Click here to view the embedded video.

And did you know that he defends the pre-born?

This retired six-time All-Pro NFL player skipped the Ravens’ visit to the White House on Wednesday because of President Obama’s support of Planned Parenthood. Let me quote him:

“I would say that I have great respect for the office of the presidency, but about five or six weeks ago, our president made a comment in a speech and he said, ‘God bless Planned Parenthood.’

“Planned Parenthood performs about 330,000 abortions a year. I am a Catholic, I am active in the pro-life movement, and I just felt like I couldn’t deal with that. I couldn’t endorse that in any way. I’m very confused by (Obama’s) statement. For God to bless a place where they’re ending 330,000 lives a year? I just chose not to attend.”

An article by the Baltimore Sun reported that President Obama closed his speech at a Planned Parenthood national conference in April with: “Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you, and God bless America.”

According to an article by LifeNews.com (and many other sources–just Google it!)

“Obama, as a member of the Illinois Senate, opposed a state version of the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, a measure that would make sure babies who survive abortions are given proper medical care.

It also protected babies who were “aborted” through a purposeful premature birth and left to die afterwards.

On the federal level, pro-abortion groups withdrew their opposition to the bill after a section was added making sure it did not affect the status of legal abortions in the United States. Ultimately, the bill was approved on a unanimous voice vote with even leading pro-abortion lawmakers like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry backing it.”

(How could our president have voted against this bill when he was a senator? Geez…the name Dr. Kermit Gosnell comes to mind–you know, the guy who was just indicted for killing babies born alive in abortions.)

So good work, Matt Birk! And thanks to your family, too (He and his wife have six kids.) You are our heroes! All eight of you! (Oh yes, and your parents, too!)

(View my previous blog about Matt: http://catholichotdish.com/embracing-life/my-favorite-matt-birk-quote/)

So, I decided to list some of my frustrations (in no particular order).

Frustration #1: Gosnell ran what some call “A House of Horrors.” The conditions at his abortion clinic were deplorable. A flea-infested cat roamed the place, cat feces was on the floor right along with blood. Urine could be smelled in the rooms of this “health” clinic in West Philadelphia. Jeanne Monahan, president of the March for Life Education and  Defense Fund, said that “…the majority of abortion clinics in our country are held to very minimal standards: legally the same standards as beauty parlors and vet clinics.” (Catholic News Service)

Frustration #2: The staff at this “House of Horrors” threw the bodies of aborted children into bags, orange juice cartons, milk jugs and cat food boxes.  What a complete disregard for human life! It’s because of this disrespect that they call the babies “fetuses” or “blobs of tissue,” wrench them from their mothers and toss them into the garbage.

Frustration #3: A 41-year-old Nepalese woman lost her life from an over-dose during an abortion at his clinic (she was over-sedated). Where is the concern for the health of women and girls?

Frustration #4: Gosnell, aged 72, used a procedure called “Snipping.” He would cut the spinal cords of premature babies at the base of their sculls causing their deaths. 

Frustration # 5: Four babies were born alive during illegal, late-term abortions in his clinic…and then they were killed. THIS IS INFANTICIDE! THIS IS MURDER! The prosecutor cited Pennsylvania law stating that if a baby delivered during an abortion “shows any sign of life, it’s considered alive–a heartbeat, breathing, a cry, movement.” (New York Times) And staff testifying in this case say that the four babies did indeed have signs of life.

Frustration #6: He failed to counsel patients a day in advance of the horrific procedures, and during the abortions, he often turned the ultra sound screen away from the women/teens so that they didn’t see the babies’ images.

Frustration #7: Dr. Gosnell charged $3,000 for his meat-market style of assembly line abortions. Most of his patients were poor, and their late-term abortions were illegal. The bigger the baby, the more he charged. He joked that one baby was big enough to walk him home. Sometimes Gosnell and his wife, Pearl–a cosmetologist–performed late-term abortions on Sundays when nobody else was around.

Frustration #8: Some of his staff was not licensed (like his wife). Yikes!

If you know of any other atrocities about this case that you’d like to add to my list, please write them in the “comments” section below. Doing so will help to get the word out! Thank you!

It was one of those days.

In the morning I had my eyes dialated. Driving was difficult. I needed groceries–I wanted to cook a meal for a friend who had back surgery. The twins were cranky and needed their naps. The big kids were pokey. It was rainy and cold.

There were dozens of excuses. There always are.

But it was Good Friday, and we have a family tradition of praying in front of  St. Paul’s Planned Parenthood. The service is organized and executed by Pro-Life Action Ministries (PLAM). Director Brian Gibson, his staff and a host of volunteers do a stellar job. Taking it up with the Author of Death is not easy work. They organize clergy to lead these prayer vigils every year, giving clear witness to the sanctity of human life.

The Prayer Vigil

We parked easily on the UST Seminary campus. A bus shuttled us to the abortuary. We sat near four young mothers and their wee ones. The busdriver thanked us all and said, “Have a blessed Easter!”

At the site, we prayed peacefully with hundreds of others. Our teenagers took turns holding the twins on their backs. Others held a life-size cross on their shoulders. We were humbled by the disabled people who attended, and the children were affirmed by the classmates they saw. It’s like a family, really. Everyone is curtious. Everyone is prayerful. That is, everyone except for the those on the other side.

They blasted Celtic music–trying unsuccessfully to drown out our religious songs and prayers. They wore neon pink and had a party atmosphere. What is so joyful about ending the lives of preborn babies? We wondered. They held obscene signs. One woman with green hair held a placard that said: “Safe Sex is Good!” They seemed to mock us by having a transvestite march with them, too,  impersonating a woman or mother. Their false witness backfired, however. They showed our kids that the pro-choice view is convoluted. They cemented in their brains the fact that the Author of Life offers the way to the Truth. From going to these prayer vigils they have no doubt which side is right and which side is wrong. This is why we bring them again, and again, and again. Sometimes we even bring their friends.

In fact, one year when the Planned Parenhood was located in Highland Park, I received a tough question from my son’s buddy. He pointed to an incinerator-type thing outside the facility and asked, “Is that where they put the little babies?” I answered honestly, “I don’t know. Maybe.” He was disgusted. He was ignited. That kid will be a voice for the voiceless forever. The next generation needs to understand that women who don’t embrace life, carry the cross of regret forever. The youth need to work hard to help us end the right to abortion. But how can they do this if they do not learn about the atrocities of abortion?

Matthew Kelly, author of Rediscover Catholicism states:

“The only response to this cultural environment that will hold our students in good stead for a lifetime is to ignite in them a love of learning and a hunger for the truth.”

Sidewalk Counseling…Saving lives

Since March of 1981, PLAM has organized the nation’s most comprehensive and thorough sidewalk counseling program. It has documented that more than 2,500 babies have been spared from a torturous death. “These are children whose parents had decided to abort them and who were scheduled to be killed. The overwhelming majority would have been killed the same day they were saved.” (Pro-Life Action Ministries’ website–http://www.plam.org/) In fact, last year when the kids and I were at the Good Friday prayer vigil, a baby was saved by Fr. Larry Hubbard and some of the sidewalk counselors! When we heard the good news, we were so joyful. (Read the beautiful story: http://catholichotdish.com/embracing-life/a-baby-is-saved-from-abortion-during-good-friday-prayer-vigil/)

Thank you, Pro-Life Action Ministries, and all the people who pray to end abortion. Please consider attending a prayer vigil if you haven’t attended one before. And bring some youth; they will be ignited. I hope it will become a tradition for your family, too.

What a lucky baby! Or should I say What a blessed baby!

One of our sons is named after a pope. When he was young, if someone asked him, “What is your name?” He’d say, “John Paul after the pope.” Just think, Someday someone will ask that Italian baby the same question. And after that child answers, he or she will be able to add: “And I was the first baby blessed by Pope Francis!”

Isn’t that beautiful?

In his homily from April in the year of 2005, Emeritus Pope Benedict said:

“We are not some casual or meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.”

That Vatican baby’s soul was touched by the hand of our new pontiff. It was a blessing we can remember with hope. It’s sign that we are all part of God’s plan.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Last Wednesday night, lying on my bed on the fourth floor of a hotel in Bellagio, with a big window overlooking Lake Como, this video came on TV. I had to share it with you. My favorite part is when Blessed John Paul is wearing a red cape and playing with some little boys. It’s just a few seconds. Don’t miss it. So CUTE !!!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

During his eight years as St. Peter’s successor, Pope Benedict XVI wrote three encyclicals, canonized over 40 saints, named two doctors of the church, and created 90 cardinals. He traveled across six continents and published over 30 books. He consistantly spoke about his desire for unity in the Church, and renewing the Church and its faithful. Thank you, “Papa.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo licensed by Creative Commons by Sergey Gabdurakhmanov

Of course we are not active in the pro-life movement in order to get a pat on the back. But, perhaps you remember that Pope Benedict XVI thanked those who promote a culture of life. He did this not only by assisting with the writing of The Gospel of Life (in which there is a section that gives gratitude), but also during his worldwide prayer vigil in November of 2010.

May God bless our dear shepherd’s final days of the papacy, and may the Holy Spirit guide the decision of the upcoming conclave.

And thank you, Holy Father, for all you do to embrace life.

Here are my favorite paragraphs from the words of thanks delivered by Pope Benedict XVI:

“Dear brothers and sisters, our coming together this evening to begin the Advent journey is enriched by another important reason: with the entire Church, we want to solemnly celebrate a prayer vigil for unborn life. I wish to express my thanks to all who have taken up this invitation and those who are specifically dedicated to welcoming and safeguarding human life in different situations of fragility, especially in its early days and in its early stages.”

“[T]here is no reason not to consider [the human embryo] a person from conception. It’s not a question of a collection of biological material, but of a new living being, dynamic and marvelously ordered, a new individual of the human species. This is how Jesus was in Mary’s womb; this is how we each were in our mother’s womb.”

“I urge the protagonists of politics, economic and social communications to do everything in their power to promote a culture which respects human life, to provide favorable conditions and support networks for the reception and development of life.”

Licensed undeer Creative Commons

I was blessed to have Matt Birk’s brother in my fourth-grade class when I was a brand new teacher. For Valentine’s Day that year, I taught the students about measurement by instructing them on how to make French Silk pies. His enterprising mother told me that her boys used that recipe to turn a “sweet” profit. They had their own little business out of the home in which they took orders from neighbors and family members. They’d make the pies and then deliver them in a wagon. This was Matt Birk’s first job. I’m glad he has given up peddling pies and is now doing something that pays a bit better. With six kids, the grocery bills are as high as a football post, and difficult to tackle.

I know, my husband and I have nine kids. We have enjoyed watching Matt Birk and his wife, Adrianna, with their own brood. Often we are in the back of church together trying to quiet toddlers. They are excellent parents, and so good to their Catholic faith. In fact, my sister is in a Bible study with Adrianna; it’s a program she brought to our area. And, as many of you know, Matt Birk has done a brilliant job in speaking out for traditional marriage, family and life.

Thank you Birk family!

Here are some great quotes from him taken from an article in The National Catholic Register:

1) You’ve been active in the pro-life movement. What would you say to someone discouraged about the more than 50 million boys and girls killed in abortions during 40 years under Roe v. Wade?

The big picture is really ugly, but instead of letting that dominate your thinking, I would say to keep the faith and concentrate on the one or two things you can do. You may not be able to save thousands of lives on your own, but the one life you can save today does mean a lot.

Whether it’s teaching our own children to be pro-life, contacting our elected representatives or working at crisis-pregnancy centers, we can all do something. These examples are in addition to prayer, which everyone can do and which everyone should do. Prayer is the basis of any good action. Each little effort helps to bring about a culture of life, a culture in which children are appreciated rather than disposed of.

I spoke at a pro-life rally in Maryland a couple years ago, and it was a life-changing experience. I heard other speakers, including women who deeply regretted their own abortions. Their work, carried out through the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, was very persuasive. It wasn’t just a theoretical discussion; it was real women who had experienced the trauma of losing a child through abortion. They wanted to prevent other women from going through that same thing.

If people were told the truth about abortion, no one would ever seek out the procedure. We hear about “choice” and “reproductive rights,” but no one is ever told by an abortionist, “I will kill your baby by ripping off its arms and legs.” The women from Silent No More let people know the facts so that better decisions will be made. It’s very admirable work.

2) You’ve also been publicly supporting the institution of marriage. What are some misconceptions that people have regarding marriage?

The major misconception is that marriage is anything you want it to be, rather than the lifelong union of a man and a woman for the purpose of raising children. That’s what it has been for all of recorded history and what it continues to be today, regardless of what some people think.

There has been an intense attack on marriage for decades. It has become easier to get divorced, which means the breakup of the closest relationships: those involving spouses and children. This is devastating for the family, especially children, who need a father and a mother. When the marriage is torn apart, each child can feel like he or she is being torn apart.

After all these years of easy divorce, many people have given up on marriage completely. They just live together without any commitment. Needless to say, this isn’t the best of situations for them or for the children who might be involved. What’s needed is not a flight from responsibility, but a firmer commitment to it.

One of the things I’ve learned from the Catholic faith that applies to marriage, football and any other aspect of life is to appreciate discipline. On the surface, self-indulgence appears best for us, but that route only weakens us and leaves us unhappy. Self-denial appears to be worst for us, but that route strengthens us and makes us truly content.

Jesus said if anyone would be his follower he or she must deny his or herself, take up his or her cross and follow him. The way of the cross is the only way to be a true Christian, and it’s really the only way to get anything worthwhile done. It helps you to become the best version of yourself, to use a term from Catholic author and speaker Matthew Kelly.

In order for us to be the best versions of ourselves, we do not need to reinvent marriage, but to recommit ourselves to it. We need to look at it, not with our own agendas in mind, but with God’s plan in mind. He created us, so he knows what is best for us.

If you click here, you can sign up to receive daily email messages during the novena, or text “9days” to 99000 to get the reflections each day via text messaging. I don’t know about you, but I think a reminder is very nice!

 Here’s a Sample of Day One’s Reflection:

Day One: Saturday, January 19, 2013 Intercession: For the mother who awakens each morning with the memory of abortion fresh in her mind: that the Lord may still the terror in her heart and lead her gently to the well-spring of his love and mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. May she, and all who’ve been involved in an abortion decision, find healing and hope through Project Rachel Ministry.

Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, Glory Be

Reflection: Today’s Gospel reading from Mark recounts Jesus dining with tax collectors and sinners. When the Pharisees question Jesus about this, he responds, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” In a society where millions of people have fallen prey to the false promises of the culture of death, let us witness to the mercy of Jesus and invite all who’ve been harmed to experience his abundant love and healing.

Acts of Reparation (choose one):

• Take time to write a handwritten note to someone who is lonely or needing encouragement.
• Pray for your deceased relatives and those who have no one to pray for them.
• “Spiritually adopt” a baby by saying this prayer every day: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of [baby's name], the unborn baby that I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion.” – Prayer of Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Did you know? Women who’ve had an abortion have a 138% higher risk of mental health problems compared to women who’ve given birth, according to a 2011 article in the British Journal of Psychiatry that analyzed 22 major studies on women’s mental health following abortion. Together, the studies involved over 800,000 women. Visit HopeAfterAbortion.org for more information on abortion’s aftermath, and much more.

A mother’s selfless love

(Based on information from a German newspaper article. This is how I envisioned the story happening…)

Large snowflakes planted themselves like kisses on the bundle a mother held in her arms. It was a hard winter that year of 1726 in Rustenfelde, Thuringen of central Germany. The mother was thankful she had swaddled her infant in a woolen blanket.

The woman willed her feet forward as she ambled along the cobblestones. The snow lay twinkling like Stern on the ground and was starting to accumulate, so she tread carefully. Her destination was the Catholic Kirche in the middle of the town. It was named after two strong disciples: Saints Peter and Paul, and she yearned for some of their strength at that moment. When the mother came to a large, stone wall she knew she was almost there. She pressed the child closer to her chest and trudged forward. Wiping a tear from her eye, she whispered to the sleeping babe, “I love you, mein Leibling. That is why I am doing this.”

Perched high on the church grounds, the young Mutter paused to take in the view and bide more time. The timber-framed homes in the village were constructed from wattle and daub and were topped with thatched roofs. Candles glowing in the windows gave a sense of warmth to the scene. Tufts of smoke rising from the chimnyes created a feeling of hominess, for which the mother craved. The farmlands and woodlands beyond were beautiful even at dusk. To her right, at the outskirts of town, she saw a deer family foraging in the wheat field near the treeline. On the distant mound, the castle called Rusteberg loomed like a protective fortress. This was where counts and knight crusaders often lived during the past 500 years. Hanstein Castle, granted to the Archbishop of Mainz in 1209, still sat atop the hill above the Werra River. “It will be a safe place,” she whispered to the baby.

The mother turned to face the impressive Kirche. All was calm, all was bright–except for her heart. Votives were lit witinin, near the altar. Seeing them pacified the mother.

Someone hustled on the road below. The woman lowered her head and put her cheek to the baby’s. When the man had passed them, she made sure nobody was around to see what she had to do out of love for her little Leibling. After one last embrace the mother tenderly placed the baby on the front step of Saints Peter and Paul and then knocked on the wooden door. Fleeing to an enclave nearby, she watched from the shadows.  She felt like Miriam must have while serving as sentinel to the baby Moses adrift in his basket until his adoptive mother found him.

The young  Mutter whispered to the Blessed Mother: “You were alone and frightened, too, weren’t you Mary? Will you wrap your shielding mantel around my baby and safeguard him, bitte? Just like you did the Christkindl?”  The door was opened by a holy man. A light from inside the church poured onto the stoop illuminating the wrapped gift. An expression of surprise and joy crossed the priest’s face as he looked down. Bending, he picked up the Bundel; the child fit perfectly into the crook of his arm. He hastened outside and spent a moment looking around, but he didn’t see anyone. With his right hand, the man dusted away the white fluffs of Schnee which had collected upon the swaddling. The woman saw a smile on the priest’s face before he closed the door.

“Geh mit Gott, meine Engel,” the birthmother said from the shadows. “Go with God, my angel.”

The foundling is named

The priest brought the baby into the sanctuary of the church and unwrapped das Bundel. The infant was no bigger than a doll. He awoke, displaying luminous blue eyes for just a brief moment.  Das kleiner Junge licked his lips and mewled. The man comforted the child and told him not to cry: “Hab keine Angst.”

There arose the question as to what he should call the baby boy. The holy man must have had a sense of humor, so he gave him a name that recalled how the child was covered with white Schnee on the church’s doorstep.

The priest decided to name the baby Schneemann (the surname of my husband’s family). We are told it is not a usual name in Germany–just as you wouldn’t find ‘Snowman’ used as a surname in this country.

Baby Schneemann is adopted

Eventually, the babe was adopted, but we do not know by whom. Perhaps the priest himself took the child in, or maybe he was raised by a couple living in the area of Rustenfelde. All we know is that he was christened Ambrosius Schneemann. He may have possibly been named after the 4th-century theologian and doctor of the Church, St. Ambrose. The name is Latin, taken from the Greek word “ambrosia” which is known as the food of the gods. It also has other meanings: “immortal,” “undying,” or “divine.” Maybe the child’s Christain name was chosen because the name-giver was challenged, as my husband and I were, by the question: What works with the last name ‘Schneeman’?

This baby was indeed created–as all babies are– from the breath of God. They are a blessings bestowed to mortals. Likewise, Ambrosius Schneemann’s birthmother was accessing God’s grace when she chose for her baby the gift of life. And wasn’t the newborn blessed because she did so? She could have left him in an unsafe place like the Werra River, a dark alley, a trash heap, the woods, or one of the nearby culverts, canals, channels or wells. But the desparate Mutti made two unselfish decisions: She willed her baby to live even though he was born in some sort of crisis, and she allowed another woman to call him ”meine Sohn” through the gift of adoption.  For he truly was a “treasure.”

And the first Baby Schneemann bestowed a gift to the world, too–which was his undying lineage.

“Baby Boxes”

All babies–planned and unplanned–are gifts, and deserve to live. Throughout Germany today, there are nearly 100 warm incubators built into hospital walls. They serve as “safe places” for mothers to leave children whom they wish to place anonymously for adoption. These “baby boxes” receive considerable public support because they save little ones from infanticide.

“They are a revival of the medieval ‘foundling wheels,’ where infants were left in revolving church doors. In recent years, there has been an increase in these contraptions –also called hatches, windows, or slots in some countries–and at least 11 European nations now have them [Germany has by far the most--Poland and The Czech Republic are next, and they have more than 40], according to United Nations figures.” (Associated Press, December of 2012)

Sadly, some human rights advocates think these boxes are  bad for the children. That they avoid dealing with the problems that led the baby to be abandoned. But how, pray tell, can saving the life of the baby be a negative thing? Hundreds of babies in Europe have been placed in these boxes in the last 10 years. It is estimated that one or two infants are placed in each “safe place” every year.

According to the Associated Press article, Germany’s Health Ministry is considering other options. “We want to replace the necessity for the baby boxes by implementing a rule to allow women to give birth anonymously that will allow them to [place their] child for adoption,” said Christopher Steegmans for the ministry. (This sounds like our Safe Place for Newborns campaigne here in the States.)

Schneemann Baby’s ripples

In the summer of 1947, a couple named Wilma and Kurt Schneemann of Köln, Germany were married. A family tree fell into their hands. The newlyweds did some research in Rustenfelde and found the story of the Schneemann family beginnings in the church records there. ”This child is the forefather of all Schneemanns” wrote a joyful relative to our cousin back in 1999 at Christmastime.

Ambrosius Schneemann obviously had had at least one child, and that child went on to produce more offspring. And so on, and so on, and so on. I like to think that Ambrosius’  birthmother continued to watch him from a distance. Maybe she also witnessed her grandchildren thriving. Today, many descendants are living in America, and the name was Americanized to ‘Schneeman.’ She’d be happy to know there are successful artists, musicians, students, architects, business managers, doctors, nurses, military leaders, teachers and lawyers, to name a few. One descendant went to Germany to play professional football in 2012, and some kin have returned as tourists; unable to resist the pull of their heritage.

Today, Rustenfelde has a population of about 500. Two Schneemanns sit on the city council under the Bürgermeister Ulrich Hesse.

What a ripple (er, snowball?) effect  one baby–and one choice–can make in this Odyssey called Life.  If we are open to God’s gifts, even during the Schneesturms (snowstorms) of our journey, He will give us so many graces in return.

Fröhliche Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!

(Danke to my Mutti, Cecelia MacDonald, for editing this blog. She also corrected my German and taught me that ALL nouns in the German language are capitalized. And a big Danke to the birthmother of that first Schneemann baby!)

Hanstein Castle in the 1600s

Licensed under Creative Commons by Paul Stein

When it is the birthday of my friends and family members who are adopted, I make sure to tell them, “I’m so glad you were born!” Not every child is given the chance to live. Thankfully, some women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy do allow their babies to exist in God’s creation.  Perhaps they have turned their backs on abortion. Maybe they made an unselfish decision years later, that their child would fare better if placed with other parents through adoption. And how glorious it is when couples open their homes to children in need of a family.

Imagine the babies who were not allowed to live. Imagine all the little ones, across the world, awaiting a new home. (Click here for information on international adoption.)

My friend Tina and her husband Dave adopted a 9-year-old from Ethiopia two years ago. Eli has blessed them in numerous ways, and they have been a blessing to him. Below is a humerous conversation they had about Thanksgiving, which is a new experience for him:

Tina: Sadly, the longer Eli is with us, the less I will have these conversations…but it’s not over yet!

Eli: So is beef made from turkey?
Tina: What? (chuckling) No honey, beef is from cows.
Eli: Why do they call it beef turkey then?
Tina: It’s beef JERKY, not turkey! (ok I had to laugh)

November is the month to celebrate the gift of adoption. Did you know the people in this video were adopted?

Click here to view the embedded video.