Federal Funding for Abortion in State High-Risk Pools: We Knew It Would Happen
Published July 18, 2010 | 
…What about the Executive Order that promised not one dime of taxpayer dollars would be spent on abortion coverage?….
By Jennifer Hartline, 7/18/2010, Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Then candidate Barack Obama with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. Planned Parenthood was a strong supporter of the candidate and is a strong ally of the President. Both pro-aborts and pro-lifers have known all along: Obamacare funds abortions and the Executive Order will not prevent it.
It’s been quite a week for the abortion industry. First Pennsylvania, then New Mexico and Maryland; all three states released the details of their high-risk insurance pool, aka Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) - and lo and behold, these federally-funded PCIP’s were all found to cover abortions.
WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – It’s been quite a week for the abortion industry and their chosen President.
First Pennsylvania, then New Mexico and Maryland; all three states released the details of their high-risk insurance pool, aka Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) - and lo and behold, these federally-funded PCIP’s were all found to cover abortions. Full Story
http://www.catholiconline.com/
U.S. to Fund Radical Feminist Group
Published July 18, 2010 | 
The United Nations has created a super agency for feminists, but one female leader thinks it’s unnecessary.
The U.N. General Assembly recently voted to consolidate four different groups into a single one that could eventually be fueled by a $1 billion a year, and many of those dollars would come from the U.S.
“Women need respect and opportunity, not a global agency that will just demand money and power for its elitist leaders,” contends Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA). “There are serious needs of women around the world, but we’ve learned that these types of U.N. agencies don’t meet those needs.”
She believes the money could be much better spent in programs that have proven to work rather than handing it to radical feminists with an agenda. “Instead, this will just simply provide a platform for already powerful women to demand rights such as abortion,” Wright suggests.
Many countries where abortion is limited or illegal have been pressured by to legalize it. That is currently being played out in Kenya, where a constitution before voters is pushing for legalized abortion. The United States is pumping money into that campaign as well.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1090184
The Sunday Homily: THE BETTER PART
Published July 18, 2010 | 
Father James Farfaglia is the pastor of St. Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, July 17, 2010
Students, Alumni Rally Behind Illinois Professor Fired for Expressing Catholic Beliefs
Published July 18, 2010 | Thousands of supporters are rallying behind Dr. Kenneth Howell, the University of Illinois professor fired for expressing his Catholic beliefs, via a “Save Dr. Ken” Facebook group.
Faculty and students are rallying behind a University of Illinois professor whom they say was fired simply because of his religious beliefs.
Dr. Kenneth Howell, an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism, was told recently that he could no longer teach in the university’s Department of Religion. A student at the university accused Howell of engaging in hate speech when he stated in a class review session that he agreed with the Church’s teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.
But Howell refused to leave without a fight, and now he has over 3,100 supporters fighting with him — via a Facebook group called “Save Dr. Ken.”
“It’s turning into a whole movement for freedom of speech in the classroom,” said senior Tim Fox, a member of the group and former resident at the university’s Catholic student Newman Center.
The “Save Dr. Ken” Facebook group includes alumni, current students and outside supporters who are familiar with Howell through his books or his appearances on EWTN, a Catholic television network. Howell is actively involved in the group and has written personal responses to some of his Facebook supporters.
“Save Dr. Ken” is actively working to take its protest beyond Facebook. Its home page offers detailed instructions on how to protest Howell’s dismissal, separately tailored to students, alumni and outside supporters. For example, the group asks alumni to cease donating to the university until Howell is reinstated. It also encourages members to donate to the Alliance Defense Fund, the legal alliance defending Howell’s case.
Members of the Facebook group are planning a prayer vigil on the university’s quad. Students are also organizing a mass boycott of all university religion courses unless Howell is reinstated by the fall, Melissa Silverberg, editor-in-chief of the university’s student newspaper, the Daily Illini, confirmed.
Howell is a popular professor; his students voted for him to receive an “Excellence in Teaching” award last fall, and now they are rallying for him.
Because Howell helped direct programs at the Newman Center, it has become a major player in the conflict. Monsignor Gregory Ketcham, the center’s director, wrote in an e-mail to Newman residents that “We will seek to lobby for [Howell] to continue to teach Catholic courses on campus for University credit and for the Catholic cause on campus.”
Students at the center are not the only ones protesting. The campus secularist group, Atheists, Agnostics & Freethinkers, has taken up Howell’s cause. Howell had worked with the group in the past, helping organize a public debate between an atheist and a Catholic on “Does the Christian God Exist?” last February. Its president wrote a letter to the university chancellor, Robert Easter, saying, “[Howell] has shown a commitment to the questioning of all ideas. His loss is a profound blow to the University of Illinois and its purpose… Who will next be silenced?”
“Even people who disagree with what [Howell] taught think that his firing was wrong,” said Silverberg.
But not everyone is in Howell’s corner. Some students say they are not so sure he should be coming back.
“I wouldn’t necessarily get behind this protest,” said David Bettinardi, a senior. “Teachers can abuse their authority, and if a teacher talks about his personal beliefs in class, it becomes less education and more indoctrination. That’s true for a professor with any set of beliefs – atheist, Catholic, whatever.”
Other students said Howell’s dismissal was not just an issue of freedom of speech, but revealed a double standard at the university.
“Professor Howell didn’t mean to insult homosexuals; he was just stating the Catholic position,” said Mike Hamoy, a senior chemistry major who took Howell’s class in fall 2009. “I’ve had multiple professors who have mocked how much Catholic families reproduce or who have implied to the class that God is a joke. Why aren’t these professors fired for their open insults?”
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/16/students-alumni-rally-u-illinois-professor-fired-expressing-catholic-beliefs/?test=latestnews
GOSPEL & MEDITATION: Choosing the Worse Part
Published July 18, 2010 | July 18, 2010
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Father Robert DeCesare, LC
Luke 10: 38-42
Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are my God and my all. You created me, and you made me to be happy with you. Lord, I hope in you, because I trust that you will not lead me astray. I love you, Lord, because you are the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through you, Lord, and I love you for being the mediator before the Father.
Petition: Lord, be the center, standard, and example of my life.
1. “You Are Anxious About Many Things” It seems that things are moving faster all the time and that more and more things vie for my time. I serve as a chauffeur for the household, I spend a large part of my time accompanying the children for extracurricular activities, and people left and right want to talk to me. There is so much going on. Our culture almost demands that I do all these things. What is more, it seems at times like no one understands my dilemma. I am trying to do what is right, I am trying to be responsible, and it seems like no one else is. I identify myself with Martha, Lord, in a world which is so active and at times seems to fly by. Help me to make the right choices and to fulfill your will.
2. “There Is Need of Only One Thing” Love Christ. Live for him. As life progresses and eternity draws near, only the love of Christ remains. Everything else turns into smoke, mist, nothing. Christ´s love is the treasure for which I should sell everything else, even egotism, pride and vanity. Lord, you are all I need. What else will matter when I finish my life? Who else can fill my soul with satisfaction and peace? Who else brings meaning to my life but you? Remind me of this, because many times it is so easy for me to lose my focus and direction in the world. It seems so easy for me to put other things first.
3. “Choose the Better Part” Lord, your words to Martha strike a chord in my heart. I can let the noise and distractions around me nick at my heart and misdirect me, but all that will do is bring about more confusion and uneasiness. However, if I choose you, what great confidence it will bring me to know that you will not be taken from me. Everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to be fulfilled. Why should I fool myself looking for happiness in the things of this world when you supply it, Lord? Why should I settle for something less than the better part which you want to give me? Shouldn’t I be excited to be able to sit at your feet and spend time with you when you want to teach me what it means to be the best I can be; to be holy?
Conversation with Christ: Lord, give me the confidence of knowing that you are all I need. I do not want to distract myself with anything else. I want to sit at your feet. I want to listen to what you want to tell me. I want very much to learn from you.
Resolution: After Mass I will make a visit to Christ in thanksgiving for having received him in the Eucharist, and I will take a moment to listen to what he has to tell me.
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=735&id=20302
TODAY’S SAINT: ST. ELIZABETH OF SCHONAU
Published July 18, 2010 | CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, JULY 18, 2010
Elizabeth was born in Bonn, Germany, in 1126. She was raised and educated in a Benedictine monastery near her birthplace from the age of 12. Elizabeth came to see the monastery as home, and she took vows in 1147.
With the help of her brother Egbert, a monk and abbot, she wrote three volumes describing her visions.
She served as the abbess at Schonau from 1157 until her death in 1164.
St. Elizabeth was never formally canonized but was added to the list of saints due to great popular devotion.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=540
Pope: In the Heart of Summer, Give the Lord First Place. Choose the Best Part
Asia News (www.asianews.it/), 7/18/2010
Choose together the best part
At his Angelus, Benedict XVI emphasizes that without the truth and love that Jesus gives us, “the most important activities lose value and give no joy. All our action is reduced to sterile and unruly activism. All our action is reduced to sterile and unruly activism. Everything else will pass and will be taken from us, but the Word of God is eternal and gives meaning to our daily activities.”
CASTEL GANDOLFO (AsiaNews) – The “heart of summer”, as it is now in the Northern hemisphere, when all activities are reduced, is “a moment to give first place to what actually is most important in life, that is to say, listening to the Word of God”. This is how Benedict XVI introduced his reflection before the Angelus prayer from the courtyard of Castel Gandolfo, where he has retired for a rest period, suspending Wednesday audiences and official meetings.
The pope stressed the importance of listening to the word of the Lord, commenting on the Sunday Gospel (XVI, year, C), which contains the episode of Martha and Mary hosting Jesus (cf. Luke 10.38-42 ). Martha, the “elder” sister “is busy with many tasks, certainly due to the exceptional Guest” Mary,” Just sits at his feet and listens … held hostage by the presence of the Master and his words” .
To Martha’s complaints, Jesus responds, “Martha, Martha – and this repeating of her name expresses affection – you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her”(from 10.41 to 42).
Christ’s words – explains the pope – are clear: no contempt for the active life, let alone for the generous hospitality, but a sharp reminder to the fact that the only thing that is really needed is another: listening to the Word of the Lord; and the Lord in that moment is there, present in the person of Jesus! Everything else will pass and will be taken from us, but the Word of God is eternal and gives meaning to our daily activities.
“This page of the Gospel – concluded the pope – is very much attuned to the vacation period, because it recalls the fact the human person must work, engage in domestic and professional activities, but needs God first of all, who is the interior light of Love and Truth. Without love, even the most important activities lose their value, and give no joy. Without a deeper meaning, everything boils down to do our sterile and untidy activism. And who gives us Love and Truth, but Jesus Christ? May we learn therefore, brethren, to help each other, to cooperate, but before everything else to choose together the best part, which is and will always be our greatest asset”.
http://www.catholiconline.com/international/international_story.php?id=37425