increase their psychic distress, and inflate the number of abortions.

The Dems’ plan is to promote contraception as a means of reducing abortion and watch pro-lifers, who know contraception increases abortion, squirm as the media portrays any opposition to more federal funding for contraceptive programs as hypocritical extremism on the part of pro-lifers. Of course, a plan to reduce abortion by increasing contraceptive prevalence has highly persuasive surface plausibility. More
contraception means fewer unwanted pregnancies, right? And fewer unwanted pregnancies means fewer abortions, right? It seems so obvious, common-sensical, and practical.

Yet experience has proven it false. You don’t need statistics to know this, and this time I will refrain from offering a passel of them. When contraceptive use exploded in the United States during the 1970s, so did the abortion rate. Continued promotion of contraception, including the distribution of free condoms en masse to high-schoolers, in the ‘80s and ‘90s did nothing to reduce the abortion rate, which has dipped slightly in the past few years—coinciding with a rise in abstinence and anti-abortion attitudes among young people. Foreign countries have experienced the same pattern: Wherever contraceptive use has become widespread, so has abortion. Far more often than not, they go in tandem, not in opposition.

Why is this? For one thing, contraception isn’t very effective. Some methods work well in the laboratory, but few people conduct their sex lives in laboratories. In the real world, contraception fails all the time. In fact, 53% of unplanned pregnancies happen to women who are using contraception.

More fundamentally, the contraceptive mentality causes abortion. When women and girls choose to sleep with men whose children they don’t want, they will take steps to ensure those children aren’t born. If
contraception fails, they will abort. And because abortion is easily available, these women can be lax about using contraception, knowing there is a cheap and legal fall-back option.

Some anti-abortion Democrats, though, are pursuing the pro-contraception strategy. New Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.), who says he opposes abortion, introduced a bill on Congress’ first day this year that would increase funding for contraception and the morning-after pill. Senators Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy have signed on—which should tell you something. Rep. Tim Ryan (D.-Ohio), another abortion opponent, has a bill that would fund more contraception but also provide help to women who decide to carry unplanned pregnancies to term. These sort of bills could split pro-life members of Congress and make those who oppose them seem extreme and heartless.

They should remember that contraception increases abortion. They should also remember that contraceptives give young people a false sense of security, leading them to engage in riskier behavior than they otherwise would even though contraception is of limited effectiveness in preventing pregnancies and disease (and many form of contraception actually increase disease risk, at least for women). Moreover, all forms of contraception cause illness. Fro example, there is no doubt that the contraceptive pill increases cancer risks. Putting more pills into the hands of young women means federal funding for the killng of American girls.

Pro-lifers should be ready for these controversies when the Democratic establishment and their media allies choose to move them to the front burner of American politics.

Joseph A. D’Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the Population Research Institute.

(c) Copyright: LifeSiteNews.com is a production of Interim Publishing . Permission to republish is granted (with limitation*) but acknowledgement of source is *REQUIRED* (use LifeSiteNews.com).

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Today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Here are some resources:

From the USCCB

1) A Statement On the 30th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade. (from 2002)
From Human Life International

1) Pro-Choice Violence, Big Media and Big Abortion.

2) Pro-Choice Violence and Big Pharmaceuticals.

3) Pro-Choice Violence and American Culture.

From LifeNews.com

1) Abortion Advocates Change terms of Debate in the Face of Pro-Life Public Opinion.

2) President Bush Tells Pro-Life Marchers to Persuade Others On Abortion.

Cybercast News Service

1) Sen. Clinton’s Abortion Record May Haunt ‘08 Campaign.

Catholics iin the Public Square

1) Roe v. Wade Must Be Destroyed.

2) Archbishop Donald Wuerl: Helping Pelosi Get Away with Murder.

Intercollegiate Studies Institute

1) Is Abortion Morally Justifiable in a Free Society? (This is a debate between Peter Kreeft, as Catholic Philosopher, and David Boonin, Associate Professor of Philosophy at UC-Boulder. Scroll down near the bottom of the page. The debate is offered in both audio and video.)

The Official Peter Kreeft Site

1) Pro-Life Philosophy (Audio. Scroll down to number 19.)

Pro-Life Pulse

1) Note to AP: Update stylebook on correct use of “fetus”

Against the Grain

1) Archbishop Donnald Wuerl-Aiding & Abetting Nancy Pelosi? (A round-up of information relating to the recent fiasco. Lots of links)

Mirror of Justice
1) Roe v. Wade anniversary.

In Communion (Website of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship)

1) Abortion and the Early Church.

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From LifeSiteNews.com
President Bush Proclaims National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2007
President Bush Proclaims National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2007

Full text of proclamation follows:

America was founded on the principle that we are all endowed by our Creator with the right to life and that every individual has dignity and worth. National Sanctity of Human Life Day helps foster a culture of life and reinforces our commitment to building a compassionate society that respects the value of every human being.

Among the most basic duties of Government is to defend the unalienable right to life, and my Administration is committed to protecting our society’s most vulnerable members. We are vigorously promoting parental notification laws, adoption, abstinence education, crisis pregnancy programs, and the vital work of faith-based groups. Through the “Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002,” the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003,” and the “Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004,” we are helping to make our country a more hopeful place.

One of our society’s challenges today is to harness the power of science to ease human suffering without sanctioning practices that violate the dignity of human life. With the right policies, we can continue to achieve scientific progress while living up to our ethical and moral responsibilities.

National Sanctity of Human Life Day serves as a reminder that we must value human life in all forms, not just those considered healthy, wanted, or convenient. Together, we can work toward a day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Sunday, January 21, 2007, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.

GEORGE W. BUSH

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