Summer Edition July/August 2022

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August 2022

PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE

“Remember this and never forget it: Even if it should seem at times that everything is collapsing, nothing is collapsing at all, because God doesn’t lose battles.” 

~ St. Josemaria Escriva

Since the Dobbs v. Jacksondecision was announced, overturningRoe v. Wade, it seems there has been an unrelenting onslaught against life, morals and conscience – a veritable dismantling of all that holds what is right and proper. A short list highlighting some of these new, revised or proposed rules, regulations, legislation, etc. (and focusing only on the federal level) includes:

• On July 8, 2022, President Biden signed the Executive Order on Protecting Access to Reproductive Healthcare Services. This order protects and promotes access to abortion and contraception, encourages pro bono legal assistance for those seeking or providing abortions, and will increase security measures for clinics, pharmacies and other entities involved with abortion-related procedures and medications, among other things.

• In a letter to health care providers on July 11, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, directed that enforcement of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) would pre-empt state laws that ban abortion, if a physician determined that a direct abortion would stabilize a patient presenting to an Emergency Department. This re-interpretation of EMTALA explicitly does not limit the definition of emergency medical conditions to which this would apply and implies that abortion is a routine solution to pregnancy complications—one that sees a singular patient, not two (that is, mother and child). Violations could result in loss of Medicare contracts and other monetary penalties.

• On July 13, the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued “guidance” to U.S. pharmacies indicating strong repercussions for actions construed to discriminate based on sex and/or disability such as advising about or not supplying a particular drug known (and intended) to cause direct abortion. Of note in the text, there is a deliberate effort to conflate miscarriage with direct abortion activities and to combine approved and unapproved medication uses, as well as an unusual emphasis on the autonomy of the prescriber and obligation of the pharmacy to fill a prescription—even one that might violate the conscience of the pharmacist (a most ironic position after opposite policies were enforced for specific prescribed treatments during the pandemic).

• On July 15, the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022 (H.R. 8296) passed the House for the second time (a similar bill was passed in September 2021). This bill codifies abortion in federal law, allowing abortion on demand through the entire nine months of pregnancy and eliminates reasonable safeguards such as waiting periods, parental notifications, health and safety requirements for a facility performing abortions, etc. It would likely invalidate conscience protections for health care providers, employers and insurers as well. Read more

Thanks be to God for answering our prayers. 49 plus years prayers have been offered for the overturning of the ill-considered 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. Thanks be to God the Supreme Court has corrected its previous error. There has never been a right to abortion in our Constitution – and six of the current Supreme Court justices have finally identified what everyone knew to be true. So since it’s not in the Constitution, the decision should be left to individual States and the legislative process to decide.

But while we can and should take the time to celebrate this accomplishment and give thanks to those whose commitment and perseverance made this possible – Respect Life committees, those who walked in the Annual March For Life, the Sisters of Life, the front-line pro-lifers, including our own parishioners – the issue is in no way settled.

I would like to offer five very practical things we can do to move forward:

First, continue to pray. In particular I pray for the softening of the hearts of those who are so filled with rage against the Church and those who want to protect unborn life. How sad it is that our Police Department felt it was necessary to have a police car parked outside our church this weekend as a deterrent to potential rage because of general threats against the Churches. I appreciate the Police Department’s vigilance – but how sad it is that it was necessary. But we will not be intimidat- ed by threats, those threats are a form of terrorism. And we will never give in to that!

In fact, I actually see their threats as a badge of honor – if the Church becomes the target of abortionists’ rage, it means the Church is seen as a defender of unborn life – and that’s a good thing, that’s a badge of honor – no matter what the pro-abortionists think..

Read more

Dear Friends:

 I first met Christopher Bell back in the 1970s. I was in the seminary and working as a volunteer at Covenant House. Chris Bell was already a leading figure at Covenant House and making an enormous difference for the good. 

 His work for homeless young people at Covenant House also opened his eyes to the great need for providing a positive alternative to those who were expecting a child but did not have the means and structure to support that decision. And from that recognition of need, Chris began the ministry which is today called Good Counsel Homes. Providing loving alternative for women who choose not to abort, but to bring forth their often-unintended children. His homes for Moms and their babies have been incredibly effective.

 Recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren, a strident and bellicose supporter of abortion, condemned these alternatives to abortion. Her reasoning was both flawed and wildly unkind. Christopher Bell, one of the most decent Christians you're likely to meet wrote a reasoned response to the Senator from Massachusetts which was published by The Wall Street Journal. I offer it here as further evidence that pro-lifers not only seek to see the choice to abort ended but are also dedicated to offering life-giving love and support to both moms and their children. Please read this important piece by Chris Bell.

 Thanks for your consideration.

 In the Lord of Life and Love,

 Msgr. Jim Lisante, 

Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Massapequa

Read more

Sen. Elizabeth Warren last week called for the federal government to “crack down” on crisis pregnancy centers and maternity homes such as Good Counsel, the one I founded in New Jersey in 1985. In the 37 years I’ve been working with homeless women, pregnant mothers and babies, I’ve seen how the media smears the pro-life movement. They say we don’t care about women. They say we love children only before they’re born and, in Ms. Warren’s words, that we “mislead and deceive” women into having babies they don’t want. She may believe that, but it isn’t true.

At Good Counsel, like many similar organizations throughout the country, we take in any pregnant woman in need. Most come from broken or dysfunctional homes and have nowhere else to go. They are welcome to stay with us for a year or longer. During that time, we help them develop child-rearing skills. We also provide budgeting and vocational assistance, nutritional advice and tips for a healthy lifestyle. Many women choose to work or go back to school. Our staff babysits—free of charge—while new moms begin to build a résumé. We do everything we can to help connect women to resources and support.

It isn’t easy. We have a curfew and a policy against alcohol and drug use. But every line is drawn with compassion and mercy.

 Want to talk about deception? Many of the women who come to us have been told—by doctors, high-school counselors and social-service organizations—that abortion is their only option. They are told that having a baby means they’ll never finish school and won’t have a career. None of this is true, but I hear it every day. Read more

Shock value is no substitute for compassion...but it's all the abortion industry has.

With Roe v. Wade on the ash heap of history, abortion advocates are resorting to outrageous rhetorical attacks against pro-lifers.

During my recent debate on the BBC, an abortion supporter made two ridiculous accusations:

1. Pro-lifers want to force their religion on women who get abortions.
2. Pro-lifers don't care about rape victims.

These emotionally charged talking points are meant to distract from the reality that every abortion kills an innocent child. On today's video blog, I share how to respond--effectively and compassionately.

Shawn Carney, President/CEO

Help close the NEXT abortion facility by taking these three steps:

1. Apply to lead the September 28-November 6 40 Days for Life campaign where you live: 40daysforlife.com/apply
2. Find your closest 40 Days for Life 365 vigil and sign up to pray: 40daysforlife.com/365
3. 3. Learn how to empower abortion-minded moms to choose life by signing up for Sidewalk Outreach training through 40 Days for Life University: 40daysforlife.com/sidewalkoutreachapplication

PRAISE GOD! We are so grateful for the graces and blessings for all the devoted people in the 40 Days for Life Campaigns. 

My name is Brianna* and I give thanks to God that He has given me a very blessed family. I am a mother of four and have been blessed with a very good and understanding husband. I lived a life of sin, where I fell into the deepest part of a black hole in which the Lord in His mercy pulled me out of. 

Now my present life is a blessing, full of peace and freedom, thanks to the healing experience I lived during Rachel’s Vineyard.

A few years ago, I had my first encounter with the Lord and that meeting changed my life, before I was a "Catholic" person. I say Catholic because my parents baptized me and I was confirmed, but from then on it was in name only because I was not practicing my faith and I wasn’t going to Mass nor receiving the Eucharist. 

I give thanks to God for calling me back to the Church through the blessing of making the Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat. I was able to confess my sins that had been haunting me for many years, especially the one that broke my heart and soul, my abortion. Before the retreat I was living together with my partner and was not married. After the retreat I went my parish priest and by the grace of God my husband and I were married. The fruits of the retreat were just pouring out one after the other.  

I had been invited several times to go on the retreat and I really did not see that it was necessary since I had been on other retreats and I really did not see how this one would help me.

One day in the prayer group that I belong to, I gave my testimony of my very dark past and of God's mercy and when I mentioned about how many children I had, a great pain came over me. I felt as if my life of sin and God's forgiveness that the Lord given me was like a trophy I had earned, it was not a sincere repentance. I felt like I was bragging about the mercy of God, and at that moment I realized that something was going on inside of me that was not good. I started to meditate at that moment, and I felt that something was wrong inside of me. I was repeating 10 or 20 times the same testimony and I was always talking about the mercy of God as it was something to brag about, but inside of myself I was not feeling this forgiveness that I so desperately needed. Read more

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

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