Illinois Family Institute Objects To Civil Union Legislation

MOKENA, Ill., In the waning days of the previous General Assembly, during a lame-duck session and by razor thin margins, Illinois lawmakers passed a bill that radically redefines marriage and family. "Marriage was not created by man or governments," said IFI Executive Director David E. Smith. "It is an institution created by God. Governments merely recognize its nature and importance." Marriage is the institution that societies worldwide have recognized and encouraged because this unique relationship between a man and a woman provides particular benefits to society, chief among them, the procreation and nurturing of the next generation. IFI's Director of School Advocacy Laurie Higgins says "If marriages were centrally or solely about affirming love between individuals, the government would have no reason to be involved in the business of sanctioning marriage. Government sanctions the type of relationship into which children may be born and raised because the government recognizes that that institution which best serves the needs and rights of children is the institution that best serves as the needs of a healthy society." "It is either ignorant or dishonest to suggest that the inclusion of sexual complementarity in the list of central defining criteria for government-sanctioned marriage denies homosexuals a civil right," says Higgins. Civil unions are merely a stepping stone to legalized same-sex marriage. Of the central defining criteria for marriage -- number of partners, blood kinship, minimum age and sexual complementarity -- sexual complementarity is the most enduring. Therefore, eliminating it constitutes the most radical redefinition of marriage imaginable. "Gov. Quinn should reject this anti-family bill and reject the efforts of the homosexual lobby to impose this highly contentious and controversial policy on the people of Illinois. Homosexual behavior is not equivalent to race and gender diversity is essential to marriage. It is intellectually dishonest to maintain otherwise," said Smith. Higgins states that "Once marriage is severed from procreative potential and gender, it becomes meaningless as a public institution." Philosophical conservatives and all people who are committed to rational argument need to openly, courageously, and persistently challenge the flawed analogy that suggests that homosexuality is equivalent to race. Likewise, the legislative push for special rights legislation for special interest groups based on sexual inclinations and volitional sexual behavior must be challenged. CNW

National Cancer Institute Admits Abortion Raises Breast Cancer Risk

-- A paper on the link between contraception and breast cancer published this past April also included an admission from National Cancer Institute researchers that abortion raises women's breast cancer risk by 40 percent. Yet advocates for women are wondering why major research groups and breast cancer advocacy groups still aren't telling women about the risk.

The paper, headed by Jessica Dolle at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, not only found that oral contraceptives are a probable cause of breast cancer in women under age 45, but also contained findings from NCI researchers that abortion raised the risk of breast cancer by 40 percent.

The paper included abortion on a list of "known and suspected risk factors" for breast cancer. The study cited was headed by Louise Brinton of NCI, who, critics say, was the chief organizer of the 2003 NCI workshop on the abortion-breast cancer link which falsely assured women that the non-existence of the link was 'well-established.'"

Brinton had also previously worked on a 1996 study study of women that found reported increased risk of breast cancer after abortion of 20-25 percent, according to the Coalition on Abortion Breast Cancer.

Coalition president Karen Malec stated that "[a]lthough the study was published nine months ago, the NCI, American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and other cancer fundraising businesses have made no efforts to reduce breast caner rates by issuing nationwide warnings to women."

"Obviously, more women will die of breast cancer if the NCI fails in its duty warn about the risk of [oral contraceptives] and abortion and if government funds are used to pay for both as part of any healthcare bill," Malec added.

Political Tone Should Demand Honesty On Abortion, Health Care

As pundits encourage us to engage in a national examination of conscience on the tone of our civil discourse, hundreds of thousands of students, young adults and pro-life veterans demonstrated civility in action over the past few days. At Marches for Life at the Capitol, on the West Coast, and at statehouses across the nation, the violence of abortion was met with a message of care and concern for both the woman and her unborn child.

The tone that we take in the public square is a legitimate topic of discussion. Yet in the debate on abortion and healthcare, some pundits and politicians have long overlooked the prerequisite condition of authentic civil discourse; namely, honesty about the terms of the debate.

President Obama recently noted that “only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation.”

Civil and honest – the two are indeed related. Civility in our public discourse is undermined if citizens have reason to believe that they are being misled. The most recent “Newspeak” rose out of the various health care mega-bills in the last Congress. While most citizens at town hall meetings were respectful in their tone, the scream-at-your-Congressperson approach taken by a few aptly expressed the hair-pulling frustration experienced by the vast majority of citizens across the political spectrum.

The indignation witnessed at town hall meetings was not only attributable to the sweeping scope of the bills that ballooned the deficit and blew past constitutional boundaries of federal power. Rather, the tone became intensified because the American people could not seem to get a straight answer on the life and death issues impacted by the massive legislation.

“Is public money going to subsidize coverage for elective abortion?” “Will there be politically appointed panels who will make life and death coverage decisions for seniors?” “Will I get to keep my current health plan?” (Yes, yes, probably not).

Without rehashing these issues, it is enough to say that the conflict between the bill language and the Administration’s rhetoric resulted in a level of intense emotional outbursts usually reserved for Italian-American dinner tables.

Now we begin again. The newly elected Congress is once again faced with a debate about tax-subsidized abortion coverage in the federal health care law. And State legislatures continue to debate “opt-out” bills that prohibit abortion coverage in any future state health insurance exchanges.

Those who peacefully march renew their call for elected officials to debate these critical issues with honesty. If we were truly honest, everyone would know about the empirical medical studies showing that abortion is not health care. It’s the opposite of care for the physical and psychological health of the woman, and it destroys the life of a unique and unrepeatable unborn child.

Those who nonetheless support tax-subsidized abortion coverage are required by that honesty so essential to civility to clearly state their goal and to make their case. No more outright denials of what is buried in the bill. No more hiding behind accounting schemes drafted behind closed doors in the middle of the night.

If a pro-life bill to prohibit abortion funding and protect health care provider rights of conscience makes its way to the President’s desk, honesty requires that he either sign it or veto it. No more empty and unenforceable executive orders.
It’s well past time for the honest terms of the abortion debate to be put on the table. Not only about who pays for it, but more importantly about the humanity of the unborn child and the coercive impact that it places on pregnant women.

The bottom line is that civil discourse does not preclude our duty to vigorously expose dishonesty in public policy. And it certainly does not require that we quietly look the other way as the culture of death marches on.

Note: Dorinda Bordlee and Nikolas Nikas are attorneys and co-founders of Bioethics Defense Fund. Contact us atinfo@BDFund.org to request model legislation addressing abortion coercion, ultrasound mandates, Obamacare abortion opt-out legislation, health care rights of conscience and the full range of bioethics issues.

Black Pro-Life Movement: "Sharpton Is Wrong - Santorum Is Right"

Recently, Rick Santorum and Al Sharpton squared off in a fiery debate on race and abortion on the Hannity Show (FOX).

Black pro-life leaders weighed in:

"Al Sharpton, for the sake of Al Sharpton, railed against Rick Santorum for calling attention to the horrific impact abortion is having on the black community," said Rev. Dr. Johnny Hunter of Life Education and Resource Network. "It is inconceivable that blacks today continue in that same spirit of division as we saw on the Hannity Show," he said.

"I cannot believe that Sharpton called the taking of innocent life in the womb a civil right," said Alveda King, Founder of King for America and Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life. "This is not the right my father and my uncle gave their lives for. Civil rights protect individual freedoms, not deny them. The right to life is the 21st century civil right that will protect all human beings from conception to natural death and we must all fight for it," she said.

"As in the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court, in 1973, denied protection to a class of citizens," said Walter Hoye of Personhood USA. "Justice Blackmun and the core of eugenicists he collaborated with cloaked their racial intent in the garment of abortion and Al Sharpton has happily agreed to be one of the faces of the Negro Project authored by Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger" he said.

"For more than thirty eight years, abortion has cut into the birthrate of the black community" said Dean Nelson, Vice President, CareNet's Urban Outreach. "The black community must recognize that Roe v. Wade is the modern answer to the lynching and killing fields of the south. It must be stopped," he said.

"More black children have died by abortion than the seven leading causes of death in the African American community combined," said Catherine Davis of the Network of Politically Active Christians. "Since the days of Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood has targeted the black community in order to control the growth of our population."

Day Gardner, President of the National Black Pro-Life Union, states; "First of all, Al Sharpton is not my leader. Mr. Sharpton's head is buried so deep in the silk pockets of Planned Parenthood he can't see the light of day. In the early 70s, we were told pre-born children were blobs of tissue. We were ignorant to the truth and didn't know any better. But now with modern technology and the advances in 3D and 4D ultra sounds--we know the truth. Abortion is the greatest civil rights issue of our time! So, when we hear old cronies like Al Sharpton harping on protecting the civil rights of a woman to kill her child--I have to ask: What about the civil rights of the younger woman she's carrying? That baby girl is 'fully human' and her rights need to be protected, too--especially the most basic right, which is the right to life."

The National Black Pro-Life Union is an organization founded to serve as a clearing house to coordinate the flow of communications among all African American pro-life organizations and individuals in order to better network and combine resources. Day Gardner, President, 202-834-0844,www.nationalblackprolifeunion.com, dgardner@NBPLU.com

Dr. Alveda C. King, Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life alveda@priestsforlife.org
www.africanamericanoutreach.org

CNW

St Joan Of Arc "One Of The Strong Women"

During this morning's general audience, celebrated in the Paul VI Hall in the presence of 3,000 people, Holy Father dedicated his catechesis to St. Joan of Arc (1412-1431), whom he described as "one of the 'strong women' who, at the end of the Middle Ages, fearlessly brought the splendid light of the Gospel into the complex events of history".

The life of Joan of Arc, who was born into a prosperous peasant family, took place in the context of the conflict between France and England known as the Hundred Years War. At the age of thirteen, "through the 'voice' of St. Michael the Archangel, Joan felt herself called by the Lord to intensify her Christian life and to act personally to free her people".

She made a vow of virginity and redoubled her prayers, participating in sacramental life with renewed energy. "This young French peasant girl's compassion and commitment in the face of her people's suffering were made even more intense through her mystical relationship with God. One of the most original aspects of her sanctity was this bond between mystical experience and political mission". said Benedict XVI.

Joan's activities began in early 1429 when, overcoming all obstacles, she managed to meet with the French Dauphin, the future King Charles VII. He had her examined by theologians of the University of Poitiers who "delivered a positive judgment, they discovered nothing bad in her, and found her to be a good Christian".

On 22 March of that year Joan dictated a letter to the King of England and his men, who were laying siege to the city of Orleans. "Hers was a proposal of authentic and just peace between two Christian peoples, in the light of the names of Jesus and Mary", said the Holy Father. But the offer was rejected and Joan had to fight for the liberation of the city. Another culminating moment of her endeavours came on 17 July 1429 when King Charles was crowned in Reims.

Joan's passion began on 23 May 1430 when she fell into the hands of her enemies at Compiegne and was taken to the city of Rouen. There a long and dramatic trial was held which concluded with her being condemned to death on 30 May 1431.

The trial was presided by two ecclesiastical judges, Bishop Pierre Cauchon and the inquisitor Jean le Maistre, but in fact it was conducted by a group of theologians from the University of Paris. These "French ecclesiastics, having made political choices opposed to those of Joan, were predisposed to hold negative views of her person and mission. The trial was a dark page in the history of sanctity, but also a shining page in the mystery of the Church which is, ... 'at the same time holy and always in need of being purified'".

"Unlike the saintly theologians who illuminated the University of Paris, such as St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas and Blessed Duns Scotus, ... the judges were theologians who lacked the charity and humility to see the work of God in this young girl. Jesus' words come to mind, according to which the mysteries of God are revealed to those who have the hearts of children, but hidden from the wise and intelligent. Thus Joan's judges were radically incapable of understanding her, of seeing the beauty of her soul", the Pope said.

Joan died at the stake on 30 May 1431, holding a crucifix in her hands and invoking the name of Jesus. Twenty-five years later a trial of nullification, instituted by Pope Callixtus III, "concluded with a solemn sentence nullifying the condemnation and ... highlighting Joan of Arc's innocence and perfect faithfulness to the Church. Much later, in 1920, she was canonised by Pope Benedict XV".

"The Name of Jesus invoked by this saint in the last instants of her earthly life was as the continual breath of her soul, ... the centre of her entire life", the Holy Father explained. "This saint understood that Love embraces all things of God and man, of heaven and earth, of the Church and the world. ... Liberating her people was an act of human justice, which Joan performed in charity, for love of Jesus, hers is a beautiful example of sanctity for lay people involved in political life, especially in the most difficult situations".

"Joan saw in Jesus all the reality of the Church, the 'Church triumphant' in heaven and the 'Church militant' on earth. In her own words, 'Our Lord and the Church are one'. This affirmation ... takes on a truly heroic aspect in the context of the trial, in the face of her judges, men of the Church who persecuted and condemned her".

"With her shining witness St. Joan of Arc invites us to the highest degree of Christian life, making prayer the motif of our days, having complete trust in achieving the will of God whatever it may be, living in charity without favouritisms or limitations, and finding in the Love of Jesus, as she did, a profound love for His Church".

Obama And His Unbalanced Ledger

WASHINGTON - The ledger did not appear to be adding up Tuesday night when President Barack Obama urged more spending on one hand and a spending freeze on the other. Obama spoke ambitiously of putting money into roads, research, education, efficient cars, high-speed rail and other initiatives in his State of the Union speech.

He pointed to the transportation and construction projects of the last two years and proposed "we redouble these efforts." He coupled this with a call to "freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years."

But Obama offered far more examples of where he would spend than where he would cut, and some of the areas he identified for savings are not certain to yield much if anything.

For example, he said he wants to eliminate "billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies." Yet he made a similar proposal last year that went nowhere. He sought $36.5 billion in tax increases on oil and gas companies over the next decade, but Congress largely ignored the request, even though Democrats were then in charge of both houses of Congress.

A look at some of Obama's statements Tuesday night and how they compare with the facts:

OBAMA: Tackling the deficit "means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. Health insurance reform will slow these rising costs, which is part of why nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit."

THE FACTS: The idea that Obama's health care law saves money for the government is based on assumptions that are arguable, at best.

To be sure, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the law will slightly reduce red ink over 10 years. But the office's analysis assumes that steep cuts in Medicare spending, as called for in the law, will actually take place. Others in the government have concluded it is unrealistic to expect such savings from Medicare.

In recent years, for example, Congress has repeatedly overridden a law that would save the treasury billions by cutting deeply into Medicare pay for doctors. Just last month, the government once again put off the scheduled cuts for another year, at a cost of $19 billion. That money is being taken out of the health care overhaul. Congress has shown itself sensitive to pressure from seniors and their doctors, and there's little reason to think that will change.

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OBAMA: Vowed to veto any bills sent to him that include "earmarks," pet spending provisions pushed by individual lawmakers. "Both parties in Congress should know this: If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it."

THE FACTS: House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has promised that no bill with earmarks will be sent to Obama in the first place. Republicans have taken the lead in battling earmarks while Obama signed plenty of earmark-laden spending bills when Democrats controlled both houses.

It's a turnabout for the president; in early 2009, Obama sounded like an apologist for the practice: "Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts, and that's why I've opposed their outright elimination," he said then.

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OBAMA: "I'm willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits."

THE FACTS: Republicans may be forgiven if this offer makes them feel like Charlie Brown running up to kick the football, only to have it pulled away, again.

Obama has expressed openness before to this prominent Republican proposal, but it has not come to much. It was one of several GOP ideas that were dropped or diminished in the health care law after Obama endorsed them in a televised bipartisan meeting at the height of the debate.

Republicans want federal action to limit jury awards in medical malpractice cases; what Obama appears to be offering, by supporting state efforts, falls short of that. The president has said he agrees that fear of being sued leads to unnecessary tests and procedures that drive up health care costs. So far the administration has only wanted to study the issue.

Trial lawyers, major political donors to Democratic candidates, are strongly opposed to caps on jury awards. But the administration has been reluctant to support other approaches, such as the creation of specialized courts where expert judges, not juries, would decide malpractice cases.

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OBAMA: As testament to the fruits of his administration's diplomatic efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons, he said the Iranian government "faces tougher and tighter sanctions than ever before."

THE FACTS: That is true, and it reflects Obama's promise one year ago that Iran would face "growing consequences" if it failed to heed international demands to constrain its nuclear program. But what Obama didn't say was that U.S. diplomacy has failed to persuade Tehran to negotiate over U.N. demands that it take steps to prove it is not on the path toward a bomb. Preliminary talks with Iran earlier this month broke off after the Iranians demanded U.S. sanctions be lifted.

AP

American Born Male Saint Inspired Modern Priest

Fr. Nelson Baker (1842-1936), who was elevated to "Blessed" by Pope Benedict XVI last week (which will make the former Buffalo-diocese priest the first American-born male saint), actually inspired a Virginia priest to continue his mission. Fr. Baker had been named a Servant of God -- the first step toward sainthood -- in 1987 by the late Pope John Paul II.

Fr. Baker not only built Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna, NY, but founded multiple charities, including a home for infants, a home for unwed mothers, an orphanage, a nurses' home, and elementary and high schools -- literally creating "a city of charity" in that area. At his funeral in 1936, over a half-million people whose lives he had saved -- or whose family members or friends he'd preserved physically or spiritually -- flooded the streets of Lackawanna.

And a 41-year-old Catholic priest today in the Arlington diocese, Fr. Stefan Starzynski, attributes his opening three homes for expectant mothers there to a vision of Fr. Baker he had eight years ago. Fr. Starzynski describes the inspiration he got from this priest he'd never met -- a champion for unwed mothers, their babies, orphans, and children --- in his book, Miracles: Healing for a Broken World (Our Sunday Visitor, 2009).

My devotion to Fr. Baker began in 2003 while I was priest at St. Mary Parish in Fredericksburg, VA. One night, in the twilight stage of sleep, I saw a man whose body had no substance ... with a bald head and very thin face. There were buttons going down the front of his cassock. He looked like a priest from a hundred years ago, and not at all frightening...

I later learned that this man was Fr. Nelson Baker, and recognized him upon seeing his photo which someone gave me. When I made a retreat in 2008 at the Church where he is buried, Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, I met a woman traveling who'd only had a few months to live, due to late-stage melanoma cancer. After I blessed her with a relic of Fr. Baker and prayed over her, asking Fr. Baker's intercession for her healing, she was healed.

I believe Fr. Baker appeared to me years ago because he wanted me to continue his mission or aiding women in crisis pregnancies. He had a great love for mothers and their babies, and also for pregnant women who might be tempted to abandon their children. In 1906, Fr. Baker announced plans to construct the Our Lady of Victory Infant Home.

In 2005, almost a century later, I founded the Paul Stefan Home for Expectant Mothers. The Paul Stefan Home for Expectant Mothers now has 3 homes in Virginia: 2 in Orange County and a third home in Falls Church. We have helped over 80 women and babies, and trust that God wants us to do much more.

In Miracles: Healing for a Broken World, Fr. Starzynski details the apparition of Fr. Baker, his newfound devotion to him, and Fr. Baker's inspiration to him to help women in crisis pregnancies.

CNW

"Stop Stericycle" Nations Top Abortion Collaborator

Repent America (RA) has launched a nationwide effort called the Campaign to Stop Stericycle (CSS), which aims to expose America's leading medical waste disposal company for their collection, transportation and incineration of aborted children and the instruments used to kill them. Included in the launch of the campaign is the official announcement ofStopStericycle.com, a website dedicated to revealing the overwhelming evidence of Stericycle's collaboration with the abortion industry. While this month marks 38 years since the unlawful Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which has resulted in the violent deaths of fifty million children and counting, CSS is marking the end of our nation's deadly silence toward those that facilitate the abortion industry as it hurls a stone at this medical "waste" Goliath.

Photo: Stericycle's incineration plant in Haw River, NC, where aborted children from over 20 states are burned. This is one of a number of plants across the nation. Click here for High Resolution of Photo

Stericycle, whose profits total over a billion dollars in annual income, generates a portion of their sales revenue from services provided to abortion mills. One of Stericycle's largest clients is Planned Parenthood, which maintains a national account with the medical "waste" service. In recent years, Stericycle has acquired countless medical waste companies until it has become the premiere "waste" collection service to abortion mills nationwide. Consequently, the war on abortion has consolidated to the point where stopping this one giant could deliver a gigantic blow to the abortion industry.

Stericycle's collaboration with the abortion industry by collecting and incinerating murdered children is eerily reminiscent of the corporate collaboration of the Holocaust of the 1940's. During the Holocaust, the Nazi regime depended heavily on businesses to accomplish their evil schemes. Sadly, instead of condemning the mass murder of the Jewish people, a number of large corporations chose to aid the Nazi government in their plans by providing services and materials. In the end, those businesses were brought to justice as court tribunals proclaimed that those who aided and abetted murderers were equally as guilty as those who committed the acts themselves. Likewise, Stericycle must be called to account for their willful involvement in the furtherance of the abortion holocaust.

"It is sick beyond words that businesses like Stericycle are profiting from collecting murdered children and incinerating their bodies with the trash. What's more is the abominable child killing that has been tolerated in our nation for 38 years," campaign director Michael Marcavage stated. "While many have focused their efforts on overturning Roe v. Wade by putting their trust in corrupt judicial systems and politicians, they have neglected the necessity of pursuing those that enable abortion mills to operate in the first place," he added. "Without Stericycle and companies like it, the abortion industry would collapse," Marcavage concluded.

The evidence of Stericycle's collaboration with the abortion industry displayed onStopStericycle.com includes candid documents signed by abortion mills that confirm their use of Stericycle and their disposal of human "tissue," photographs of Stericycle removing large boxes and bins from abortion mills nationwide and explosive recorded telephone discussions with Stericycle representatives, who graphically explain the protocol for the packaging of "tissues...and human parts." (Click here to listen to a sample of Stericycle's shocking admissions.) Additionally, the site provides information about Stericycle's corporate leaders, as well as the top shareholders and mutual fund investors that are profiting from the blood money that Stericycle receives from its service to the abortion industry.

StopStericycle.com also outlines the truck companies that are currently leasing vehicles to Stericycle, which is the medical waste giant's primary means of collecting and transporting aborted children to their incineration plants, such as Stericycle's Haw River location. CSS has been urging these companies to stop allowing their trucks to be used for such purposes, and has already seen progress as Penske Truck Leasing has now prohibited Stericycle from using their trucks to service to abortion mills. In fact, Penske Truck Leasing President and CEO Brian Hard vowed in an e-mail to the campaign, "We have been, and you have my word that we will continue to be, proactive in stopping Stericycle from using our trucks to service abortion clinics." CSS is now urging several other truck leasing companies to do the same, including Ryder System, Inc.

"It is high time for businesses to follow Penske's lead and remove themselves from supplying the means for Stericycle to service the abortion industry. Those that willingly help Stericycle in this manner will be met with much public resistance," Marcavage firmly stated. "We will not sit idly by waiting upon the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which is not the law and never has been. We are committed to aggressively pursuing and exposing Stericycle, it's officers, suppliers and investors until this Goliath stops furthering the abortion holocaust in our nation," he concluded.

The Campaign to Stop Stericycle (CSS) is calling the public to act immediately in the following ways:

1) Call Stericycle President Mark C. Miller at (847) 607-2038 (direct line to his desk) or e-mail mmiller@stericycle.com and respectfully but firmly express your disgust of Stericycle's collaboration with the abortion industry.

2) Sign the petition demanding that Stericycle stop servicing the abortion industry.

3) Make a donation in any amount by clicking here. Every dollar is directly applied to the campaign.

4) Sign up for e-mail updates about the campaign by visiting StopStericycle.com.

5) "Like" Stop Stericycle on Facebook, suggest the page to friends and post the campaign website on your wall.

6) Post a permanent banner or link on your blog or website to help spread the word.

7) Pray for the success of this campaign and that the Lord will use it to end the abortion holocaust in our nation.

"Open thy mouth for the [voiceless] in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction." - Proverbs 31:8

CNW

Possenti Society Blast Anti-Gun Catholic Church Bureaucrats

The St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc. today ripped into gun prohibitionists in the Catholic Church hierarchy and suggested gun owners place spent cartridge casings in collection baskets as an initial form of protest.

Society chairman John M. Snyder said "the forthcoming beatification of Pope John Paul II comes as a welcome spiritual torpedo moving against anti-gun owner Catholic Church bureaucrats."

"It is ironic that Pope Benedict XV's announcement of the May 1 event came as the Catholic News Service proclaimed in an article on gun control that the 'Church firmly, quietly opposes firearms for civilians,'" Snyder added.

"It's ironic because Pope John Paul proclaimed definitively traditional Catholic teaching on the right and even the obligation, including killing an aggressor, of self-defense. He did this in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae. The late pope cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2265 that '...legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the state.' Pope John Paul stated, 'Unfortunately, it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life.'"

Snyder said "anti-gun church officials would render people incapable of defending themselves or others. It's hard to tell if these people are wicked or just plain stupid. It is hypocritical for Church officials to proclaim doctrinally respect for the right to life on the one hand and then, on the other hand, promote or support policies the implementation of which would render the defense or protection of life an impossibility.

"Devout Catholic firearm owners can let church officials at various levels know what they think of certain Vatican officials' inanity and hypocrisy. There are many ways to do this. One would be to place spent cartridge casings, preferably with primers removed, in church collection envelopes and collection baskets and in bishops' envelope solicitations for contributions. It would be good to remind them of Christ's statement, 'if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'" (Luke 22:36)

St. Gabriel Possenti used handguns without injuring a single human being to rescue villagers of Isola del Gran Sasso, Italy in 1860 from a gang of marauders. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXNE2jBaL9o) Pope Benedict XV canonized him in 1920. The international, interdenominational Society seeks his official Vatican designation as Patron of Handgunners. It highlights historical, philosophical and theological bases for legitimate self-defense.

CNW

Saint Josemaria Escriva And Opus Dei On The Big Screen

Oscar nominated Roland Joffe, the director of the highly acclaimed films "The Mission" and "The Killing Fields," has returned to the big screen with the epic movie "There Be Dragons," a powerful story of love, loss and forgiveness set during the time of the Spanish Civil War. Coming to US theaters on May 6, 2011, the film centers around the life of Saint Josemaria Escriva, founder of the Catholic organization Opus Dei. "There Be Dragons" combines action, adventure and romance through the life of two friends who are torn apart by war and political anguish.

The timely release of the film in 2011 marks the 75th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, the brutal war fought in Spain in the late 1930's, a time where both Catholic priests and nuns were murdered and persecuted.

The film's resource website www.dragonsresources.com offers behind-the-scenes information, movie trailers, cast and crew bios, photos, resource materials, promotional tools, blogs and much more.

ABOUT "THERE BE DRAGONS"
Set during the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War, "There Be Dragons" tells the story of two childhood friends who become separated during political conflict and find themselves on opposite sides as war erupts. One chooses the path of peace and becomes a priest while the other chooses the life of a soldier driven by jealousy and revenge. Each struggles to find the power of forgiveness over the forces that tore their lives and friendship apart.

CNW