Reminder: The Installation Mass for Bishop Kevin Farrell as he takes over the Diocese of Dallas will be next Tuesday, May 1st at 2:00 pm at the Cathedral Guadalupe in downtown Dallas. There will be a reception in the Grand Salon immediately following Mass.

Mass is expected to last two hours and will be attended by numerous Bishops and Cardinals. It should be an interesting time.

They are also expecting a full Cathedral so get there early. The Cathedral holds about 1100-1200 people and most of it will be reserved for guests and clergy.

Much of the staff of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee will be in attendance and we plan on getting there early.

We will be transcribing the Bishop's homily and commenting on it as well. Look for that information starting Tuesday night/Wednesday morning on this blog.

Labels: Bishop Farrell

Approve taking people off life support against their family's will..

Against the death penalty....

Support partial-birth abortion...

Are these three postitions consistent? If you answer anything other than "no" then please read through these editorials from the Dallas Morning News and point out the consistency in logic or anything else if you can find it.

Decisions about how or even if we should respect the dignity of all human life is not something that should be left up to people who are so strongly disconnected from reality.

"in only 27 cases did care stop" - Of course they neglect to say that this care was stopped against the family's will. Yes that should make us feel better.

"this partial-birth procedure makes up only a tiny portion of total abortions" - Great.. So only a few thousand times a year children in this country are subjected to this.

For a reliable analysis of the recent Supreme Court decision about partial-birth abortion, go here and here.

We have put up a whole bunch of pictures from the Bishop's 14th Annual Catholic Pro-Life Dinner that was held Saturday, March 24th.

Click here for the pictures.

This years dinner was our largest ever with more than 1800 in attendance. This year we raised more than $350,000 in funds for the continuing work of our nine ministries. How awesome!

Copies of Jennifer O'Neill's talk will be available on CD and DVD. Call our office 972-267-5433 if you want one and we will get one to you for a nominal fee.

Next year's dinner will be on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at the Hilton Anatole. Keynote speaker will be Fr. Benedict Groeschel from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.

The 2008 dinner will be hosted by Bishop Kevin Farrell, recently appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to head the Diocese of Dallas. Bishop Farrell's installation will be on Tuesday, May 1st at 2:00 pm at the Cathedral de Guadalupe in downtown Dallas.

Thank you Dallas for responding to the call to end abortion in the city where it began. We can look forward to more success in the future.

Labels: Bishop's Dinner

US Supreme Court upholds the ban on partial-birth abortion.

5-4 decision issued today was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, concurrence by Justice Clarence Thomas. Dissent written by Justice Ginsburg.

What is partial-birth abortion?

Text of the decision.

Overview from the Associated Press

". . a monumental victory for the preservation of human life." - Jay Sekulow

" . . this procedure – by which a child is killed in the very process of delivery – has no place in a civilized society." - Fr. Frank Pavone

"The decision gives states a green light to pass this and other prohibitions on partial-birth abortion that are carefullydrafted." - Clark Forsythe

"We will continue to work for the day when every child is welcomed in life and protected in law." - President Bush

Bizarre editorial from the Dallas Morning News - "A slide toward the overturn of Roe vs. Wade is a thought every bit as chilling as images of partial-birth abortion" - Huh?!

Labels: partial-birth abortion

My Gabriel Mom, Amanda, a young woman of 21, is pregnant with her second child due in August. The doctors at Methodist Hospital have told her that her unborn baby has a condition called Trisomy 18 and he/she will die soon after birth. They recommend that she terminate the pregnancy. She, of course, only hears their side of it and being medical experts she tends to believe what they say.

Late Monday night Amanda called me with this news and we had a long talk. She's upset and scared. Then she called her other Gabriel Angel, Shelia, and they talked another long while. Since then Amanda will not return our calls. She did tell me that she would go see another doctor with me, but we were supposed to go tomorrow. Now I can't get ahold of her.

Please pray that the Lord will penetrate Amanda's heart and help her choose life a second time (she was a save outside of Routh Street). Pray that she won't end the life of her child but will let God be in control. And that she'll go with me to see Dr. Smith.

One month later: Thank you so much for praying for Amanda. Since I wrote you last, Amanda and I had a nice long visit on March 9. She told me she had made the decision to keep her baby no matter what the outcome of the amnio test! She was going to let God handle it. The routine blood test revealed there was a "problem", but she had to have an amnio test to make sure. The results take about two weeks.

For added support, I took Amanda to see Dr. Smith. He was very gentle and encouraging with her, explaining how even if the baby has Trisomy 18 disorder that it's best for both her and the baby to let God decide what's going to happen. Whether the baby dies before birth or lives forever how long. And she wouldn't have any regrets. He told her of other mothers he knew who gave birth to Trisomy 18 babies and how they were so glad they allowed them to be born and were able to hold and love them. He also offered to be Amanda's primary doctor if she wanted that.

Dr. Smith told her that sometimes the blood tests are wrong and you have to wait for the amnio test for a definite reading. We told Dr. Smith we'd give him the results of the amnio test and she would then make her decision about him being her doctor at that time. Dr. Smith also encouraged Amanda to get stronger in her faith, to go to Mass and Adoration, to bring her concerns and fears to the Lord. It was a very loving and positive experience for Amanda. I just wish all OB/GYNs gave their patients this kind of care.

Amanda called me the following week with the results of the amnio test - all the baby's chronosomes are normal! Praise the Lord!!! And her baby is a little girl which she is most excited about.

Amanda is continuing her GED studies and hopes to graduate before the baby is born in August. Her father also helped her purchase a car and I saw it in the driveway yesteday. It needs a little work on it which her father will do plus get it inspected. By the way, the $300 Amanda did not spend on an abortion was her car "seed money". Amanda's goal is to go to college and become a nurse. And she wants to help other young mothers and their babies.

I told Amanda how proud I am of her and that everything is going to work out. She even had a visit from her children's father who told her he will help support the children as soon as he's able. She is praying for him to come to the Lord. I suggested she pray for God to open up the opportunity for her to ask him to go to Mass. He has not been in a very long time.

Amanda and her family are preparing to move back into the house which Amanda's mom lost due to financial difficulties. She is on disability. Anyway, that's a long story. But a wonderful thing is that Amanda's family have been helping to get the house ready for them to move back into. So this should happen in the next couple of weeks. And they're so excited to be going home!

The family's great need now is a refrigerator and washer/dryer for the house. If anyone can donate these items in good used conditon, please let me know.

Submitted by a CPLC Gabriel Angel

Labels: Gabriel Angel

We heard the news today that our friend, Peter Monod, the Director of Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, passed away on Easter Sunday.

Peter suffered a heart attack on Sunday night in his residence.

Peter was truly a devoted servant of the Gospel of Life who spent his life in serving others. He was deeply devoted to prayer. I roomed with him at a conference a few years ago and have etched in my mind the image of him rising early every day, praying and reading the scriptures in our hotel room. He did so quietly that I would not wake up, but I heard him anyways.

On a Thursday in March, I picked up Amy, a student at the University of Dallas, to sidewalk counsel with me at Routh St, a local abortion mill, but found out that Paula would be alone at Fairmount, so dropped Amy off there. This meant that I would be alone at Routh, but since the White Rose (a local crisis pregnancy center) is next door, I figured this was safer than Paula being alone at Fairmount.

God graciously blessed me that day. I met a mother and daughter going in. The mother could not speak English so I called Natalia at the White Rose to talk to her, but the 14 year old daughter, "C" could speak English very well. She said she had been raped. She had skipped school with a group and gone to a house with them to try some pills to get high. The pills put her to sleep. This is when she was raped. She did not know who did it so did not want to report it to the police. I explained to her how women who have been raped and then have an abortion say that they get over the rape but not the abortion.

I asked if she went to church and she said she was Catholic and preparing for Confirmation in April. She told me which parish she attended. At this point Alvin the guard at Routh St abortion mill, and a staff person came over and escorted the mother and daughter into the abortion mill. As the 14 year old was being lead away, she turned to me and said "I won't do it!"

I was so upset I stood in the alley and cried, even after 7 years of sidewalk counseling sometimes it is overwhelming. I needed prayer support, so I called Marie at the CPLC office and asked for the number of the parish office where C told me she was going to be confirmed. They gave me "D"'s phone number and I called her and asked for prayers for one of her students. She was very upset and said she would indeed pray!

I went to the White Rose chapel with Natalia and we prayed together. About 45 minutes later, someone told me there were people asking for me up front. It was C and her mother. C told me she had been given a sonogram but they would not let her see the screen just as I had told her. First they told her she was too far along to have the abortion, then they changed their mind and said it was ok, but C told them she had changed her mind.

When she had the sonogram at the White Rose, the baby had her hands together as if praying. Yesterday as I was leaving C was going into White Rose and she looked very happy! She was returning for another sonogram.

Written by Carol, a Catholic Pro-Life Committee sidewalk counselor

Labels: Abortion mill

Yesterday, Good Friday, a group of about 200 people went to pray at Fairmount abortion mill. It is proper that Christians gather at a place of killing on the very day that we commemorate the death of the One who would set us free from our sins.

Just as those first Christians gathered at the foot of the Cross and lamented the blood shed that day, so we too gather and lament, as well, the innocent blood shed today in our nation. Presence is an important part of witness, "a witness which must be forcefully rendered even when there is a powerful temptation to hide, to give up, to go along with the prevailing opinion."

And yet, it would not be Good Friday without the presence of those who make innocent death possible. So it was 2000 years ago, so it is today.

As the Christians prayed and sang, among them walked the "spiritually dead," those who would choose to ignore the innocent shedding of blood and ridicule the Christians and pretend that they were the ones who were in the wrong. They would also help facilitate the shedding of that blood and ensure that it remained legal.

These are the "deathscorts," those who look death in the face and blink and who were there to escort the women into the abortion mill. Many of them are there because they know that to allow abortion to remain legal is to continue to justify their own behaviours, most of which are not consistent with being a Christian.

The deathscorts pushed the sidewalk counselors out of the way as they escort the women in. It is amazing to watch as they break the law in an effort to ensure that the sidewalk counselors did not. Local law enforcement watches, sees all of this happening and does nothing.

A reporter I spoke to was amazed that so many women and young people were present at the Vigil. I told him that this was the face of the movement and that more and more of them were coming to join us as they finally see the truth about what abortion is and what it does to women and their children. Then he told me that he thought we were intimidating.

The last thing I would call people who want to give themselves away to others in need is intimidating. The truth is they are inspiring.

Labels: Abortion mill

In yesterday's Dallas Morning News, there is a letter from Dr. Abel M. Tomatis who comments on an earlier column about laws mandating that women see an ultrasound of their child before an abortion;

"You have mostly young women under 24 who are emotionally immature and lack the basic skills to make appropriate choices regarding their own health and well-being. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of someone you want raising a child for 18 years..."

His message and the title of his letter is "Don't trust these moms."

And yet, Nancy Keegan, the President of NARAL Pro-Choice America says exactly the opposite when talking about the exact same law in South Carolina that would mandate that all women going in for an abortion actually see a sonogram of their child. In being asked about the new law she said:

"The women of South Carolina are fully capable of asking their doctor for information they need to make private, personal medical decisions. Politicians don't belong in the examining room."

Well, which is it? Are women capable of making these kinds of decisions or not, and why is the question of whether or not a woman can decide for herself always dependent on what kind of law pro-aborts are opposing (or supporting) or point they are trying to make?

Those who support abortion are simply not interested in answering this question honestly, because to do so would lead to them having to answer other questions honestly, like when does life begin and so on.

The answer is that women can make a good decision when she has all the information about what she is about to do, which is what the law in South Carolina is trying to make happen.

Labels: Women Making Decisions

Should Christians pray in front of abortion clinics? Of course they should. As a matter of fact, we know that the more people do pray in front of abortion clinics, the less abortions actually are committed.

The Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, on the other hand, is a group that promotes abortion as a form of spirituality.

Yes, let me say that again. The Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is a group that promotes abortion as a form of spirituality. Abortion clinics, by default then, are places of prayer or even houses of worship.

If you don't believe me, then read through this informative essay written by their executive director, the Reverend Rebecca Turner.

There's much to go though here, but we'll keep it short. Reverend Turner spends much of her essay trying to convince you that abortion is OK, it is certainly not sinful (“I believe that God is always forgiving, and that there is nothing you can do to separate yourself from the love of God"), and that if a women had a problem dealing with her abortion afterwards, the reason is that she had some kind of spiritual defunct beforehand. Certainly, it has nothing to do with the abortion itself.

If that is so, and if abortion is no big deal, then why is Reverend Turner also on the board of the St. Louis Teen Pregnancy Prevention Partnership, a group that tries to prevent teen pregnancy? Maybe she does sense that there is something wrong with abortion and that it needs to be prevented and yet, is unable to bring herself to admit it.

But the answer to the question is no, abortion clinics are not a place of prayer. It is quite the opposite. People do not go to them seeking spirituality, they go seeking a solution to a problem that has brought them to consider destroying the life inside of them. That is not a women exercising "healthy spirituality." That is a women exercising spiritual death, and a huge part of the recovery process after an abortion is admitting what they know deep inside to be true, that they were the cause of the death of their child.

Once that is accomplished, then a women (or a man) can truly heal. To ask them to do otherwise only contributes to the problems they already don't know how to overcome.

If you know of anyone who has suffered from an abortion, please let them know that God does love them and wants them to heal, and that there is a time tested way for that to effectively happen. They can contact our After Abortion Care Healing program at 214-544-CARE (2273) (Dallas), 817-923-4757 (Ft. Worth) or 972-679-4760 (Spanish) and receive free, confidential assistance.

Labels: post-abortion healing

Labels: media bias

"I want to talk to you tonight about why the turnout is so large, and why it will be even bigger next year.... because we are living in the United States right now, in the midst of a pro-life revolution. Everyone can feel it. It is measurable. It is dramatic. It is dynamic. It is undeniable."

- Michael Medved, March 25, 2006, the Bishop's 13th Annual Catholic Pro-Life Dinner

Coming back to work after preparing for and going through one of the largest pro-life dinners in the nation, and maybe even the world, is not quite a let-down, but let's just say it may take an effort to get "back into the grind" of the normal work mode of our office.

Although, there is nothing normal about the kind of work we do, and this is best shown by the kind of responses received about the dinner.

There was a general sense going into the dinner that we may have our largest turnout ever, and this turned out to be the case as more than 1850 people filled the Chantilly Ballroom last Saturday for the Bishop's 14th Annual Catholic Pro-Life Dinner. Compared to the 2006 Dinner with Michael Medved, we had just over 1600 at that one.

This was our farewell dinner for Bishop Charles Grahmann, who founded the Catholic Pro-Life Committee in 1993, as he will retire on May 1st and be replaced by incoming Bishop Kevin Farrell from Washington D.C. We are grateful to Bishop Grahmann for the vision he had when he started the Catholic Pro-Life Committee and because of that vision, more than 2,700 little babies are alive today through our efforts.

Mike Gallagher from the "Mike Gallagher Show" heard daily from 6-9 am on 660 KSKY, called the dinner "A Dallas Tradition" and would have been in attendance had he not been called away at the last moment.

Many people said afterwards that this was the best dinner we have ever had and that Jennifer O'Neill was the best speaker we have ever had.

There are testimonies from women who have been helped by our work, a video ministry update about the extensive work we are doing, and we recognize and award those who are building the Culture of Life in North Texas and beyond. There is an opportunity, a chance, to partner with us in saving lives and getting more involved.

But more than that, it is a family affair. Many new people are brought into the family, and old friends reconnect, an aspect that is replicated throughout the entire nation as the pro-life movement is actually, one big family.

It sets the pace for the entire next year as the funds raised at the dinner are used to develop and grow the ministries in place that reach hundreds of thousands, and of course, save lives.

We are on track to have an even bigger impact this year than we did last year. With the support of our friends, we will reach even more people and save even more lives, and with the grace of God, we will end this human catastrophe called abortion, and set into place a " concern to make unconditional respect for human life the foundation of a renewed society." Gospel of Life (para 77).

Labels: Bishop's Dinner