A valid Catholic marriage results from four elements:
(1) the spouses are free to marry;
(2) they freely exchange their consent;
(3) in consenting to marry, they have the intention to marry for life, to be faithful to one another and be open to children; and
(4) their consent is given in the presence of two witnesses and before a properly authorized Church minister.

According to Canon Law code 1065, before marriage the couple should be involved with the Diocesan marriage prep procedure, and it is during or prior this time that the would-be spouses are Confirmed, if they have not previously received confirmation and it can be done without grave inconvenience.

1.  God instituted Matrimony for the special purpose of entrusting to the married couple the privilege of cooperating with Him in the generation of children and of caring for the souls and bodies of their children.  ”May both she and her husband see their children’s children and live on to a happy old age, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.”  ~ The Nuptial Mass Blessing.  As stated in Mark 10:14, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.”  So it is a grievous sin for the married couple to prevent God’s special purpose of Matrimony.  The Sacrament of Matrimony gives husband and wife the gace to be faithful to each other and to bring up their children in the love and fear of God.

2.  The true marriage of Christians is always a Sacrament, for Jesus Christ raised marriage to the dignity of  a Sacrament.  ”It is evident that among Christians every true marriage is a Sacrament, and nothing can be farther from the truth than to say that the Sacrament merely adds a certain decoration. ” Pope Leo XIII

3.  The Christian man and the Christian woman who make the marriage contract are the ministers of the Sacrament of Matrimony.  ”I take you to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”  ~ The Marriage Promise.  The marriage couple freely and publicly bind themselves to live together faithfully until death, as husband and wife.  Therefore, the husband cannot during the life of his wife have another wife, nor can the wife during her husband’s life have another husband.

4.  Christian marriage is governed by the laws of God and His Church. The State may make laws which concern only the civil effects of Christian marriage; for example, property rights.  The State cannot grant an absolute divorce with permission to marry again, for the State has no right or authority to judge a valid marriage if one or both of the married couple is baptized.  ”What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” ~ Mark 10:9

5.  For a valid Catholic marriage, the couple must be free to marry, freely consent to the marriage, and marry before the parish priest, or a priest delegated by him, or a permanent deacon, and in the presence of two witnesses.  If the couple fail to fulfill the requirements of a valid marriage, there is no marriage.   For a lawful Catholic marriage, it is further required that each of the contracting couple must be in a state of grace, be sufficiently instructed in Christian Doctrine, and observe the laws which the Church has made to keep marriage sacred.  ” We are the children of saints, and we must not be joined together like heathens that know not God.” ~ Tobias 8:5

6.  Catholics should marry at a Nuptial Mass and receive Holy Communion because the Church has appointed this Mass  to call down God’s blessings on the married couple.  ”May the God of Abraham, be with you, and may He fulfill His blessing in you, that you may see your children’s children even to the third and fourth generation, and afterwards possess life everlasting, by the assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  ~ Nuptial Mass Blessing.

7.  To prepare for a holy and happy marriage, Catholics should pray fervently that God will direct their choice of a life partner, seek the advice of their parents and confessor, practice virtues especially purity, go to Confession and Holy Communion frequently, and consult their pastor with enough time before the intent to marry.  ”And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there.  And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples to the marriage.  My son, do nothing without counsel, and you shall not repent when you have done.” ~ Ecclesiasticus 32:34

8.  Catholics should try not to marry non-Catholics because such marriages sometimes result in loss of Faith on the part of the Catholic and in neglect of the religious training of the children.  The Church does sometimes, but always reluctantly and only for very grave reasons, grant dispensations from her law regarding these mixed marriages.  When the Church does grant them, she always insists that the non-Catholic party promise (sometimes even in writing) not to interfere with the Catholic life of the other party.  Also that both parties have all the children of the marriage baptized and brought up in the Catholic Faith.   Most priests would probably advise caution and clearly state expectations.  Of course, there is the idea and understanding that some mixed marriages will later turn out a convert.  So trying to stick to dating Catholics only might be a better idea just for the sake of simplicity.  Doesn’t mean it can’t happen the other way, of course.  {side note: I happen to know a couple whose mixed marriage produced two sons who are practicing Catholics, one of whom is a seminarian, and the non-Catholic spouse ended up becoming Catholic but it did take 22 years for this to happen.}  So, while it is ideal for couples to be  both Catholic, it is not unknown for there to be successful mixed marriages as long as certain expectations are observed from the beginning.***

9.  Some marriages prove to be unhappy because husband and wife married hastily and with unworthy motives.  They probably did not ask God’s help in this marriage difficulties and they also neglected the duties of their married life.  ”Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church.”  ~ Ephesians 5:25.  ”Wives, be subject to your husbands as it behooves in the Lord.” ~ Colossians 3:18  There are situations where the Church issues annulments.  It should be made clear that an

10.  The practice of family prayers will bring rich blessings on married life.  As Blessed John Paul II once said, “the family that prays together, stays together!”  ”May the God of Abraham be with you and may He join you together, and fulfill His blessing in you.”  ~ Tobias 7:15.

*** Since we’ve had so many comments regarding this point, I am adding the section on Mixed Marriages from the  Catechism of the Catholic Church.:

Mixed marriages and disparity of cult

1633 In many countries the situation of a mixed marriage (marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic) often arises. It requires particular attention on the part of couples and their pastors. A case of marriage with disparity of cult (between a Catholic and a non-baptized person) requires even greater circumspection.

1634 Difference of confession between the spouses does not constitute an insurmountable obstacle for marriage, when they succeed in placing in common what they have received from their respective communities, and learn from each other the way in which each lives in fidelity to Christ. But the difficulties of mixed marriages must not be underestimated. They arise from the fact that the separation of Christians has not yet been overcome. The spouses risk experiencing the tragedy of Christian disunity even in the heart of their own home. Disparity of cult can further aggravate these difficulties. Differences about faith and the very notion of marriage, but also different religious mentalities, can become sources of tension in marriage, especially as regards the education of children. The temptation to religious indifference can then arise.

1635 According to the law in force in the Latin Church, a mixed marriage needs for liceity the express permission of ecclesiastical authority.¹³⁷ In case of disparity of cult an express dispensation from this impediment is required for the validity of the marriage.¹³⁸ This permission or dispensation presupposes that both parties know and do not exclude the essential ends and properties of marriage; and furthermore that the Catholic party confirms the obligations, which have been made known to the non-Catholic party, of preserving his or her own faith and ensuring the baptism and education of the children in the Catholic Church.¹³⁹

1636 Through ecumenical dialogue Christian communities in many regions have been able to put into effect a common pastoral practice for mixed marriages. Its task is to help such couples live out their particular situation in the light of faith, overcome the tensions between the couple’s obligations to each other and towards their ecclesial communities, and encourage the flowering of what is common to them in faith and respect for what separates them.

1637 In marriages with disparity of cult the Catholic spouse has a particular task: “For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband.”¹⁴⁰ It is a great joy for the Christian spouse and for the Church if this “consecration” should lead to the free conversion of the other spouse to the Christian faith.¹⁴¹ Sincere married love, the humble and patient practice of the family virtues, and perseverance in prayer can prepare the non-believing spouse to accept the grace of conversion.

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Fleshing out the teachings of the Catholic Church is like turning around an aircraft carrier: it’s done slowly and methodically, taking considerable time and care. And she typically only takes on that task when her teachings are under attack. Take contraception, for example…for nearly 2,000 years, “Contraception is immoral” was sufficient for most Catholics to eschew it.

Then the Pill offered couples easy, reliable family planning and suddenly, the Church’s teaching seemed inadequate. Especially when compared to secular feminism and humanism, which touted contraception as the enlightened path to equality for women, more satisfying marriages, and stronger families.

The Church caught up–eventually–with God giving us the profoundly beautiful teachings about conjugal love through John Paul II’s “theology of the body,” as well as modern natural family planning methods that are scientifically proven to be as effective as the best hormonal contraception. Catholic couples today are blessed that they have not only the means to be faithful to Christ, but plenty of compelling reasons to be, too.

We see the same thing happening today with same-sex attraction (SSA). Until now, the Church’s concise teaching was enough: “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” (CCC 2357).

The Church also says that “This inclination…constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” But for many people, the call to compassion is hollow. Why? Because this is what they really hear the Church saying:  

We’re sorry you aren’t attracted to the opposite sex. We’ll pray for you to conquer these filthy desires. Sure, you’ll be lonely and miserable for the rest of your life if you’re celibate, but what’s a little suffering to gain heaven in the end?

Then there’s the secular world, which for the most part accepts and even celebrates SSA, claiming the orientation is so innate that it’s analogous to skin color. (And what kind of unenlightened bigot could fault a person for simply being who they are?) The world says homosexual acts are just another normal expression of human sexuality. These messages are more palatable to folks, especially to those who actually struggle with SSA and its stigma. The secular world seems so much more, well, loving and compassionate than the Church does on this issue…so much more enlightened. It’s not, but it’s the perception that’s killing us.

I understand this better than most because I’m a practicing Catholic and I live with same-sex attraction. I’ve known and loved many souls who struggle with it, too. Some of whom are trying to live as faithful Christians and others who live an openly and unapologetically gay life. If what the world says is true, then it’s easy to understand why so many with SSA reject the Church’s teachings. Who wants to be celibate–and thus, alone and miserable–for the rest of their life? 

If living a lonely and miserable life was the only way a person with SSA could be a faithful Catholic, I’d probably have jumped ship long ago. But that’s not God’s plan for us. Instead, God’s plan is so simple, so elegant, that it escapes the notice of even most Christians:

Intimacy.

God wants nothing less than the deepest, most profound communion with his creatures. But for a culture that thinks almost exclusively in physical terms, the only relationship worth seeking is the one that ends in sexual union.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, though. We seek the physical union because we hope it’s the means by which we’ll achieve the spiritual union. We intuitively know that the most sublime joy we can experience is spiritual, not physical. Would any of us suggest that a mother’s overwhelming joy at seeing her new baby for the first time is on par with savoring a good steak dinner? Or imagine that any sensory pleasure could compare to a father’s happiness at seeing the son again that he thought had died in the war, alive and well before him instead? The same is true of marriage. We don’t marry because we want a sex partner at the ready for the rest of our days; we marry because we want to share our soul with another soul. The physical part of the relationship–in healthy marriages, anyway–is simply the most intimate way we express that spiritual connection.

What every human person seeks–regardless of sexual orientation–is spiritual intimacy. We want to love and be loved by the other unconditionally, with such intensity that it scorches the soul. We want this: 

Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved you! You were within me, and I was outside; and I sought you outside and in my loneliness fell upon those lovely things that you have made. You were with me, but I was not with you…. You called me and cried to me and broke open my deafness; you sent forth your beams and shone upon me and chased away my blindness; you breathed your fragrance upon me, and I drew in my breath and now I pant for you; I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst for you; you touched me, and I burn for your peace.

Would you be surprised to know that St. Augustine wrote this about God more than 1500 years ago? Most people are. God, of course, desires this intimacy even more than we do, which is why he pursues us so relentlessly, no matter how many times we reject him. Even those of us who love God and are engaged in vibrant friendships with him can only dimly comprehend the depths of his love for us:

Is it a small thing in your eyes to be loved by God…to be the son, the spouse, the love, the delight of the King of glory? Christian, believe this, and think about it: you will be eternally embraced in the arms of the love which was from everlasting, and will extend to everlasting, of the love which brought the Son of God’s love from heaven to earth, from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to glory, that love which was weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spat upon, crucified, pierced…which fasted, prayed, taught, healed, wept, sweated, bled, died. That love will eternally embrace you. (English poet Richard Baxter)

The person with SSA yearns for love because he is made for love; we all are. But the love God plans for those of us who suffer SSA looks nothing like the world imagines it to be.

Please join us next Thursday for Part 2, in which I explain why same-sex attraction is a sign of God’s special favor.  

The post I’m Catholic. I’m Gay. Now What? (Part 1) appeared first on Catholic Sistas.

My kids attend public school right now, and so they get less faith formation than I’d hope for. But I still try to integrate our faith into their life with activities outside of school that will help them learn and grow in their faith.

For us Catholic Christians the month of May is full of tradition and activity that is done in remembrance of Our Lord’s mother, Mary. She’s a shining example of how to serve God. During this month we honor her and use her examples of faith and service to help us grow in those areas of our own life as well.

Often times I can’t find crafts activities that I imagine being great teaching tools, so I make my own. This is one I made for my kids this month.

This diorama is really simple to put together and you don’t need much to get it started! There are many things you could add to it to make it as embellished as you like (glitter, ribbon, etc), but I’m going to show you the basics. So here we go!

You have a few options to print out Mary and her flower garden. You can right-click and save this next image. Or you canclick this link and it will take you to a printable PDF. I will suggest printing it on a cardstock type paper if you can. If not, it will work still, but the pieces may be a little more floppy.

Next have your kids color the images and cut them out. You can be as detailed or simple as you’d like both with coloring, and with cutting.

When you are done coloring and cutting, the next thing you are going to want to do is help the kids cut some little strips to fold and tape to the back of their flower garden pieces and to the back of the image of Mary. I simply used some of the scraps of paper that were left after all the pieces were cut out. Cut small strips and fold them in half to form an L shape. Tape one side to the back of the colored images, and fold a small circle of tape so that it can be attached to the underside of the L and stick securely to the shoe box.

For my shoe box, I attached Mary first to some decorative card stock. Cut it to fit the bottom of your box by tracing around the edges of your box onto your paper and cut it out. You could also have your children color or paint the inside of the box, or cover it completely with pretty paper or glitter, or even moss might be pretty!

I attached Mary to the cardstock, and then taped the cardstock with double-sided tape to the inside of the box.

Your finished project will look something like this!

The Magnificat

Luke 1:46-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

 

If you try out this project be sure to come back and let me know how it went for you! I’d love to see your own dioramas!

::Originally from California’s wine country, Celeste Bowen is a military wife, mother of three, artist, blogger and small business owner at Doodle La. Inspired by the world around her, she uses her artistic background to share one of a kind artwork, handmade diapers, clothing and do-it-yourself projects on her blog and via her online store. Trained in the culinary arts and experienced in the restaurant industry, Celeste enjoys coming up with new, resourceful recipes and baked goods to share with her family and readers. You can follow her creative journey by visiting Doodle La’s website, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook page. This post was originally published on the blog Doodle La::

The post Mary Diorama appeared first on Catholic Sistas.

Where we live now we have to cross over train tracks every day to get to town.  As it happens we are often stopped by trains on a frequent basis.  When we first moved to our home it bothered me a lot.  I was busy.  I had things to do.  I needed to get places.  Sitting and waiting on a freight train, especially the super long ones, was not in my daily plans.  I would be frustrated when I’d get close to the crossing only to see the train lights start flashing and the arms descending to block my way.

Back in the days before I had children old enough to stay home and babysit younger children I took all the kids with me everywhere I went.  They were often excited to see that a train was coming and would yell, “Roll down the windows, Mama!”  We would roll down the windows and listen to the whistle as the train drew nearer.  Then we would hear the thunderous sound of the train wheels clanking along the tracks.  They would wonder aloud who was on the train, where it was going, and why was it going there.

I began to ponder why there was such a huge difference in how we viewed waiting on the train.  I viewed it as a burden- something interrupting my day, wasting my time.  My children saw it as wondrous- this huge mechanical beast traveling to who knows where but definitely off on an adventure.  I found that I liked their view better.

I decided to change my outlook regarding the wait I knew I would have to endure over and over again.  Instead of being impatient and frustrated I would take that time to reflect.  As I sat waiting the next time at the train stop I suddenly understood what I couldn’t see before.   God was blessing me when I would have to stop for that never-ending train.  He was giving me a quick break from my busy day; a time to sit quietly, to pray a prayer or two, a time to just stop and look out my window to see the beauty that surrounded me.  He also was giving me time to enjoy the wonder in my children’s eyes as they discussed who might be on the train and where they might be going.  I suddenly felt silly for all the other times I muttered under my breath, “Really God?” as I was stopped by the train.

There are times that I still occasionally get frustrated when I’m in a hurry and I see those arms lowering to stop me from crossing the tracks.  The difference now is that I can re-center myself to think about why God might be slowing me down.  I trust that He has a reason and I take that time to thank Him for everything He has given me, especially for the opportunity to wait on the train headed anywhere.

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Did you know that through all Masses offered, nearly the entire Bible is covered in the three year cycle of readings?

Let us join together, quietly reflecting on today’s readings:

Follow this link to today’s readings.

Heavenly Father,
Today we also bring to you the Prayer Requests that are left here on our Catholic Sistas site.

For all General Intentions, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.

For our Homeward Bound Intentions {for friends and family who are Christian and we would love to see come home to the Church}, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.

For our Teardrops Intentions {those who have lapsed from the Faith}, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.

For our Heavenly Ambassador Intentions {for children who have returned with our Heavenly Father, through miscarriage, infant or child loss}, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.

Be assured of our prayers as we all pray together:

O my God! I offer you all my prayers, works and sufferings of this day, in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the following intentions of those who gather to read, contribute and share the Faith. Amen.

For those who would like to leave their prayer requests, please follow this link.

As part of our blogging schedule we have agreed as a group that we will not be doing individual blog posts on Sundays. Our Splendid Sundays is set to auto-post so that we can keep holy the Sabbath and spend time with our families.

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According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, our human dignity comes from God’s love for us and his invitation to us to share in that love. We are the only creatures that he made in his image, for our own sake, to know him, love him, and share in his life. Even the worst criminal still bears that image of God in his being, though he may be cut off from God’s grace through his choices. And he still retains the invitation extended by God to love him and serve him, until he takes his last breath. It is because of these truths that the Catechism says that, while the State does have the right to execute some criminals, the Death Penalty should be used only as a last resort.

Most Catholics today enthusiastically support the position that the Death Penalty should be abolished in this country. However, many of us fail to carry this concern for the dignity of criminals beyond the question of whether they should live or die. While we want them to have their lives spared, some of us desire that prisoners be treated poorly or even inhumanely while they live out their sentences. We say we are glad that they are not getting the “easy way out” by being put to death, and hope that they live many agonizing years behind bars. We make jokes about prisoners being violated or otherwise harmed by the other prisoners. We celebrate when we hear of a prison where inmates are humiliated purposefully, just for the sake of humiliation. We spew hatred and vitriol against them in internet comboxes. We complain that they have any access to television or that our precious tax dollars are paying to feed them anything more appetizing (or healthy) than bologna sandwiches.

I’m not suggesting that prisoners need to be given access to cable TV or certain kinds of food in order to be treated in accord with their dignity. Rather, it is our annoyance with any comfort they may have in prison coupled with our glee at any discomfort they may have—in short, our desire to see them suffer— that is an offense against their dignity. We have to ask ourselves what our reasons are for wanting prisoners to be humiliated and treated as harshly as possible, and then compare those reasons to what the Church says about the purpose of punishment.

The Church holds that punishment has a basically fourfold purpose – rehabilitation, defense of society against the criminal, deterrence, and retribution. (Take note that retribution is not the same as vengeance). We may legitimately believe it wrong for prisoners to be treated to overly comfortable conditions in prison, because we do not think that justice is satisfied or rehabilitation is facilitated by such a scenario. We may even legitimately support the death penalty in limited cases. But a virtuous and detached concern for justice is a far cry from the vengefulness that often is the real cause of us wanting prisoners to be as miserable in prison as possible, or to be put to death.

Church teaching indicates that when the aim of punishment (especially protection of society) can be fulfilled in ways more in keeping with human dignity, the Death Penalty should not be used. The logical extension of that is that we should always be trying to balance the aims of punishment with the protection of the dignity of the human person – not just when it comes to the question of the Death Penalty. We must always balance our concern for justice with our duty to love. My husband is a law enforcement officer and I see him trying to do just that. He has to fight against the strong temptation in his career to see criminals as less-than-human, as irredeemable. But he also has to keep the common good – the safety of society – at the forefront of his mind. He supports longer sentences for criminals than what they typically receive through our local court system, but he does so because society is not being protected adequately through the “slaps on the wrists” that are handed out far too often for serious crimes. It is acceptable and even laudable to support tough penalties for those who commit serious crimes, as long as we do not do so out of malice toward them.

As the wife of a police officer, I have to fight against the same temptations as my husband. I truly understand and sympathize with people who have a difficult time extending mercy toward those who harm others with their evil choices. I understand wanting them to know nothing but pure misery while they serve their sentences. My emotions don’t always align with what I know intellectually to be the truth. The truth is that criminals are people too. And it’s not enough simply to support their right to life; we have to love them, too. It’s possible to satisfy all the aims of punishment, including retribution and protection of society, without trying to strip them of their dignity. In fact, I think the aim of rehabilitation is more likely to be achieved when prisoners are shown basic human decency and treated like they still have worth even though they have done great evil.

We have great examples of how we should treat prisoners in recent popes. Several have visited the imprisoned, as Jesus told us we should. But some have gone even further in their extension of charity to prisoners. Pope Francis gave a strong witness to the dignity of the imprisoned when he washed the feet of juvenile prisoners on Holy Thursday.  Pope John Paul II forgave his own would-be assassin, in addition to visiting with him in prison. Most Catholics celebrate these examples, but many of us do not ask ourselves enough whether we are living in light of them.

I said above that it might be a difficult truth that Gosnell is loved by God. But at the same time, it is a very comforting truth. If someone like him—who mercilessly killed thousands of innocent babies and showed great indifference to the lives and health of the women who were his patients – is still loved by God and still has a chance at salvation, that means that there is always hope for me, too, no matter what sins I may commit. It is only by God’s grace that I or any one of you reading this is not in Gosnell’s place. None of us is above grave sin. It’s certainly within the realm of possibility that I could someday find myself with a large chasm between God’s grace and me. It is comforting to know that even then, God’s image would still be imprinted on my being and he would thus still be reaching out to me across the chasm.

The post Love Your Enemies appeared first on Catholic Sistas.

–1–

Priest Blogs

There are many priests who are blogging now, maybe you even know one or two yourself. Some use blogs to publish their homilies, some for apologetics discussions, and much more. Some of the favorite priest blogs among the Catholic Sistas include:

Fr. Z’s blog: What Does the Prayer Really Say?

Monsignor Charles Pope, who has a blog on the website for the Archdiocese of Washington.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s blog at Patheos: Standing on My Head

–2–

Catholic Channel on Patheos

In addition to Fr. Longenecker’s blog at Patheos, there are many others that have great content. Too many to choose from, of course, but here are a few we picked out:

The Anchoress, aka Elizabeth Scalia (of course!)

Bad Catholic

The Crescat

–3–

Catholic Mom Blogs

A very popular category among the ink slingers is the Catholic mom blogs. I bet you’re not surprised, are you? There were a lot  of blogs we could have listed here, but instead here’s three of our favorites:

In the Heart of my Home by Elizabeth Foss

Testosterhome by Rachel Balducci

Shoved to Them by Rebecca Frech

–4–

Apologetics Blogs

We also enjoy reading blogs that make us think and help us continue to learn. Here are a few we enjoy:

Phat Catholic Apologetics

St. Joseph’s Vanguard by Devin Rose

Young, Evangelical, and Catholic by Brantly Millegan

–5–

Multi-Contributor Blogs

As much as we’d like to include ourselves here, we’ll refrain. But there are plenty of others we enjoy! Multi-contributor blogs can be so diverse, ranging from families writing together to collections of variant writers on a wide-range of topics to posts from a variety of authors collected on one website but pointing back to their individual blogs. Some favorites of ours include:

CatholicMom.com

Like Mother, Like Daughter

The Integrated Catholic Life

Catholic Spirituality Blogs Network

–6–

Miscellaneous Blogs

Some blogs just don’t fit neatly into a category. Some are inspirational, some offer support, and there are many more.

The Breadbox Letters

NFP and Me

The Apostolate of Hannah’s Tears

–7–

Finally, a big shout out to a favorite blog of all of ours and host of the 7 Quick Takes series, Conversion Diary. Be sure to go visit and check out all the many other Quick Takes posts and discover a few new blogs while you’re at it.

What are some of your favorite Catholic blogs? Share with us in the comments.

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Growing up, my parents took me and my siblings to United Methodist Ebbert Memorial Church in Springfield, OR. It was in their Sunday School classes that I learned about some of the incredible stories and characters of the Bible. My mother read to my younger brother and I from the Bible regularly and encouraged us to follow God’s law.

My four older siblings all went to public schools and I might have done the same. But midway through my 1st grade year in a public elementary school my parents decided to move me to a local Catholic school, Saint Paul Catholic School, and my younger brother followed right behind me when he reached elementary school age.

In elementary school I was mistaken as Catholic by my teachers because, by simply paying attention in class, I often knew more about the Church than the kids from Catholic homes. There was always a class in religion, all-school Mass was held once a month, and they taught us how to pray the rosary. We prayed as a class to begin the day and before we headed off to lunch, there were crucifixes in every room, and the priest of the church to which the school was connected had a visible, friendly presence.

My Protestant parents never talked to me or my brother about Catholicism or why they weren’t Catholic. My dad sometimes jokingly asked us whether the school had taught us any secret Catholic handshakes. My mom enjoyed attending the monthly all-school Masses and did so regularly.

The summer before my 8th grade year, my mother decided to move us from the methodist church to a local baptist church, First Baptist Church of Eugene. It was a larger congregation, had services with contemporary music, and had a thriving youth program. I still remember the first time we attended the main service. The missions pastor was speaking and was so inspirational to me to start taking my faith seriously that I often point to that day as a major turning point in my faith. But I didn’t quite feel comfortable in their middle school group after attending a few times and so I continued to just attend the “big church” services for our first few years there.

High School

When it came time for high school, I stayed on the Catholic school track and followed my friends to the local Catholic high school, Marist High School. While my elementary school was comprised primarily of kids from Catholic families, with kids from non-Catholic families like myself being more of an exception, my high school was much more diverse. It was the most respected private high school in the area and was treated as simply the good private school option by many.

At the beginning of my freshman year they had need of a piano player for their monthly all-school Masses. Although I had taken lessens for years, I had no experience with such playing and certainly had no desire to volunteer myself for such a visible position as a freshman. But a friend mentioned to the teacher in charge of the Mass music that I played the piano, and when the teacher approached me in desperation I agreed to play only for the first Mass of the year.

Well, I loved it. I ended up playing the piano for almost every single school Mass during my high school career there.

Over at the Baptist church, it wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that I first really got involved in their youth program. When I did, I found that the high school pastor, Rudy Herr, was passionate, friendly, and one of the most Christ-like persons I had ever met. I started to grow in my faith in new and exciting ways.

It was also during my sophomore year of high school that I really started reading the Bible for the first time in my life. I had heard Scripture at church and had been taught Bible stories in Sunday school, but I had done very little personal reading of Scripture. For reasons that were fairly unclear even at the time, I felt inspired to start reading a Bible that my mom had gifted to me in middle school.

It absolutely blew me away.

It was so inspiring to me that I kept reading and reading and reading. All day, any free time I had, I was reading the Bible. I kept coming to my Christian friends and my parents with verses that I had never encountered before that I thought were just incredible. (Often they were familiar with the verses already which made me think, “Why hadn’t I heard this stuff before?”) My parents actually started to become worried that I was “going off the deep end”. They told me that I needed to do other things, read others things, other than just the Bible. I assured them that I wasn’t going nuts, but that God was just changing my life.

My Bible had pencil markings on every page and had tons of post-it note markers coming out of the sides. I printed off verses and taped them up all over the walls of my bedroom. I started memorizing verses for the first time in my life.

I can remember vividly the moment when I was sitting in my room, at a little past midnight, finishing the whole Bible for the first time. The Bible had always seemed like this massive tome that was impossible to actually read all the way through. It was a weird feeling having gone through it all. The Bible is indeed finite in words, but is infinite in richness and depth.

Early on in my reading of Scripture, I found myself challenged greatly by its teachings regarding money, poverty, and suffering. The way of a Christian was clearly much more radical than the impression I had been given before. “Blessed are the poor”, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”, “we are… heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory”, “if anyone wants to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me”. These are radical words that continue to challenge – and haunt – me today.

The summer before my senior year of high school, I found myself being led to pray for God to give me new ways to serve Him. One day later that summer I answered the phone and God answered my prayer. A woman from a local Catholic church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Eugene, had seen me play the piano for my high school. The church was in need of a piano player for its LifeTeen Mass worship team and she wanted to know if I was interested in auditioning. I told her I wasn’t Catholic. She said it wasn’t a problem. I agreed to meet the worship team leader and show them my stuff. They were satisfied with my playing and I was suddenly on a music worship team at a Catholic church.

For my senior year of high school I was playing the piano at their LifeTeen Mass every week. I was surprised – and on some level not surprised – to find that several of the other musicians on the worship team were also not Catholic. The church was very welcoming of us and appreciated our service to their community.

I was also on Retreat Team my junior and senior years in high school. This meant that I helped to lead retreats offered by the high school. With the Masses held at retreats, the monthly all-school Masses, extra school Masses on Fridays during Lent, and the LifeTeen Mass every week, there were times during my senior year when I attended Mass four times in a week.

It was in high school that I first started thinking seriously about Catholicism. I wasn’t already Catholic-leaning by any means; but the Catholic Church seemed too an important, influential, and powerful Christian organization to ignore. Despite having been in Catholic schools since 1st grade, there was much I didn’t understand and much that seemed just plain wrong. I tried pinning down various Catholic beliefs, meeting with priests and teachers, and found that I often got vague, incomplete, or contradictory answers. Eventually, someone recommended that I get a hold of a Catechism and look to that as the definitive teachings of the Catholic Church.

There was one particular intuition that served as a driving question for me in my investigations: Christianity is a religion of historical events, and what came out of the early church must be the real Christianity.

The Protestant story of history that I had been taught was that the early Christians were basically Protestants in their beliefs and practices. Then slowly, over several hundred years, Christianity was corrupted by Catholicism until everything came to a head in the Reformation when Christians returned to true, early church Christianity

The Catholic story of history that I had been taught was quite different: the early Christians were Catholic, Christians have always been Catholic, and the Catholic Church today is the continuation of the same church that was founded by Jesus Himself.

This, it seemed to me, was something that could actually be determined by historical investigation. I just needed to read writings from the early Church and see whether they were Catholic or Protestant (sorry Eastern Orthodoxers out there, I was hardly conscious of your existence at all at this time). The only problem is that I had no idea how to go about doing that.

I oscillated between being very open to Catholicism to being very anti-Catholic during this time. I remember one conversation I had with the head of my high school’s Christian ministry department in which I told him that I hadn’t completely made up my mind as to what I thought of Catholicism, but that I thought my ultimate conclusion could only fall into one of three categories: (1) the Catholic Church is wrong enough that I should not associate with it in any way and should probably try to draw Catholics away from it, (2) the Catholic Church has points where it is wrong, but it’s not so bad that I can’t associate with it or that I should evangelize Catholics, or (3) the Catholic Church is the true church and I should better join up.

All the while my faith and relationship with God was growing and developing. I hung out with homeless people in my town, I shared my faith with a truth-seeking admissions interviewer at the University of Chicago, and I was given the privilege by my high school pastor to preach to the 200-person high school group at my church.

College 

High school ended, and I headed off to Wheaton College in the suburbs of Chicago, the so-called “Harvard of the evangelical schools”. The year before I arrived, Wheaton College was in the headlines for not allowing a philosophy professor to remain there after he converted to Catholicism. Although I wasn’t sure exactly what I thought of Catholicism, I commended the college’s courage to actually stand for something in a day and age when to do so was (and sadly still is) looked down upon as a kind of bigotry.

From the get-go I found a serious, passionate, challenging Christian community at Wheaton. My fellow students were kind and fun people to be around, but were also often up for deep and personal theological discussions. We kept each other accountable and encouraged one another in our walks with God. Chapel provided an incredible opportunity to hear from Christian leaders from all over the world. My teachers inspired me both to be a better scholar and a better person.

But I kept thinking about Catholicism. I finally bought my own copy of the Catechism. The quote on the back from Pope John Paul II – “A sure norm for teaching the faith” – brought a sense of relief that I would finally be able to pin down exactly what Catholics believe! I was tired of listening to or reading secondary sources; I would now be able to see for myself what the Church taught in her own words. I started on page one and began reading through the Catechism with a pencil. I began to appreciate and trust the Catechism as at least a place to start when thinking about various topics. I remember once reading part of the section in the Catechism on various sexual sins to my accountability group and that several of the guys thought that it was very insightful.

Meanwhile, I was inspired by my philosophy intro class with Dr. Jay Wood to study philosophy further. It was in my philosophy classes that I was first exposed to pre-Reformation Christian writings. Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas – these were names with which I was hardly familiar before I had come to college. As I studied early church and medieval thinkers, I saw that they were, of course, all Catholic. Augustine and Anselm were both bishops in the Catholic Church. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican monk. They quoted as Scripture from “those books Catholics added to the Bible”. They believed in the sacraments and in the authority of the Church.

Now that I was attending an evangelical school, I was no longer regularly attending Catholic Mass, which I had done so for most of my life. Every so often I found myself missing the depth of the Mass and desiring to attend one. Although I would always go into a Mass excited to be back, I often left feeling empty or disappointed. Where was the life? I wasn’t even taking communion and it sometimes seemed like I was the most serious worshiper there. When I actually sang the hymns, some people looked at me funny, while others smiled and seemed encouraged to start singing themselves.

I always attended church on Sundays somewhere, but where I went changed from year to year. Wheaton really emphasized the importance of getting involved in a church community. “Wheaton is not a church,” professors reminded us. I began my freshman year intent on not “church shopping”. I picked a non-denominational church within walking distance of my school two weeks into my first semester and became a Sunday school teacher. When I came back to school as a sophomore, I decided to start going with a few friends to another non-denominational church. At this church, they occasionally recited the Nicene Creed except that the line regarding the church was changed to: “We believe in one holy, universal church.” (I know “catholic” means “universal”, but where’s “apostolic”? I mentioned this to one of the pastors once. He seemed to indicate that it was a mistake, but the next time we recited the creed the same omission remained. Wheaton College makes the same omission in their Statement of Faith.) My junior year, I began attending a conservative Anglican church that had broken from the Episcopal Church. They had the liturgy, a passionate rector, and a thriving community filled with life. The depth of this high church community was refreshing compared to the shallowness I had often found at the low church communities of which I had been previously a part.

At the beginning of my junior year, I got the idea to read the Church councils – all of them, starting at the beginning (a project I am still working on). So I went to the library, found them online, and printed them all off except for Vatican II (for that I bought a book). I read the first few councils and took notes. I marked every time they referred to tradition, scripture, and the pope. They referred to their own authority and quoted previous councils authoritatively. This was a very different kind of thinking than sola scriptura Protestantism.

I also felt led to go to teachers and church leaders in the area who I respected and ask them the question, “Why are you not Catholic?” This led to many very surprising conversations. I found many teachers to be at least very sympathetic to Catholicism, if not interested in Catholicism themselves. In one particularly shocking conversation, I spoke with a pastor of a large, thriving church in the area – a church attended by several members of Wheaton College’s faculty and staff – who told me that he thought that the Catholic Church was indeed the fullest manifestation of God’s church on earth, that the Pope is our Holy Father with whom we should all be in communion, that he was not in full communion with the Pope as he should, and that it was his hope – if not just mere belief – that his church would eventually re-commune with Rome! He saw himself as a weigh station for evangelicals on their way to the Catholic Church. He recommended Catholic writers and encouraged me to convert. I also found that many other students at Wheaton College had interest in Catholicism. The Catholic Church is in more places that many people would guess…

In the spring of my junior year I had a class with a smart guy named Landon DePasquale. Though the son of a professor in the graduate school at Wheaton College, Landon was in the midst of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA), or the process by which an adult can join the Catholic Church. Through his study of pre-Reformation Christianity, he had eventually converted to Catholicism. We became friends, talked a lot about Catholicism, and I watched him be received at Easter Vigil 2009. He answered many of my questions, pointed me in the direction of more reading, and encouraged me in my search.

Through conversations and my own research I was led to read other early Church writings. They only confirmed what I had already read: the early Church was Catholic. The papacy was not an invention of the 6th century as many Protestants claim – it couldn’t be since, as an example, the 2nd century theologian Irenaeus defended against the Gnostic heresy by pointing to the preeminent authority of the church in Rome with which all other churches in the world must agree (Against Heresies 3.3.1-3).

While my interest in Catholicism was becoming more serious, so was my relationship with my then girlfriend Krista. She was studying abroad in France for the semester, and we stayed in touch through video chats on the internet. She had long been aware of my interest in Catholicism, and I continued to share with her what I was learning and thinking. That spring break I flew out to France to propose to her, and she accepted the ring. As our lives were further drawn closer together, she was drawn further into what at that point had largely been my own personal investigation of Catholicism.

Our upcoming marriage prompted us to discuss the issue of contraception for the first time. Both of us had hardly thought about it all. We both assumed we would use some form of contraception; that’s what people do. We weren’t ready for kids, and besides, we wanted some time for ourselves in our marriage before kids. The decision to get married was completely separated from the decision to start a family in my mind. Since we were both against abortion, any abortifacient was ruled out. Research was needed to determine what kinds of contraception were not abortifacient, and then what kind among those was something with which we were both comfortable.

I remembered from my time in Catholic schools that the Catholic Church believed that the use of contraception was immoral. I didn’t really know why, but I thought we should read what they had to say. I asked Krista if we could both read Humanae Vitae and talk about it together and she agreed. We both found Humanae Vitae very compelling, Krista in particular.

The nail in the coffin for me in accepting the Catholic view on contraception was learning that it was actually also the historic, orthodox Christian view as well – all Christian denominations had condemned contraception for all of Christian history until the mid-20th century.

Realizing that virtually all Protestant churches, and most individual Protestants, had clearly gone the wrong way on a moral issue relating to something as grave as the marriage bed further shook my confidence in Protestantism and strengthened my confidence in the Catholic Church, as it did for Krista as well.

That summer I read a little book published by Penguin entitled Early Christian Writings. This was recommended to me by my friend Landon and was cited by him as the book that jump started his conversion to Catholicism. It was in that book that I read Ignatius of Antioch, an early 2nd century bishop of Antioch, among others, for the first time. Again, they were all very explicitly Catholic in their theology and practice. The historical evidence was mounting. There was no denying it: the early church was Catholic.

Krista and I were married at the end of that summer just before our senior year started. We quickly conceived our first child.

When my new wife and I returned to school for our senior year in the fall, we started the RCIA program at St. Michael’s parish in Wheaton. We both weren’t quite ready to enter the Church yet, but we thought we might be ready by the spring and that in the very least it would be a way to learn more.

It was also during the fall semester that I read the documents of Vatican II. I found them, as well as other pieces of Catholic theology I was reading, to be not only good theology but beautiful theology. Catholic theology is beautiful. The words that Catholics use in their theology are beautiful. The visions of God, of humanity, and of history they cast are beautiful. The spirit in which their theology is written is beautiful. The way they interpret Scripture is beautiful. It’s all beautiful, which makes it all the more compelling.

By the end of the year, we both found ourselves ever more ready to accept the Catholic Church and all that it teaches. And it was in the beginning of January that we started this blog. The spring semester was a time of further deepening and accepting of our faith.

We were received fully into the Catholic Church at St. Michael’s church in Wheaton at Easter Vigil Mass 2010.

And Beyond

We both graduated from Wheaton College on May 9th, 2010, myself with a degree in Philosophy, and Krista with a degree in French.

At present, I am working part-time on a Master of Arts of Theology at the St Paul Seminary School of Divinity, a part of theUniversity of St Thomas in St Paul, MN. Krista stays home and cares for our two children, Elijah and Adelaide.

We both have a heart for evangelicals. So many evangelicals love God and desire so strongly to follow after Jesus with everything they have. They have much to bring to and teach the Catholic Church. We hope that God can use our long involvement and deep connectedness to evangelicalism to be a force for true ecumenism between evangelicals and Catholics.

It is by the grace of God in Christ that we have come this far, and it is by the grace of God in Christ that we continue to learn and grow in our faith. Soli Deo Gloria

::Brantly and his beautiful wife Krista are both Catholic 20-somethings that got married while they were still in college. So far they’ve been blessed with two cute kids, Elijah and Adelaide.Although they both grew up in Protestant churches, they were both fully received into the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil 2010 about a month before graduating from Wheaton College, the so-called “Harvard of evangelical schools”.At present, Brantly is working part-time on a Master of Arts of Theology at the St Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St Paul, MN.Aside from spending time with family and friends, he enjoys reading, playing the piano, and the show LOST. Brantly can be found blogging at Young, Evangelical and Catholic.::

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My first pony

Transitions, in horsemanship, are changes in speed. The best of transitions look effortless, elegant, and graceful; horse and rider move seamlessly. To achieve smooth transitions, there are several steps communicated to the horse at exactly the right time. Failing to properly prepare the horse results in choppy, ugly, and bumpy transitions. In life, transitions are the changes we go through as we age and mature. Each transition must occur in order to live, but there are small steps that can ease them and ensure chaos doesn’t reign. Skipping these small steps can lead to disastrous consequences.

What’s around me?

My 4-H show pony

One of the first requirements for smooth transitions is awareness. Horses are very reactionary as flight animals. Every change in the environment, vocalization, weight shift, and mood can induce the horse to react. As a rider, awareness is essential to communicate effectively with the horse. Quietness is a prized trait in a horseman because it allows the horseman to prevent negative reactions from the horse. Great horsemen are said to have quiet hands guiding the horse, quiet legs moving the horse, and quiet minds focusing on the horse and the goal. In life, awareness of God is essential. God is not only in control, but also present and more than willing to bestow blessings if asked. However, distractions are everywhere concealing God’s presence and blessings. That’s why it is essential to actively seek God in everything–even distractions. Sometimes God hides His blessings in sadness and disasters, but He’s always present and waiting for signs of awareness. In quiet contemplation, God reveals Himself to those who seek Him.

What am I doing?

My home-bred riding and driving horse

Another key requirement for smooth transitions is a goal. As sensitive animals, horses are capable of easily detecting or abusing the rider’s intentions or confusion. A clear goal, even a simple “go from point A to point B”, gives the horse confidence and almost instantly yields greater harmony between horse and rider. At times, the horse seems to read the rider’s mind simply because the rider is focused on the horse and their combined goal. One of the most used clichés is “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” Often, this cliché seems true as the best-laid human plans result in chaos and confusion. However, the error isn’t the plans; it is the exclusion of God from those plans. God has plans for each and every one of His creations. These plans are written in our hearts and revealed through quiet time with God, prayer, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass, and reading Scripture and Faith-filled writings.

Pause and think…

My pregnant with cancer driving horse

Smooth transitions are also preceded by a ‘half-halt’. Basically, a half-halt is a subtle cue from the rider for a minuscule pause from the horse. While it isn’t a specific cue for change, it distinctly alerts the horse to an upcoming change. Large transitions, like from a halt to a gallop or vice versa, may require several half-halts as preparation. They must be appropriately timed for the desired effect. Poor timing diminishes the effectiveness and the transition suffers. In life, the equivalent of half-halts are moments of prayer. Like a half-halt, prayer doesn’t have to be obvious or time consuming to be effective. Prayer prior to large changes in life, like marriage, buying a home, changing careers, etc, is infinitely more effective than prayerful supplication after these changes have taken place. A simple, “God, what do you want me to do with my life?” can suffice as long as there is an opening or slight pause to allow God to answer.

Let’s do this…

My borrowed driving horse and his friend

Following the half-halt is the actual cue for transition. Obviously, the cue is very important to the transition; without it, the transition wouldn’t exist. Since horseback riding is a dynamic relationship between horse and rider, change is constant and predictable. Like the half-halt, the cue must be timed very precisely, more precisely than the half-halt. In addition to precise timing, the cue must be proportionate to effectively communicate the command. A large transition or disobedience requires a strong cue; while a weak cue may not produce a transition at all. Similarly, life is a dynamic relationship with God, with God supplying the cues. Many times God’s cues are very subtle, while other times they’re like a 2-by-4. Subtle cues from God are best heard in the stillness after a half-halt of prayer. During trying times, God sometimes has to use a 2-by-4 to combat the inattention, disobedience, and lack of time given to Him. However, He always gives cues to those who ask Him for guidance.

Whew, that’s finished…

Sharing the love with my daughter

Once the transition occurs, the final step is praise. Depending on the rider’s effectiveness, praise can be subtle, almost undetectable to all but the horse or effusive. Since horseback riding is dynamic and training occurs every time the rider is with the horse, sometimes excellent preparation results in mediocre or even dismal transitions. An honest attempt, even without spectacular results should always be rewarded. God also deserves praise even through transitions that seem bad. After all, without God no transitions would even be possible. As the Author of our lives, God knows the plan, and provides ample guidance. For this, He deserves praise and gratitude. He will ultimately reward His Faithful with Heaven.

Life with horses has helped me live a better life with God. My transitions haven’t always been as smooth as I’d like, usually because what I want and what God wants differ. When I’ve followed the steps to graceful transitions, God has blessed me abundantly. I’ve given God free reign. You should too!
*I use the term horseman because I don’t need to feminize the term to preserve my femininity. I also use the term horseman synonymously with rider because that is the most common form of horsemanship. I based my description of transitions on the discipline of dressage (French for training) and is often the foundation of other disciplines.

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Now is a good time to take a cleansing breath and focus on the impact the Gosnell verdict will have on the pro-life movement. As we are leaping in joy for a conviction, we must keep our wits about us and realize that the same babies, if killed by lethal injection within the womb, would have been legally aborted in clinics all over the country. They still are and will continue to be. The Gosnell saga is just the tip of the horrendous iceberg called ‘choice’ and this one victory should not lull us into complacency. As Rep. Chris Smith aptly phrased it,

“Some abortionists may have cleaner sheets than Gosnell, and better sterilized equipment and better trained accomplices, but what they do – what Gosnell did – kill babies and hurt women – is the same.”

Yes, this one monster has been found guilty of some of the horrific charges against him (3* counts of first degree murder for babies and 1 count of involuntary manslaughter for the woman killed via overdose), but there are many others out there doing exactly the same thing.

Much as Al Capone was brought down by tax evasion charges instead of his criminal activity as a mobster, Gosnell was brought down by a drug related raid. What the authorities found, shocked even seasoned law enforcement. No one in authority had cared about what he had been doing to women and babies in the 15 years since the last inspection of his ‘house of horrors’. They didn’t care that he experimented on unwitting poor women, maiming several of them in what is termed the Mothers Day Massacre. Just like they didn’t care that, across this country, dozens of clinics just like his operate without question every day. No one cared that Planned Parenthood referred women to Gosnell because they couldn’t stomach (or perhaps get away with) late term abortions in such huge numbers and scandalous conditions.

Where is the outcry for all of the numerous women, all over the country, who suffered death at the hands of these butchers legally plying their murderous procedures described simply as medical ‘treatment’? What we have been handed is a gift wrapped opportunity to take the ball and run with it. The Gosnell trial finally gave pro-life advocates a more public voice and forced even the meekest network to at least marginally offer coverage. That a liberal news analyst, Kirsten Powers, deserves our deepest gratitude for finally breaking the story wide open and that Fox News offered some decent coverage would have been highly unlikely just a few weeks ago. Now the proverbial cat is out of the bag and, to mix my metaphors, we must make hay while the sun does shine! Nineteen brave Congressmen who spoke on the House floor,  ”See No Evil” (an outstanding Fox News documentary), some other media coverage, #Gosnell Tweetfests, blogging and marathon postings on Facebook have gone a long way in educating more and more people. How shocking, disheartening and surprising to find that there are still many, many good citizens out there who are oblivious to this scandalous affair! When our priest asked for a show of hands of those who knew of Gosnell, only 20% or so of the congregation responded with raised hands.

So, on the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, we have been granted a wonderful chance to witness for Life. Coupled with the surprise visit of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in support of tens of thousands of pro-life faithful at the March for Life in Rome yesterday (Mothers Day), we have been blessed with an impressive beginning to the rest of the pro-life journey. What happens next is up to the collective us. Will we rest on our laurels in this partially won victory or will we let this be the catalyst to finally find our voice – a voice of righteous anger and outrage for the atrocities visited upon the innocent, left in our charge by God Almighty? A foot is in the door, so let’s fling it open and throw ourselves into the task of gaining momentum. Let us pray harder, speak louder, love more, and gird up for the ensuing battle. Now is not the time to turn away in horror – not wanting any more reminders. Satan, Planned Parenthood, and liberal media were forced to give us our day in the sun but make no mistake, they will be back with the fury of hell. Let’s be ready. Let’s rise to the occasion. And with God at our side, let’s forever end the most unspeakable act of killing the innocents at the altar of convenience!

.
*Read about the baby that Gosnell was not convicted of killing here.

PS. As a Catholic believer in the unfathomable mercy of God, my hope is that Gosnell is kept in prison for the rest of his natural life. May he find true remorse and forgiveness. 

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