Ultrasound Van Added As A Pro-Life Tool

One of the best tools in the fight against abortion is ultrasound images. When women see the child withing them they are more likely to choose life.

Rochester now has an ultrasound van. There are still some hurdles to overcome, but the hope is to soon have it parked near Planned Parenthood to offer women an alternative.

Today as part of out monthly Stand Together for Life the van did a drive-bay, then parked so we could look in it. 

I hope it is in operation soon. 

Pax et bonum

Many Shades of Pro-Life

One frequent charge leveled against pro-lifers is that they only care about abortion, and not about other life issues.

That's not true - I know many pro-lifers who are involved in a broad array of life issues.

I am not as involved as some, but here's part of my resume:

I was in the process of applying for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War (I didn't have to finish that process because my lottery draft number was so high).

I protested the Vietnam War.

I spent part of one Easter break protesting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the trial of the Harrisburg Seven.

I took a year off from college to work with troubled youth in the slums of New York City.

I became a vegetarian for ethical reasons - including opposition to some corporate farming policies and to the destruction of the rain forest - and have remained one for 45 years.

I began writing against the death penalty in the 1970s - and have continued to do so - even though my bother was murdered.

I took part in a tax protest over funding for war and nuclear weapons.

I was part of the live-in staff at a Catholic Worker House. I later helped to prepare a parish homeless shelter and was an overnight volunteer in it during its first season.

I protested the neutron bomb and other nuclear weapons, even marching before the U.N. with a million other people.

I helped to found Pax Christi Rochester, serving as the secretary of that organization's board for several years.

I regularly wrote letters and articles to protest various policies of the Reagan Administration (and I didn't vote for him in '80 or '84, nor, for that matter, have I ever voted for either of the Presidents Bush or for Trump).

I served on the board of an inner-city health/outreach center.

I took part in protests at the Seneca Army Depot over the storage of nuclear weapons there, and  provided music for Masses outside the gates.

I used to go to the Monroe County Jail to help provide music for Masses there. I even played for Christmas morning Masses there .

I supported the Sanctuary Movement, and joined my parish in supporting and sheltering an "illegal" family, even inviting that family into my home even though uncertain about the possibility of being arrested for doing so.

I protested the invasion of Iraq.

I taught for three years in a BOCES program for troubled youth.

I have financially supported various Catholic Worker Houses, health centers working with the poor, homeless shelters, shelters and homes for women and children, and so on, and sponsored children in African and Central America.

I tutored inner-city children, and for a time helped provide daycare so mothers could get counseling and parenting skills training.

I have boycotted various companies and products because of mistreatment of workers and the environment.

As for abortion, I have taken part in a number of marches and prayer vigils, financially supported shelters and programs - including ones that help women long after the babies are born. I was one of the founding board members of the Margaret Home, a residence for women in troubled pregnancies who can stay for up to two years while getting their lives in order.

And, as I noted, there are many pro-life people who are far more involved in a variety of issues than I am.

Pax et bonum

"Pro-lifers don't care about babies/people after they are born"

Delivering supplies for immigrants



Clothes for the poor












Catholic Charities Drug Rehab Program (free)






Pax et bonum

The Voice from the Mother's Womb - Donald Iain MacDonald

While reading a book review about An Tuil: Anthology of Twentieth Century Scottish Gaelic Verse (edited by Ronald Black), in the latest edition of StAR.(Saint Austin Review), I came across mention of a pro-life poem by Donald Iain MacDonald, "The Voice from in the Mother's Womb." Curious, I searched for it online. It was originally written in Gaelic, apparently, but here's an English translation I found in a blog (Cum Lazaro) back in 2013 -

The Voice from the Mother's Womb
Come close and give an ear to me,
  All of you who have your health,
Listen to me and take pity on me
  For you're about to have me killed;
Here I am, a developed child
  Wrapped around in my mother's womb,
And the murderer standing close to me
  With the Crown's consent to snuff me out.


He'll get no gallows, fine or prison
  And no court will sentence him,
Even if he murdered thousands
  He is quit of the country's law;
He will slaughter me tomorrow,
  Anyway my mother has asked him to-
Isn't she herself the murderer
  Of the very waif that's in her womb?


I have never harmed a creature
  Under the sun throughout the world,
All I wanted was to join you there
  And grow up and come of age there;
When my mother had conceived me
  And I was saying, "She will love me."
But giving pleasure to her flesh
  Was what she wanted, not a baby.


I'll never see a summer's day,
  Fields alive with calves and stirks,
Nor the primrose of the streamlets,
  Or flowers that grow in glen or garden;
I'll not hear in Maytime morning
  The sweetstringed choir high in the trees,
I won't run, or jump for joy
  With other children as they did themselves.


All my share came into being
  When, weak and tender, I was conceived,
And if people did right by each other
  No mouth on earth would suffer want;
But too many are amassing wealth,
  Eating, drinking, vomiting,
While their brothers lack even the mouthful
  To give them strength to reach maturity.


God made me in the usual way-
  It was His hope that I would grow,
It wasn't in His mind at all
  That I should be superfluous;
He created my eternal soul
  Though stained by Adam's living sin,
But the Sacrament of Baptism
  Was still going to show me glory.


But alas, my cause of sadness,
  My right to it has been denied:
I've now no hope of the Baptism
  Ordered for me by the King of the Elements,
But of course He will show me love-
  An innocent loveless child
Denied all admittance to the world
  And any chance to mature there in time.


Oh won't you take pity, mother,
  On me the child that's in your womb,
Listen to me and hear me cry out
  As a mother's love is denied me;
Since you so willingly conceived me,
  Bring me to the world and bless me,
And my tongue won't seek your torment
  When God comes in court to judge you.


And you who're waiting with the knife
  To finish off my childhood,
Mind, though I cannot see your face,
  I won't forget you, never-
When your soul's being sought from you
  And you crying, "God have mercy,"
With a crown about my head
  I'll shout, "Send him down to Hell, the fiend!"


"Thou shalt not kill" is what the Lord said,
    When He created the commandments;
"You'll give," He said, "all love to me
  And as to me, so to your brother."
And you who put the Act together
  That murders children by the thousand,
If justice triumphs in the end
  I pity you the day you die.

Here it is in Gaelic --

An Guth á Broinn na Màthar

Teannaibh dlùth is thoiribh cluas dhomh,
  Sibhs’ a shluagh a tha ’nur slàint’,
Éistibh riu is gabhaibh truas rium
  ’S mi air thuar mo chur gu bàs leibh;
Tha mi ’n-seo, ’nam leanabh saidhbhir
  Paisgte cruinn am broinn mo mhàthar,
’S am murtair ’na sheasnamh dlùth dhomh
’S aont’ a’ Chrùin aige mo smàladh.

Cha téid croich no càin no prìosan,
  Cha téid binn a thoirt le cùirt air,
Ged a mharbhadh e na mìltean
  Tha e caoiteas lagh na dùthchadh;
Nì e mis’ a mhurt a-màireach,
  Dh’iarr mo mhàthair air co-dhiù e-
Saoil nach murtair is’ I fhéin
  Don aon dìol-déirc a th’air a giùlan?

Cha do rinn mi cron air creutair
  Tha fon ghréin air feadh an t-saoghail,
B’e mo mhiann tighinn còmh’ ruib’ fhéin ann
  ’S a bhith ’g éirigh suas gu aois ann;
Nuair a ghineadh mi le m’ mhàthair
  Bha mi ’g ràdha, ‘Bheir i gaol dhomh.’
Ach se sòlas thoirt dh’a feòil
  A bha i’n tòir air, ’s cha b’e maoth-phàist’.


Chan fhaic mise latha samhraidh,
  Laoigh is gamhna ruith sna pàircean,
Chan fhaic mi sòbhrach nan alltan,
  Flùraichean an glean no’n gàrradh;
Ch chluinn mi air madainn Chéitein
  Còisir theudach nan craobh àrda,
Còmh’ri cloinn mar a rinn àsan.


Chaidh mo chuid-sa chur don t-saoghal
  Nuair a ghineadh maoth gun chlì mi,
’S nam biodh daoine ceart dha chéile
  Cha bhiodh beul fon ghréin is dìth air;
Ach tha cus a’ càrnadh stòrais,
  Ag ithe, ’s ag òl, ’s a’dìobhairt,
’S am bràithrean gun fiù an greim
A theireadh sgoinn dhaibh tighinn gu ìre.


Chruthaich Dia mi mar a b’àbhaist –
  Se gum fàsainn bha ’na dhòchas,
Cha b’e bha ’na inntinn idir
  Gun robh mise gu bhith chòrr ann ;
Chruthaich e m’anam neo-bhàsmhor
  Ged bha peacadh Àdhaimh beò air,
Ach bha Sàcramaid a’ Bhaistidh
  Dol a thaisbeanadh na glòir dhomh.


Och mo thruaighe, fàth mo dhòlais,
  Chaidh mo chòir rithe dhòmhs’ a dhiùltadh:
Chan eil Baisteadh ann dhomh ’n dòchas
  Mar a dh’òrdaich Rìgh nan Dùl dhomh,
Ach tha fios gun nochd E bàidh rium-
  Neochiontach de phàiste diùmbaidh
Nach fhaigh cead tighinn chun an t-saoghail
  ’S cothrom tighinn gu aois ri ùin’ ann.


O nach gabhthu truas, a mhàthair,
  Riums’, am pàist’ a th’air do ghiùlan,
Éist rium agus cluinn mo ràn
 Is gaol na màthar dhomh ga dhiùltadh;
Bhon a ghin thu mi le d’shaor-thoil,
  Thoir don t-saoghal mi le d’dhùrachd,
’S cha bhi m’theang’ ag eubhach pian dhut
  Nuair thig Dia thoirt breith na cùirt’ ort.

’S thus’ tha feitheamh leis an iarann
  Gus mo chrìochnachadh ’nam phàiste,
Cuimhnich, ged nach fhaic mi t’ìomhaigh,
  S mi nach dìochuimhnich gu bràch thu-
Nuair bhios t’anam ort ga iarraidh
  ’S tu ’g eubhach, ‘A Dhia dian bàidh rium,’
Bidh mise agus crùn mu m’cheann
  Ag eubhach, ‘Sìos don toll an t-À bharsair!’


Thuirt an Tighearna, ‘Na dian marbhadh,’
  Nuair a dhealbhaich E na fàithntean;
Thuirt E, ‘Their thu gaol gu léir dhomh
  Agus mar dhut fhéin, dha d’bhràthair.’
’S sibhse rinn an t-Achd a sgrìobhadh
  A tha murt nam mìltean pàiste,
Mas e ’n ceartas a their buaidh
  Och och mo thruaighe là ur bàis sibh.

Pretty powerful stuff.





Pax et bonum

Stand Out For Life

Despite the threat of rain, more than 50 of us gathered outside Planned Parenthood this morning (June 23) for Stand Our For Life.

The rally included a rosary, silent prayers, and songs.

One of the clinic escorts actually began to cry. We don't know if our message of love began to touch her - I'd like to think that. Of course, it could have been frustration that they could do nothing to stop us, or that the pro-life side is winning more and more.

Interestingly, the police showed up. Our rally leader, small child in arms, went over and talked to the three officer. Then the police approached the escorts. After a few minutes the police stood off to the side, chatting amicably with the prolifers. We were not told to move or to stop.

We'll be back in July.

Pax et bonum

Stations of the Cross for Life 2018

 

 

For the 19th year in a row, pro-lifers gathered at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, N.Y., for a Good Friday prayer service, then a procession while reciting the Stations of the Cross for Life to a nearby doctor's office where abortions are performed. The service and the procession were led by priests, deacons, and women religious. Despite the cold, wet weather this year, a good-sized group of pro-lifers took part. Hopefully, such marches may some day become unnecessary as eyes and hearts are opened to see that abortion is wrong and should no longer be legal.  

 

 

 

Pax et bonum

New Budget Funds Planned Parenthood????

If the reports are accurate, the new Federal (massive and almost unreadable) budget once again funds Planned Parenthood.

If that is the case - and several sources say that it is - then the Republicans once again have betrayed their pro-life supporters.

I pray this is incorrect, or that there is something in the works to cut funding.

But as for me, this kind of situation is one reason I am not a registered Republican.

I hate feeling used.

Pax et bonum

The Twilight Zone

Pax et bonum

Rosary at Planned Parenthood

Pax et bonum

My Car, My Choice

Imagine ...

I have a car. It is full of things from my life - papers, books, guitar picks, empty candy wrappers, loose change, extra dog biscuits, and so on. It is decorated according to my taste, with bumper stickers, fuzzy dice, etc. I keep it fueled and oiled, I have the engine and brakes and tires checked on a regular basis.

I have to get somewhere. I decide to take the highway.

I go above the speed limit. I weave in and out of lanes.

Another driver reacts to my driving, loses control, crashes, and dies.

People try to blame me.

I tell them I'm not to blame. I was not driving that other car. The driver did not keep out of my way. He had no right to use my lane.

I was just driving my own car. I had places to go. I had things to do.

Don't try to oppress me with antiquated traffic laws.

Don’t tell me what I can do with my car.

As for critics who don’t drive or own a car: No car, no opinion.

I am driver, hear my engine roar.

My car. My choice.

Keep your regulations off my carburetor.

Pax et bonum

Gun control and abortion

During a Sunday visit to Facebook (I'm fasting from it for Lent except on Sundays) I spotted a friend's post that began as follows:

"Question: why aren't more people talking about repealing the 2nd Amendment? That's really what this country needs. ..."

My hurried response - I was about to sign off from Facebook for a week - was:
 

"Important topic - certainly reasonable limits on types of guns and on who can buy them make sense - but what about an objective discussion of overturning Roe V Wade and thereby saving hundreds of thousands of lives?. Thanks to advances in science when it comes to the unborn we now know far more than what they knew back in 1973, so why aren't more people talking rationally about that?"

I could have said more. For example, just to be nit-picky, there are many people calling for repealing the Second Amendment and doing so for many years now.

I don't know all the responses to my comment - I'm off Facebook today - but I can imagine many will be about mixing of issues - gun violence and abortion - and defending legal abortion.

But I see the two issues as related. They are both life issues. Both are a reflection of the violence in our culture, and of the idea that one way to deal with problems is through violence rather than seek healing or accept responsibility. Indeed, there are some who say abortion is one of the root causes of the increased violence in our society that we've seen in recent years. (Keeping in mind, of course, that our history is full of violence, sometimes even greater than what we see now in terms of crime, murder, and riots, just to name a few examples.)

St. Teresa of Calcutta observed, "The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion, which is war against the child. The mother doesn't learn to love, but kills to solve her own problems. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want." She also noted, "I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion?"

I think she is right on target here. Gun violence and abortion are both parts of the what Pope St. John Paul II described as the "culture of death."

(Interestingly, reporter Becky Griffin gave the link a different spin, tweeting, “Woman puts baby up for adoption, he grows up to be a violent young man who will spend the rest of his life in prison for a mass murder. Tell me more about how abortions are wrong,”  Even some pro-choicers responded to that one negatively!)

My second point was about the scale of violence. The killing of 17 in the Florida school was horrible. All homicides are horrible. According to FBI statistics, in 2015, there were just under 16,000 homicides nationwide, approximately 70 percent of which involved guns - about 11,200. Yet that same year just over 900,000 abortions took place - that's more than 50 times the number of people killed by murder that year, and 80 times the number killed by guns. Why aren't people more upset about that? And while there are some pro-lifers who would favor repealing the Second Amendment, or would support more gun control, I get the sense that many of the people speaking up for those positions are also pro-choice - a seeming inconsistency. If you are opposed to the murder of innocent human beings by one method why would you not be opposed to it by a method that claims many times more lives?

As for the Roe decision, it was terribly flawed, based on incomplete and distorted "science." We now know so much more, and we are aware of the forces that helped to push it through. Supreme Court decisions have been reversed before, so it's not a reach to say it could happen again. Indeed, it's far more likely than repealing an amendment to the Constitution (though that has happened before).

What this country really needs is honestly and objectively to examine the root causes of the brokenness and violence that lead to some people thinking using guns or aborting babies are somehow appropriate responses to problems.
 

Pax et bonum

At Planned Parenthood (Rosary)

woman gives finger
to group saying rosary -
who's more violent?

Pax et bonum

40 Days for Life - one early Saturday morning

I was outside Planned Parenthood shortly after 7 a.m. this morning holding up my 40 Days for Life sign ("Pray For An End To Abortion") saying a rosary when a driver pulled up to me.

Not know what to expect I said good morning through his open window.

He greeted me back, and said that abortion is wrong (phew), but it won't change until the government does.

I agreed that the government has to change, but noted that the current administration is cutting back on Planned Parenthood /abortion funding, and we have a chance to change the Supreme Court.

He thought it was good to cut their funding, then repeated the government has to do something.

I said that I thought Planned Parenthood is getting scared they will lose funding and that the laws will change, and that I'm more optimistic.

He said that's good, then drove off.

Several other people drove or walked by and gave a thumbs up or waved. Only one person gave me the finger.

A woman walked behind me. I said, "Good morning." She responded in kind, then asked what my sign said. She walked in front of me, read it, and commented that it would be good if we could get rid of abortion. We chatted for a moment, then she wished me well and turned to leave. I said "God bless." She nodded, then continued down the street.

As staff arrived at the clinic I turned my sign toward them. I kept smiling - and hoping that their hearts will be touched. I prayed for them.

I'm optimistic.

I sense things are slowly changing.

Pax et bonum

My Heart Beats Too (Pro-life)

Pax et bonum

Her child (cinquain)

Her child,
conceived in an
unplanned moment, now waits
helplessly, innocently, for
her choice.

Pax et bonum

Good Friday Stations for Life (2017)

 

It's Friday, but Sunday's coming.

Those were the words of Deacon Ron Tocci, quoting the famous Sermon.

It's Friday, but Sunday's coming.

 

 

Deacon Tocci delivered his message at the 2017 Prayer Service before the annual Good Friday Stations of the Cross for Life.

It's Friday, but Sunday's coming.

 

He got the 125 or so people gathered in the McQuaid Jesuit High School chapel to respond.

It's Friday ...

... but Sunday's coming.

 

He noted that there are so many challenges to life, because it is Friday ...

... but Sunday's coming.

 

 

And then we processed to an office where abortions are performed. Along the way, we prayed the Stations of the Cross for Life, touching on issues like poverty, the death penalty, the treatment of women and senior citizens, war, abortion, and more.

 

Yes, it's Friday in so many ways ...

... but Sunday's coming.

Pax et bonum

Women Betrayed Rally in Rochester NY

 

Some images from today's Women Betrayed rally at Planned Parenthood to protest the harvesting of aborted babies' organs for profit, and, of course to support life and women. 125-150 prolifers took part.

 

 

 

The rally included a dramatic dance performance depicting the horrors of an abortion.

There were more there, but they left before this group photo.

Pax et bonum

A baby by any other name would still have rights

A recent series of exchanges prompted by the revelation that Planned Parenthood is generating income by selling aborted baby parts reminded me of a line from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Juliet delivered the line. She was saying that who Romeo was, the essence of this young man with whom she was falling in love, would remain no matter what name he had.

The exchange that reminded me of the line was a pro-choice woman's refusal to refer to the unborn child targeted for abortion as either a child or a baby. She stuck to "fetus."

Now we could compromise. According to Webster's Dictionary, a fetus is human being, so we could just refer to these targets of abortion as human beings. Abortion would then be the killing of a human being.

She avoided dealing with that description. So have other pro-choicers with whom I've debated.

That's dangerous territory for them, because it would be an admission about what abortion really is.

As part of my argument I pointed out that there is historical precedent for refusing to call certain groups of people "human beings."

Slave traders, for example, referred to slaves by such euphemisms as "merchandise" or "cargo" or "goods." To admit that slaves were human beings would have caused problems.

During the Rwandan massacre, the members of the targeted tribe were called "cockroaches."

I once read an account of a U.S. Army officer whose troops slaughtered Native American women and children. When asked why he killed the children, he reportedly responded, "Nits become lice."

During various U.S. wars, troops have come up with alternative names for the enemy - Krauts, Nips, Gooks, Towel Heads, and so on.

All of these euphemisms help to make the targeted groups seem less human. In the case of war, it's a bit more understandable. It's hard to kill someone whom we recognize as a fellow human being. I am not a fan of war, but it does make sense why they feel the need to do this.

But we are not at war with unborn children.

Even if pro-choicers want to call them "fetuses" or "products of conception" or whatever distancing terms they want to come up with, those children remain human beings. That is their essence. That's what their DNA says. That's what common sense says they are.

That's why parents-to-be refer to a child in the woman's womb as their baby. That's why when a woman suffers a miscarriage she will say she lost her baby.

A baby by any other name is still a living human being, with the natural rights due to him or her as a human being.

Pax et bonum