Archive for the 'Culture Wars' Category

The closing arguments are being made in the grisly murder trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell. The case leads us to wonder, how has “reproductive care” come to this – the murder of newborn infants by snipping their spinal cords?

Perhaps the root cause can be found in America’s glorification of sex. Not sex within marriage, but promiscuity, hook-ups, pornography, and lust. The culture of licentiousness has people convinced that sex is all about pleasure and should be “consequence-free”. Society is forgetting about the selfless love of spouses. Instead, lust leads to the objectification of one’s sexual “partner”.

Once the door has opened to allow the objectification of human persons and stripping of their dignity, why stop there?
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While refreshing my sources for the monumental upcoming election, (aka “What’s on my Facebook news feed?”) I came across this wonderful article from the National Catholic Register entitled “What so many Catholics miss about Solidarity and Subsidiarity”.

Now before you freak out at ‘subsidy…sudsy …what was that?’, remember that the word is no more impressive or confusing than good old terms like ‘excommunication’ or ‘hierarchy’ that every good Catholic loves to use.

In layman’s terms, solidarity recognized that all people are interdependent and united in a brotherhood of common growth and fulfillment, and that economic life be shaped by moral principles.

Subsidiarity teaches that the decision-making in society be done at the lowest possible level (i.e., the level closest to those affected by the decision.) We are to first look to private-sector solutions before we look to the state or the federal government.

The short and witty video explains the concepts much better than I could, so spend five minutes. Educate yourself.

While browsing the other blogging spheres, the following article caught my attention. It’s never been considered “cool” to follow a 2000-year old religion, to live chastely, right? Or has it.

As blogger Edmund Mitchell muses in his post All Hispters Eventually Become Catholic, it can’t get much more bland than sleeping around, getting high, and watching Jersey Shore. This generation of Catholic hipsters has refused the mediocrity of self indulgence for something much much more fulfilling…

If you’ve been living in a bomb shelter under your parent’s house since 1990 and don’t know what a hipster is, then go here and read up to get a rough idea. I think they’re Catholics. (more…)

The Christian faith has been the most prominent voice in the pro-life movement since abortion came into public scrutiny.

It’s amazing how one single issue like abortion has managed to unite multiple Christian churches in an ecumenical movement history has seldom seen. Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Baptists, Mormons, and a mix of other denominations have taken a stand against the killing of the unborn. Even non-Christian faiths like Judaism and Buddhism have pro-life communities.

But seldom is a word heard from atheism. Surely someone who doesn’t believe in God would subsequently have no problem with the killing of an unborn child? Thankfully, that isn’t the case, and there is an astounding presence of atheists in the pro-life community that emphasizes secular reasoning as the key to a pro-life stance.

Secular Pro-Life attended the recent American Atheist Convention, causing a (mostly positive) stir among respectful atheists and religious pro-lifers alike. (more…)

Putting something down in writing has somewhat of an “official” feel. Maybe it’s a flashback to my Business Law classes and contract requirements, but nevertheless, you are making concrete an abstract concept when you write it down.

Whether dating or single, practicing chastity – not merely avoiding sex, but the internalization of thinking, living, and loving in a proper manner – will build you up as a person.

So, since I am here to make your life easier, you should make a concrete list of reasons practicing chastity is so worth it. For example: (more…)

Fr. Claude Burns (a.k.a. Fr. Pontifex) has put the dire threat to religious freedom to a stirring spoken word with the help of our friends at Spirit Juice Studios.

Check it out and share it with your friends and spread it using the “Share” button below!

Do we pro-lifers believe a woman should have a choice of where she wants to go to college?

Or which doctor to go to?

Or what kind of car to drive?

Or what foods to eat?

Or…well, you get the idea.

Quite obviously, we believe women should have the right to choose any number of things (just as we believe men should have the right to choose any number of things).

And yet, those in favor of keeping abortion legal frequently refer to us not as pro-life, but rather, “anti-choice” — as if we were somehow opposed to women choosing anything. (more…)

In one short week, I will be flying back home after spending a semester in Gaming, Austria. The semester has been so amazing and blessed, but at the same time, I am excited to go back home and share my stories and memories with my friends and with my family.

Besides questions of, “Did you see the Pope?”, and “Did you meet any European men?” (both of which I have already been asked… yes, I saw Benedict XVI, and no, I have a boyfriend, thank you very much), I know I will be asked what I took away from my semester in Europe.
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Pope Benedict XVI recently addressed a group of young people in Freiburg, Germany in which he gave some beautiful advice that all of us, regardless of age, should take to heart:

A candle can only give light if it lets itself be consumed by the flame. It would remain useless if its wax failed to nourish the fire. Allow Christ to burn in you, even at the cost of sacrifice and renunciation. Do not be afraid that you might lose something and, so to speak, emerge empty-handed at the end. Have the courage to apply your talents and gifts for God’s kingdom and to give yourselves – like candlewax – so that the Lord can light up the darkness through you. Dare to be glowing saints, in whose eyes and hearts the love of Christ beams and who thus bring light to the world.

He also proclaimed a message that cannot be repeated often enough:

Dear friends, Christ is not so much interested in how often in your lives you stumble and fall, as in how often you pick yourselves up again. He does not demand glittering achievements, but he wants his light to shine in you. He does not call you because you are good and perfect, but because he is good and he wants to make you his friends.

Amen!

You can read the Pope’s entire address here.

There’s been a lot of attention recently on a ridiculous new social media campaign by Kenneth Cole titled, “What You Stand For” that, among other things, compares abortion to shopping.

On the “What You Stand For” site, clicking a button that says “Pro-Choice” brings up a a video in which a woman is shown agonizing over a decision — presumably, whether or not to have an abortion.

But then she is shown picking up a handbag, and then walks off.

My co-worker Eric Scheidler was interviewed this week for a Fox News story about the new Kenneth Cole campaign:

“It so trivializes the issue. I think it would be offensive to anyone on either side of the abortion issue,” Eric Scheidler, the executive director of the Pro Life Action League, told FoxNews.com. “Even staunch supporters of abortion will admit an abortion is an anguishing decision and to compare it with buying a handbag is really offensive to women. Of course I also find it deeply offensive to the sanctity of the life that hangs in the balance.”

Indeed, many staunch “pro-choice” advocates do admit that having an abortion is an anguishing decision for a woman. This, of course, raises the question: Why is having an abortion such an anguishing decision? (more…)

Recently I was reading a series of private revelations reportedly given by Christ to “Anne”, a lay apostle. One topic that struck me was Christ’s message regardng purity, a much ignored virtue in our world.

While the messages have not yet received the imprimatur (official approval of the Catholic Church), the bishop of Kilmore – Anne’s diocese – has given permission for their publication on the basis that there is nothing in them that is contrary to faith or morals, and much that is positive and nourishing for the faith.

Today we must talk about purity. My children, lack of purity is a very significant problem in your world. I search for purity and only find it in rare pockets. (more…)

I finally got around to watching the third installment of the “Twilight” saga, Eclipse. While I am a casual observer of the series, I found this movie had interesting pop culture theories and offers comparison and contrast to the topics I hold important.

In the movie, Bella argues that marriage is just a piece of paper, points out high divorce rates, and thinks the marriage in our generation means “I got knocked up.” Edward, on the other hand, views marriage as his generation’s way of saying “I love you” (Edward, a vampire, was born in 1901, while Bella, a human, is a teenager from our generation). He wants to marry her before (more…)

I’ll be honest. I’m a big country music fan. In an age of techno, digitally mastered music, there is just something about country that feels so authentic. So, when I’m driving around, I’m often tuned into our local country music radio.

Sometimes I will have to switch the station because, well, some of the songs can get…er…raunchy. And honestly, I just don’t want listen to it. So when I recently heard a new song released by the band Lady Antebellum, I immediately fell in love with it. Because it seems to promote a message of chastity. Check it out: (more…)

Some time in the next few weeks, my wife is planning to have her pregnancy terminated.

Now, if you’re shocked to hear me say this, let me clarify:

My wife, Jocelyn, and I are expecting our 6th child. As of tomorrow, she will be 39 weeks pregnant.

And, as babies growing and developing in the womb have a tendency of doing, our baby will, some time soon, be born. After this happens, needless to say, my wife will no longer be pregnant.

Thus, her pregnancy will have been terminated.

Rhetorical Fraud

This occurred to me as I read a recent post by Life Dynamics’ Mark Crutcher, who wrote about the “rhetorical fraud” used by pro-choicers in which the term “pregnancy termination” is used as a euphemism for “abortion”:

The pro-life movement is not now, has never been, and will never be, opposed to pregnancy terminations. We are fully aware that all pregnancies terminate.

Remember this the next time (more…)

Abby Johnson’s dramatic conversion from the abortion industry to the pro-life movement began with her resignation as clinic director of Planned Parenthood in Bryan, TX. At next week’s Easter Vigil Mass, Abby’s conversion will become compete as she will be welcomed into the Catholic Church.

Just this past month, Bryan Kemper of Stand True Ministries, announced his decision to convert to Catholicism. So what is it with these conversions to the Catholic Church?
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