It has been a wonderful Easter season. In the process of reading the Bible and attending Holy Week and Easter services I also learned in reading from Bob Gass and the Word For Today about noticing that the “cross” has two posts: vertical and horizontal. The vertical represents your relationship with God, what He wants to do for you and what He wants you to do for Him. The horizontal post represents what He has called us to do for each other.
Lent is a time for self-evaluation and introspection – praying and working to make our life more focused on the important things in life especially interpersonal relationships with family and friends and additional prayer to give us the understanding of God’s plan for each of our lives.
I am now particularly focused on:
- What we need to understand about what is happening within the Catholic Church and how each of us needs to react
- The debate about defunding Planned Parenthood and the real facts, and
- Efforts to disrupt and even destroy the foundational principles and traditions of America.
This past year has been one of the most difficult in recent times for our Catholic Church. The teachings of the Church have not changed, but many people cannot separate the egregious acts of a priest, deacon or bishop from an act of the Church.
I urge you to read the recent paper by Pope Emeritus Benedict or its summary by Archbishop Chaput to understand how this came about.
Benedict said, “in light of the scale of pedophilic conduct, a word of Jesus…says: ‘Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea.’ (Mark 9:42) The phrase “the little ones” in the language of Jesus means the common believers who can be confounded in their faith by the intellectual arrogance of those who think they are clever.”
Called to Lead
Those words of Pope Benedict XVI explain why we must as Catholic business men and women be leaders and why we have a responsibility to defend the Church and help root out evil from within.
Here’s another example of how we must lead. How many of you have children or grandchildren? How many are involved with their education? Many of the sex education programs in public schools expose them to things that are way outside of appropriate sex education. You need to know about this and object, and have your child opt out as they are allowed to do.
Real Facts from The Charlotte Lozier Institute
The Charlotte Lozier Institute has accumulated reliable research that shows the following: Women have real choices.
Across the United States, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) outnumber Planned Parenthood centers by more than 20 to one.
There are 20 FQHCs and RHCs for every Planned Parenthood location (13,540 FQHCs and RHCs to 665 Planned Parenthood locations). As an example, in Texas it is 732 better health care alternatives (FQHCs and RHCs) to 38 Planned Parenthood locations.
Most revealing are the services offered by comparison:
Planned Parenthood offers abortions and the FQHCs and RHCs do not.
Planned Parenthood (a misnomer to begin with) makes more than $300,000,000.00 annually by performing abortions (killing babies).
There are so many attacks on the Judeo-Christian beliefs and traditions that have been the foundation of America. These forces believe if they can damage or destroy the Catholic Church it will be clear sailing for them to do as they choose in creating new norms.
The St. John Paul II Life Center in Austin, Texas, is working to save babies lives, educate about when a baby’s heart starts beating, when a baby can feel pain, and educate about appropriate teaching on human sexuality. This is our way to be that horizontal post of the cross to help others. Many individuals and groups help us.
My challenge to you is to choose your path where you can serve and stay involved. The future of our country and our faith depend on it.
As Mother Teresa said, “we are not called to be successful but to be faithful”.
Let us each choose to be a part of the cross in helping others every day.
God bless you!
RELATED RESOURCES:
- The Church and the Scandal of Sexual Abuse — Pope Benedict XVI (full essay)
- St John Paul II Life Center in Austin, TX
—————————
Timothy Von Dohlen is the founder and president of the John Paul II Life Center and Vitae Clinic in Austin, Texas. (www.jpiilifecenter.org). He may be reached at tim@tvdg.com
View Articles If you’ve met Tim, you know that his life was shaped by good values that were imparted to him by his parents and he... MORE »
You must be logged in to post a comment.