Real Catholic Blog

The March For Life draws about 300,000-400,000 people each year to Washington, D.C., on the anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision, to remind lawmakers and the public that legalized abortion is not a forgotten issue in America. If that number is impressive, this year’s may double because of the proposed health care “reform” legislation in Congress that will expand abortion-on-demand by mandating insurance companies offer coverage, by eliminating conscious protections for medical professionals and offering tax payer funded abortions.

Stephen Phelan, communications manager for the Front Royal, Va.-based Human Life International, told Tim Drake of the National Catholic Register:

They said that last year there were between 300,000-400,000. How many more people come out this year because of the healthcare bill is uncertain, but there’s definitely a lot of energy. Every poll indicates that between 75-80% of people are opposed to abortion coverage in the bill, and in Massachusetts we’re seeing that even middle-of-the-road people are upset with this bill.

The Stop The Abortion Mandate Coalition is asking people to schedule meetings with their representatives and senators while in Washington (see video below). Meanwhile, Human Life International is hosting a conference at the March For Life that will include international pro-life leaders from Africa, Europe, South America, Asia and Oceania.

Although we encourage as many people as possible to attend the March For Life, we understand that it isn’t feasible for everyone. So does AUL Action. So it has created a Web site where you can participate in a “virtual March For Life” (click here). So, attend if you can. Participate over the Internet if you must. Either way, remember to write your representative and senators and urge them to vote against any bill that mandates abortion coverage, tax payer funding and the weakening of medical professionals’ conscience protections. The, most importantly, continue to pray for a just outcome.

March For Life . . . and visit your Congressional representatives while you’re at it. The Stop The Abortion Mandate Coalition tells you how to maximize your time in Washington this week.

Here is a message from Father Frank Pavone, national director of Father Frank Pavone, about this week’s March For Life events in Washington, D.C. (see Father Pavone’s Blog). Now, more than ever, it is important to let our elected leaders know what we think about the important issues of our day — especially the paramount issue of our age, Life. The politicians now are listening. Agreeing? Maybe not. But we are making progress, otherwise, how to explain the difficulties in passing such anti-life legislation such as the health care bill? Stay vigilant. Pray, then put your prayers into action with civic activism.

Father Frank Pavone calls us to our civic duty, to put our prayers into action. 

Father Frank Pavone (see Father Pavone’s Blog) and Priests for Life are hosting a Vote Pro-Life teleconference on Monday, January 25, 2010. The teleconference will focus on the 2010 elections and will have a panel of experts, including David Barton of Wallbuilders and Majorie Dannenfelser (see Weekly Standard interview on YouTube) of the Susan B. Anthony List (see The SOP.org).

The teleconference, which is designed to motivate, inspire and educate will be a great way to capitalize on the momentum of the March For Life later this week in Washington, D.C. (It’s not too late to attend. Ask your parish, diocese, a Knights of Columbus council, find here, or other Catholic or pro-life organization in your community if they are planning to charter a bus.) If you can’t attend the March For Life, the teleconference is a good way to learn how you can participate in the pro-life movement.

Sign up for the teleconference here, at Priest For Life. After you sign up, you will receive an e-mail with more details. You cannot receive the details on how to participate without an online RSVP. 

Father Pavone accurately notes that “A key part of putting our prayers into action is bringing them to the voting booth.” So, please, forward this link to friends you think are interested in getting more involved so they can learn about the teleconference. You can also join the Pro-Life Cause on Facebook by clicking here. Father Pavone asks that we “act for the unborn so that we may save Our Lord’s children.”

It looks like U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) is in a bit of a bind. In an attempt to embarrass his bishop last fall — His Excellency Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island — to cover himself for his shameless advocacy of abortion-on-demand despite his professed Catholicism, he has seen his poll numbers drop. According to one cited on a cable news show last night, it’s down to 37 percent.

Mr. Kennedy has become so weak that the normally deep, deep blue Congressional district he represents is now competitive. Republican State Rep. John Loughlin (EastBayRI.com) now is on the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee’s “watch list” (Providence Journal Blog) as a possible target race. Not only that, but Representative Kennedy seems to have invited primary opposition (Los Angeles Times) as well.

It’s too early to tell, but maybe Mr. Kennedy will learn a bit of a lesson: Keep private conversations private and learn your Catechism before you do spout off. Perhaps most importantly, despite assertions to the contrary, it’s the Left that uses the Church for political gain; so now, perhaps, he and others  will learn the pitfalls of such cynical ploys that attempt to belittle and demean others and their reputations.

We hope as many people as possible attend the March For Life, January 20-23, in Washington, D.C. Our very own Brother John (the hard working, behind the scenes, driving force of this blog) will be there and will offer will provide coverage for us. Parishes and dioceses all over the country, as well as Catholic and pro-life organizations, are sponsoring transportation. It will be worth the effort — a pilgrimage of activism in the defense of the unborn.

Many events are planned for the week, culminating in the great march on Friday, January 23. Many of the events are Catholic oriented, including Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life and Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. For more information on these and the many other events and activities, from lectures to a flashlight rally across from the White House, to a bloggers conference, LifeSiteNews.com has an entire schedule and details on each event, here. 

Meanwhile, we’ll provide updates along the way. We hope you check back often and, most importantly, continue to pray for the end of abortion in America.

From EWTN.com:

St. Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle.

Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,

and do thou,

O Prince of the heavenly hosts,

by the power of God,

thrust into hell Satan,

and all the evil spirits,

who prowl about the world

seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

O glorious prince St. Michael,

chief and commander of the heavenly hosts,

guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits,

servant in the house of the Divine King

and our admirable conductor,

you who shine with excellence

and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil,

who turn to you with confidence

and enable us by your gracious protection

to serve God more and more faithfully every day. Amen.

Father Tito of the Franciscan Friars of Air Maria gives a homily on the Luminous Mysteries, starting with the baptism of Jesus. He explains that we see Jesus’ espousal with His bride, the Church in the Luminous Mysteries. His breaking open of these mysteries gives good reason as to why John Paul The Great added these mysteries to the Rosary. Father Tito’s homily is packed with thoughtfulness. Every sentence gives you much to think about. Take the time to listen. It’s worth it.

The Catholic Church teaches the Truth, which is not easy. But who will teach those Truths if not us? Certainly “not the New York Times.”

Here’s an insightful homily by Father Ignatius Manfredonia (of AirMaria.com) on the Holy Family in which he expounds on the relationship between the loss of family life to the loss of love — first to God then to neighbor. He stresses the connection between love and sacrifice.

Love and marriage. They really are related . . . but a love of God is the part you don’t hear too much about.

What did Noah’s Ark look like? Pretty conventional, right? Pointy ends, wide at the sides? Not according to a new discovery by a British researcher who received access to ancient tablets that had been held by the son on a World War II British airman. It was round, as in a circle: A large — very large — life raft!

Theunias Bates of AOL’s Sphere blog has the details, here. Below is an exerpt.

This ship shape discovery was made by Irving Finkel, an expert in ancient Mesopotamia (now Iraq) at London’s British Museum. While translating a 3,700-year-old clay tablet inscribed with Babylonian cuneiform script — passed to the museum by the son of a British Air Force man, who picked it up while serving in the Middle East during World War II — he spotted an “extremely exciting” reference to the ark’s “circular design.” This was a revelation, says Finkel, not only because he’d never thought of the ark as round, but because this was the first-ever ancient description of the ark’s shape. Neither the Bible nor other Babylonian documents featuring the great flood offered any guidance of that sort.

The usual depictions of Noah’s ark, like this one from the 13th century, are all wrong, according to a newly translated Babylonian tablet.

“When you see paintings of Noah’s ark, it always has a prow and a stern, and it’s an ocean-going vessel that could get you from A to B,” says Finkel. “But the poet who wrote this version conceived the ark as a giant coracle, which have steep sides and a rounded bottom.” These highly stable boats, he notes, were used to float goods and animals from one side of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers to the other, and are still sometimes used in Iraq today.

New research from a recently studied ancient tablet suggests Noah’s Ark was round, like a super-sized life raft. Which is what it was.

In the latest of a long string of violent attacks on the Church in majority Muslim nations in recent years, three more parishes were harmed today in Malaysia (see The Daily Telegraph), continuing a rampage that started on December 31 when that nation’s top court overturned a law allowing only Muslims to use the word “Allah” for God. The case was brought by Malaysia’s Roman Catholic Church and since then, the Church and other Christians have used the Arabic word to better translate God in its literature. However, some intolerant Muslims, who apparently think they own the language, have reacted with firebombings and other destructive acts. We should all pray for the end of violence and intimidation toward the Church in all countries, especially in Iraq, Turkey and, now, Malaysia.

Here’s a news report on Muslims protests via YouTube:

This report from a Malaysian news source barely mentions the firebombings.

I’m sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I was knocked off my feet last week with something . . . still not sure what. Either food poisoning or some hit and run flu strain. However, I appear fully (or mostly) recovered and bare exciting news:

Real Catholic Blog will have a presence at this year’s March For Life, Friday, January 22, in Washington, D.C. Not an official presence, but Brother John will be in attendance and we are excited that he will relay his impressions of his experiences of this massive outpouring of pro-life sentiment. We hope to have pictures to post as well. Brother John will be on a bus chartered by Saint Anthony Maronite parish in Richmond, Va. If you see him, tell him hello. He’ll have a prayer card to give you.

For more information about this event, the largest and most significant event promoting the cause of the unborn in American each year (and maybe the world) visit MarchforLife.org. It is a three-day event, including the Rose Dinner, whose featured speaker this year is Robert George (see LifeSiteNews), author of the Manhattan Declaration, the groundbreaking document signed by thousands of religious and pro-life leaders, and hundreds of thousands of grassroots pro-life activists, committing themselves to the end of abortion in America. The March For Life site has information on chartering buses, how to participate and all the related events. We hope that all of our readers, if not their parishes and/or dioceses are not already making plans for March For Life, will take a leadership role in getting them involved. We will provide updates about March For Life until then and, as always, keep you up to date on all pro-life news.