From Embryo: A Defense of Human Life by Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen
[There is a] claim made by some supporters of embryo-destructive research that because early-stage embryos can split into identical twins, they are not yet individuals or determinate human beings. (Pg. 22)
I don’t think this conclusion necessarily follows.
The only thing the twinning phenomenon changes is how many persons there are, not whether it’s a human person.
In Genesis 4:1, Adam “knew” his wife and she bore Cain. (NAB translation, “had relations with”).
In Genesis 6:4, the sons of God “came in to” the daughters of men, who bore them children. (NAB translation, “had intercourse”).
Both translations appear to show a difference in relationship. The sons of God appear to be merely using their partners for physical pleasure, rather than engaging in a rightly ordered marital union.
Okay, I’ve been convinced. This place is gorgeous! I would like to travel here!
Now, all I need is a financial backer and travel companion.
Just look at the water! Isn’t it amazing? Can you imagine sitting here all day, praying?
One day…. 🙂
Here I am at Adoration. I’ve been here over 2 hours already. I’m reading a book of prayers for the souls in Purgatory.
Suddenly, I just begin weeping. Tears are running down my face and I’m trying to breathe shallowly and evenly so that the 5-7 other people here won’t realize that I’m crying.
Then, just as suddenly, there’s this scent — like incense and flowers. No one has come in or gone out or gotten something from a purse or bag. No reason that I can see for the sudden scent.
I sit there, staring at the Lord; praying, praying. I’m not quite sure *what* I was praying but it was rather intense.
And, then it was over. My tears stopped and the scent went away. All I smelled then was the sweat of the man sitting in front of me.
Like nothing happened.
Except…
Something just did.
“Flames. Particularly when they’re coming from that direction.”
Thank you, thank you, Tom Peters! That is hilarious. 🙂
News from Zenit:
ROSSANO, Italy, APRIL 28, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The former president of the Academy for Life is lamenting the death of a baby who survived an abortion but died two days later after being left without care.
Bishop Elio Sgreccia stated on Vatican Radio that care is a duty even if the law does not require it, denouncing the neglect of a 22-week-old baby boy who survived in a hospital in Rossano after his mother attempted to have him aborted.
Prenatal scans had shown two malformations in the boy, in his palate and lip. His mother went to the Nicola Giannattasio hospital on Saturday to procure a so-called therapeutic abortion.
The baby, weighing just under 11 ounces, was deposited by doctors onto a sheet after the procedure, and placed in a container to await his death.
He continued to breathe, however, and an unidentified person noticed movement in the container on Sunday morning.
This person reported the matter to the hospital’s chaplain, Father Antonio Martello, who went and found the baby.
The little boy was still alive, with his umbilical cord attached, some 24 hours after the abortion attempt.
The priest alerted the doctors, who sent the baby to a neonatal unit at a nearby hospital, The Telegraph reported. He died there Monday morning.
Law enforcement officials are investigating the case to see if this qualifies as abandonment or homicide.
The bishop of that region, Archbishop Santo Marcianó of Rossano-Cariati, lamented the “arbitrary superficiality” of the staff that did not try to save the child, L’Osservatore Romano reported today.
He asserted that this case should “lead civil society to reflect on the tragic character of abortion, in so far as it is the suppression of a human being, and in this case, on the illicit character of the definition ‘therapeutic.'”
The prelate stated, “In fact, it is not a ‘cure,’ but reinforces the eugenic mentality that is spreading, and which not only increases recourse to abortion, but poses serious questions regarding the alleged benefit to the woman’s health and on the natural meaning of maternity.”
“It also invites us to consider with what ease a person who is seriously malformed and simply undesired is treated inhumanly,” he added.
Archbishop Marcianó expressed the hope that this case will spark a serious and fruitful debate and “lead each one to collaborate so that the value of the life of every human person is recognized as the foundation of a civil and just society.”
Bishop Sgreccia pointed out the limits of a law that does not provide for artificial respiration and tube feeding for fetuses of 23 or 24 weeks.
He asserted that doctors should look at “fact” rather than the age of the baby, “because if the aborted fetus, in a voluntary or accidental way, is alive — also if it is at the limit of survival, at the age limit — the doctor is in the presence of a fetus that, because it is strong or because the dates were not properly calculated, fortunately, is living.”
The doctor “is obliged to make it live,” the prelate said. He added that “the law must clarify this.”
Bishop Sgreccia called for “great care and great vigilance” because the underlying fact “is that it is a life that is born and also that is already outside the mother’s uterus, which shows that it can live, and must have all the help possible.”
It used to be the case that once you were born, if you survived birth, you were considered a person with rights, and doctors had to take care of you. So what is the case now? You are only a person if someone wants you? Only once you are old enough to fight for yourself?
Keep them I pray Thee, dearest Lord,
Keep them, for they are Thine;
Thy priests whose lives burn out before Thy consecrated shrine.
Keep them for they are in the world though from the world apart;
When earthly pleasurs tempt, allure — shelter them in Thy Heart.
Keep them, and comfort them in hours of lonliness and pain,
When all their life of sacrifice for souls seems but in vain.
Keep them, and remember, O Lord, they have no one but Thee.
Yet they have only human hearts, with human frailty.
Keep them as spotless as the Host, that daily they caress.
Their every thought and word and deed, deign, dearest Lord, to bless. Amen. — Anonymous
Three years ago, on April 7, 2007, at Easter Vigil, I was baptized, confirmed and received first Eucharist from Fr. John — officially entering the Catholic Church.
Prior to that, I first stepped foot inside St. Anastasia on January 14, 2007. I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but the day before on Saturday, I had woken up and said, “I’m going to be Catholic!” Rather a startling thing to say, because I’d been atheist/agnostic my entire life and had no idea what I was getting myself into.
So I Googled “Catholic church Troy” and came up with websites for two churches: St. Anastasia and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. I wasn’t particularly impressed with either website at first glance, but decided to go to St. Anastasia the next day, noting that the first Mass was at 8:15 am.
Why did I pick St. Anastasia?
Because I had gone to Troy High, and St. Anastasia was right next to Athens High. I figured that if I went to SEAS, as it was closer to my high school, I’d have a much greater chance of running into the parents of my high school classmates, who would then, of course, point me out immediately as a fraud for having dared entered a church.
I rationalized that if I didn’t like it at St. A’s, then I could always try SEAS the next week.
So, I went to Mass and sat in the very last benchy-thing. I didn’t go up in that line everyone else was getting into for communion, but stayed glued to my chair. After it was over and everyone was starting to leave, I went up to an usher and, mustering all the courage my scared little self had said, “How do you join?” The poor guy looked terrified that I had asked him this and said, “Uh…. Let’s find Father!”
In my head, I was like, “Oh no! Don’t bother HIM! Isn’t there some flunky I could talk to instead?” But I obediently followed the usher in solemn procession as we tried to find this “Father” person. The usher kept saying things like, “He was just here a minute ago….” And I so desperately wanted to tell him thanks, but nevermind, but I felt bad because I had already taken up several minutes of his time and felt obligated to stay until he had completed his mission.
Finally, we find him, and I find myself staring up, way up, at this man in vestments, who says something like, “Hi! How can I help you?” I look frantically at the usher, as if to say, “I told you; YOU tell him!!” I could swear the guy looked at me like, “Hey, I found him for you. You are on your own now. See ya.” Oh boy.
The Father was still standing there, expectantly. I looked up again and said, “How do you join?”
He smiles, “Oh! You went to the wrong Mass!”
I felt my eyes get big as I exclaimed, “There’s a wrong Mass??!?”
“No, no,” he reassured me. “It’s just that people who are coming into the Church go to the 10:15 Mass, and then there’s a meeting afterwards. So, go away and then come back…oh, about 11:30 or so at the Davidson, the building on the far end of the property by John R.”
So, I passed my time at the conveniently located Starbucks, where I seriously considered just forgetting about it all and going home.
What kept me from going home?
I knew that, somehow, if I ever decided to come to this church again, THAT MAN WOULD KNOW. And he would smack me saying, “I told you to come back!”
So, I came back and found my way into the Davidson Center. After a bit, a woman came up to me and gave me a Bible, a Catechism, a 5-inch binder and another book, plus a whole stack of papers.
I was still a little overwhelmed by it all and when I got home, I placed it all on the couch, then started looking at the back covers. “This is like $70 worth of stuff! I’d better go back next week!”
Actually, I haven’t missed a Sunday since that first one. Less than 3 months after that, there I was at Vigil.
Shortly after coming into the Church at Easter Vigil, Patty, our Director of Religious Education, came up to me and told me a little more about that day. She said, “He (Fr. John) caught me between Masses and told me, ‘There’s going to be a [girl] coming to [RCIA] today. She’s going to be joining us at Easter. She’ll be ready.” (Or something to that effect, you’ll have to ask Patty for the verbatim.)
I could go on and on about all the wonderful people I met: Patty, Steve, my sponsor/godmother whom I came to love deeply… But to be short, I’ll just say that this changed everything. I had a new family. And I was home.
Shortly thereafter, Fr. John was transferred to a new parish. This parish was right on my way to work. And in September of 2007, Fr. John started up 6:30 am Masses. This was awesome, because it meant that I could go to Mass EVERY DAY on my way in to work at U of M! 🙂
Even though I knew Fr. John, I get anxious in new churches (which is odd because I am typically fearless in any other place). So, throughout that first Mass, I was white-knuckled, shaking in my chair in the Day Chapel.
Since OLGC is so conveniently located to work, it’s much easier to get there for Holy Days, than to try and beat the traffic back to Troy. Plus, the 5 days a week of daily Mass, the occasional Saturday morning Mass, Wednesday night Catholicism for Cradle Catholics and Gospel of Life speakers…. I was finding myself at OLGC quite a bit.
OLGC during the week, and St. A’s on Sunday (plus RCIA and Bible study and 5th grade catechism and…) but I wasn’t contributing to OLGC and this kind of bothered me.
When Archbishop Vigneron was installed and had a Mass at OLGC, I asked him if I could belong to more than one parish — and he gave me permission.
So this Easter, as one of my student loans was paid off and I had a little extra money, I decided that I should officially join OLGC, since it was becoming a second home and people were beginning to recognize me there at the various Church events.
On April 7, 2010, exactly three years after I was officially entered into the Catholic Church, I faxed over my application to be a parishioner.
And waited for the rejection letter…..
But, here I am! With the coveted Church Offering Envelopes!
SCORE!!!! 🙂
My little family is growing! 🙂
—
Now for the cute little ironies.
Last year January, I felt that God was calling me to work in the field of Bioethics, and so I was admitted to Sacred Heart Major Seminary, where I am working on my Master’s in Theology, hoping to go on to a PhD in Bioethics.
I was cleaning a couple of weeks ago and what did I find? The bulletin from that first day at St. Anastasia.
What did Fr. John write about in his article?
Bioethics. 🙂
—
And what is printed on the front of my new starter envelopes? Luke 6:36 “The measure you measure with will be measured back to you.”
The first time I think I heard this Gospel was during daily Mass at OLGC in that first year. I was grinning as soon as I heard it and I’m pretty sure I giggled all throughout the communion line.
Why?
Because I pictured this 2 story tall pyrex measuring cup and imagined myself telling Jesus, “THIS! THIS is the measure I use!”
Why Fr. John puts up with my laughing through his liturgy, I may never know. But he hasn’t kicked me out yet! 🙂
While I was at school today, my brother helped my new boy move in. He is basically all situated, with only a few things that we still need to find a place for. I’m really excited about him living here and think we will have lots of fun together, although I am pragmatic enough to know that we will have our quarrels as well.
I got to see the US Nationals coverage tonight. This guy was AMAZING! He skated a clean program and made all his jumping passes look effortless.
I cannot wait to see him during the Olympic Games in Vancouver! 🙂
What was especially refreshing was his unique choreography. It truly suited him and reminded everyone watching that this wasn’t merely figure skating artistry, but it was a masculine artistry.
Bring on the Games!!!
Paroxysm of Giggles / Critical Mass 