Graphic Photos of Aborted Babies Save Lives

Since the very beginning of the abortion controversy a debate has raged over the use of graphic pictures of aborted babies. Some argued they were too much - too distressing. Others said they serve the same purpose as pictures of starving children in the Third World or photos of child abuse or even animal abuse. Think of the horror people experienced over Dr. Fauci's beagle abuse when they let sand flies kill the pups but cut their vocal chords so the "scientists" wouldn't have to suffer listening to their cries. 

May the Godfather of the Pro-life Movement and a "Racketeer for Life" Rest in Peace

Joe Scheidler has gone to his heavenly reward, but his legacy lives on. He has always been one of my heroes, and inspired my own involvement in the pro-life movement. May he inspire many others from his place in paradise where I know he is dancing with all the little ones he saved from the butchers' knives. Thank you, Joe. Please pray for us. And friends, please have Masses said for the happy repose of the soul of this brave warrior. I expect he will spend little if any time in Purgatory, but I know he, in his humility, he would be asking for prayers. God rest his soul! Read the beautiful elegy to Joe at the Tan Books website.  "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"

Wise Words from a Pro-Life Hero

I have admired Joe Scheidler ever since I first heard of him. Truly, this granddaddy of the pro-life movement is an imposing hero. I once heard him give a talk where he told us he believed the apostles on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread because, as he raised his hands, they saw the wounds from the nails. Then he said Jesus will recognize us as His followers by our wounds. Do we bear the scars of Christ from the pro-life battle? If we do, we can be confident Christ, surrounded by the precious murdered innocents, will recognize and welcome us on Judgment Day. 

Here's a bit of what Joe has to say about the election:

Reflecting on our political situation, I have to confess that every four years I find I have fallen into the trap of expecting our political leaders to make my job easier. It is a terrible deception. In my heart I want to live by my (and St. Benedict’s) motto: “Ora et Labora—Pray and Work.” But along comes an election campaign and I am lulled into thinking that if a pro-life candidate gets elected, I can breathe a little easier. 

I say it is a deception, because our work as pro-life activists does not depend on who is in the White House, or the Congress or the State House, or even on the Supreme Court. We are commissioned by God to spread the Gospel, to restore respect for human life, to change the culture and build a Culture of Life. 

If we do our job right, we won’t have nightmares about radically pro-abortion politicians running our country, because the electorate will choose people who cherish life and liberty. (Read the whole article here.)

Thanks for your wisdom, Joe, and for teaching us what fidelity and fortitude are all about!

Citizens for a Pro-Life Society Honor Hero of the Unborn, Joe Scheidler

Joe Scheidler is a hero of mine. On a few occasions I've had the privilege of working with him. I wish I could have made it to Chicago for the dinner honoring this champion of life. I remember hearing him say once that he believed the two disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread because when He lifted His hands they saw His wounds. On Judgment Day, Joe said, the Lord will recognize His followers by our wounds.

Joe certainly has the battle scars to identify Him as one of Jesus' closest followers. God bless you, Joe! May God reward you for your faithful service to His precious babies! May many rise up to imitate your courage and dedication.

Miracles still happen!

I spent years sidewalk counseling at an abortion mill in Alexandria, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Then I moved to the Shenandoah Valley where, thank God, abortion mills are nowhere around. But I still pray and keep up with the sidewalk counseling movement. I'm on Fr. Francis McCloskey's email list and get regular updates about the activities of sidewalk counselors around the country. (Father organizes Oh Saratoga every year, a weeklong counseling and prayer witness at abortion mills in the Saratoga, NY area.) Today's email was so inspiring I wanted to share it.

It was another cold day on Warren Street but this time with lots of rain falling and icing up the snow on sidewalks and lawns. Business at the Moloch was off as usual but the sidewalk warriors were at their best because it was a time of reminiscences of what once happened at this site.

And with 11 warriors most of whom remembered Judge Mannix - John, Alan, Mike, Cheryl, Steve, Marion and her sister Barbara, Francis, Jean, Olga and this writer - it was worth the telling of the time the Judge would come out in his Cadillac to pray with us. As the story goes...

One day the Cadillac pulls up, a man wearing a special surgical slipper and limping on a cane, gets out and comes to pray with us. He is the City Court Judge of Glens Falls. But why did he come out, not just once but repeatedly over weeks and months, and join us on the sidewalk? Which increased the beeps and toots as he was well-known in the City.

Judge Mannix, limping over leaning on his cane, introduces himself. He, a diabetic, had just exited Glens Falls Hospital where he had been admitted with a gangrenous left leg for amputation. While in the hospital he prayed to St. Joseph [understand that with so many Quebecois French in the Glens Falls area, most locals intuit the connection, i.e. the famous healing Shrine of St. Joseph on Mount Royal in Montreal and its founder Brother Andre Bessette with its famous healing oil, l'huile de Saint-Joseph]. When one visits the Shrine one sees the mountains of crutches, back braces and other medical paraphernalia that were left behind by the many healings recorded there.

So Judge Mannix said to us "I said to St. Joseph... St. Joseph, if I don't have to have my leg amputated I'll go out and pray with those crazy people in front of the Planned Parenthood".

Each time Judge Mannix returned he was walking better. One day the special slipper was gone. Finally the cane was gone and he was totally healed.

And so today we recalled those Judge Mannix days and thanked God for the judge's witness. There is more to be told especially about the next door lady who called us over and told us how within a month after the first Scripture Wall, she saw the PP building get hit by lightning and their circuits were out for a week. More to come on this. Since we had both snow and rain to deal with today we finished up with Isaiah 55:10-11.

If you've never prayed at an abortion mill, you are missing a powerful experience. Put it on your bucket list of things to do. You will never regret it. And who knows, you might personally witness a baby being saved. I have photos of quite a few from my days at the mill including a sweet little Muslim girl, the sixth child in her family. Life is beautiful!

This is part one of a sidewalk counseling series. To see the others visit the Pro-Life Action League.

Chicago Passed No-Free-Speech Ordinance 28-13, Daley Can Veto! Take Action.

Abortion protest limits: Chicago says protesters must stay 8 feet from other people outside medical facilities

Chicago Passes Bubble Zone Ordinance—League Urges Mayoral

Keep calling Mayor Daley's opinion line and vote no on gagging pro-life speech! This law will kill children and maim women. Rescue babies. Don't let Planned Parenhood killers win. Fight for free speech to save lives.

Randall Terry and his arrest at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More

In the past few days I have received at least a dozen emails decrying the arrest of Randall Terry and a few of his supporters at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More on October 5th. (Arrests also took place at the Cathedral in Baltimore in September.) All of the emails contained Terry's press release which starts, "It is with great grief that I report to you that I, Randall Terry, along with Brian Sherwood and Joseph Landry, were arrested on Respect Life Sunday, October 5, at St. Thomas More Cathedral in Arlington, VA...." While I'm not opposed to leafletting church lots I think Terry's tactics in these cases are disturbing and, frankly, I question his motives.

A friend of mine who was at the Cathedral both in the morning and in the afternoon when the arrests took place said that Fr. Lundberg, the associate pastor, did not want to have the leafletters arrested. The diocesan policy was explained to them and they were asked to move to the public sidewalk off the property where they could have continued giving out their fliers. (Incidentally, the pastor, Fr. Robert Rippy, was away and the associate is very pro-life.)But moving to the public sidewalk would have meant no publicity and without it Terry can't raise the big bucks to keep himself going. The press release was on the internet immediately after the arrests. Clearly, it was written and ready to go. So the leafletters WANTED THE ARRESTS.

I was involved in some of the earliest sit-ins at abortion mills back in the 1970s. I also participated in Operation Rescue in the 80s. I admired Randall Terry at the time. But his actions since then have cast a serious shadow on his credibility: his abandonment of his wife of 18 years, his Las Vegas divorce and remarriage to a staffer who worked on his Senate campaign, his claiming to have no money for child support while he was fundraising from the pro-life movement to build a $400,000+ house in a gated Florida community, his lawsuit over the name Operation Rescue, his use of confrontational tactics to gain publicity and use it for fundraising. All these things are seriously problematical.

I also find Terry dishonest. He pulled out of the NOW vs. Scheidler case in 1998, but tried to capitalize on the publicity when it was finally resolved in 2006 as though he had remained a defendant. His defection actually hurt the remaining defendants. Randall Terry was also paid $10,000 from the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation for his few months of work trying to prevent Terri's murder. As someone who also fought for Terri, that makes me somewhat nauseated.

I urge readers to look into Randall Terry's background and ask themselves what's really motivating these actions at churches. Is Randall Terry's first concern the defense of the unborn? Or is he looking for a new cash cow and media attention to rebuild his empire as a leader in the pro-life movement? The bishops certainly deserve plenty of criticism, but not for this I think.

If you have money to spare for the pro-life movement send it to a real pro-life hero, Joe Scheidler and his Pro-Life Action League, or to a local crisis pregnancy center. If you are thinking of giving to Randall Terry, get a financial statement first. When people visit his Society for Truth and Justice and click on the donation icon, exactly where is their money going? How much salary is Terry paying himself, what kind of expense account does he give himself, and what accounting procedures are being followed? Is he a good steward for the Lord? Or is he a steward for himself? It's a question that needs asking.