The rise of the anti-abortion feminist
Lila Rose the pro-life advocate writes in Politico an article on the anti-abortion feminist. You may be asking, does one exist? Indeed, Rose affirms that a true feminist speaks out for the unborn and protects all life from conception to natural death:
In the ongoing debate over women’s health care, one voice has been mostly absent: that of the anti-abortion feminist.
Most cultural conservatives have correctly focused their attention on the constitutional issues at stake, in particular the threat to religious liberty posed by the Obama administration’s mandate that religious employers underwrite their employees’ abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization procedures.
Many liberal women, meanwhile, have eagerly embraced the role of victim, advancing the idea that women are casualties of a “war on women.” Women are now, as various cultural liberals have put it, “facing sexual McCarthyism” from “conservative cavemen” who want to return to the “Dark Ages.”
But women are not a monolith. And there is a growing group of passionate young women who are transforming what it means to be a woman. Allow me to introduce them to you. We are women who reject both the anti-male feminism of the 1960s and the “girls gone wild” mentality that’s pervasive today.
We are women for whom the idea of artificial birth control as “preventive care” is deeply insulting.
We are women who view the intentional killing of children not as a constitutional right, a matter of privacy or a necessary evil but, rather, as profoundly anti-woman and the antithesis of love.
Read the rest here. What we are witnessing is the rise of intelligent and courageous women in the 21st century, no longer content on being the victim of political and social persuasions. They are defending the lives of future generations.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us!
Holding on to the beauty of marriage
photo: The marriage of Joseph and Mary by Walwyn
North Carolina yesterday passed a state constitution amendment that prohibits same sex marriage. Is it a surprise that 61% bipartisan voted to keep the definition of marriage between that of a man and a woman?
One is bombarded by the media, Hollywood glitterati, academics with a leftist bent, homosexuals (their stories I empathize with), that same sex marriage is freedom and progress [insert your choice of noun describing utopia where are all is milk and honey and everyone pays no taxes]. Their demand is usually accompanied with polls reflecting the American people now–more than ever–are for same sex marriage.
However, every time the American people head to the voting booths the results show otherwise. And yet advocates for same sex marriage keep pulling out the worn out polls; statistics; studies; and personal anecdotes from their pocket to prove objective reality wrong. A sad sight to behold because you know they are hurting but their hearts are hardened away from listening to the eternal truth, the Logos, that actually sets one free. And so I shed a tear of joy and thanksgiving that human beings still hold on to Beauty, with her sisters Truth and Goodness, in the sacredness of marriage.
As the debate continues, reason with faith, channeling into hope, will triumph over mere theatrics of same sex marriage proponents. As Pope Benedict XVI points out in his encyclical Spe Salvi:
“[I]ndeed, reason is God’s great gift to man, and the victory of reason over unreason is also a goal of the Christian life. But when does reason truly triumph? When it is detached from God? When it has become blind to God? Is the reason behind action and capacity for action the whole of reason? If progress, in order to be progress, needs moral growth on the part of humanity, then the reason behind action and capacity for action is likewise urgently in need of integration through reason’s openness to the saving forces of faith, to the differentiation between good and evil. Only thus does reason become truly human. It becomes human only if it is capable of directing the will along the right path, and it is capable of this only if it looks beyond itself. Otherwise, man’s situation, in view of the imbalance between his material capacity and the lack of judgement in his heart, becomes a threat for him and for creation. Thus where freedom is concerned, we must remember that human freedom always requires a convergence of various freedoms. Yet this convergence cannot succeed unless it is determined by a common intrinsic criterion of measurement, which is the foundation and goal of our freedom. Let us put it very simply: man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope. Given the developments of the modern age, the quotation from Saint Paul with which I began (Eph 2:12) proves to be thoroughly realistic and plainly true. There is no doubt, therefore, that a “Kingdom of God” accomplished without God—a kingdom therefore of man alone—inevitably ends up as the “perverse end” of all things as described by Kant: we have seen it, and we see it over and over again. Yet neither is there any doubt that God truly enters into human affairs only when, rather than being present merely in our thinking, he himself comes towards us and speaks to us. Reason therefore needs faith if it is to be completely itself: reason and faith need one another in order to fulfil their true nature and their mission.” (paragraph 23)
“For the greatest poverty is the lack of love.”
photo: One Dollar, Sir! by Trey Ratcliff
Pope Benedict XVI gave an address to non-resident Ambassadors to the Holy See. He points toward the increase of globalization, new media, the lure of fashionable ideas that lead to destruction, the need for man to have God not only as a friend but to help with his moral compass, the reiteration of families (with strong marriages between that of a man and a woman being open to life) as a key building block of society, and the solidarity we should all have with those in poverty and in ill economic conditions. Even the Occupy Wall Street movement can find a sympathizing ear as the pope brings attention to the problem of materialism and consumerism. Here is an excerpt:
“The development of mass communications has made our planet, somehow, smaller. The ability to know almost immediately the events taking place worldwide, just as the needs of peoples and individuals, is an urgent call to be close to them in their joys and in their difficulties. The reality of the great suffering caused worldwide by poverty and misery, both material and spiritual, invites a new mobilization to respond, in justice and solidarity, to all that threatens human society and its environment”.
“Urban migration, armed conflict, famine and pandemics, which affect so many people, dramatically develop poverty which today has taken on new forms. The global economic crisis has brought more and more families to an increasingly precarious situation. While the creation and multiplication of needs led people to believe in the possibility of unlimited enjoyment and consumption, once the necessary means to satisfy these needs were lacking, feelings of frustration emerged. Loneliness due to exclusion increased. And when poverty coexists with the very rich, a perception of unfairness is born that can become a source of rebellion. It is therefore appropriate that States ensure that the social laws do not increase inequalities and enable people to live decently”.
“For this, consideration must be given to helping people overcome this shortfall, by rendering them actors in their society, enabling them to take charge of their own future, helping them to occupy a place within society according to their abilities. Because “man is more precious for what he is than for what he has” (CONC. VAT. II, Gaudium et spes, 35). Development for which every nation aspires each should concern the integral person, not economic growth alone. This belief must become an effective will for action. Experiments such as microcredit, and initiatives to create equitable partnerships, show that it is possible to harmonize economic goals with social needs, democratic governance and respect for nature. It is also good, for example […] to promote manual labour and to promote an agriculture that is first of all at the service of the inhabitants”. “The quality of human relationships and resource sharing are the foundation of society, allowing each to have his or her place and live with dignity in accordance with their aspirations”.
“For strengthening the human foundation of the socio-political reality, we must be attentive to another kind of poverty: that of the loss reference to spiritual values, to God. This vacuum makes discernment between good and evil as well as the overcoming of personal interests for the common good, more difficult. It makes it easier to adhere to ideals currently in fashion and avoid the necessary effort of reflection and criticism. And many young people in search of an ideal, turn to artificial paradises which destroy them. Addiction, consumerism and materialism, do not fill the heart of man made for infinity. For the greatest poverty is the lack of love. In distress, compassion and selfless listening are a great comfort. Even without great material resources, it is possible to be happy. Living simply in harmony with what we believe, should remain a possibility, and become ever more possible. I encourage all efforts undertaken, particularly in favour of families. Moreover, education must awaken to the spiritual dimension as “the human being develops when he grows in the spirit” (Caritas in veritate, 76). Such education helps build and strengthen more authentic bonds because it opens up to a more fraternal society which it helps to build”.
“States have the duty to promote their cultural and religious heritage which contributes to the development of a nation, and to facilitate access to all, for in familiarising oneself with history, each individual is brought to discover the roots of his or her own existence. Religion permits us to recognize in the other a brother in humanity. Allowing all the opportunity to know God, and in full freedom, means helping to forge a strong interior personality which enables him to witness to good and accomplish good even if it comes at a cost. “Openness to God makes us open towards our brothers and sisters and towards an understanding of life as a joyful task to be accomplished in a spirit of solidarity” (Caritas in veritate, 78). In this way we can build a society where experiences of sobriety and fellowship will help reduce poverty, and take precedence over the indifference and selfishness of profit and waste, and above all over exclusion”.
Pope Benedict packs a lot of issues in five paragraphs that encompasses modern day man. It leaves one to further contemplation. There is a poverty of thought, solidarity, spiritual growth, but “the greatest poverty is the lack of love”. Isn’t that the problem–the lack of authentic love, agape–that infests our society, relationships with one another, our homes and families?
Dan Savage the Sophist
photo: Bully by Thomas Ricker
Dan Savage recently spoke to a group of high school students in the JEA/NSPA High School Journalism Convention. He cited different passages in the Bible to persuade the audience to agree that homosexuality is normal and to denounce the Bible as holding any absolute truth. Savage used colorful expletives in a passive aggressive manner with a hint of anger around the edges. (As a concerned healthcare professional in training, I have to earnestly ask: when was the last time he checked his blood pressure? Hypertension kills if left untreated.)
One can only watch and listen to a person speak in a vacuum for so long. Numerous students vacated the auditorium as Savage devolved into a fit; remember in 2011, when the United States and other delegations in the U.N. also walked out as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced America—basically Western civilization.
Later on, Dan Savage called the self-aware students who left “pansy assed”. Touching. This is the bullied now as the bully.
I tweeted Savage’s diatribe as “hate speech; bigotry; and uncivilized.” A Twitterer replied:
“explain how correctly citing the Bible, and noting that ppl ignore other passages is hate speech? some of the words of the BIBLE qualify as HATE SPEECH. that is not bigotry… that is ridiculous to call it such.”
Please watch and listen to Jimmy Atkins, as he intelligently brings the cohesiveness of sacred scripture, in reply to Savage’s sophomoric understanding:
At best, Dan Savage is a sophist that even high school students know isn’t very good at commanding attention. How much weight does his words carry compared to Jesus Christ who is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). For Christians and especially those with same sex attractions, remember Matthew 5:11-12 when Jesus Christ says:
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Stay strong and keep the faith.
Further Reading:
LGBT: An Open-Minded Movement? by Ben Stevens at First Things
We no longer dare to believe in beauty…
photo: Enlightened by Lawrence OP
“We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it. Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past — whether he admits it or not — can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.”
- Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Volume 1
Many books are read but some books are lived
Many books are read but some books are lived, so that words and ideas lose their ethereality and become experiences, turning points in an insufficiently clarified existence, and thereby acquire the almost mystical (but also fallible) intimacy of memory. In this sense one’s books are one’s biography. This subjective urgency bears no relation to the quality of the book: lives have been changed by kitsch, too. What matters is that one’s pores be opened, and that the opening be true. “What is the Ninth Symphony,” Karl Kraus declared, “compared to a pop tune played by a hurdy-gurdy and a memory!”
-Leon Wieseltier, Voluminous
From the depths
| [Song of Ascents] From the depths I call to you, Yahweh: | |||
| Lord, hear my cry. Listen attentively to the sound of my pleading! | |||
| If you kept a record of our sins, Lord, who could stand their ground? | |||
| But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered. | |||
| I rely, my whole being relies, Yahweh, on your promise. | |||
My whole being hopes in the Lord, more than watchmen for daybreak; more than watchmen for daybreak
-Psalms 130:1-6 |
Using God for Violence; The Quest for Peace
Assisi Doves by johnwilliamsphd
Pope Benedict XVI’s address in Assisi is a must read. Here is an excerpt that compels one to stand up for human dignity and to mark terrorism for what it is–using the name of God for violence:
Let us try to identify the new faces of violence and discord more closely. It seems to me that, in broad strokes, we may distinguish two types of the new forms of violence, which are the very antithesis of each other in terms of their motivation and manifest a number of differences in detail. Firstly there is terrorism, for which in place of a great war there are targeted attacks intended to strike the opponent destructively at key points, with no regard for the lives of innocent human beings, who are cruelly killed or wounded in the process. In the eyes of the perpetrators, the overriding goal of damage to the enemy justifies any form of cruelty. Everything that had been commonly recognized and sanctioned in international law as the limit of violence is overruled. We know that terrorism is often religiously motivated and that the specifically religious character of the attacks is proposed as a justification for the reckless cruelty that considers itself entitled to discard the rules of morality for the sake of the intended “good”. In this case, religion does not serve peace, but is used as justification for violence.
The post-Enlightenment critique of religion has repeatedly maintained that religion is a cause of violence and in this way it has fuelled hostility towards religions. The fact that, in the case we are considering here, religion really does motivate violence should be profoundly disturbing to us as religious persons. In a way that is more subtle but no less cruel, we also see religion as the cause of violence when force is used by the defenders of one religion against others. The religious delegates who were assembled in Assisi in 1986 wanted to say, and we now repeat it emphatically and firmly: this is not the true nature of religion. It is the antithesis of religion and contributes to its destruction. In response, an objection is raised: how do you know what the true nature of religion is? Does your assertion not derive from the fact that your religion has become a spent force? Others in their turn will object: is there such a thing as a common nature of religion that finds expression in all religions and is therefore applicable to them all? We must ask ourselves these questions, if we wish to argue realistically and credibly against religiously motivated violence. Herein lies a fundamental task for interreligious dialogue – an exercise which is to receive renewed emphasis through this meeting. As a Christian I want to say at this point: yes, it is true, in the course of history, force has also been used in the name of the Christian faith. We acknowledge it with great shame. But it is utterly clear that this was an abuse of the Christian faith, one that evidently contradicts its true nature. The God in whom we Christians believe is the Creator and Father of all, and from him all people are brothers and sisters and form one single family. For us the Cross of Christ is the sign of the God who put “suffering-with” (compassion) and “loving-with” in place of force. His name is “God of love and peace” (2 Cor 13:11). It is the task of all who bear responsibility for the Christian faith to purify the religion of Christians again and again from its very heart, so that it truly serves as an instrument of God’s peace in the world, despite the fallibility of humans.
If one basic type of violence today is religiously motivated and thus confronts religions with the question as to their true nature and obliges all of us to undergo purification, a second complex type of violence is motivated in precisely the opposite way: as a result of God’s absence, his denial and the loss of humanity which goes hand in hand with it. The enemies of religion – as we said earlier – see in religion one of the principal sources of violence in the history of humanity and thus they demand that it disappear. But the denial of God has led to much cruelty and to a degree of violence that knows no bounds, which only becomes possible when man no longer recognizes any criterion or any judge above himself, now having only himself to take as a criterion. The horrors of the concentration camps reveal with utter clarity the consequences of God’s absence.
Read the rest here.
The Action of Christ
What else are the sacraments (all of them!), if not the action of Christ in the Holy Spirit? When the Church baptizes, it is Christ who baptizes; when the Church absolves, it is Christ who absolves; when the Church celebrates the Eucharist, it is Christ who celebrates it: “This is my body.” And so on. All the sacraments are an action of Christ, the action of God in Christ. And therefore it is truly difficult to speak of the silence of God. One must speak, rather, of the desire to stifle the voice of God.
Yes, this desire to stifle the voice of God is rather carefully planned. Many will do just about anything so that His voice cannot be heard, so that only the voice of man will be heard, a voice that has nothing to offer except the things of this world. And sometimes such an offer brings with it destruction of cosmic proportions. Isn’t this the tragic history of our century?
-Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, page 130
