Priests for Life Newsletter
Volume 12, Number 5
September - October 2002
Preaching
the Elections
The mid-term elections are upon us. We don't endorse
candidates or parties. We do endorse involvement and we endorse the Culture of
Life. Please urge your congregation to get out and vote! Urge them to know the
candidates, and how their positions will or will not protect human dignity, and
above all the most fundamental right to life.
An abundance of information can be found on our website at
www.priestsforlife.org/government/polresp.html.
Here are two suggested prayers for the General
intercessions:
That God's people may exercise their responsibility to
vote in this year's elections, we pray to the Lord.
That as we exercise the privilege of voting for our
elected officials, our choices may reflect the Gospel of Life, Justice, and
Peace, we pray to the Lord.
Expelling
Planned Parenthood from School
Fr. Frank Pavone, Founding Director,
Priests for Life
It is widely known that many American schools allow
Planned Parenthood and similar organizations on campus to discuss abortion,
birth control, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other issues
related to the sexual activity of students. What is not so widely known is that
Planned Parenthood gives away nothing for free. True, the students might not
pay, but the taxpayers do, through Title X grants from the government. For
Planned Parenthood to get its money, it needs to have access to the students --
and the money comes even more through the birth control pills and STD treatments
than it does through the abortions.
In other words, not only does Planned Parenthood bring its
morally corrupted message to our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews,
but by doing so it gets the money it needs to continue to become more powerful
and effective -- and that money comes from us.
Numerous efforts have been undertaken for decades to
de-fund Planned Parenthood by legislation, or to appeal to schools in the name
of fairness and moral concerns to stop inviting Planned Parenthood into their
classrooms.
We now have a new way to accomplish these goals. You may
have heard by now that new evidence has been collected demonstrating that the
overwhelming majority of abortion facilities nationwide break the law by failing
to report statutory rape. The clinics, in fact, have the duty to report any
suspected sexual abuse of minors. When minors come to them for abortions, birth
control, or pregnancy testing, that is all the evidence they need to make a
report.
Litigation is now being launched nationwide against these
abortion clinics, and Planned Parenthood is going to be a key defendant.
Here's where the schools come in. If your school district
refers students to Planned Parenthood, and they in turn get into a lawsuit for
failure to report, the school is exposed to legal trouble as well, because they
can be guilty of negligent referral. If they get embroiled in a lawsuit, it is
your tax money -- whether you have a student in the school or not -- that will
have to pay for it.
Every school district in America has been sent a letter
alerting them to this problem. Now, Priests for Life will coordinate an effort
to have concerned taxpayers go to their school board meetings and ask questions
like the following:
What is our School District doing to insure that the
employees who provide referrals adhere to state laws requiring the reporting of
sexual activity by underage children? How is our School District protecting
itself legally against possible claims against it?
Right now the American people are taking seriously the
issue of adults sexually abusing children and having it covered up by major
institutions. Moreover, school boards are notoriously timid when it comes to
knowingly exposing their districts to lawsuits. This effort can lead thousands
of school districts to closet their doors to Planned Parenthood!
We need people to go to their school board meetings. We
will provide guidance, and specific questions that need to be raised. If you
want to help, contact Priests for Life, Child Protection Project, PO Box 141172,
Staten Island, NY 10314, (718) 980-4400, ext. 224; email:
schools@priestsforlife.org; website:
www.priestsforlife.org/schools
Prayer
Intentions
You are encouraged to remember the following intentions as
you pray the Liturgy of the Hours:
September intention: That youth leaders have the courage
and creativity to speak about abortion.
October intention: For strong and effective pro-life
homilies throughout the Church.
Recommended Activities
1. Commission your parish Respect Life Committee during
one of the Sunday liturgies. This commissioning gives the members special
encouragement and manifests to the whole parish the integral role that the
pro-life message and mission has within the Church.
A suggested format would be to call the members forward
after the homily, ask them some questions, say a prayer of blessing, and present
them with a symbol of their mission.
Questions could be:
Are you resolved to promote the church's teachings on the
dignity of human life, as outlined in The Gospel of Life?
Are you ready to work together with your pastor, under the
guidance of the Bishops' Pastoral Plan for Pro Life Activities, to pray,
educate, shape public policy, and provide concrete assistance to women in crisis
pregnancies?
The prayer of blessing can be:
Father of all life, we thank you that you have called us
into being and made us the people of life. Bless our brothers and sisters who
dedicate themselves to be a voice for the voiceless, a defense for the
defenseless. By their example enable all of us to proclaim, celebrate, and serve
the Gospel of Life. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
The symbol given to members of the committee can be the
Precious Feet, the pro-life rose, or a copy of The Gospel of Life.
2. Place on the cover of the parish
bulletin a phone number for alternatives to abortion. This number can be that of
a local pregnancy assistance center, a diocesan resource, or a national pro-life
hotline.
3. Include a pro-life petition in the General
Intercessions of every Mass, as our bishops have asked us to do in their
Pastoral Plan for Pro-life Activities. Suggested prayers in English and Spanish
can be found at
www.priestsforlife.org/prayers/intercessionindex.htm
In Spanish…
Suggested General Intercessions:
-- Por la Santa Iglesia Católica en todo
el mundo, para que pueda cumplir su misión de promover la vida con fe y alegría,
roguemos al Señor...
-- Que todos los que han sido ordenados
para proclamar el Evangelio, nunca duden en defender y hablar por las victimas
del aborto, el infanticidio, y la eutanasia, roguemos al Señor...
-- Que todos los niños aun no nacidos,
sean bienvenidos y protegidos en este mundo en lugar de ser temidos y rechazados,
roguemos al Señor...
Suggested bulletin insert:
"Por ser los maestros principales de la Iglesia, tenemos
por tanto que explicar, persuadir, corregir y amonestar a los que desde sus
funciones de liderazgo contradicen el Evangelio de la vida con sus acciones y
política. Las autoridades católicas en la vida pública que desoyen la enseñanza
de la Iglesia sobre la inviolabilidad de la persona conspiran indirectamente en
la matanza de vidas inocentes." ( Los Obispos Católicos de E.E. U.U., Vivir el
Evangelio de la Vida, 1998, no.29).
Recommended
Books
(See a fuller list of pro-life books we recommend on our
website at www.priestsforlife.org/books)
Detrimental Effects of Abortion
by Thomas Strahan
A pastor should know how abortion is damaging his flock.
This book is the only publication to list, all in one place, all the major
statistically significant studies on abortion. It includes brief descriptions of
the findings of the studies. Topics include abortion decision-making, standard
of care, adolescents and abortion, and the physical, psychological, and social
effects of the procedure.
ISBN Number 0-9648957-0-6
Published in 2001 by Acorn Books/Elliot Institute, PO Box
7348, Springfield, IL 62791-7348; Phone 217-525-8202; Website
www.afterabortion.org
Holy Apostles
College and Seminary
By Anthony DeStefano, Executive Director
Young men from all over the country who are considering
the priesthood have approached Priests for Life with the question: Where can I
go to best integrate my vocation to the priesthood with my call to intense
pro-life work?
Indeed there are several fine seminaries in the United
States that give emphasis to the life issues in their formation programs. But
there is one that we believe deserves special mention. In fact, this seminary is
a veritable Shangri-La for future pro-life activist priests. Its name is Holy
Apostles.
Holy Apostles Seminary was founded by Fr. Eusebe Menard,
O.S.M., in 1956. Initially its purpose was to be a college preparatory seminary
that served older candidates for the priesthood. Since 1977, when it added a
theology program, it has functioned both as a college seminary and as a major
seminary. To this day, however, it continues to have a special concern for
candidates between the ages thirty-five and fifty.
The seminary is located in the beautiful, lush hills of
the Connecticut River Valley. Its campus is made up of small, charming
buildings, which accentuate the simple, familial lifestyle of its occupants.
Indeed, Holy Apostles Seminary has a distinctly Franciscan flavor to it: its
setting non-institutional, its faculty informal, its students humble, welcoming
and cooperative.
The person who sets the tone for this wonderful place of
prayer and preparation is its president, Fr. Douglas Mosey, C.S.B. Fr. Mosey was
ordained in 1974 as a priest of the Basilian Fathers, a teaching community in
Detroit, Michigan. He later received his Ph.D. in theology from the University
of St. Michael's College in Toronto, Canada. In 1990, Fr. Mosey joined the
faculty of Holy Apostles as a teacher and was appointed vice rector in 1993
under the well-known Fr. Ronald Lawler. In May of 1996, Bishop Daniel Hart of
the diocese of Norwich asked him to serve as president and rector-- which he has
been doing now for over six years.
There has always been a strong commitment to the pro-life
cause at Holy Apostles. In the years that Fr. Mosey has served as rector,
however, that commitment has intensified. "Our hope," says Fr. Mosey, "is that
the pro-life spirit permeates all dimensions of life here and formation here. As
the bishops have indicated, if we get this issue right, all the other issues
will fall into place."
Fr. Mosey believes that pro-life should never be an
"add-on" to seminary life. On the contrary, it should be manifested in all the
activities of both the faculty and students. "Whether in the classroom or in the
chapel, we must breathe, act and pray pro-life," he insists. "Pro-life needs to
be part of the very fabric of the institution."
And indeed it is. The Student Life League at Holy Apostles
is undoubtedly one of the most active in the world: Every month it sponsors
lunch meetings that focus on the dissemination of pro-life information in the
greater community. Every Saturday morning it holds two prayer vigils at the
Hartford abortion mill. On the same day it sponsors a Holy Hour dedicated to
"mercy for life."
In addition, the student league publishes and distributes
four newsletters per year, provides a large section of the seminary library with
pro-life resources, sponsors periodic devotions like the Rosary and the Divine
Mercy Chaplets for pro-life intentions, and organizes the annual trip to
Washington D.C for the March for Life. Currently it is trying to raise money to
complete a Tomb of the Unborn and Scriptural Stations of the Cross, having
already secured the necessary permissions.
The seminary also sponsors a full-year of pro-life field
ministry coordinated by Sr. Maryann Linder that includes a whole host of
speakers and training seminars on topics related to abortion and euthanasia,
ranging from CPCs, to Project Rachel, to Chastity and Abstinence, to NFP.
"Our greatest hope," says Fr. Mosey, "is that when we send
our priests out into the world, the pro-life training we have given them becomes
part of their very priestly identity."
With such a fine rector and such an amazing seminary, is
there anyone who can doubt that Fr. Mosey's wish will not come true?
You can contact Fr. Mosey by calling (800) 330-7272, or by
writing to Holy Apostles Seminary, 33 Prospect Hill Road; Cromwell, CT
06416-2027. You can find it on the web at:
www.holyapostles.edu
