from Human Life Intl.

According to many population experts, humanity reached a milestone this week as the world's population reached seven billion people. Every life is a blessing and a miracle to be celebrated, but as we saw in many of the news reports of baby seven billion, this miracle and milestone is being used by some to push even harder for the depopulation of the world, and the further devaluing of life.

In what I think could fairly be described as a questionable PR strategy, the "Day of 7 Billion" fell on Halloween, yielding tales of fright of "overpopulation" for many anti-life activists. But like most of the stories we hear around Halloween, the overpopulation bogeyman is a myth designed to scare us.

Many major news sources focused on Danica May Camacho, a 5.5 pound baby girl born in the Philippines, as the symbolic birth of the world's seven billionth person. It is not certain who the actual seven billionth person is, but United Nations officials were on hand at Danica's birth to present her and her family gifts to mark the occasion. Of course, for those who are familiar with the UN's programs designed to reduce the number of children in the developing world, the specter of UN officials on hand to "welcome" a young Filipina really is enough to send shivers up your spine.

News reports quoted Dr. Eric Tayag of the Department of Health in the Philippines as saying that Danica's birth came with a warning: "Seven billion is a number we should think about deeply," he said. "We should really focus on the question of whether there will be food, clean water, shelter, education and a decent life for every child. If the answer is 'no,' it would be better for people to look at easing this population explosion."

"Easing this population explosion." That's an interesting way of putting it, especially since fertility rates in the Philippines and in much of the world have already fallen so dramatically over the last few decades. Rather than focusing on creating stable, efficient governments that foster economic development and the responsible production of resources, there are many who would rather focus on preventing children from entering the world. Indeed, if the Reproductive Health Bill that Philippine President Aquino is supporting passes, taxpayer money will be used to fund programs pushing contraceptives and abortificacients on Filipinos to destroy the next generation, instead of funding services to improve the lives of the current and future generations.

Even while warning of the "challenges that a growing population poses" in a statement about the "Day of 7 Billion," the UN issued a report that points out the decline of many countries' populations around the world.

The report, published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), known for promoting contraception and abortion around the world, said, "With the declines in fertility in most of the world, the global growth rate of population has been decreasing since its peak of 2.0 per cent in 1965-1970." The UNFPA also points out that in "developed countries, the average fertility rate is about 1.7 births-below the replacement level of 2.1 births."

There are solutions to the problems of economic development around the world, but purposefully preventing human life is not one of them. Especially in nations where children are the "social security" for their parents as they age, to eliminate children is to put the parents' own future at risk.

The future is bright

from Students for Life:

I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to share with you a wonderful article that was published in The Weekly Standard earlier this week. 


Is it an interesting read about the state of the current pro-life movement and exciting to see Students for Life’s work mentioned by name. However, what was most thrilling to me was the theme present through the entire article: We are winning, and the youth of America are leading the charge.

"Opponents of abortion are rarely interviewed on television these days. iIt’s much harder to get on TV than it used to be,' says Charmaine Yoest, who heads Americans United for Life. Bookers of guests for news shows tell her, 'We don’t want to talk about abortion. We’re tired of it.'

Perhaps the mainstream media are simply incapable of covering more than one social issue at a time. For the moment, the conflict over gay marriage and gays in the military is monopolizing media coverage, TV and print alike. Abortion is barely an afterthought.

There’s an upside to this for the pro-life movement, a benefit of benign neglect. Foes of gay rights are now seen by the press as fighting the bad war, roughly analogous to Vietnam. Pro-lifers are waging the good war, like World War II. 'You get much less grief fighting against abortion than you do fighting to preserve traditional marriage,' says Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List.

If only the media knew. They have missed the most important breakthrough in the struggle over abortion in years: the resurgence of the pro-life crusade. The press elite was beaten on the story by publications such as Christianity Today ('The New Pro-Life Surge') and Baptist Press ('5 Reasons the Pro-Life Movement is Winning')." Continue reading...

The article repeats what I often say, that this new generation is the most pro-life generation since abortion was legalized in 1973.  And they see abortion not just as a political or religious issue, but rather a fundamental human rights violation.   
 
And while this article highlights how far our movement has come, it also reminds me of how much work is still left to be done.  


Polls confirm that America’s young people ARE pro-life but thanks to radical professors and targeted Planned Parenthood campaigns, they, more often then not, find it hard to stand strong for their beliefs.

Lord have mercy

There’s a lot of pain out there. Women and men. Regret and sorrow. But if you’ve participated in an abortion in one way or another, you can heal. There is mercy.

That’s the message of Christianity, and it’s for everyone, even the mom who went through with an abortion. Even a baby’s father who pressured a woman to get one because he didn’t know how to or want to acknowledge that he was, in fact, a father.

Theresa Bonopartis is director of Lumina/Hope & Healing After Abortion, a post-abortion ministry in New York, a project of Good Counsel Homes. At the end of Respect Life Month, she talks about her work, exposing the pain to daylight, so that others may seek God’s healing love.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/a-culture-of-faux-choice-meets-divine-mercy-why-theres-hope-for-life-after-/#ixzz1cgVU6gwX

Life = Opportunity

The 30-second spot Little Rascals celebrates the simple fact that life equals opportunity. The ad playfully reminds us that each life is special. 

Accusations, a 30-second ad, which is also airing on statewide television reinforces that no matter what obstacles are in your path, life is the best option.  Each ad ends with the Right to Life of Michigan web site address, RTL.ORG. 

Take a one-minute break and watch the ads.

7 Billionth Baby

from Students for Life:

The United Nations Population Division projected October 31st 2011 as the day on which the world will be home to seven billion people, and while there have been rumors for decades surrounding a global crisis rooted in overpopulation, Steven W. Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, thinks otherwise. 

“This is a happy occasion,” says Mosher, a leading population expert and best-selling author.  "The world's population has more than doubled since 1960, and humanity has never been so prosperous."

According to Mosher, "contrary to what you might hear, the most pressing problem in country after country today is not overpopulation, but underpopulation.  In a time of fiscal austerity, the last thing that we need to be doing is spending more tax dollars to drive down the birth rate, reducing the amount of human capital available, and making us all poorer in the long run.” 

"We are grateful that Baby Seven Billion will come into this world,” Mosher says.  “Baby Seven Billion, boy or girl, red or yellow, black or white, is not a liability, but an asset; not a curse, but a blessing for us all. Humanity's long-term problem is not going to be too many children, but too few children."

Mosher's analysis of world population trends stands in contradiction to the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) report on The State of World Population 2010, which Mosher contends is misleading.  Further US funding of the UNFPA is presently in jeopardy because of UN population control agency’s continued involvement in China’s coercive one-child policy.

To watch the Population Division's newest video on the myth of overpopulation and the world's seven billionth person, click here.

Fr. Pavone Prayer 2

O God, who adorn creation with splendor and beauty
and fashion human lives in your image and likeness,
awaken in every heart
reverence for the work of your hands,
and renew among your people
a readiness to nurture and sustain
your precious gift of human life.

Echoing the imagery of Psalm 104 and drawing from Genesis 1:26, this prayer focuses on how human life itself reflects the image of the Creator, and therefore should evoke in our hearts a reverence and awe which should outweigh any fear in welcoming or defending human life.

This prayer is especially appropriate to use in gatherings of those who assist moms and dads in pregnancy centers, and who do spiritual and educational work in the pro-life movement. The reverence for the work of God's hands feeds the love which is expressed in that "readiness to nurture and sustain" human life. As Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said, "The mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts" (Prayer Breakfast, 1994).

Fr. Pavone Prayer 1

God our Creator,
we give thanks to you,
who alone have the power to impart the breath of life
as you form each of us in our mother's womb;
grant, we pray,
that we, whom you have made stewards of creation,
may remain faithful to this sacred trust
and constant in safeguarding the dignity
of every human life.

Drawing images from Genesis 2:7 and Psalm 139, the prayer affirms that only God can create. Parents cooperate with his creative power, but the conception of each new life is a direct choice and act of God. He alone owns human life -- not parents, nor doctors, nor government -- and he alone can take it.

Our role, as the prayer indicates, is to carry out a "sacred trust" as "stewards." In "The Gospel of Life," Blessed John Paul II said it this way: "Yes, every man is his 'brother's keeper', because God entrusts us to one another" (EV, 19). Some think it's none of their business to defend the life of someone else's child. But God Himself makes it our business. The child scheduled to be killed today by abortion is our brother, our sister, our sacred trust.

We safeguard human life in a variety of ways, including speaking words of encouragement, teaching, assisting parents, and shaping public policy.

The Eve of All Saints Day

The next three days will be a big deal in my household.

Nov.1 is the festival of All Saints Day, when we remember all those who lived lives of heroic virtue and sanctity, those who were "washed in the blood of the Lamb."

Nov.2 is the commemoration of all the souls of the faithful departed, all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.

Halloween is the day when we celebrate Christ's victory over sin and death by making fun of Satan, his ghouls, and all those St. Michael drove out of heaven.

I've never understood the injunction that Halloween is not a Christian holiday. People celebrate Christmas without honoring Christ, but it's still a Christian holiday. Here are two quotes that explain what Halloween is for Christians:

"If you persevere in the love and grace of God, you too shall be a saint. The whole point of "All Hallows" is to remind us to be "hallowed" or "sanctified". Most of us won't have our own particular feast day and so All Saints Day will be our feast day (if God willing, we go to Heaven). It is the feast day for most of the Church's saints, those who lived peaceably, followed Christ, loved their families, accomplished their duties in life and passed on to the next life. May their prayers be with us."

"So witches, wicca, witchcraft--all that stuff. Yes, it's real...Remember in all the fun that the purpose of Hallowe'en is to scare the spooks away--not invite them in. Dressing up as monsters has the same purpose as putting gargoyles on cathedrals--you're supposed to be scarier than the devil in order to give him the creeps and send him running. So when you carve a jack o'lantern, make him scary as you can; but say a prayer as you put him out, that he might keep away the real monsters of the night. And if you dress as a ghoul or a ghost or a witch or a warlock, remember that you are doing so to creep them out; and say a prayer of deliverance from all the dark forces of the world."

What better time than these three days to be praying for an end to abortion. We honor the memory of these innocent babies washed in the blood of the Lamb. We plead that the holy angels of God will vanquish the culture of death and lies in facilities such as the one at 320 Fulton . We pray that our souls will be united with Christ in heaven on the day of our death.

So have a Happy Halloween, and continue praying & fasting for an end to abortion. (Perhaps offer up a different form of fasting if your kids want to share their candy with you! or ask them to offer their candy for the sake of the children who will never get to go trick-or-treating)

ArtPeace needs your help

We are planning for ArtPeace 2012, and are discussing an upright square "temple" with the Heart Sail in the middle, to give the look and feel of Solomon's Temple with the Heart Sail being the "holy of holies" inside the square enclosure.  Displaying the art vertically is definitely better.  We will need about 5000 art pieces, and will be needing a venue, structure design and the materials to make the structure, which we will handle.  We plan to obtain more cedar wood tiles.  Please participate again!

Please share any ideas.  Please feel free to comment, send suggestions, etc.

Please feel free to call/text me anytime 980-6031

Patrick Keeley

Publicity Coordinator, Fall Campaign 2011

Grand Rapids 40 Days for Life

www.40daysforlife.com/grandrapids/

www.artsignup.weebly.com