Prayer for Life at Division and LaSalle

Just show up

noreply@blogger.com (drizzle) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 18:25:00 +0000

One of my favorite conversations from a television show came from one of my favorite shows, Sports Night, the show about those who produce a Sportscenter-type program. In one episode we find out that something will soon happen that one on-air personality, Casey, would not like very much. His on-air partner, Dan, repeatedly asks Casey what he will do about the situation, what his battle plan is. Eventually, exasperated by the repeat questioning, Casey gives in and says that he is going to use Napoleon's battle plan. Upon further questioning from Dan, Casey explains that it is a two-part plan: "First, we show up. Then, we see what happens." Dan decides that this means that Casey has no plan.

I often feel like Dan when I consider what we do as prayer volunteers outside abortion facilities. Some people have been trained as sidewalk counselors on how to reach those considering an abortion. From my eyes they know how to act, what to say, how to get attention from those they are trying to help. Those people have a battle plan. I, on the other hand, know none of those things. The only things that I really know how to do out there on the pavement are make comments to amuse myself and my friends; recite those prayers I have memorized and read those that I have not; and be present. Every week I suffer from the fear that I am walking out the door with no battle plan. I presume that many who have considered praying out there with us have felt the same thing, and their fear of looking lost has prevented them from joining us.

At times like that, I like to remember Casey's statement of Napoleon's battle plan.* Though there are times when detailed planning is important, for what we do as prayer volunteers the two-step plan is right; in fact, the most important step of any such plan is the first step. "First, we show up" is a statement that all who consider themselves pro-life need to ponder. How do we show up? More directly related to my original point, Where do we show up? I have made it a point to put prayer on Saturday mornings as my "showing up" for the pro-life movement, but that doesn't have to be the only answer. Volunteering for pro-life political groups (or politicians, even), working with local pro-life pregancy centers, and even just being a good parent who teaches her children right from wrong can all be considered "showing up" along these lines.

I think it's important to think about this question always, but especially now, as 40 Days for Life events are about to kick-off and new seasons--TV, football, playoffs-- are beginning. How and where are you showing up? Think about it. If you aren't, come on out on Saturday mornings and pray with us for a while. We'll put it on the ledger for you, promise.

* Note: most of Napoleon's battle plans were much more, well, planned, than Casey seems to think. That the plans weren't actually Napoleon's has little bearing on this post, except to point out that Francophobes can rest a little easier knowing this doesn't actually come from France.

Urgent: Please sign the Petition!

noreply@blogger.com (dmjsd) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:28:00 +0000

Please take a moment to read and sign this petition!

Establish the St Anne Center for Reproductive Health

Wait a minute! This is a blog about ending abortion. Why am I asking you to sign a petition for a reproductive health clinic?

Because this is no ordinary reproductive health clinic. The top-of-his-field reproductive endocrinologist behind the St. Anne Center is a pro-life, faithful Catholic who wants to make available to couples an approach to infertility that respects both them, the children they hope to have, and the laws of God.

Tomorrow morning, he will be proposing the establishment of the St. Anne Center and this petition will help demonstrate that Chicago needs a clinic to aid faithful couples who are facing the heartbreak of infertility but are not willing to sacrifice 30 children to gain one.

You think I’m exaggerating? According to data from Britain,

The figures, revealed by Britain’s Health Minister Lord Howe in response to a request from Lord Alton, show that over 30 embryos are created for every live birth through IVF.

Now, I've never seen the numbers for the entire US (though one study of one fertility clinic over four years showed 7.5% embryos made it to birth), but what I do know is that assisted reproductive technology in the US is less regulated than in Britain and the rest of Europe. The CDC reports 47,102 live births from IVF in 2010 (61,561 babies, since multiples are frequent). You do the math.

That's as least as many babies as there are dying from abortion each year.

And then remember that some of those 1.2 million abortions each year are the direct result of IVF.

“If I had conceived these twins naturally, I wouldn’t have reduced this pregnancy, because you feel like if there’s a natural order, then you don’t want to disturb it. But we created this child in such an artificial manner — in a test tube, choosing an egg donor, having the embryo placed in me — and somehow, making a decision about how many to carry seemed to be just another choice. The pregnancy was all so consumerish to begin with, and this became yet another thing we could control.”

Meanwhile, science is advancing all the time...but you wouldn't know it by the way fertility "medicine" is practiced in this country. Actually diagnosing the problem and treating it directly, returning a woman (or man) to fertility (read: health), rather than pumping a woman full of hormones that can cause dangerous side effects? Allowing babies to be conceived in the safety of their mothers' wombs rather than conceiving them in a dish, tossing the "abnormal" ones (or ones of the wrong gender or genotype) in the trash and either freezing the rest (most never to be thawed, certainly not successfully) or dissecting them for their stem cells), and then maybe "reducing" a few as late as 24 weeks because you can't be bothered with twins? Nah...

It will likely be us pro-lifers who lead the way in showing that there's a better, healthier way to approach treating infertility, but we can't do it unless we have places to receive treatment and courageous doctors who are willing to buck the trends.

So please sign the petition to establish the St. Anne Center for Reproductive Health! In the short term, you'll be opening up a moral option for infertile couples with pro-life convictions, and in the long term, you'll be helping to build a stronger culture of life in Chicago!

Thanks and God bless!!!

Irish Festival for Life

noreply@blogger.com (dmjsd) — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:54:00 +0000

Sorry for the silence from the blog as of late! We may not have said much here, but we continue to be present, praying in front of Planned Parenthood every Saturday morning from 10 am to noon. Come out and join us while the weather is nice! We'll be out there tomorrow morning because PP doesn't take a break for the Memorial Day weekend and neither do we.

I also want to spread the word about an event that's coming up next week: the Irish Festival for Life on Sunday, June 3 from 2 - 5 pm at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 North Knox Ave in Chicago.

Right now, Ireland’s pro-life ethos is under severe attack. A recent European Court ruling is insisting that Ireland change her pro-life laws to suit the European abortion regime – against the will of most Irish people. Behind the scenes, an international network of wealthy and powerful organizations are forcing abortion into Ireland, and they are very close to succeeding.

However, we are fighting back for life! The Thomas More Society (TMS), a national pro-life public interest law ﬁrm have just recently helped establish an American organization called Life House Ireland. Its mission is to make “friends for Life” between pro-life American and Irish people to ensure that Ireland stays pro-life, abortion-free and returns a culture of life to Europe and beyond. Life House Ireland is urgently marshalling support in America for the Life Institute in Ireland who are spearheading the campaign to block this attack. (Read more and register for this FREE event...)

Hope to see you there!

Joy in the morning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:59:00 +0000

I am very much not a morning person. First for the purposes of school, and now work, I have gotten very good at tricking myself out of bed - putting the alarm across the room from my bed, getting a coffeemaker with a timer so I wake up to the delicious scent of go-juice, packing my bag the night before so that in my dawn stupor I do not accidentally leave the house without something vital - all useful. There is also the fact that my cat regards me as his personal butler, and is not above eating my hair to encourage me to get up and provide additional kibble. Nevertheless, no amount of prep is going to improve my mood when the rosy fingers of dawn poke me in the eyes once again. So it’s good to start the day with something positive, and this is especially important when the morning’s activities include praying outside an abortion clinic.

The last few Saturdays, I have been making it to daily Mass. My parish is literally less than 10 minutes from my front door at a relaxed walking pace, so you might think I would have tried it sooner. Alas, no. Previously, Saturday was my only day to sleep in, and I guarded it jealously. After I started praying in front of the clinic, I figured getting up for that was early enough. What I failed to consider is that I prepared for almost every other aspect of my presence there - showering, season-appropriate clothing, comfy shoes, plenty of coffee. Even a bag so I could run by the farmer’s market afterwards. Physically, I was ready to go. But temperamentally, I was often anxious, grumpy, resigned, etc. Sure, I was giving up my Saturday mornings, but I wasn’t being a cheerful giver. Starting the morning with Mass helps a great deal towards starting the day in gratitude.

It also often gives me something to think about. For instance, the word that stuck with me last Saturday was “delight”. The idea that we are supposed to bring delight, joy, and wonder to the people in our lives can seem a difficult task at the best of times, and even more so at Planned Parenthood. And it seems especially hard these days - after a period of relative slowness, there seems to be a recent increase in business. We are seeing more and more women stagger out of there, in obvious physical pain, in some cases needing to be helped into their cars. Is this increase due to the Rockford clinic shutting down in January? A new abortionist, perhaps, or less time being allowed for recovery? We will probably never know, but every time I see this, it puts a major dent in my cheerfulness. But while grief certainly has its place in abortion, that place may not be there.

For these women come to this place already in despair. They have decided that there is no joy in the new life growing within them - not for themselves, not for someone else. They do not want to wonder about the future of their unborn children - they only want to protect their present. Delight is excluded by the darkness of fear. If we don’t bring delight, joy, and wonder to that place, there won’t be any at all.

For those who would say that abortion is a serious problem, and we need to be serious about it, I say yes to the first and no to the second. I suspect many of these women already had someone in their lives sit them down and tell them, “This is serious! You need to take care of it! What about your future?” They already think that things will only be OK if they go on as they were before their little stranger made his or her presence known. We can say that while continuing their pregnancy may well be terrifying, there is also to be found “Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief”*

I am not sure how we may delight these women. But perhaps it starts with being delighted to be there. We got picked to play! We get to fight! This is our city - let us go out there armed to the teeth with joy!

* J.R.R Tolkien.

Hi world

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:38:00 +0000

Hi, everybody! For those of you who were reading the 40 Days emails, I’m sorry I took so long to get started here, but I am going to try to challenge myself to be a regular poster. This is my first time blogging - I hardly ever even comment on the blogs I read - but maybe I have a unique voice I ought to share with the world. Or maybe you will simply find out just how far down the rabbit hole in my brain goes. Let’s find out together!

I have a somewhat literal mind. I understand figures of speech, and use them myself, but I can’t help picturing the phrase in my head. For instance, “figures of speech” makes me see sentences sashaying down a runway being photographed by the literati. It has made for a few awkward moments over the years, as my interlocutors had to wait whilst I was lost in my inner visions, but it also makes listening to advertising and political speech a hoot. Because of this quirk, I have always found the phrase “a woman’s right to choose” slightly odd. Women, as well as men, have always had the ability to choose, as a function of being sentient entities. Even my cat makes choices. He often chooses to do things like lick my venetian blinds and eat carpet fuzz, so clearly rationality is not a necessary component in choice.

Of course, choice is nearly always constrained. I can “choose” to grow wings and fly, for instance, but I can’t make that happen by willing it. Our ability to choose is often contingent on physical realities, the past history of our own lives, and the choices of others. Perhaps what is meant is the ability to not so much choose, but select - to have the power to actually have something one desires. If this is the intended meaning, this is really not much better. I can select any number of physically possible options - start loudly singing “Never Gonna Give You Up”* while I sit in my cube at work, go around dressed as a rubber chicken, shave my head and paint it purple, and so on indefinitely. But I don’t do any of these things, not because I am constrained by my ability to select them, but because of the reactions of other people. I want them to keep employing me, keep being willing to spend time with me, not run away when they see me coming.

Indeed, some of the things I could choose to do are so negatively regarded as to be labeled crimes. For instance, I could yank the iPod off the twit with the cheap ear buds who is forcing me to listen to his wretched taste in music whilst pressed right up against me on a crowded rush-hour train. I could smash it into a thousand tiny pieces and then strangle him with the cord, screaming with pent-up rage, until they drag me off his lifeless form…ahem. I beg your pardon. I meant to say that while I could choose that, I won’t, for among many other reasons it is illegal, and he and his tinny tunes aren’t worth a trip to jail. But usually legality is not the decisive factor - there are plenty of things that are legal that are not socially acceptable (witness all the financial nonsense of the last decade that has resulted for the most part in a handful of fines and wrist-slaps), and some things that are socially acceptable that are illegal (jaywalking, downloading TV shows, etc.) Day-to-day, we make most of our decisions not based on what is legal, but what is socially acceptable.

So what seems to be wanted here is not just the ability to choose an option, or the ability to really have that option, but the ability to have that choice approved by society. What is wanted is for this particular choice to be regarded as not simply legal, but socially acceptable. What is wanted is for society at large to regard deliberately causing the death of an unborn child at the choosing of the mother as…fine. Not maybe the best option. Not what you might choose. A difficult choice made in a difficult situation, and who knows what we would do when faced with such pressures. It’s…ok. There are many who would like us to make that assessment about abortion. A handful of people want more, want abortion to be regarded as a blessing or a badge of honor. But for the majority of those who support “a woman’s right to choose”, it’s just…fine.

One of the reasons we go out there is to show that there are those who do not think abortion is acceptable. This may be interpreted as judgmental, as forcing our assessment of their perfectly legal action on them. I can see that. But we know by personal experience that for many of the women who come for an abortion, it’s not fine. They already perceive what they are doing as wrong. They just don’t see another option, or feel that they have no support to make any other decision. Ironically, we go out there in part to offer them a whole multitude of choices. Would they like to keep their baby? We know people who can help then get housing, medical care, education, diapers. Would they prefer to have someone adopt their child? We can help them pursue a variety of different options, all along the spectrum between a traditional closed adoption and the newer open adoption process. They can choose the adoptive parents, the amount of contact they wish to have with their child going forward, and many other factors. Do they just need a friend to give them the courage and guidance to become a great mother? We can help them find a mentor who will walk with them through the pregnancy and beyond. We offer then them the support for their actual preference that the people around them can't or won't.

The thing about choosing death is that it is choosing an end. It is choosing the cessation of choice. When you choose life, you choose possibility. You choose choice.

*I do apologize for any inadvertent mental rick rolling.

Support Pro-Life Causes in May!

noreply@blogger.com (dmjsd) — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:34:00 +0000

May is the month of Mother’s Day. It’s also the month that the Catholic Church dedicates to Mary. Therefore, it’s no surprise that May offers us many opportunities to celebrate and support motherhood and life! Please consider supporting one or all of these worthy causes!

The Women’s Centers of Greater Chicagoland

Mother’s Day Flower Sale

The weekend of May 12-13 at a parish near you

Flowers are a Mother’s favorite! Many parishes in the Chicagoland area will be selling beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers after all Masses. Proceeds will be used to help young women facing a crisis pregnancy situation and in need of assistance.

For information on flower sale locations or to volunteer to help sell flowers, click here.

Heather’s House Party

Eats, Drinks, Music and Celebrating LIFE!

Thursday, May 17, 6-9 pm at Butterfield Country Club, Oak Brook, IL

The Aid for Women Auxiliary invites you to their annual spring fundraiser to benefit Heather’s House, Aid for Women’s New Residential Program.

Featuring a silent auction of spring and sports-themed items.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Students for Life of Illinois

Angels of Life Banquet

Saturday, May 19, 6:15 pm at St. Petronille Banquet Hall, Glen Ellyn, IL

Join Students for Life of Illinois for a semi-formal (21+) reception and dinner featuring a talk by Gianna Jessen, the abortion survivor on whose experience the movie October Baby was based. She is an inspirational woman who lives with overwhelming joy in spite of her physical disability from the failed abortion.

The event is free to attend. A free-will donation will be collected.

Space is limited! To register, click here.

Divine help: the archangel Raphael

noreply@blogger.com (drizzle) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:00:00 +0000

This is an artist's rendition of the archangel Raphael. Raphael, along with his winged compatriots Michael and Gabriel, is held in many traditions to be one of the archangels; indeed, though we have no real knowledge of how many archangels there are, these three generally get most of the attention.

Most of what is generally accepted about the archangels comes from the Bible. Michael gets some great publicity from that whole book of Revelation (or, as they called in days of yore, Apocalypse), doing his thing and leading the armies of God (making him someone we should consider requesting God send to help our fight against abortion, at least the spiritual side of it). Gabriel, of course, gets street cred from Luke (the gospel writer, not the aspiring Jedi), explaining to Mary, the mother of Jesus, that, well, Jesus would occur. Raphael, though, is a slightly more interesting case.

Most of our stories about Raphael come from the book of Tobit. At least some of you might be unfamiliar with this book, a position that is reasonable considering it is what Catholics and Orthodox (I think) call the "deuterocanon", or "secondary canon", and what many Christians call the "apocrypha," a set of works that they don't hold at the same level as, say, Genesis or the gospels, books solidly in the canon for them.* Nevertheless, it provides information on Raphael, and we will use that information in our discussion of him.

Raphael is described as being sent by God to answer the prayers of two faithful servants of God, Tobit and Sarah. Tobit had gone blind and was begging God to die. Sarah had been married 7 times and had each husband die between the ceremony and, umm, the marital bed... because a demon (Asmodeus, a name familiar to any Wheel of Time fans, I'm sure) was, well, stalking her, for lack of a better term. Raphael helped Tobit's son Tobias run a few errands (out near Sarah, actually), eventually leading to Tobias marrying Sarah and Tobit getting cured.

Raphael appears to Tobias as a man calling himself Azarias, son of Ananias, and offers to guide Tobias out on his journey to run a few errands. Along the way Raphael helps Tobias catch a fish (apparently, they only needed to eat once on this long journey of theirs...) and then take out important parts, specifically various bits of, um, insides, telling him that some parts help cure various conditions like cataracts and others are useful for driving out demons. When they get to the house of Raguel (Sarah's father), the man to whom Tobias' errands took him, Raphael plays matchmaker and, well, helps get those two lovebirds hitched, even after Tobias heard the story of the 7 prior marriages. Knowing there was a demon, Tobias followed Raphael's advice and, burning the fish guts like incense, drove the demon from stalking Sarah. Raphael then chased down Asmodeus and bound him in the desert. After celebrating the wedding feast with Tobias and Sarah, Raphael leads them to Tobias' father Tobit, whereupon he helps Tobias cure the cataracts that had made him go blind. Finally, after one of the greatest happy endings in the bible occurs, he reveals that he is Raphael and doesn't need payment for his services, and then returns to heaven.

This is quite a great story, and there are some wonderfully lyric prayers and soliloquies in the work. Let's take a minute, though, to summarize what we know about Raphael from the story.

Master of disguise. He fools everybody into thinking he was a human rather than an angel.
Excellent in nature. He helps Tobias catch a fish, using nature to sustain them, and was also a great guide on their journey.
Resourceful. He taught Tobias how to use what he had--in this case, a fish--to do many different things, and helped him preserve it until needed.
Spiritual/mystical. He understood how to drive out demons, presupposing belief in them and knowledge of their ways.
Great tracker. He caught up with Asmodeus once he had been driven from Sarah, which brings us to...
Excellent in combat. He overcame Asmodeus and bound him in the desert.
Well learned. He understands medicine and how to cure cataracts.

What do these 7 things mean? These traits all describe a certain, somewhat mythical figure. Therefore, there can only be one conclusion. Raphael the archangel is Raphael the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

* This is not to say that such Christians disrespect all of the apocryphal books; although some are apocryphal because they are widely held to be fraudulent accounts of things, others are apocryphal because they just don't rise to the same level as Scripture. Many Christians treat such works, like Tobit, as good sources for teaching, but not quite as good as what they fully accept as Scripture. Think of it this way--a physics textbook may be good for teaching, but it isn't Scripture. Many feel the same way about Tobit.

Saint Patty's Day Craziness

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:45:00 +0000

In retrospect, this would've been easier to write if I hadn't been quite so lazy in getting it out the door.

Oh, well.

Towards the end of last week, I betook myself to sign up for another shift with '40 Days for Life'; and, feeling pretty good about myself, I signed up for the 10-12pm shift for Saturday, St. Patrick's Day. Which, I got to say, I felt pretty good about.
Right up until Saturday evening. Whereupon I was dead certain that: (a) I was going to be completely alone and surrounded by inebriated hipsters, and (b) I was going to be violently assaulted by about four dozen of said hipsters, probably continuously, all through those two hours.

But -- amazing awesomeness ensues -- I found out I had company! Brother Chad (from St. John Cantius Catholic Church) and his 'Crusaders' (that is to say, he has his own army of sidekicks) were on our bit of sidewalk, too, and in the same timeslot!

These awesome people.
Well, not these exact awesome people, but you get the idea.

A very wise, very fat, and very dead man once said that:

Two is not twice one. Two is two thousand times one.

And that's basically true: it makes an enormous difference when you're by yourself, and when you have even one other person with you. For some reason, that alone deters (probably) half of all the people who would otherwise throw insults, curses, or trash at you.

Anyways, we had an ... interesting time. Practically everyone who passed by, singly and in mobs, were young urban-looking types; practically all of them were hooting and hollering and looking for a raucous good time; and practically none of them bothered us or made any noise at us at all.
Matter of fact, we had several downright decent conversations with some of them; and they all turned out to be, if not completely accepting of our purposes, perfectly courteous and reasonable in talking with us. We talked, and they talked, and there was a general sense of bonhomerie and 'agree to disagree' all around.

Of course, we had our share of loonies, too.
The only one who really stands out in memory was a man, who stood on the street-corner (a good 20 yards at least), and started ... screeching. I swear that I'd never thought anybody could make a noise like that even once without sustaining permanent damage to their vocal chords; but there he was, screeching away. To be honest, the first six or seven times he made that noise I thought he was doing his angry-falcon-stoops-on-chipmunk imitation.

It was absolutely incredible. Hatred seemed to clog his voice, he was so incoherent. He just stood there, screaming some insult at us, over and over for about two minutes. And then, equally mysteriously, he turned around and left.

People are weird.

But on the other hand, people are also courteous and reasonable and considerate. People are many things, good and bad, beautiful and ugly.

Don't let your apprehension about meeting one or two of them throw you off; but speak the truth in love and courtesy and compassion. Let them react as they will.

SAAAAAAAAVE!

noreply@blogger.com (dmjsd) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:17:00 +0000

Ever since Monday, I’ve had this little miniature soccer player running around in my head doing that silly airplane thing that soccer players do after they score a goal.

Wheeeee!

Why’s that? Because we had a SAVE on Monday! Some of us have been going out there for a couple of years now, and this is our second 40 Days for Life campaign, but this was our first known save! Right smack dab at the midpoint of this spring’s 40 Days for Life vigil, we were treated to a behind the scenes look at what our prayers are, aligned with God’s will, bringing about!

When I arrived for my afternoon shift, I found that one of the leadership team members, her friend, and one other woman (the latter two were out at the vigil for the first time!) were speaking with a woman who had stopped to talk. She’d come up to them and said, “Are you guys always here or something?" She told them she was pregnant and she’d been passing by Planned Parenthood for the last three days, hoping that there would be no prayer volunteers around when she finally went in for her abortion. She said she saw people even at night and it made her think, “What the h--- are they doing?” Well, she finally stopped to ask.

She told us about how she’d lost both her husband and her three-year-old son to violence and that she was afraid to have another baby only to lose someone again. She had worked up the determination to go for an abortion that day, but she really didn’t want one. She was open to the idea of adoption, but worried that her baby would grow up to hate her for it. Two of the volunteers shared their stories of how adoption had positively impacted their families and after hearing their stories, she decided against abortion! She exchanged phone numbers with them and we gave her information about the local pregnancy resource center, which can help her get medical care and put her in touch with several adoption agencies. Hugs were exchanged, and then we all huddled together and prayed in thanksgiving.

It was truly a beautiful moment and I thank God for saving this baby and mother, for allowing us to be a part of His work, and for letting us know that being out there 24 hours a day really does make a difference! I can’t think of a better way to mark the halfway point of the vigil! We are so blessed!

Not a thankless occupation!

I’d like to ask those of you reading to please keep this mother in your prayers! She has been through a lot and still has a difficult road ahead of her. Pray that God gives her the strength to carry this child and that, by turning to God and trusting in Him, she finds healing for her past sorrows.

Sharing Love, Exchanging Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (dmjsd) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:14:00 +0000

“Why are you here? Are you protesting?”

It’s a question I’ve gotten a few times since the start of this spring’s 40 Days for Life campaign. I suppose it’s a matter of semantics to most people, but I like to point out that no, we’re not protesting, at least not in the traditional sense. We are not protesters, but prayer volunteers, in the parlance of 40 Days for Life. The rest of the year, we might be referred to as prayer warriors, at least that’s how the Pro-Life Action League’s fantastic Life Witness Prayer Book refers to us, though I can understand why we don’t use that term during the campaign. We know we’re fighting powers and principalities, but those in the secular world has a hard time wrapping their brain around that one.

Don't hate me because I'm awesome.

Which is fine, because it took me a little while to wrap my brain around it, too. There was a bit of a learning curve for not getting personally offended and angry when someone reacts poorly to our presence. I had to learn to respond to angry people with compassion rather than a heated argument. In my nerdier moments, I like to think about it like we’re in the Matrix and we never know when a normal looking person passing by is suddenly going to be taken over by Agent Smith.

Whoa!

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to imply these people are possessed or infested or anything like that (not that it doesn’t happen, but it’s so rare). What I mean is that they are not the enemy. Rather, they are haunted by a past abortion-related wound and need our love, not our retorts. Abortion is as much their enemy as it is ours; they just don’t realize it yet.

But we here at Prayer for Life at Division and LaSalle would be remiss in letting you think that all our contact with passers-by is negative. In fact, this year I’ve had far more positive reactions from people than negative ones! It’s probably because I’ve been taking more morning and early afternoon weekday hours, rather than evening and weekend hours. There are quite a few regulars who offer me a “God bless!” or “Thanks for being here!” as they pass, and even one van that claps and hollers, “Yay, pro-life!” every Sunday morning.

The concerned friend

And then there was one sunny midday last week when a young man came out of Planned Parenthood and asked to sit on one of the vigil stools. He was waiting for a friend and preferred to be outside on the gorgeous, if windy, spring day, rather than inside the clinic. As we chatted, I discovered he and his wife (newlyweds!) had been helping out a younger woman who is from an abusive family situation, already has one child (his wife was baby-sitting at home while they were at the clinic), and had become pregnant again. That day, she’d come for a post-abortion check-up. Though it was too late to save this young woman from the pain of an abortion, I told him about the local crisis pregnancy center (and gave him a brochure), explaining that they could refer her to post-abortion counseling if she ever needed it. When I mentioned that many women engage in self-destructive behavior after an abortion, he mentioned that she had a history of cutting. I encouraged him to continue, with his wife, to be a good friend to this young woman, because she would need their love and support. We talked for a while, about school and jobs and other normal things, and I hope he left knowing that we prayer volunteers are normal people with normal lives who care about women and babies and just want to make sure people know about the help that is out there.

The academic

Shortly before this young man left with his friend, another man, a PhD candidate at my graduate school alma mater, stopped by and asked about our motivations for being out there. As a secularist, he seemed genuinely excited to have come across someone who, having a PhD in genetics as I do, could discuss the issue of abortion from a scientific and secular perspective, though I certainly made sure to point out that the campaign was driven by prayer. Our discussion did not revolve around whether or not abortion was right or wrong. He mentioned he had two children and he said he respected my stance that it was wrong to take a life. His concerns mostly stemmed from his time spent in China doing research. He completely agreed with me that their one-child policy was ruthless and wrong, but he felt their economy and standard of living would actually improve with the decline in their population, with labor shortfalls being made up for by increased mechanization. Meanwhile, I pointed out that other economists predicted their economy would stagnate. We also discussed how all people need to do more to help people in need. His view was that people are crummy by nature and charity needs to be enforced by the state, while I argued that enforced “charity” is no longer charity and that it desensitizes people to their responsibility to care for others, and that putting the state in charge creates large bureaucracies that waste resources and are poorly equipped to meet the specific needs of individuals, while private charity based on the principle of subsidiarity could do more, better, with less. Ultimately, he concluded that he was just too cynical to see my way working and I told him not to worry: I was pretty cynical in graduate school, too.

It's hard not to be cynical when your soul is being crushed for years on end.

It’s easy to start to flinch when people come up and ask you what you are doing, but both of these interactions were pleasant (though the former was tinged with sadness). As prayer volunteers, we have an opportunity be witness to the love of Jesus in many situations, and we get to meet all sorts of people we would have otherwise never crossed paths with. It’s truly a blessing to be out here!

Look at all the Angry People

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:17:00 +0000

People are weird.

(I mean, seriously.)

I'm not, of course, talking about the great mass of men and women, most of whom don't care overmuch what other people think, live in step with their judgment and taste, and so are regarded (ever so slightly) as "weird" by all their friends.

I am talking about those few, exceptional, and probably distressed individuals who, for some mysterious reason, decide that I am the Enemy Of All That Is Good In The World, and proceed to break every law of courtesy and decency in telling me so.

Case in point: I was pulling the 10-12pm shift for '40 Days for Life' outside the 'mill' last night, along with a certain young lady. And we were enjoying a warm, windy, non-eventful night when a woman (apparently on her way back home) approached us.

Now from this woman I learned many unexpected and startling things. For instance: I was informed that I was actually a liar and a hypocrite on the subject of virginity; that I was "crazy", and my facial expressions marked me out as such; that I probably thought myself a "bad-ass", with the implication that such was an unfortunate and raving delusion; and, finally, that I was both a "faggot" and a "rapist", and that my very appearance confessed such iniquities.

Like this guy, but sketchier.

Such revelations, you might well imagine, were tremendously startling; but none so startling as the very fact that they were made at all. I could think of no connection between the physical facts of our occupation of that particular bit of sidewalk, and the coarse and hateful way they were denounced. There seemed to be no apparent proportion between two young people mildly talking on a street corner on a mild evening, and an older woman (with an unfortunately vulgar vocabulary and an adamant expression behind her eyes) accosting and wildly excoriating them.

The interview didn't last long. The vulgar woman repeatedly talked about how we should "get the f*** off [her] sidewalk", and when she threatened to call the police I suggested that that might be really the right thing to do after all. Not sensing the irony in the encouragement, she realized that she didn't know any number for the Chicago Police Department that wasn't "911"; and, upon hearing that we didn't know the number either, decided that her doorman would probably know. And with that (and a few more carelessly-selected words) she left us alone to cope with the aftereffects of adrenaline withdrawal.

Less mustache, but you get the idea.

To Our Pro-Life Readers: You will encounter hatred eventually. There are many people in the world who were 'sold a bill of goods' on abortion: that it was a quick and easy way out, that it would solve their problems, that it would enable them to pursue happiness more freely. The sad truth is, though, that the acceptance of abortion entails a rejection of the things we know as most human: hope, joy, courage, sacrificial love. It does violence to biological fact in support of "preference" or "convenience". Such a choice cannot but lead eventually to bitterness, hardness of heart, shame, and hopelessness.

Or, as has been so succinctly said so often on the Interwebs: h8ers gonna h8.

Praying the Night away.

noreply@blogger.com (drizzle) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Last night I was covering an hour of the 40 Days for Life vigil with a few friends when something exciting happened. We were trying to start a rosary (after they let me babble on about something or other for a while) when we heard sirens. As anyone who lives near a fire or police station can testify, that's not very unusual in the city. Because of this we paused for a minute and then started the rosary again. Then we heard more sirens.

These first few bits of prayer wound up being a microcosm of the whole rosary for us, as by the time we finished there were at least 4 proper fire trucks (the ones with ladders), several fire SUVs, at least 5 ambulances, a few police officers directing traffic, and a news van simultaneously labelled with a channel number (you know, like "Channel 5 news" or "XKCD 8: Your local news today!") and Telemundo. I can only hope our Spanish-speaking followers got the whole story from them.

This whole event played out over the course of our rosary. Have you ever tried to focus on prayer while sirens are blaring all around you? I don't recommend it, though apparently Daniel's homeys (Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael) managed it just fine. However, one of the benefits of the sirens being so close was that it gave me a reminder of why we are out there: life. We don't care if it is a child in the womb, a grandparent in a rocking chair, or anyone in between those two. That made it easier to focus, for me at least.

When we were done, we texted a friend on the force (drizzle is always well-connected) to ask what was happening and learned that one of the L trains was having issues with its brakes; specifically, they were smoking. Fortunately, I had driven. But our prayer had been expanded and our hour had flown by while we contemplated the life and death situations that those civil servants had potentially been facing. Plus, when one of the fire trucks left, he honked his horn as he turned the corner from us, and I saw the fireman in the passenger seat (are there actually passengers on a fire truck? We'll call it the non-driving seat) looking at us to let us know it was for us. Or at least, that's my story.

And this is why night hours are the best. Would that be nearly as exciting in the day? Of course not. (I'm allowed to answer my own questions, right?) The contrast of lights and the darkness, of sirens and the silence, of action and the sleep surrounding us all built up the drama. Also, not to be overlooked, I learned something. Remember when you were a kid and had the matchbox car sets? We always wanted a fire truck or a police car, and always got some strange looking thing that had "Fire Department" or "Police Department" written on it. Well, I can now testify that all of them exist. I saw a red truck with what looked like a spotlight on the back, a fire department version of the paddy-wagon, two different sized official fire trucks (you know, ladders and whatnot), and at least one other vehicle type that did something I couldn't identify. They're real things, not just matchbox giving your cheap parents a way around your request for a fire truck. (Your parents, and mine, were still cheap, though. Man I wanted that fire truck.)

So far during the night, 40 Days for Life has 1) seen this aforementioned emergency situation, 2) had pizza thrown at us (I promise I am not kidding), and 3) had a police officer stop by with, uh, we'll say some friendly advice. During the day? Umm, I think a few people prayed, and maybe some people walked down the sidewalks. Oh, and some cars drove down the street. Yeah, definitely. Which sounds cooler, night or day? Of course it's night. Night is always cooler. Don't believe me? Ask Barney Stinson. Oh wait, I did, and he said that everything good happens after 2am. Like that time Lily kicked Korean Elvis in the nards. (Don't do this at the vigil site, though.)

So guys, it's time to man up. Night hours are hard, I get that. But they are way cooler and more meaningful than the day hours. And one last incentive--the ladies will think you're awesome. Don't believe me? Last year I took a bunch of night hours, and this year I'm engaged. Think about it.

These 40 Days...

noreply@blogger.com (drizzle) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:23:00 +0000

Tonight at 7:00 there will be a rally at our usual spot (1200 N LaSalle) to begin an event called 40 Days for Life.* This is a pro-life event that spans every day from Ash Wednesday (Feb. 22) through Palm Sunday (Apr. 1, no joke) in the Catholic liturgical calendar (sorry, you let the Catholic write it, I use my preferred calendar). Though it's a bit late to use this as an advertisement for the rally, I do want to take this opportunity to discuss the broader 40 Days plan.

The main event was started several years ago by a pro-life group in Texas. The idea is to return to the biblical idea of uniting prayer and fasting to drive out demons. Since the bible constantly uses 40 as an appropriate length of time for prayer, fasting, preparation, and change (witness Noah on the ark, Israel in the desert, and Jesus in the desert as well-known examples, and the purification requirements of Jewish mothers after childbirth for a less well-known example), the founders sought to unite prayer and fasting into a pro-life vigil. However, abortion in modern society is more than a religious topic. Now it has become a political topic, meaning its scope is beyond mere prayer and fasting (though they are important!); consequently, the founders incorporated outreach, by which they intended to have people go door-to-door to make those who lived nearby understand just what abortion is and does to their community. These three aspects, then, comprise 40 Days for Life: 1) a prayer vigil, 2) fasting, and 3) outreach.

Each of these deserves its own post, and I would like to go through them over time and in separate, dedicated posts, but right now the prayer vigil is most pressing so I want to discuss that first. The prayer vigil is an on-site, 24 hour presence of prayerful and PEACEFUL witness to those who work and patronize an abortion facility. This means that starting at midnight tonight, there will always be at least one and preferably two people on the corner of Division and LaSalle praying for an end to abortion. That is a lot of work: a minimum of 960 man hours (preferably 1920). We break this down into hour-long commitments. However, not all hours are created equally. Specifically, while it may be easy to hit hours between, say, 6 and 10pm--you know, after work and before bed--it isn't easy to cover the hours between, say, midnight and 6am, when people tend to sleep. Hours during the workday are tough to fill as well.

What we need is for people to consider setting aside time to come to the vigil. It can be one hour during the vigil, an hour a week, an hour each day, or anything else you can spare. We need everybody and anybody who is willing. There are more details at the 40 Days website (address to come), but that is the essence of it. And while I am Catholic, the vigil is not--we have myriad inter- and non-denominational prayers, welcome personal recitation of favorite bible passages (I love playing Psalm roulette, where each person in a group chooses a number, 1-150, and the next person reads that Psalm before choosing for the following person. Pro-tip: pick Psalm 119 before someone else does it to you.), and support the honest and powerful approach of saying prayers from the heart, letting the Father through His Spirit put the words into your mouth and your heart. We don't care how you pray for an end to abortion, just that you pray for an end to abortion.

The website for our 40 Days vigil (there are many vigils throughout the country and the world) is here, and links from the page will help answer other questions you may have and will show you how to sign up for hours based on the vigil calendar (hint: check the menu bar above the cute photo of a mother and her child). Get involved; we need you.

*Full disclosure: the Prayer for Life at Division and LaSalle leadership team is also the Old Town, Chicago, 40 Days for Life leadership team. So this is self-serving. Like most of what I do.

Origins

noreply@blogger.com (drizzle) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Hi everyone (or anyone...)! This is a blog we're getting started on behalf of Prayer for Life at Division and LaSalle. For the backstory, every Saturday morning a group of young adults in Chicago, IL, meets on the northwest corner of Division and LaSalle to pray.

Why?

Well, I'm glad that you asked. We meet there because that is the location (1200 N. LaSalle) of the Planned Parenthood facility closest to downtown/the Loop that performs surgical abortions. There are other facilities in downtown Chicago, but this is the closest with the surgical procedure in non-emergency cases.

Why?

Oh, I see. We do this because we feel strongly that abortion is the taking of an innocent life, and because we feel that prayer can serve both as a witness for life to those women considering abortion (and the doctors and administrators facilitating them) and, being religious ourselves, can serve to draw God's presence to the location with the intention of closing it.

Why?

I think you are broken.

Are you just more religious nutjobs trying to put your rosaries on my ovaries?

No, ma'am. I would never place my rosaries on your ovaries. That would be kinda gross, don't you think? At least one or two others who join us would also refrain, but for them it would be because they don't use a rosary to pray. And because it would be kinda gross (that one just keeps on giving).

Who are you, then?

We are all motivated by our faith in God and trust for His plan for us, as well as by the light of natural reason that dictates that when a being with separate physical characteristics (especially DNA) resides within a person, that being is distinct from that person and deserves the rights that exist pursuant to its nature. We have heard many arguments for why we are wrong and are terrible people (and no one yet has figured out why I am actually a terrible person), and are more than happy to sit for hot chocolate (during winter), a sno cone or soft dring (during summer), or a beer (yes, please) and discuss it with you.

Aren't there enough of you pro-life bloggers already?

Hey, you want us to stop, there's an easy solution: make abortion illegal. I promise that I will stop. Heck, I might actually get some real work done.