Exorcism and Abortion...

In the news lately we hear about a man ripping babies from the womb of mothers, the DC March for Life, and a Hollywood exorcism move called "The Rite" (based on a book by the same name.)

What do they all have in common? Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, a Catholic Exorcist, provides some interesting commentary. Please listen to the Audio Sancto link titled: "An Evening with an Exorcist."

Pope Benedict XVI on St. Joan of Arc

WDTPRS has a copy and some commentary on General Audience recently given by our Holy Father. The topic was a brief biography on St. Joan of Arc.

A couple topics caught my eye: Bad theologians, and military intervention for the sake of peace.

The Great Lie

I came across a post or two at a 'blog named Feministe about the recent horrific discoveries at an abortion clinic in Philadelphia claiming (along with many comments to the post) this case "proves" the same old worn out arguments for making abortion "safe, legal and rare". There were numerous contradictions and blatant inconsistencies in the post and the attached comments, so I wrote a comment in an attempt to address at least a few of them. Since the comment is currently under moderation, and I really have no hope that it will actually be published, I hope you'll forgive me for posting it here:

“The Truth of the matter is that each and every life created, from the moment of its conception, has intrinsic value given by its Creator that is not dependent on whether said life is “wanted” by another human or is useful in some way to another human. This includes tiny embryos up to full term and beyond and the mothers who carry them, and the fathers who gave the other half of the DNA. This is most clearly true of innocent life.

I HAVE “been there”, as a mother who has carried 5 children to term and lost 2 children to miscarriage. I know for a fact that my life DOES have value beyond its role in carrying a “fetus”. Where is the logic in saying that because MY life has value beyond its use to the fetus, therefore the fetus’ life has no value beyond its use to me? You can’t have it both ways, or if you DO want to have it both ways at least have the intellectual honesty to come out and say it. It is this utilitarian claim that says "your life has no value because it is of no use to me" that can carry an abortion doctor from a clean and sterile, well kept and licensed clinic to the horror of Grosnell’s clinic. Just because an abortion was clean and sterile and performed on a tinier human doesn’t mean that that tinier human is any less dead than the ones Grosnell killed.

Just one inconsistency that I saw in the article:
The author states that “outlawing abortion would have done absolutely nothing to help the women and babies who died or suffered in Gosnell’s care.” Ok, leaving aside for a moment the fact that there is NO way to know this with such certainty as she seems to possess, we see that the author then goes on to say “how greater government oversight and enforcement of health care laws could have shut down Gosnell’s operation years ago.” So it’s not practical to enact and enforce laws that are by definition designed to protect both the mother AND the baby, but yet we must advocate for “government oversight” (a.k.a. enacting and enforcing laws) over health care?

If one would take the time to study the pro-life stance, one would be able to see that pro-life advocates are only being consistent when they advocate also for abstinence and against free-range contraceptives (dangerous in their own right). These advocates want to bring about the end of the perceived “need” for abortion by eliminating unwanted pregnancies through educating people on 1) the fact that all life has intrinsic value aside from its usefulness and 2) respect for the sacredness of the act that brings about this life, and the sacredness of the marriage that protects that act.

My heart bleeds for the woman who truly believes The Great Lie that she can have no choice but to end the life present within her, that depends on no one if not her. If I can kill the life within my very womb, what is to stop me from killing the life just leaving it? Or the life that I have far less reason to care about?”

I know these arguments are far from complete and are barely coherent... I welcome additions and corrections.

Horror Show...

News reports and details are growing concerning a Philadelphia man who has murdered countless babies in the most gruesome of ways. Reports are referring to his operation as an illegal abortion "clinic."

Bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses "were scattered throughout the building," Williams said. "There were jars, lining shelves, with severed feet that he kept for no medical purpose."

Sometimes, the elderly physician [how is it possible that someone could mistake this man as a physician?] didn't do this right away. Often, he allegedly gave the chore to his unlicensed office staff. One premature infant wiggled around on a counter for 20 minutes before an untrained worker slit his neck - after first playing with him.

The grand jury report is particularly difficult to take. It contains very graphic descriptions and images. (Including images of some of the victims.)

Some new reports are starting to key in on point about how abortion must not have been available enough. Other points discuss how "inhumane" this particular abortion mill was. It is shocking... the level of ignorance that cannot understand that a child destroyed in the womb is just as horrific and appalling.

For some people... "Out of sight out of mind" is apparently a way of life. Wake up you ignorant, apathetic, waste of air, worthless people. Our children are being brutally murdered, and even if you don't support it, you are not doing enough about it. Shameful and disgusting.

I'm just saying...

Thanks to a couple inches of winter weather, my commute was almost tripled this morning (honestly people -- it's just snow!), which gave me more than enough time to develop nausea listen to the propagandists at NPR paint their picture of “the facts” surrounding the shooting this past weekend in Tucson:

• The shooter was a “lone wolf” and acted alone
• That right-wing talk radio could possibly have played a roll in inciting violence
• That the Congress woman narrowly defeated a tea party candidate to win election
• That Arizona’s gun laws are perhaps too liberal
• That the shooter had attended “meet and greet” events with the Congress woman in the past and received thank you notes from her (or was it her office?)
• That the shooter had notes in his house about planning ahead (though what those plans are is unclear)
• That “some other people” were also injured by the shooter

When I got to work I did some quick internet searching and learned a few things that NPR didn’t bother mentioning:

• The shooter is a left-wing, pott-smoking liberal who has an affinity for reading Marx
• While the Congress woman was injured, a Catholic Federal Judge was killed
• The shooter had been rejected for elistment in the US Army
• The shooter has been linked with white supremacy extremists

So the Catholic judge was invited to the event at the last minute and a drug-abusing liberal guns him down along with several others. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence; or perhaps the judge was the real target and shooting the Congress woman provides sufficient obfuscation to the event to conceal this motivation?

Arizona Shootings

The situation is sad. The shootings were sad. The news media focus and coverage is sad. Almost immediately after the shooting took place, the talking heads sprung into action substituting biased supposition to replace missing information. The general story was that "some right wing gun toting nut-job" had a beef with liberal politics and took it out on this group of people. In actuality it turns out the shooter in custody was a "radical left wing gun toting pot head."

Also hardly touched by the media was the fact that the Federal Judge who was murdered happened to be a "daily Mass going practicing Roman Catholic." Judge John Roll had even attended Mass the morning of the shooting. Pray for the soul of Judge John Roll, and for his grieving wife and children. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.

Stem Cells

Great video pointing out some of the facts regarding adult and fetal stem cell research. Gotta love the jabs comparing the debate with Galileo towards the end of the video.