Mourning the Loss of a Pro-Life Hero

The Crossroads family is praying today for the soul of Andrew Moore, and for his family. Andrew was one of the 2012 Crossroads volunteers walking from San Francisco to Washington , DC on our 18th annual pro-life walk across America . Andrew was struck by a car early this morning while walking near Indianapolis , Indiana and tragically passed away. Andrew, born and raised in California , was a 20 year old student at Thomas Aquinas College and had aspirations of entering the priesthood. We invite you to join us in prayer and sacrifice for Andrew’s soul, and for the comfort of his family. The entire Crossroads family is devastated by the loss of such a courageous young man. Andrew will be missed deeply by all who knew him. His memory will be preserved in the work of Crossroads and all work to promote a Culture of Life. Andrew was praying the rosary at the moment he was hit. He is now resting in the merciful love of God. In order to tend to the emotional well-being of our volunteers and all those affected by this tragic loss, we have suspended our walks. Counseling is being made available to all of our volunteers as well as spiritual assistance. Please also pray for the Moore family during this difficult time and for his fellow team members. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to help with funeral arrangements, please visit www.crossroadswalk.org or call 800-353-8817.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation Backs Down to Planned Parenthood Bullying

WASHINGTON,DC (Catholic Online) - In a one sentence tweet the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation revealed another dimension of the growing epidemic of bullying in the United States, bullying by Planned Parenthood. The tweet simply said, "We want to apologize for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives."

Like millions of other Pro-Life people, I received the news that Planned Parenthood had prevailed in this entire struggle with deep disappointment. I admired the courage originally displayed by this Foundation. It does such important work.

I also knew that any financial loss they might have incurred from Planned Parenthood bullying would have been far exceeded by contributions from the Defenders of the Right to Life who admired their proper decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood.

Komen had given over half a million dollars to Planned Parenthood this year alone. The money was supposed to be used for the noble purpose of breast cancer screening and breast health services. When they announced they would no longer grant Planned Parenthood any funds because they were under investigation, Planned Parenthood cried foul.

Planned Parenthood is the subject of a Congressional investigation for using tax payer funds for abortion services. In fact, there is a cloud over much of their operation for good reason.

The head of Planned Parenthood's digital bullying effort told the New York Times, "I think this was a tipping point for us. I think something has happened, where people are upset that two great organizations that have this shared mission were now in this difficult position. And so, we have been seeing that response through our supporters, some of whom were not our supporters before Tuesday afternoon."

Sadly, the epidemic of bullying seems to continue, unabated. Now, the largest abortion provider in the United States has displayed a digital form of bullying which should cause grave concern to all people of good will. Under its unrelenting media pressure, the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation has backed down.

Planned Parenthood blamed the decision by the Susan G Komen Foundation to cease giving it grants on "anti-abortion activists". That means people who insist that the child in the womb is our neighbor. People who reject the profane idea that killing our first neighbors can ever be a "right" since it is always wrong to take innocent human life. People who defend the fundamental Human Right to Life of every person, no matter how small.

When an organization like Planned Parenthood receives a grant - or a subsidy - it may argue that it uses that particular money for a purpose other than the taking of innocent life through abortion, but the argument is a ruse. It is a deadly shell game. Money is fungible, or interchangeable. The very fact that the money came in allows other funds to be used for providing abortions.

Planned Parenthood is built on a lie. They dress themselves up as a "Health Care Provider" and include the taking of the lives of innocent children in the womb as a "service" under their offering of "reproductive services".

They have insinuated themselves into the global delivery of "medical services" and receive massive government funding. Included in these purported "medical services" is the killing of children in the womb through intentional abortion. It is the worst kind of child abuse. Abortion is lethal form of bullying.

No matter where you look these days there is a news report, commentary, study or conference on the growing National epidemic of bullying. One television network recently aired a multi-platform series on bullying. The National Education Association released statistics in 2010 indicating that every day 160,000 children miss school out of fear of some form of bullying, verbal, physical or cyber-bullying.

Bullying is a problem, but it is not a new phenomenon. It does appear to be on the increase and concern over bullying is legitimate. I have raised five children and now have six grandchildren. I have had to deal with the horrible effects of bullying in my effort to be a good father and grandfather.

Bullies are bred. Bullying is a symptom and not a disease. I have long contended there is a connection between abortion on demand and the increase of bullying.

We have lost the sense of the dignity of every human person as an unrepeatable gift from God. People are now objects of use, property not persons. This is a root of bullying and contributes to the growth of this behavior.

Now, Planned Parenthood has proven this point. Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation has backed down in the face of Planned Parenthood bullying.

Bullying begins in the womb. There, in the first home of the human race children are brutally bullied to death. They cannot be heard in their resistance. An entire class of persons relegated to the status of personal property can be disposed of for any reason by those more powerful.

These children are our first neighbors in the first home of the whole human race. They are killed by chemicals and surgical strikes and evicted from their first homes. That evil behavior is protected by the positive law and enforced by the police power of a State which has lost its soul.

In the words of now Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, "Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. ...I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child." It is time to get to the root of bullying. It begins in the womb and manifests itself in a culture of death and use.

I encourage our readers to pray for the leadership of Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation. I was taught as a child to never back down from a bully because it will only make matters worse. I still believe it.

Victory! Komen Foundation ends partnershi​p with Planned Parenthood

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, a leading charity for breast cancer, announced Tuesday that it is ceasing its partnership with Planned Parenthood in prevention screenings and education at the health centers across the nation.

Komen spokeswoman Leslie Aun told The Associated Press that the cutoff results from the charity's newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. Aun said this applies to Planned Parenthood because it's the focus of an inquiry launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., seeking to determine whether public money was improperly spent on abortions.

According to a statement from Planned Parenthood, the Komen Foundation began informing local Planned Parenthoods in the past few weeks that their breast cancer initiatives would no longer be eligible for new grants beyond existing agreements.

Planned Parenthood said it had set up a Breast Health Emergency Fund to offset the support that 19 of its local programs are expected to lose from the Komen Foundation. But the organization on Tuesday did not disguise its disdain for anti-abortion groups that they blame for threatening the foundation for its partnership.

"We are alarmed and saddened that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure. Our greatest desire is for Komen to reconsider this policy and recommit to the partnership on which so many women count," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement released by the federation.

Planned Parenthood has been a continuous target of protests, boycotts and funding cutoffs because it is the largest provider of abortions in the nation. With almost 800 health centers in the U.S., the federation provides other services such as birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and cancer screening.

Pro-life groups praised the action.

"As a breast cancer survivor, I applaud the decision made by the Komen Foundation to discontinue their partnership with the billion-dollar, abortion mega-provider, Planned Parenthood," Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest said. "The work of the Komen Foundation has life-saving potential and should not be intertwined with an industry dealing in death."

According to Planned Parenthood, its centers performed over 4 million breast exams in the past five years, almost 170,000 of them paid for by Komen Foundation grants.

"We're kind of reeling," said Patrick Hurd, who is CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia -- recipient of a 2010 grant from Komen. Hurd's wife, Betsi, is currently battling breast cancer.

"It sounds almost trite, going through this with Betsi, but cancer doesn't care if you're pro-choice, anti-choice, progressive, conservative," Hurd said. "Victims of cancer could care less about people's politics."

A statement issued by the Komen Foundation cited criteria for new grant-making and ensured there would be no gaps in its assistance.

"While it is regrettable when changes in priorities and policies affect any of our grantees, such as a long-standing partner like Planned Parenthood, we must continue to evolve to best meet the needs of the women we serve and most fully advance our mission," the statement said.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/31/komen-foundation-ends-partnership-with-planned-parenthood/?test=latestnews#ixzz1lAcEByIf

Book Review: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

I have read almost every Jodi Picoult book published. Although I do not always agree with or even like the endings, I enjoy her writing as it is easy to read and gives my brain a break from having to work too hard. The most recent novel, Sing You Home, is a far cry from her norm.
Besides the fact that there are gaping holes in the story big enough to jump through, you are given two very extreme sides to a hot topic: homosexual marriage and same-sex parenting. This story paints the anti-homosexual Christians as the oppressive right wing, narrow-minded, unsympathetic, and intolerant extremists while the homosexuals are portrayed as bullied, persecuted and loving heroes.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of Tolerance is sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own. Doesn’t that mean that you have to be tolerant of me just as I am tolerant of you? Even if I believe that same sex marriage should not be legal? I am a Conservative, go to church every Sunday, am opposed to birth control and abortion and think sex outside of marriage is a sin. When was the last time someone celebrated my diversity?
I think this book was written hastily to satisfy an agenda since the story is so poorly developed. Unless you proudly fly your rainbow flag for the world to see, you will be better off skipping this book.

Planned Parenthood Pushes Intensive Sex Education for Kids as Young as 10

A new report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation is advocating that children as young as 10 be given extensive sex education, including an awareness of sex's pleasures.

The report, "Stand and Deliver," charges that religious groups, specifically Catholics and Muslims, deny their young access to comprehensive sexual programs and education.

"Young people's sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions. Fundamentalist and other religious groups — the Catholic Church and madrasas (Islamic Schools) for example — have imposed tremendous barriers that prevent young people, particularly, from obtaining information and services related to sex and reproduction. Currently, many religious teachings deny the pleasurable and positive aspects of sex." the report states.

Click here to read the report.

The report demands that children 10 and older be given a "comprehensive sexuality education" by governments, aid organizations and other groups, and that young people should be seen as "sexual beings."

"Young people have the right to be informed about sexuality and to have access to contraceptives and other services," Bert Koenders, the Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation, wrote in the foreword to the report. It was his organization that helped fund the report.

The report argues that sex education should be "recast" to show sexuality as a "positive force for change and development, as a source of pleasure, an embodiment of human rights and an expression of self."

Much like a U.N. report released last August that advocated teaching masturbation to children as young as 5, "Stand and Deliver" has set off a wave of protest among religious and conservative groups.

Ed Mechmann, spokesman for New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, charged that Planned Parenthood was "trying to teach children sex without values and that sex is a matter of pleasure and done without consequences."

He said religions like Catholicism and Islam teach sex as part of a much bigger picture and that Planned Parenthood was trying to de-link sex from traditional values.

"It is part of an effort to get children to reject traditional values and accept a liberal American-European view," he said. "In many traditional countries — Catholic and Muslim — it won't work and should be seen as cultural imperialism."

Mechmann also charged that Planned Parenthood's report was compromised because it has a financial stake advocating the changes. "The difference between Planned Parenthood and us is that we don't make money off what we teach and say. They do. They make money off contraceptives and abortions," he said.

Michelle Turner, president of the Maryland-based Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, said Planned Parenthood was simply trying to eliminate parental say.

"What are they trying to do? They are trying to eliminate the role of mom and dad in the family," Turner said. "For Planned Parenthood to decide that governments, private organizations and religious organizations should make decisions about kids' sexuality is just going too far."

"It is part of a bigger push to change the way we think about sex," she said. That sex is all about pleasure and there are no consequences. They are wrong. No matter how much we teach children, some will make mistakes. They will forget. And Planned Parenthood doesn't want to deal with that," she said.

"They see religious groups, especially those that counsel abstinence and waiting until marriage, as bad guys," she added. "We aren't."

Planned Parenthood said it was unable to comment because the report was issued by its European office and it was unable to contact them.

Expecting

After months of trying, my wonderful husband and I are expecting our first child. Our Gift From God is due to arrive in July. It is funny, though, with this week being the 37th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, how differently I am affected by the thought of abortion. I feel like my first and only obligation is to keep my baby safe. Hubby and I tried for many months to achieve this pregnancy. It is truly by God's grace that we were able to conceive and that baby and I are both healthy so far. I hope women everywhere can understand what a gift, joy, and responsibility it is to become pregnant... and I pray every day that mothers can see their child as a gift instead of an inconvenience. Praise God for this beautiful gift.

Protest terrible blasphemy to Our Lady of Fatima

My heart is sick to tell you, but...

...as Catholics, we must defend Our Lady's honor, especially when She is blasphemed, and shown half-naked!

According to press reports, homosexual groups in Spain published a calendar that has horrific, unspeakable blasphemies against Our Lady of Fatima and other Marian apparitions!

Besides a man that is practically naked alongside Our Lady, the calendar has "images that are based on famous works of sacred art, especially apparitions of the Virgin Mary, but interpreted by transsexuals.

"In the 'Secular Calendar,' each month is represented by a free interpretation of famous scenes of Catholic imagery, such as Our Lady of Fatima and the three shepherd children. But redecorated with homosexual esthetics."

"The scenes show saints dressed as drag queens, using crowns, necklaces, bracelets, and colored condoms with applicators and vibrators attached to the crowns."

Moreover, the homosexual group behind the calendar suggests December 25 be officially declared the Day of Democracy instead of Christmas. (BOL Noticias, online 10/19/09). http://noticias.bol.uol.com.br/internacional/2009/10/19/ult36u47296.jhtm
--- (Access with caution).

As Catholics, you and I cannot remain silent before such blasphemous insults to Our Lady and the Catholic faith! No matter where in the world it is.

So please send a protest message NOW via email to the Minister of Justice in Spain.

It's vital that you send your message right away. I don't believe the honor of Our Lady has ever been attacked like this before in history. Ever!

You and I, and tens of thousands of Americans MUST speak out against this and spread our just outrage to other countries too. And, with God's help, our prayers and protest may become so huge that the authorities in Spain will enforce the country's anti-blasphemy laws, and prohibit this blasphemous calendar.

How wonderful that would be!

For love of Our Blessed Mother, please pray this happens.

So please send your e-message today to the Minister of Justice of Spain.

And consider forwarding this posted message to all the Catholics you know.

And since the honor of Our Lady was insulted in the worst way ever, you and I MUST offer the most fervent and widespread act of reparation possible at this time.

To join our nationwide, even worldwide campaign of reparation, please go here to download and pray these acts of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Thank you for joining me in this fervent, filial and global act of reparation in face of such a vile, unspeakable blasphemy against our dearest and purest Mother.