1. Canonizing Mother Teresa for her exaltation of life, Hillary’s encounter for a future saint didn’t quench her passion for abortion, By Jean Mancini. The Washington Times, September 1, 2016, Pg. B4, Opinion.
“Please don’t kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child and be loved by the child.”
These moving words from Mother Teresa’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1997, a few months before her death, epitomized the deeply personal empathy the world came to admire her for during her lifetime. As we prepare to celebrate her canonization however, it is almost impossible to ignore the contrast between her message of love and life and a political culture that asks Americans to revel in abortion.
“I wanted a family but it was the wrong time,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America as she joyfully spoke to the Democratic National convention floor before a national audience in July. Rather than pleas for consideration and mercy, we are now subject to mainstream politics that asks women to “shout” their abortions as a normal and even positive action.
It has been said that the Holy Spirit raises up certain public saints, with a particular gift for a specific moment in history. Against the backdrop of having lost 57 million Americans to abortion since it was legalized in the United States, living in a culture where HBO runs a series aimed at normalizing abortion, and facing a presidential candidate who once said abortion should be safe, legal and rare now advocating abortion on demand at any time in pregnancy paid for by taxpayer dollars, our “shout your abortion” world needs the antidote of Mother Teresa’s gift of love and human dignity more than ever.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/31/canonizing-mother-teresa-for-her-exaltation-of-lif/
2. Why Muslims need to hear both Pope Francis and Cardinal Burke, By John L. Allen Jr., Editor. Crux, September 1, 2016.
One such figure is obviously American Cardinal Raymond Burke, which is the reason why over the last three years he’s consistently been one of the most oft-quoted figures in Catholic life after Pope Francis himself.
Burke puts into words the sentiments of many Catholic conservatives in the era of Francis, and he was at it again this week, taking part in a virtual press conference to promote his new book Hope for the World from Ignatius Press, done in the form of a Q&A with French journalist Guillaume d’Alançon.
He asserted, firmly and unmistakably, that Muslims and Christians simply do not worship the same God.
“I don’t believe it’s true that we’re all worshiping the same God, because the God of Islam is a governor. In other words, fundamentally Islam is, Sharia is their law, and that law,which comes from Allah, must dominate every man eventually,” he said.
“And it’s not a law that’s founded on love. To say that we all believe in love is simply not correct. And while our experience with individual Muslims may be one of people who are gentle and kind and so forth, we have to understand that in the end what they believe most deeply, that to which they ascribe in their hearts, demands that they govern the world.”
“Whereas, in the Christian faith we’re taught that by the development of right reason, by sound metaphysics, and then that which leads to faith and to the light and strength that’s given by faith, we make our contribution to society also in terms of its governance, but the church makes no pretense that it’s to govern the world, but rather that it’s to inspire and assist those who govern the world to act justly and rightly toward the citizens,” he said.
https://cruxnow.com/analysis/2016/09/01/muslims-need-hear-pope-francis-cardinal-burke/
3. Let’s find the time to pray for creation, as Pope Francis asks, By Austen Ivereigh, Senior Crux Contributor. Crux, September 1, 2016.
Pope Francis now asks that every September 1st we set aside time to pray for creation at the start of a month-long ‘Season of Creation,’ ending on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4.
Who could object? Yet I suspect most of us find it easier to turn off the lights, donate to a water charity, or trudge through a late-summer field admiring the swelling fruit on the trees than sit and pray for the created world.
But read one of Pope Francis’ gurus, and the invitation becomes more compelling.
Apart from previous popes, Father Romano Guardini is the most frequently cited source in Laudato Si’, and specifically the Italian-born German thinker’s prophetic 1950 book The End of the Modern World.
In it, Guardini charts the transition from the classical world to the medieval world, and from the medieval to the modern era, showing in each case how man’s relationship (rooted in his attitude) to the natural world has changed.
The dramatic shift comes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when man becomes alienated from nature, no longer seeing himself as subjugated to it or needing to cooperate with it, but separate from it, and at odds with it.
https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2016/09/01/lets-find-time-pray-creation-pope-francis-asks/
4. Yes, Let’s Base Abortion Laws on Science, By David French. National Review Online, August 31, 2016, 2:18 PM.
But nothing illustrates the Left’s selective application of science better than the abortion debate. This morning, the New York Times ran an op-ed titled “We Need Abortion Laws Based on Science.” Written by Ushma Upadhyay, a gynecology professor at the University of California, San Francisco, it makes the case for updating abortion regulations based on the best available science.
For example, she claims that “medication abortion is extremely safe, with less than a third of 1 percent of cases resulting in a serious adverse event” (medically aborted babies were unavailable to comment on these statistics), and she calls for legislatures to base abortion laws on “evidence.” In her telling, “evidence” indicates that legislatures should loosen restrictions on medication abortion.
But hold on there, Doc. If we’re talking science, why aren’t we talking about the baby itself? After all, doesn’t science tell us that from the moment of conception, a separate human being exists, complete with its own, unique human DNA? Doesn’t science tell us that within days, that separate human being develops separate organs, including a heart that starts beating before many women are even aware they’re pregnant?
The baby isn’t a tumor. It’s not a random clump of cells. It’s not a squirrel. What are the ethical implications of these undeniable scientific realities?
5. Pro-Life Activist Says Leaked Document Shows George Soros and Planned Parenthood in a Panic, By Kevin Jones, CNA. National Catholic Register, August 31, 2016.
A leaked grant report from the George Soros-owned Open Societies Foundation seems to show Planned Parenthood and its allies in a panicked effort to raise millions of dollars to counter a series of investigative videos alleging the abortion provider broke the law.
For undercover journalist David Daleiden, it’s a sign of hope.
“It shows that the issue of selling baby body parts for profit is an issue that could shut Planned Parenthood down. And that is why they are taking it so seriously,” Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, told CNA Aug. 24.
In an undercover project released last year, Daleiden and a colleague had posed as prospective buyers of fetal tissue. They recorded conversations with multiple Planned Parenthood officials around the country, and recorded several grisly sessions of aborted babies’ bodies being disassembled for possible tissue harvesting and sale.
Daleiden said a document attributed to billionaire Soros’ Open Societies Foundation group “shows that Planned Parenthood and their allies realize that the baby body parts issue is the biggest crisis, the biggest scandal and the worst revelations that they have every faced in their 100-year existence.”
