Family & ProLife News Brief – March 2024 Newsletter

Changing Hearts Will Take Huge Effort

According to Prof. Scott Yenor, the reshaping of sexual relations, including acceptance of abortion, developed over 150 years. Public schooling, introduced in America in the 19th century, transferred a main function of domestic life to the state. Divorce by mutual consent had become common in the mid-1900s. Later, obscenity regulation was loosened. But, ironically, the desire for fairness embedded in anti-discrimination laws, including discrimination on the basis of sex, established the main mechanism for the public deconstruction of sex roles within the family.

The new order, supported by extensive court findings and legislated rules, promotes a sexless, egalitarian understanding of “human dignity.” Though marriage showed men and women how their different interests could converge in a life well lived, any social pattern that presumes difference amounts to wrongful discrimination. The family must be rebuilt on this basis. Today, education and careers come first. Marriage is delayed. Childbearing is deferred. Women are encouraged to celebrate their divorces and abortions. We strain to eliminate old stereotypes, but live under new ones.

Traditional practices are now deemed illegal and stigmatized, being replaced by an anti-discrimination “constitution.” The 2020 Supreme Court holding in Bostock v. Clayton County said that transgender individuals must not be discriminated against, a decision that requires us to affirm that men can become women and vice versa. The 1991 Civil Rights Act allows employers to be sued for emotional distress and punitive damages. Now corporate America “educates” its workers and seeks to deconstruct sex stereotypes.

We need to revive common-sense values reflecting the different innate roles of men and women. [For the full article by Yenor, see First Things, March 2024]

Most Abortions Are Unwanted

Recent Elliot Institute research reveals that “most women report feeling pressured to agree to an abortion that violated their own personal values.” Population controllers don’t mind unwanted abortions given their efforts to push the abortion pull to market precisely with the aim of eliminating “the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country.” For those who see babies born to “lower” classes as a burden on society, the fact that a “bare educated, unhealthy, and poor” woman wants to have her baby but feels pushed into an unwanted abortion by her male partner, social workers, doctors, or employers is just an alternative way toward achieving the goal of reducing birth rates among the poor. The goal is almost always hidden behind pro-choice euphemisms. [ElliotInstitute.org, 2/14/2024]

New Poll on Key Life Issues

Results from a newly February poll by McLaughlin & Associates, in partnership with leading pro-life organization Priests for Life, offer critical insight into American voters’ current priorities, steadfast values and stance on key issues like abortion. Poll respondents were Democrat (36%), Republican (36%), and 28% were Independent/Other.

  • 85% support financial, medical and emotional assistance for women facing unplanned pregnancies.
  • 81% support reducing legal and financial barriers to adoption and foster care
  • 77% support ensuring faith-based organizations can help provide services to pregnant women and young mothers
  • 61% say it’s good when the mother decides to keep and raise the child, or make an adoption plan
  • 21% support an extremist position of abortion being available anywhere, at any time [Detailed poll info may be requested from Media@PriestsForLife.org]


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Anti-Woke Question Puts Teacher on Leave

Tiger Craven-Neely, an elementary school teacher who questioned a California school’s spending $250,000 on a teacher training program called “Woke Kindergarten,” was placed on leave by his school district, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Glassbrook Elementary School used the federal funds for underperforming schools to pay for training their teachers how to be “anti-racist” and “disrupt whiteness” in the classroom. The teacher said he had voiced concerned over the program at a staff meeting and questioned what it meant to “disrupt whiteness” in his third-grade classroom.

The bad news is that since implementing the “woke” program, scores for English and math at the school have fallen further. Fewer than 4% of students post proficient scores in math and a little under 12% test at grade level in English. [Brandon Poulter, Daily Signal, 2/11/2024]

Men Less Interested in Marriage

American men are significantly less likely to want to get married or raise a family, according to a recent analysis from religious statistician Ryan Burge who analyzed data from the Cooperative Election Study, which asks participants about their marital status. He found that in 2008, men tended to get married around 29 years old. In 2022, the average age of first marriage for both men and women jumped by about 4.5 years. Also, about 65% of 30-year old men had never been married, compared to 48% of 30-year-old women.

Only 33% of 30-year-old men were parenting, but for 30-year-old women, the number was 50%. Also, 65% of women between the ages of 35 to 40 were currently parenting young children. “Not only are women much more likely to get married, they are also much more likely to become parents, as well. In essence it’s like women are trying to maintain some of the traditional familial institutions in American society while men have decided that this is not the direction they want their life to go,” Burge wrote. For men, having a higher level of education makes one less likely to stay single and never have kids. Said another way, educated men settle down. But more highly educated women are more likely to be single & childless between the ages of 35 & 50 after controlling for race, ideology, income & religion. [H. Hiester, CatholicVote.org, 2/20/24]

Does Marriage Really Work?

If you were to form your opinions by relying solely on TikTok influencers, Netflix movies like “Marriage Story” or cultural commentary in The New York Times or the New Yorker, you could be forgiven for thinking marriage was dreadful. Sealed off from reality, young and middle-aged men and women think that anything but marriage is where to find fulfillment, happiness and prosperity. Boy, are they in for a surprise!

Sociologist Brad Wilcox found just the opposite in his book Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization. The data show that married men and women are the most financially secure, least lonely, healthiest and happiest people in America. Their children have the best life outcomes compared to peers whose parents are not married. The evidence from multiple studies is overwhelming, hence the title of his book. For example, 60% of married mothers aged 18-55, compared to only 36% of single, childless women of the same ages were completely or somewhat satisfied with their life. Also, happiness is reported even higher for those who regularly attend religious services with their spouses.

On average, men and women married with children, despite all of the challenges of marriage, are more likely to navigate life successfully, forging financially stable, meaningful and happy lives. [Our Sunday Visitor, 2/4/2024]

Have You Visited These Websites?

Reversing the STI Epidemic

In 2000, genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection was reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) at a rate of 257.5 cases per 100,000 persons. That rate of reported chlamydial infection among women had been increasing annually since the late 1980s. By 2021, the rate had nearly doubled to 495.5 cases per 100,000 population, In 2021, 58% of all reported chlamydia cases were among persons aged 15–24 years.


More striking is that back in 1994 the Surgeon General announced a “National Plan to Eliminate Syphilis from the United States.” The rate in the year 2000 was still too high at 2.2 per 100,000 persons. In 2021, the syphilis rate had skyrocketed to a huge 53.2 per 100,000 persons.


The latest CDC report states: “Reversing the STI epidemic is possible with a holistic approach” that employs holistic, coordinated care to address concurrent epidemics and health disparities. A critical first step is connecting people to the STI testing and treatment services they need. And, in recent months, we’ve seen historic progress toward new STI prevention innovations. Admitting that it cannot do this alone, the CDC director concluded that through collaboration and a whole-of-nation, whole-person approach, “I am hopeful that we can improve our nation’s health and well-being.” [The full reports are at https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats/archive/2000-Surv-All.pdf and https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2022/2021-STD-Surveillance-Report.]


Ed. Note: What is really striking is that nothing is mentioned about trying to change people’s behavior that continues to feed the STI explosion. Promoting moral behavior seems to be sadly forbidden for consideration by government agencies like the CDC. Several agencies and organizations promote so-called “safe sex” and we now see the unhealthy results.

Is Human Life Valued Only Because It’s “Productive”? – February 2024 Newsletter

Can Human Life Be Easily Discarded?

Many Americans think babies with Down syndrome are better off being killed in the womb than being born. Their language turns a baby into a “thing.” But our language must remind the world that babies, in or out of the womb, are human. Each pre-born child is a real, immeasurably valuable, and unique human being. An innocent little person worthy of life.

Pro-lifers support a real alternative, a real choice for women, like pregnancy resource centers. Abortion activists frame the narrative that killing the baby is the only choice, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Those who believe in abortion must separate it from the fact that unborn children are people. They must use language that strips the unborn of all dignity and deceives vulnerable women into thinking killing a child is “reproductive freedom.” [extract from Sarah Holliday, Language Matters, The Washington Stand, 1/25/24]

Follow Up Thoughts

What our culture teaches us is that things are valuable insofar as they are productive, helpful or useful. Sensible as that utilitarian view is, many erroneously apply it to our fellow human beings. Thus, elderly, sickly and severely disabled persons are treated as “less valuable” than healthy individuals. What Pope St. John Paul II called a “culture of death” describes a strictly
materialistic, utilitarian view of our fellow human beings, be they elderly or in the womb. But science teaches us that each and every human being is unique, having his or her unique personality, skills, tendencies and other attributes. Each of us, then, needs to examine what we believe gives value to human life. As Christians, we know that each person, no matter what his or her condition is, has a soul and is loved infinitely by our Creator. [editor]

Over 3,000 Help Centers for Women

The March for Life has introduced a new resource at its website: “Support Families Facing Unexpected Pregnancies by Donating to Your Local Pregnancy Resource Center or Maternity Home!” The website has a pull-down menu of states. Every state is listed, many with multiple pregnancy help centers.

After choosing a state, one can select from among the many pregnancy centers listed. Your editor did this for New Jersey and found the following listed:

Bridge Women’s Center (Old Bridge), Crisis
Pregnancy Services (Egg Harbor City), Gateway
Pregnancy Center (Elizabeth), Good Counsel
Homes (Riverside), Several Sources (Ramsey),
and Solutions Health & Pregnancy Center
(Shrewsbury).

[www.marchforlife.org]

Reinvigorated Growth of …..

In 2020, parents got a glimpse of the bureaucracy of public sector education. The pandemic offered parents a rare opportunity to see its darker underbelly. It revealed, in many though not all places, a system that prioritizes staff over students, an administration that has a disdain for parental rights, a hollowed-out and often vacuous curriculum, and a teaching class motivated by political ideology and a false anthropology. One sad feature of modern secular education is its fragmentation. Following certain philosophical and pedagogical trends, it divides the student and the curriculum, and separates the illuminating and vivifying power of faith from both. For many parents, this was enough for them to seek alternative educational opportunities. Since 2020, there
have been over 200 new Catholic “classical” schools established in the United States and a 78% enrollment increase in established classical academies.

The aim and purpose of all education, whether classical, secular or parochial, is twofold: the acquisition of truth and the formation of culture. Schools, such as many modern online academies, choose to emphasize the quest for knowledge and, by design, have very little formation in culture. What makes Catholic classical education distinct is that it seeks to form students in the totality of truth and intends to initiate them into the breadth of Western civilization. Catholic classical schools aim at the acquisition of truth for the sake of truth itself and are not directly interested in passing on knowledge to prepare students for the labor market (although it does do this, and does it well), but rather focus on exposing them to the breadth of knowledge available to the human person. For an outstanding example, the Diocese of Tulsa reports that 30% of its parochial schools are now classical. There is also a large and very active diocesan supported K-12 home-schooling co-op that utilizes a thoroughly classical curriculum. [excerpts from Richard Meloche, Exploring the new springtime for Catholic classical education, Our Sunday Visitor, 1/26/24]

Americans Have Too Much Freedom

A new Rasumussen poll finds that 55% of graduates from Ivy League colleges said there is “too much freedom” in the country. Also, 47% of top-one-percent earners polled said Americans have “too much freedom.” However, a majority of everyday voters (57%) believe that there is “too much control,” compared to only 16% who said there was “too much freedom.”

The poll also found other areas where elite Americans had vastly different opinions from average citizens. For example, respondents were asked the following question: “To fight climate change, would you favor or oppose the strict rationing of gas, meat, & electricity?” A whopping 89% of Ivy League graduates supported rationing. Seventy-seven percent of the top 1% also agreed. Among everyday voters, only 28% supported the drastic measure.

Nearly three-quarters of the elites surveyed believe they are better off now financially than three years ago. Less than 20% of ordinary Americans feel the same way.

Most elites think that teachers unions and school administrators should control the agenda of schools. Most mainstream Americans think that parents should make these decisions. [Poll: Ivy Leaguers, Top 1% of Earners Think Americans Have ‘Too Much Freedom’, Catholic Vote, 1/26/24]

Meanwhile, the federal government administration has issued a new proposal to amend conscience protections for healthcare workers and institutions that wish to refrain from performing abortions and other procedures that violate their religious beliefs. The proposed rule eliminates protections that federal law shall not require individuals “to perform or assist in the
performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if his performance or assistance in the performance of such procedure or abortion would be contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

Also to be eliminated is the prohibition against mandating that recipients of federal funds make their “facilities available for the performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if the performance of such procedure or abortion in such facilities is prohibited by the recipient on the basis of religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

Catholic Vote states that it’s now time for another grassroots effort, similar to a 2019 campaign, to stop the latest pro-abortion effort. [excerpt from www.CatholicVote.org, 1/16/24]

Human Rights Parallels: Racism & Abortion

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, I thought I’d offer some quotes from his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” written from a prison cell to the clergy in 1963. Parts of the letter have become well known, such as King’s insistence that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Here are a few longer excerpts, which can be read together or separately. The parallels with the pro-life movement are plain.

“But as I continued to think about the matter, I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist? ‘This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.’ Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist? ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ So the question is not whether we will be
extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?”

“In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, ‘Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with,’ and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular.” [W. Ross Blackburn, Martin Luther King—In His Own Words, www.HumanLifeReview.com, Jan. 2024]

“The Best Week Ever” for HS Juniors

Each year, hundreds of high school juniors entering senior year spend a week at Christendom College and say (4.7 out of 5) it’s one of the best weeks of their lives. This is a popular, well-attended and highly-ranked pre-college summer program. Attendance is competitive, and interested students should not delay in applying. If you mention Relevant Radio, you will receive a 50% discount. Here is the application link: https://www.christendom.edu/admissions/thebestweekever/

Helping Young Adults Find a Good Spouse

In The ABC’s of Choosing a Good Wife, Stephen Wood offers time tested advice for making the greatest decision of your life. It’s practical, convincing, full of invaluable wisdom including the key questions to ask before you ask the big question. For young women, you’ve dreamed of that special man who will appear and ask you to be his bride. In The ABC’s of Choosing a Good Husband, author Wood gives practical and insightful advice to women on how to choose a partner for life. Both books are available (get a 20% discount by submitting your email address) at https://shop.catholic.com/.


This monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert. Since 2013 it has had over 30,000 readers and is now posted on three diocesan websites. To receive each month’s free issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu

Respect for Life Takes Many Forms — January 2024 Newsletter

New Year Editorial

Every day we hear about tragedies all around us: gun violence, abortion, the trafficking and abuse of children, poverty, homelessness, and more. At the heart of all these sins is people’s treatment of other humans as things, as not having any worth, as a means to one’s desires. The tragedy of suicide, too, is based on a lack of care and devaluation of oneself.

If you are not a believer but a humanist, you may nevertheless want to see the end of such disrespect for human life simply because we are all part of the same human race. For Christians, life has value because we know we are made in the image of God, with inherent dignity and uncountable worth. Thus, we weep, we pray, and we do whatever we can.

Have you not yet become active in or supported the pro-life movement? This new year is a time to start. Much of the pro-life effort has focused on abortion because more than 65 million pre-born children have been aborted in the USA alone. For 2024, it is estimated that the lives of about 900,000 developing babies will be terminated. Thankfully, there are many ways to help. Ask at your church, find out about your state’s right to life group, or inquire into your diocesan programs. Your efforts will be for a good cause and the Lord will amply reward you.

Abortionist Brags She Kills Babies Up to 34-Weeks-Old

Morgan Nuzzo is the co-owner of a Maryland abortion business. But the abortion center she owns doesn’t just kill babies early in pregnancy. In an new interview, Nuzzo brags that her abortion biz kills babies up to 34 weeks. That’s nearly full-term. Not only are these abortions killing babies who elsewhere are born healthy every day in hospitals across the country, they are past viability. The record for the earliest viability where a baby has survived is 21 weeks. And 22, 23, and 24 week-old babies are not only surviving but surviving more frequently and at higher rates than ever before as medical technology continues to improve.

“We aren’t booking out now for a[[ointments — we have availability next week. Whereas before, the wait time was two to three weeks on average, sometimes as much as five. We were getting a little worried about where the patients are,” Nuzzo added. Worried? Hopefully women later in pregnancy are getting the legitimate medical care they and their babies need. [excerpts from Steve Ertelt, LifeNews.com, 12/27/23]

17 States To Hold March for Life Events

In addition to the National March for Life on January 19th in Washington DC, many states will be hosting their own statewide rallies and marches. One of the newest to sign on is New Jersey, scheduled to hold its first Rally for Life on September 26, 2024. Other hugely attended state marches include California and Pennsylvania.

In Washington DC, the national Rally for Life begins at 12 noon, with the March up Constitution Avenue at about 1:15 pm. The Rally, which is usually attended by over 200,000 people, will host a number of nationally known speakers. Jeanne Mancini, head of March for Life, said: “It’s the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world. But this is not just a protest. TOGETHER, WE GATHER TO CELEBRATE LIFE. We celebrate each and every life, from the moment of conception. We envision a world where every life is celebrated, valued, and protected.” For additional information, visit https://marchforlife.org/

The Fight for Life is Raging Nationwide

The American public is being bombard by false info, much of it from within the medical community.

  • Miscarriage care is not abortion. But radical abortion laws are being proposed and passed because medical groups claim they can’t care for women experiencing a miscarriage, if abortion is made illegal.
  • Abortion Pill Reversal is established, safe, and effective. But Colorado is outlawing its use, based on the lie that it’s dangerous to women and not researched.
  • Induced abortion is not safe. It does not improve lives. And it never saves them. But The American College of OB/GYNs (ACOG) and The Society of Family Planning recently said just the opposite in a chilling Washington Post letter to the editor.

Opposing these erroneous statements is the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. More info may be found at www.aaplog.org.

Are Phones Making Students Dumber?

Regarding students’ mental health, research has shown that various measures of student well-being began a sharp decline around 2012 throughout the West, just as smart phones and social media emerged as the attentional centerpiece of teenage life. But what about school learning? The Program for International Student Assessment, conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in almost 80 countries every three years, tests 15-year-olds in math, reading and science. Test scores have been falling for years. Across the OECD, science scores peaked in 2009, and reading scores peaked in 2012. Since then, developed countries have as a whole performed “increasingly poorly” on average. Even in famously
high-performing countries, such as Finland, Sweden, and South Korea, PISA grades in one or several subjects have been declining for a while.

Research found that students who spend less than one hour of “leisure” time on digital devices a day at school scored about 50 points higher in math than students whose eyes are glued to their screens more than five hours a day. This gap held even after adjusting for socioeconomic factors. Nearly half of students across the OECD said that they felt “nervous” or “anxious” when they didn’t have their digital devices near them. (On average, these students also said they were less satisfied with life.) This phone anxiety was negatively correlated with math scores.

Studies have shown that students on their phone take fewer notes and retain less information from class, “task-switching” between social media & homework is correlated with lower GPAs, and students who text a lot in class do worse on tests. Students whose cellphones are taken away in experimental settings perform better.

In sum, students who spend more time staring at their phone do worse in school and feel worse about their life. For the past decade, the internet-connected world has been running a global experiment on the minds of young people. Results from a decade of observational research have now repeatedly shown a negative relationship between device use and life satisfaction, happiness, school attention, information retention, in-class note-taking, task-switching, and student achievement. These cognitive and emotional costs are highest for those with the most “device dependence.” Banning phones in school would be a bold and novel experiment. The present fallacy is believing that doing nothing is harmless. Time for a new intervention.
[excerpts from Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, 12/19/23]

Porn: A Viral Addiction

For a powerful ½ hour documentary about the dopamine effects on the brains and on the social lives of teens and young adults who get snared into the world of porn watching, see the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwdb9NsaA1Q. Though there is vulgar language in some segments, the overall message is one of information and insight.

For help in getting out from under the spell of pornography, to get your life back, get started with
https://integrityrestored.com/ as well as https://support.covenanteyes.com/ and https://exodus90.com/

At the Heart of the Pro-Choice Worldview

An unavoidable fact is that each adult was at one time an embryo in his or her mother’s womb. Politicians who support abortion in the Western world, and the millions of voters who place them in office [including Christians and Catholics], are seeking to deny a particular form of knowledge, namely, their own participation in evil. With all our busyness, evil may not be in our field of vision, but it is always hiding in the back of our minds. [excerpt from Ellen Wilson Fielding, Descending from Paganism, Human Life Review, Fall 2023.]

Should Human Embryos Be Destroyed?

Eugene Tarne, a senior analyst with the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute recently published an article entitled “Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research 25 Years On.” In it he reviews the controversy that grabbed headlines beginning back in 1998: Should human embryos be destroyed so that their stem cells can be harvested and used to work medical miracles?

Laws were passed that said yes. But no cures were ever generated, and none is on the horizon. Tarne lists political leaders as well as prominent scientists who delivered similar prophecies, and who have turned out to be the unreliable Prophets of Baal. Meanwhile, research in regenerative medicine was continuing using adult stem cells. The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells, another ethical alternative to embryonic stem cells, led to funding most research and treatments that now do not
involve the destruction of human embryos. [Life Legal Defense Foundtn, 12/5/23, https://lifelegaldefensefoundation.org]


Mark Houck, the Pennsylvania father and pro-life activist who was acquitted of violating the FACE Act in January 2023, didn’t stop there. In October, he announced that he is suing the Department of Justice for its aggressive and traumatic persecution of him and his family. “I think if the DOJ gets hit hard enough and there’s a big enough black eye against them, then they’re going to cease and desist from coming after pro-life people and people of faith.”


GoodTube Kids

GoodTube Kids is a new platform hosting wholesome entertainment and educational content anchored in the truths of the Christian faith. It features shows for small children, tweens, and teens, as well as videos on arts & crafts, music, cooking, outdoor adventures, etc. GoodTube Kids is available online and is downloadable from the Apple and Google Play app stores.

The Secret to Happiness

According to the 2022 General Social Survey, viewed as the nation’s top social barometer, 35% of married men and 40% of married women aged 18-55 reported being “very happy” while 14% and 22% of unmarried, childless men and women did. Despite all modern cultural shifts and the sacrifices marriages and children entail, it appears that these two traditional markers of adulthood still represent the most reliable route to a fulfilling life. [excerpted from Salvo magazine #67, Winter 2023]


This monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert. Since 2013 it has had over 30,000 readers and is now posted on three diocesan websites. To receive each month’s free issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu

Family Life and Respect for Life – December 2023 Newsletter

One Woman at a Time

“What struck me was their obvious vitality & love.” So wrote Charles Lewis, a Catholic convert regarding the Sisters of Life operating in Toronto. They created a community of “helpers” who donate funds, collect food items, drive the women to medical appointments, pray, and offer friendship to those who are often poor and alone. The Sisters are trying to change the world one woman and one baby at a time.

The order was founded in 1991 under the guidance of their spiritual father in New York, Cardinal John O’Connor. Their mission is to help women who want to have their babies but who are facing financial and emotional hurdles. They also counsel women who have come to regret their abortions. “It’s easy to forget, amid all the talk of what’s wrong with the Church, there is an eternal goodness that will outlast all the so-called controversies.” [Charles Lewis, Natl. Catholic Register, 10/22/23]

Likewise, recognizing the dignity and sanctity of all human life, U.S. Bishops have been promoting Walking with Moms in Need, a grass-roots initiative through which Catholic communities walk alongside local pregnant and parenting women in need. Many parishes and dioceses have joined the effort. One such example is in the Diocese of Paterson, NJ, with its 3-step strategy for parishes. Level 1 involves getting parishioners educated about the program and its goals. Level 2 includes gathering & providing essentials for moms such as diapers, clothing and food. Level 3 involves volunteering to accompany moms to appointments & more. Information about the nationwide effort is found at http://www.walkingwithmoms.com.

Young Americans are Dying?

Auto accidents, homicide, suicide & drug overdoses, in that order, are the leading causes of deaths of Americans aged 1 to 19. Boys have mortality rates roughly twice those of girls. Distractions from cell phones have made driving more deadly in recent years. Black teens accounted for nearly two-thirds of homicide victims ages 10 to 19, mostly via guns.

School closures, canceled sports and limits on in-person socializing worsened an already growing mental-health epidemic among young people. Social media helps fuel it by replacing successful relationships with a craving for online social attention that leaves young people unfulfilled, and exposes them to sites that glamorize unhealthy behaviors. Fentanyl, more potent and riskier than heroin, has spread broadly to every corner of the illegal drug market, including numerous fake fentanyl-laced pills. U.S. authorities are trying to slow the spread of xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that can cause severe wounds and is increasingly mixed into the fentanyl supply. Cartels are replacing heroin with less-expensive, easier to make fentanyl. [extracted from Wall Street Journal, 5/18/23]

Federal 15-Week Abortion Ban?

The idea is being floated as a way to create political consensus over a divisive issue. While grateful for all restrictions on the killing of innocent children, a 15- week ban poses critical problems:

1. Pro-life states have enacted abortion restrictions much more stringent and effective. A federal ban will put pressure on those states to water down their existing life-saving measures.
2. Over 95% of abortions are performed before 15 weeks. Thus, the overwhelming majority of abortions in this country would still be completely legal.
3. By 15 weeks, a baby’s arms & legs are formed and moving, organs are in place; the heart has been beating for over 2 months. Human life should be protected from conception, but even in states where we can only achieve incremental abortion restrictions, 15 weeks is too far.

Now is NOT the time for face-saving compromise. [extracts from Life Legal Defense Foundation, In Brief, Oct/Nov 2023]

Which Religion Promotes Abortion?

  • Most Islamic nations severely restrict abortion, citing
    the Koran: “Do not kill your children for fear of poverty.
    For it is we who shall provide sustenance for you as well
    as for them.”
  • The Buddhist Vinaya monastic code specifically
    forbids monks & nuns to perform abortions; traditional
    Buddhist ethics condemn it as a form of homicide.
  • The reverence for life and hatred of violence in the
    Hindu concept of ahimsa strongly discourages abortion.
    Early Hindu Vedas hold that abortion is worse than
    killing one’s parents.
  • The Talmud condemns bloodshed against the child in
    the womb.
  • The earliest Christian catechism, the Didache, in a
    teaching reaffirmed across two millennia, commands
    Christians not to procure an abortion, placing it among
    murder, infanticide, child rape. [National Review, 7/31/23]
  • What religion do proponents of abortion follow today?

Artificial Contraception & Society

Since the use of contraceptives became widespread, promiscuity has increased dramatically, as have sexually transmitted diseases, abortions, single motherhood and fewer marriages. If sexual intimacy is disconnected from having babies, many no longer see why it should remain in marriage. Homosexual acts became seen by many as having the same value as heterosexual acts. We have not “redefined” marriage as undefined it. Widespread confusion and misunderstanding have resulted from disconnecting sex and procreation. We have separated what God has joined: this is never good. [Msgr. Charles Pope, Our Sunday Visitor, 11/19/23]

Addressing Declining Births

Modernity’s “birth dearth” seems to be worldwide. South Korea reduced birth rates with national propaganda. The Chinese did it through tyranny. The U.S. has done the same by contraception and praising individual independence. Centuries ago, David Hume traced the decline in the populousness of nations to a lack of hope and faith in the future. Some say it is caused by materialism, that humans are just another species, one that has overreached and must be curtailed. Others say that it is our belief that we can overcome nature, be free from unchosen bonds and slavish bodies, that encourages people to skip parenthood; it is today’s temptation that we shall be like gods. [letters to editor, First Things, Aug/Sept 2023]

Some nations Like Australia and Hungary have instituted pronatal policies such as paying bonuses to families that have more children. Hungary provides such fiscal relief and has policies to promote stronger families. Hungarian President Katalin Novak said: “We protect parental freedom. The right to raise children does not belong to the state, nor to NGOs, nor to the knowledge industry and the media, but to parents. Anyone who has a child is ready to fight at any time to ensure that their child can live in peace and freedom. Families pass on their values from generation to generation in the face of every difficulty, every challenge.” [C-Fam, Letter from the UN Front, Oct. 2023]

But advocating for pronatalist policies alone will not stem the tide of our declining birth rates. We have to welcome families in our culture. We have to encourage a workplace culture that values work-life balance and prioritizes family time. We should encourage employers to adopt family-friendly policies that can create an environment where employees feel supported in their roles as parents. Moreover, we should work to shift cultural attitudes toward larger families, challenging stereotypes that may discourage people from having more children.” [editorial, Our Sunday Visitor, 9/27/23]

Super Bowl Champ Speaks Out

Plenty of smart and talented people are successful but remain unhappy. In the end, Harrison Butker said, no matter how much money you attain, none of it will matter if you are alone and devoid of purpose. By insisting that our human gifts are God-given, his speech at a secular school and his alma mater, Georgia Tech, was open to the transcendent truths of faith.

Brandishing his wedding ring, Butker smiled, saying: “This is the most important ring I have right here.” He said kicking in Super Bowl LVII, the most watched football game of all time, gave him happiness, but only temporary happiness. “None of these accomplishments mean anything compared to the happiness I have found in my marriage and in starting a family. Sadly, we are encouraged to live our lives for ourselves, to have loyalty to nothing but ourselves and make sacrifices only when it suits our own interests.” He concluded: “Focus on meaningful relationships and know that with or without the spotlight, your life has value and you are meant for more.” [Fr. Pat Briscoe, Our Sunday Visitor, 5/21/23]


Short Films

[Salvo magazine, Fall 2023]
Groomed (at DailyCaller.com) tells the story of a California mother who fought to rescue her adolescent daughter after her daughter’s mind was virtually abducted by a combo of sex-ed school instructors and transgender activists online. Five years later, her daughter is recovering, but with no thanks to professional medicine or counseling. Worth watching solely for seeing what trans activists are perpetrating on children.
XXX is a free YouTube documentary by sex-addiction therapist Roane Hunter on internet porn’s effect on the brain. The “Coolidge Effect” is when the brain’s reward system seeks ever-increasing novelty to get an ever-diminishing dopamine rush. The film (language warning) drives home the urgency of the risks porn poses to us all.


ProLife Ballot Defeats

Ohio voters’ passage of an amendment to the state Constitution guaranteeing the right to one’s own reproductive decisions including abortion, election of a proabort to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, and other losses, serve as a reality check about where we are as a nation when it comes to protecting the lives of the unborn.

Reasons given include deceptive ballot language,media bias, and twice the campaign spending by proabortionists over pro-lifers. But the fact is that legalized abortion enjoys wide support around the country, a result of having 50 years of Roe that produced an abortion mentality in our laws, schools, workplaces, news and entertainment industries. So we must work increasingly to convert hearts and minds to a culture of life, respecting the inherent dignity of every human being. [extract from editorial, National Catholic Register, 11/19/23]

Voting, Taking Action on Life and Family – November 2023 Newsletter

Voting This Month

Though many moral issues are before us, not every one is equal. A 2-page flyer “We Care, We Vote” states: “We vote conscientiously because we are people of faith. Out consciences are formed through studying Scripture and the teachings of the Church, examination of the facts, and prayerful reflection.” But some folks are so engaged with daily TV news and opinion shows that politics has become their primary basis for judging the world. Many voters adopt views that are purely secular, based on political party allegiance. Christians, though, have a higher moral basis to make judgements. The USCCB highlights key issues (note the very first one):

  • Issues that directly affect human lives- such as abortion and euthanasia- are fundamental and demand serious consideration.
  • Our Constitution heralds religious liberty in the First Amendment, yet increasingly people of faith are fighting to retain this basic right.
  • There is a move to redefine marriage. The marriage of a man and woman is the foundation of the family and an essential core element of a flourishing society.
  • The growing disparity between rich and poor means most of the world’s resources are in the hands of a small percentage of its people. The federal budget is a moral document and must prioritize the poorest and the most vulnerable among us.
  • The millions of undocumented persons living in the USA deserve our compassion. There is an immigration problem, and we need a humane solution to it.
  • War, terror, and violence have caused thousands of lost lives. We must work for just solutions to conflict throughout the Middle East, and beyond.

[https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithfulcitizenship/parishes-and schools/upload/catholics-carecatholics-vote-bulletin-insert.pdf]

Pew Research Center Survey on Marriage

40% said they are very or somewhat pessimistic about the institution of marriage and the family. Just 25% are very or somewhat optimistic. Just 23% called being married as either extremely or very important to living a fulfilling life while 26% of Catholics said likewise. Just 26% said the same about having children while 31% of Catholics said the same.
[Our Sunday Visitor, 10/8/23]

Human Trafficking in Our Town

“Thanks for covering the film Sound of Freedom. The reality is sex trafficking of children and adults happens in every U.S. community, rural and urban. Children need to be rescued, but adult men and women need to be
rescued, as well, and given the opportunity to begin the healing process from the complex trauma they have experienced. Another great resource is U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking. These efforts show the world that Catholic nuns are forerunners in this challenging work.” [letter to Nat. Catholic Register from Sister Shirley Fineran, OSF, Sioux City, Iowa, 10/22/23, who founded Lila Mae’s House for women who have been sextrafficked since childhood.]

New York ranks 4th behind California, Texas and Florida for human trafficking which is now the second most profitable criminal activity after illegal drugs. Human beings are sold for labor and sold for sex. Traffickers do not want pregnant workers. So they force the women to abort their babies. Sadly, many are trafficked by romantic partners and family members, including parents. [Circle of Life Newsletter, Good Counsel Homes, Fall 2023]

Britney Spears Pressured to Abort Baby

In her upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, pop star Britney Spears reveals she had an abortion, and not because she wanted one. “If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. Yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young.” Spears started dating Timberlake when she was 17 and he was 18 in 1999. The two singers broke up in 2002. “To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life,” writes Spears.

“I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated,” writes Spears. Sadly, it’s common for women who have an unexpected pregnancy to be pressured by others to have an abortion. A 2023 survey by Charlotte Lozier Institute, surveying women ages 41- 45, found that a whopping 60% who had abortions felt they faced “high levels of pressure to abort.” But if this is an issue of women’s rights and choices, why do these moms facing unexpected pregnancies have to shoulder so much pressure? Shouldn’t it be their choice? We can start with men: If you’re having sex with a woman, you need to be ready to step up to be a dad. (Yes, birth control fails.) [Katrina Trinko, The Daily Signal, 10/17/23]

Couples Plan Their Family Naturally

FAbM Base gives practical & scientific information and support for those learning and practicing fertility awareness in all stages of life. Family planning is done without putting chemicals into a woman’s body, without devices or surgery. The group’s website provides loads of useful info and resources.

“By treating hormonal and fertility issues, we embrace the worth and dignity of the whole person. Scientific information of fertility awareness and the community necessary for successful practice are valuable for every woman, no matter her faith or stage of fertility. Science shows ovulation is a sign of health, and our resources promote holistic care based on this evidence. We do not promote use of hormonal contraception or artificial reproductive technology because  shows that these are not good for women. We welcome all to learn about their bodies and find the support they need through our extensive resource databases, the stories we share honestly and without censorship, and factual information regarding alternative natural methods.” [https://fabmbase.org]

Margaret Sanger’s Wish

In the USA, black women have the highest abortion rate of any racial group, and the highest abortion-related mortality rate. The 20th-century eugenics movement specifically targeted Blacks and other racial minorities in order to reduce their birthrates, by promoting contraception, abortion and coercive measures such as forced sterilization. Yet, legalized abortion hasn’t narrowed the persistent wealth gaps between racial groups in the USA. In recent testimony before Congress, Dr. Monique Wubbernhorst noted that abortionists have killed an estimated 17 million American babies of African descent, at the cost of not only their lives, “but all of their descendants and, families and their hopes, dreams and contributions to our society.” [Letter from the UN Front, C-Fam, Sept. 2023]


Speaking Up Against Hate

Catholics led the way with other groups to hammer the LA Dodgers when they honored an anti-Catholic group of gay men dressed as nuns. The FBI is now in the spotlight regarding its spying on Catholics. Mothers are being more vigilant than ever about what is going on in public schools. And surveys indicate that Catholics want their clergy to be more vocal. [William A. Donohue, Catalyst, October 2023.]


Germans March for Life

Pro-life marches were held simultaneously in Sept. in two German cities for the first time, drawing over 6,000 participants. Besides Berlin, the annual demonstration against abortion made its debut in Cologne. Both marches were met with counter-protests. [Our Sunday Visitor, 10/1/23]

In My Mother’s Womb

A new book expresses the mysterious unfolding of a life in a mother’s womb from the unique point of view of the child. The story imagines what the child is seeing, hearing, thinking, and feeling. In diary form week by week, the little soul enthralls the reader with wonder at the vibrant growth and development of the human person that occurs before birth. With accompanying Scripture verses and stunning artwork for each week, this book provides a fresh encounter with life and the Author of Life. Pre-order at www.osvcatholicbookstore.com

Helping Singles Meet

CatholicMatch is the largest exclusively Catholic singles community to help singles meet more people who are better matches faster than anywhere else, including the mega sites. Its Match Portrait® coupled with Temperament profiling and advanced search features combine both the art and science of why two people click at the deepest level, helping individuals find their perfect match. CatholicMatch claims thousands of confirmed marriages: “our results speak for themselves. If you’re looking for a relationship with someone who shares your faith, this is the place.” [ htpps://www.CatholicMatch.com ]

Fairness in Girl’s & Women’s Sports

In a Parent Resource Guide booklet that responds to
transgender extremist policies, the Family Policy Alliance
and other groups present the negative consequences when
society regards bodily sex as irrelevant. [for copies of the
booklet, contact info@njfpc.org]
In a section on sports facts, citing published medical
research, we discover the following:

  • There is a 10% performance gap between male and
    female athletes in most sports. It hasn’t narrowed as
    women train harder
  • Men have higher hemoglobin levels–their body can
    oxygenate muscles more quickly and efficiently
  • On average, males have 66% more upper-body muscle
    and 50% more lower-body muscle than females
  • Women’s speed world records are about 90% of men’s
    speed world records. Each year, hundreds of men easily
    beat the world’s best time in women’s marathon
  • On average, men have broader shoulders, larger feet and hands, giving them an advantage in sports like volleyball, swimming and basketball

The booklet concludes with sample opt-out letters, public records requests for school boards, and studies showing the majority of children with gender dysphoria accept their biological sex by adulthood. “Many school boards are pressured by outside activist groups to pass policies that treat bodily sex as irrelevant. By respectfully speaking out, you can help to ensure that school boards hear what the research makes clear: our sex does not change according to our feelings, and school policy that ignores that fact ends up hurting our kids.”


This monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert. Since 2013 it has had over 30,000 readers and is now posted on three diocesan websites. To receive each month’s free issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu

Respect Life Month – October 2023 Newsletter

Another Election Coming

“I encourage all eligible Catholics to vote and to be guided in your voting by an informed conscience,” writes Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney (Paterson Diocese, NJ). He cites the U.S. Bishops document on forming one’s conscience on topics such as Human Life, Promoting Peace, Marriage and Family Life, Religious Freedom, the Poor and Economic Justice, Health Care, Migration, Catholic Education, and Combating Unjust Discrimination. [Visit the USCCB website for the full document.] “There is a compelling argument that, if the value of Life itself is not respected and protected, then there is no ‘point’ in speaking about some of the other important issues.” Being against the killing of the unborn means caring for both babies and their mothers. Bishop Kevin states: “We are the Church, called by God, to untiringly advocate for the reverence of the gift of life at all stages.” [The Beacon, 10/28/21]

USCCB Issues 2023 Theme for Respect Life Sunday: “Radical Solidarity” to be courageously pro-woman, promoting a choice that truly protects, accompanies, and supports women and their children.

Parents Sue to Opt Out of LGBTQ+

An interfaith group of Maryland parents has asked a federal appeals court to allow them to opt their children out of classroom instruction pertaining to books containing LGBTQ+ themes (such as gay romance) to which they object on religious grounds. Becket, a Washington-based religious liberty law firm, is representing the group of parents, including Muslims, Jews, Catholic and other Christians, as they sue the school board in federal court over the Montgomery County Public Schools policy. [Our Sunday Visitor, 9/17/23

Parents have “the first responsibility for the education of their children” according to The Catechism of the Catholic Church. “Mothers and fathers retain the right to both teach their children the morals imparted by the Church and to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions.” (¶2229) 

Fed. Govt. Continues to Push Abortion

  • Dept. of Health & Human Services (DHH) is taking away the conscience rights of health care workers.
  • DHH has a taxpayer-funded national abortion hotline.
  • Dept. of Defense is using taxpayer dollars to cover the cost of abortions for female medical personnel.
  • Dept. of Veterans Affairs is turning VA hospitals into abortuaries, even where pro-life laws prohibit this.
  • FDA continues to allow the sale of abortion pills despite weak medical research support. 

[Population Research Institute Review, Sept.-Oct. 2023] Editor’s question: Why is the federal administration promoting these policies?

Addiction: Moral Failing at First, Medical Problem Thereafter

Addiction can take many forms. One of the most widely experienced addiction today is pornography. At first, it’s curiosity and bad moral decision-making. Then, in short order, the dopamine high needs to have stronger, more outrageous, stimulus. And down the dark path one goes. Medical science says it is difficult to stop. Porn creates unrealistic expectations. Porn degrades the opposite sex. Porn eats away at one’s family. Porn addiction uses up life’s valuable time. Porn, like other addictions, shackles us and reduces our freedom as humans.

But addiction can be professionally helped. Therapy intervention is available. See IntegrityRestored.com for comprehensive assistance. “Catholics in Recovery” is a great online group, focused on men’s recovery Also, covenanteyes.com (use “integrity30″ for 30 free days) helps monitor your online use. “Fight the new drug” is a secular group that also provides sound advice. These can help those addicted to pornography get back their life, get back their family, and achieve freedom again. [For more details, listen to the podcast of Trending with Timmerie using the Relevant Radio app, 9/19/23]

Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

for 2022 estimated at least 5 million were children. Overall, human trafficking rakes in a monstrous $150 billion annually, with child trafficking accounting for $35 billion, now surpassing the arms trade & on pace to sur pass the drug trade as the world’s fastest growing illegal enterprise (International Organization of Migration, 2022 report). Sadly, the U.S. ranks #1 in both production and consumption of child pornography and sits among the top three as a destination country for sex trafficked children. For example, in 2010 Atlanta, Georgia recorded 7,000 online requests for sex with underage victims (children) in just one month (Shapiro Group, 2010). 

In the 1990s and 2000s, the rise of modern day slavery brought reports of India’s red-light districts onto the world stage, because of ministry work overseas and the 

award-winning movie Slum Dog Millionaire, which ex posed gruesome trafficking rings in India. The blockbuster hit Taken also opened people’s eyes to trafficking, depict

ing young women being abducted from one country & sold to another. The film Amazing Grace partnered with the anti-slavery movement to expose the issue. The powerful line, “God’s children are not for sale” is at the heart of the movie taking the nation by storm, Sound of Freedom

Our border is an abundant source feeding the expanding business of selling children. In 2022, the U.S. Custom and Border Protection Agency reported that over 150,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the border. Approximately 85,000 children are unaccounted for, not including those children coming with families that are indebted to cartels nor do they account for children being used by adults, mostly young males, who are NOT their relatives. None of the children will be able to pay the debt owed as the fee for bringing them across the border. They become indebted to their captors for life. Nothing is deterring these criminal/ terror organizations from growing their illegal businesses. 

Americans have crossed the Rubicon and we cannot go back. It is time to rescue our children! [Trayce Bradford, Children Are Not For Sale, Eagle Forum Report 9/23]

In the Name of “Diversity”

Public schools continue to be ground zero to eliminate knowledge of God-derived rights and obligations from our children: 

  • 1962: Prayer forbidden (Engel v. Vitale)  
  • 1963: Bible reading banned (School District of Abington Township v. Schempp
  • 1980: Ten Commandments banned from public spaces (Stone v. Graham
  • 2000s: some schools distribute condoms, some teach graphic sexual content in primary schools, some sponsor drag queen presentations, some allow young children to “decide” their gender and not tell parents

ACTIVITIES: for Respect Life Month many events and activities are held in support of life. The Life Chain project is planned for the afternoon of October 1st, Respect Life Sunday. Each year, Life Chains form in hundreds of cities nationwide for a public, prayerful, peaceful stand for Life. Also, 40DaysforLife prayer vigils worldwide began on Sept. 27thand end on November 6th. For a local vigil, visit https://www.40daysforlife.com/ Also, check church & right to life groups in your area for other activities such as guest speakers and conferences, processions and masses for life.

Pregnant Mom w/Cancer: “No Abortion” 

Just over a year ago, 30-year-old mother Tasha Kann was diagnosed with a rare and malignant brain tumor called Anaplastic Astrosytoma Grade lll. She was approximately 20 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby girl. Doctors said that her best chance of survival & more time was to abort the child & immediately begin chemotherapy and radiation. However, Tasha didn’t want to end her baby’s life, even if it meant her own life would come to an end sooner. 

According to Tasha’s GoFundMe, “After much research & many prayers, Tasha decided her best out come from this disease would be to continue her pregnancy and fight it as naturally as possible, refusing chemo and radiation.” Gracey Joyce Kann was born last October, healthy and lovely. Tasha’s cancer had been growing from her central nervous system. The prognosis lessened from years to 12 months, yet Tasha is now at 14 months. When making the decision about her care, Kann said her faith was the biggest factor. 

“Every single day, I look at my beautiful baby and think about how easy it was for them to tell me to abort – like she was nothing,” Kann told Fox News Digital. She is now getting expensive immunotherapy that will cost over $100,000 per year. Her community and family have always been & always will be there to support her. She is not giving up. [Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com, 9/12/23]

 Students Afraid of Princeton Professor

Earlier this month, Princeton Univ. professor Robert P. George was slated to give a talk at Washington College in Chestertown, MD, including “a discussion of the importance of free and open discourse during college of the great questions of human life.” College President Mike Sosulski emailed students: “It is incumbent upon us as a community to create & maintain an environment where everyone feels safe to share their ideas, even those that may be controversial or offensive.” Sosulski himself attended George’s talk. 

But “Protesters at Washington College were successful in silencing the speaker,” reported The Star Democrat, a local Maryland paper. Students were outraged about his long history of bravely defending & articulating conservative principles about traditional sexual morality & abortion. “As faculty tried to attempt to help continue the lecture, it proved futile. Fast-tempo music began blaring, whistles constantly blew, and there was even a little dancing in between the tables.” 

The Washington College protesters aren’t some crazed outliers. A new survey of college students reveal horrifying views about free speech. 31% of students say they believe that it’s always or sometimes acceptable to shout down a college speaker to prevent him from speaking, according to the survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and College Pulse. More than half (57%) agree that a speaker who thinks abortion should be completely illegal should definitely or probably be blocked from giving a campus speech. Shockingly, 11% of students say they think it’s always or sometimes acceptable to use “violence to stop a campus speech.” [Katrina Trinko, DailySignal.com, 9/16/23]

State by State Battles – September Newsletter 2023

Alabama: Court Upholds Law Protecting minors

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction against an Alabama law that protects minors from gender-transition hormone treatments. The unanimous decision found no “constitutional right to treat [one’s] children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards.” The court said it is “undisputed that the medications can cause loss of fertility and sexual function. Some families will not fully appreciate those risks and some minors experiencing gender dysphoria ultimately will desist and identify with their biological sex.”

“This case revolves around an issue that is surely of the utmost importance to all of the parties involved: the safety and wellbeing of the children of Alabama,” it said. “But it is complicated by the fact that there is a strong disagreement between the parties over what is best for those children. Absent a constitutional mandate to the contrary, these types of issues are quintessentially the sort that our system of government reserves to legislative, not judicial, action.” The 11th Circuit’s decision in favor of Alabama could hold major implications for the other states in its jurisdiction, Florida and Georgia, where judges have issued a preliminary injunction against similar laws. [Joshua Arnold, The Washington Stand, 8/23/23]

Sept. 9: National Day of Remembrance

Thousands will mark the day as both celebration and mourning as they remember the 65 million unborn babies who were aborted under Roe v. Wade. Eric J. Scheidler, exec. director of the Pro-Life Action League, one of the groups sponsoring the event, said “On this 11th annual National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children, we visit the burial places of aborted children and other memorials put up in their honor — and we solemnly pray for God to heal the deep wounds of abortion in our society. With over 185 services scheduled in the U.S., including 36 at the burial places of aborted children, there’s likely to be a Day of Remembrance prayer service near you,” he added. “It’s not a protest or rally. It’s not held at an abortion facility or government office. It’s a prayerful opportunity to remember, and to heal.”

The gatherings will include testimonies from women who regret their abortions, reflections by clergy of various faiths, music, prayer, mourning for aborted babies and celebration of the end of Roe. Priests for Life, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society & Scheidler’s group want to remind Americans of the horrors of abortion. The grave-side services expose how every abortion results in the death of an unborn child, and that child’s body must be gotten rid of by some means, whether incinerated or thrown in the trash, cut up for scientific experiments or, in some cases, buried. Pro-life leaders also hope the day will bring mercy and healing to the tens of millions of mothers and fathers of aborted
babies.

For more information and a list of locations, visit NationalDayofRemembrance.org. [Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com, 8/28/23]

Massachusetts: Foster Parents Denied

Mike & Kitty Burke allege that the commonwealth denied their adopting children due to their Catholic religious beliefs concerning marriage, sexuality, and gender. During interviews, they affirmed their willingness to love and support any child, regardless of orientation or gender struggles. Their application was rejected with their religious views labeled “not supportive.” The couple believes that the states’ rejection is discriminatory and filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Dept. of Children & Families for violation of their religious liberty. [Our Sunday Visitor, 8/27/23]

Court Limits Access to Abortion Pills

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided in part with a federal judge’s decision in Texas to curtail access to mifepristone. The court held that the Food and Drug Administration failed to adequately take into account safety concerns when it loosened access to mifepristone in 2016. The FDA extended the window when mifepristone could be used to terminate pregnancies from seven weeks’ gestation to 10 weeks and reduced the number of in-person visits patients were required to make from three to one. Then, in 2021, it removed a requirement that mifepristone be dispensed only in clinics, medical offices and hospitals, thereby allowing it to be administered through telehealth and sent by mail.

Attorney Erin Hawley of the Alliance Defending Freedom said: “we are very pleased with the Fifth Circuit’s decision. It restores the original 2000 safeguards to a dangerous chemical drug regimen.” Katie Daniel, the state policy director of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a leading anti-abortion group, hailed the ruling: “The FDA ignored science and its own rules when it rubber-stamped Democrats’ reckless mail-order abortion scheme. We won’t rest until the FDA and the profit-driven abortion industry are held accountable for the suffering they’ve inflicted on women and girls, as well as the deaths of countless unborn children.” [NBC News, 8/16/23]

Iowa: Judge Blocks Abortion Ban

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a ban on most abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy, passed by the Iowa Legislature. It prohibits almost all abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks, but includes exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother. However, an Iowa judge issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the new law, thus reverting the state to its previous legal abortion limit oat 20 weeks of pregnancy. “I will fight this all the way to the Iowa Supreme  Court where we expect a decision that will finally provide justice for the unborn,” Reynolds said. [Our Sunday Visitor, 7/30/23]

“Family planning is contraception AND abortion.”

So said Ann Furedi of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service based on findings that over 50% of women having abortions had been using at least one form of contraception, and 25% had used methods considered “most effective.” She said: “women cannot control their fertility though contraception alone.” U.S data show similar findings: about half of abortion patients said that they used a contraceptive method in the month they become pregnant.”

Assoc. professor Melissa Moschella (Catholic U.) siad there is no evidence that widespread access to contraception reduces abortion rates. Where contraception becomes the norm, people have an expectation that they can engage in sexual activity without worrying about consequences.” And since no method is 100% effective, more unplanned pregnancies result. In his encyclical The Gospel of Life, Pope St. John Paul IIworte that contraception and abortion are “fruits of the same tree.”

Oral contraceptives have potentially serious adverse health effects. Moral theologian Pia de Solenni said “most women don’t feel good when they’re taking hormonal birth control.” More women are questioning the physical effects the pill has on their bodies. “Article after article acknowledges that women report a variety of adverse effects including depression.” [Lauretta Brown, National Catholic Register, 8/27/23]

Michigan: Famer’s Religious Liberty Win

A federal court decision in favor of a Catholic orchardist in Michigan, who announced that his farm would not host same-sex weddings, and was banned from a farmers market as a result, is being hailed as a victory for free speech and religious liberty. In the decision, the judge said Country Mill Farms and the owner Stephen Tennes “were forced to choose between following their religious beliefs and a government benefit for which they were otherwise qualified.”

The farm includes a cider mill and donates produce to the Greater Lansing Food Bank. It also hosts events such as wedding shower and birthday parties from August through Thanksgiving, according to its webpage. The judge’s decision notes that Tennes “Stopped running haunted houses, something his father started, because the practice was not in line with his faith. He has declined to host bachelor and bachelorette parties for the same reason.” [Kurt Jensen, Our Sunday Visitor, 8/28/23]

Warren Buffett’s Dark Side

The “Wizard of Omaha” is America’s most revered investor and famous penny pincher whose wealth is $100 billion. The dark side? The biggest funder of abortion in human history poses as America’s most celebrated philanthropist. Since 2002, Buffett has poured $41 billion into four foundations, each of which bankrolls groups expanding abortion-on-demand policies nationwide or even sustain the UN’s population control campaign in impoverished countries. “Warren Buffett has never spoken publicly about his views on abortion,” the New York Times observed in 2010. “But in the 1990s [his foundation] helped finance the research and development of the [mifepristone] pills that induce abortion… [and] helped finance a lawsuit to overturn the ban on so-called partial-birth abortion in Nebraska.

For decades, Buffett’s committed a fortune de to his belief that humans will reproduce ourselves into oblivion, endangering global supplies of food, housing, and even human survival. Since 2003, Ipas has received over $422 million from Buffett family foundations. Ipas invented and markets manual vacuum aspiration technology, literally sucking embryos and fetuses from the womb in more than 100 countries. Another under-the-radar group is Pathfinder International, which used its funding to overturn the U.S. Mexico City Policy, a ban on federal funding of groups that perform abortions overseas.

In the past decade, Pathfinder used close to $1 billion from USAID to abort Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans and push looser abortion policies in poor countries. Pathfinder was seeded in the 1950s by Clarence Gamble, heir to the Procter & Gamble soup fortune, himself a committed eugenicist and ally of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger who sat on the group’s board. Many are familiar with Sanger’s “Negro Project of the South” to expand birth control and abortion to southern blacks; she got the idea from Clarence Gamble, the project’s funder. EngenderHealth is a little-known group that provides abortions in poor countries. Even less well-known is its original name: The Sterilization League of New Jersey, one of a crop of sterilization advocacy groups created by eugenicists in the 1930s.

Advocates for Youth is one of the lead transgender groups grooming schoolchildren for gay sex, pedophilia, and HIV – thanks to $29 million from Buffett. We’ve recorded its vision for sex education in classrooms, which includes teaching second-graders about sexual consent, fifth-graders about “trusted adults” whom they “can talk to about relationships” (invariably sexual), and tenth-graders about the latest medical breakthroughs that make living with HIV tolerable. [Hayden Ludwig, Restoration of America, 8/28/23]


Next Month: October is Respect Life Month when many events & activities are held in support of life. The Life Chain project is planned for the afternoon of October 1st, Respect Life Sunday. Each year, Life Chains form in hundreds of cities nationwide to make a public, prayerful, peaceful stand for Life. For a location near you, see https://www.lifechain.org Also, 40DaysforLife prayer vigils worldwide will begin Sept. 27th and end on November 6th. For a local vigil, visit https://www.40daysforlife.com/ Also, check church and right to life groups in your area for other activities such as guest speakers and conferences.


This free monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert, and since 2013 has had over 30,000 readers. To receive each month’s issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu

Science and the Dignity of Human Life – August 2023 Newsletter

Every Picture Worth 1,000 Words

New trucks are being converted by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform into rolling billboards to target 34 California State and University campuses. To educate the public & college students, the themes will invoke the dangers of abortion pills that are now being dispensed in student health centers. Some of the signs will address the “trans” mania also sweeping American college campuses. “Nor do we believe that biological men should be permitted to menace real women in women’s prisons or shelters. We also oppose policies which permit biological men to consistently defeat and often injure real women by invading in women’s sports and posing as real women.” [CBR newsletter, June 2023, cbr@cbrinfo.org]

Assisting an abortion for the first time

Abby Jonson dropped the ultrasound probe and ran, crying, from the procedure room. Despite two of her own abortions, she was shocked by the images on the screen: the first-trimester fetal human had limbs, movement, and a heartbeat: “What was in this woman’s womb just a moment ago was alive. It wasn’t just tissue, just cells. That was a human baby, fighting for life! What I told people for years, what I believed and taught and defended, is a lie!” Johnson came to view abortion as morally impermissible. She quit her job at the clinic and ultimately became a pro-life activist. [Heidi M. Giebel, The “Unplanned” Effect: Impact of Fetal Ultrasound Images, Life and Learning XXXII, June 2022.]

Contraception and Abortion

Modern medicine continues to promote the use of contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies. People have come to believe that only through contraception can women have control of their lives. Health professionals provide unmarried sexually active adolescents, especially African Americans and the poor with the pill, the condom, and more recently the use of the IUD and implants. These approaches are not solving the problem of unwanted pregnancy & abortion, and they promote the likelihood of catching an STD.

Reducing abortion will only happen when a true understanding of human sexuality, marriage, and the conjugal act can be effectively communicated and lived. The only way to decrease abortion is through chastity-based human sexuality programs for teens and their parents, marriage preparation that includes Natural Family Planning, and the understanding that women’s roles and careers are not contingent on eliminating their human fertility. Not seeing the link between contraception and abortion eliminates strategies for effective change in our culture to become a culture of accepting life. [Richard J. Fehring, The Influence of Religiosity and Contraception on the Odds of Abortion, Life and Learning XXXII, June 2022.]

Genetic Editing: Respect for Human Life

13-year-old Alyssa with aggressive leukemia is now in remission thanks to the experimental gene editing CRISPR technology. After exhausting all known treatments, she received a dose of donor immune cells genetically modified to attack the cancer. Though it will be years before doctors know if she will remain cancer free, the treatment took effect in only 28 days.

Genetic manipulation is laudable morally when its goal is healing and its methods are aimed at the good of the individual. It becomes problematic when it simply uses the person or, in some cases, causes the demise of the individual for the sake of research. Using individuals as simply means to a greater end demeans that human life.

Catholic bioethics seeks to apply the Church’s moral wisdom to both new and existing questions of medical practice, research, and technology. For example, to harvest DNA from a woman’s egg or embryo, risky egg extraction is needed. Using cells from the embryo results in its destruction. Thus, on embryo is destroyed for the sake of another. “Medicine” that treats some human life as expendable is morally unacceptable by failing to respect the dignity of every human life. Yes, a world where genetic selection occurs (“designer” babies) is appealing. As philosopher Chris Kaczor says: “This brace new world, even if populated with only beautiful people, is an ugly creation in which the gift of a child becomes a consumer product.” Couldn’t those monies be better spent on research to cure diseases?

The Catholic storytelling podcast “Brave New Us” explores the many facets of genetic editing. Samantha Stephenson, author of Reclaiming Motherhood from a Culture Gone Mad, dives into topics such as the role of disability in God’s kingdom and also asks big questions: “What makes a life valuable” and “What does it mean to be human.” Find it wherever you listen to podcasts. [Stephenson, Our Sunday Visitor, 7/16/23]

Helping Couples

  • “I can just say that even though I love being a pediatrician, I love, love teaching Natural Family Planning to couples. NFP gives them tools for lifelong intimacy, intimacy that is in addition to the conjugal sexual union.” (Maria Meyers, MD)
  • “It is a beautiful experience in teaching women/couples the very foundation of how our bodies and fertility work. For medical problems, the ability to help women work with their body and work toward finding and treating the root cause is not only a better long-term solution for their health but is truly respectful of their body & God’s creation.” (Brittany Kudrna, DNP, FNP-c)
  • “It was wonderful to see women (and their partners) come to understand their cycles and persevere with NFP despite all society’s pressures to contracept. And it was a great joy to help engaged couples return to chastity before their marriage if they had become sexually active.” (Kathleen M. Raviele, MD, Ob/Gyn) [R. J. Fehring, Building a Culture of Life Through a University Institute for NFP, Life and Learning XXXII, June 2022.]

Blockbuster Film Thriller

In its first two weeks, sleeper smash hit Sound of Freedom crossed the $100 million mark. The film made headlines opening on the Fourth of July by beating Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for the day with $14.2 million. The movie, billed as a political thriller, stars The Passion of the Christ‘s Jim Caviezel as the real-life Tim Ballard, who worked as an agent for the Department of Homeland Security before embarking on his own quest to bring child traffickers to justice (Ballard founded his own anti-trafficking organization, dubbed Operation Underground Railroad). The picture placed third over the July 7-9 weekend with an impressive $19.7 million from 2,634 theaters, then coming in second in the July 14-16 weekend with $27.3 million from 2,852 locations, a rare 39% weekly jump. Cinema owners rushed to carry the movie as other summer offerings struggle to find a foothold. Over the July 21-23 weekend it played in 3,287 theaters. [Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 7/20/23]

Do They Serve Women or Babies?

Pro-life pregnancy centers began sprouting in the U.S. as repeal of criminal abortion prohibitions arose on state legislative agendas in the late 1960s. Although most pregnancy help leaders identify with the pro-life movement, the typical center identifies itself as a ministry or service provider rather than an activist organization. If pregnancy centers have a hidden agenda behind the claims to provide practical and emotional support through unplanned childbearing, it is to transform the lives of women clients through sharing faith-based messages rather than to stop all the abortions that they can. [Laura S. Hussey, The Pro-Life Pregnancy Help Movement: Serving Women or Saving Babies?, Univ. Press of Kansas, 2020.]

Abortion’s Impact on Society

“As we stand here on this day, quite literally thousands of unborn children will be sacrificed before the sun sets in the name of the new ethic. Such a situation cannot continue indefinitely without doing irreparable damage to the most cherished principles of humanity and to the moral sensibilities of our people. The issue at stake is not only what we do to unborn children, but what we do to ourselves by permitting them to be killed. With every day
that passes, we run the risk of stumbling down the path that leads to the devaluation of all stages of human life, born or unborn.

What kind of society is it that will abide this sort of senseless destruction? What kind of people are we that can tolerate this mass extermination? Abortion, which was once universally condemned in the Western World as a heinous moral and legal offense, is now presented to us as not only a necessary, sometime evil, but as a morally and socially beneficial act. The Christian counsel of perfection which teaches that the greatest love consists in laying down one’s life for one’s friend, has now become an injunction to take another’s life for the security and
comfort of one’s own. The world of abortion is one in which black becomes white, and right wrong, in which the powerful are authorized to destroy the weak & defenseless, a world in which the child’s natural protector, his own mother, becomes the very agent of his destruction.” [Senator James Buckley, from his address introducing his Human Life Amendment on the U.S.; Senate floor, 5/31/1973. Reprinted in the Human Life Review, Spring 2023.]


Last fall, answers to a Gallup poll question revealed some of the lowest rates of American optimism in decades. Too many Americans do not see the light that comes with believing in a higher power and in its ability to redeem even those of us who seem beyond saving. Liel Leibovitz, First Things, 4/23]


Femininity is Not a Function of Stilettos.

Or red lipstick. Or even skirts and dresses. Drag queens are not showcasing femininity when they don their costumes on stage, and neither are any female politicians when they don their red lipstick. Femininity is not a measure of fashion choices or makeup usage. Drag queens insult me because they reduce femininity to an appearance that can be purchased and painted on. We who believe in biological sex as an essential part of our
human and personal identity ought to be sure we do not
fall prey to the same error.

My female body has matured through the trials of puberty, the decades-long challenges of menstruation, pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and nursing. I will never bond over any of these experiences with a man, a (male) drag queen, or a trans “woman,” even if we swap dresses, wear matching shades of lipstick, or hire the same surgeon to reconfigure our chests. Masculinity and femininity can’t be bought. Our (gender) identity is given to us freely at the moment of conception. My body, with its uniquely feminine powers, makes me a woman. Not my wallet.

Being pro-choice defaces a woman’s femininity—built by God to nurture life—more than ugly shoes ever could. Some women scorn their femininity in a parody just as grotesque as a man dressed in drag. [letter, Gina Loehr, First Things, April 2023]


This free monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert, and since 2013 has had over 30,000 readers. To receive each month’s issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu

Serving Both Women and Babies — July 2023 Newsletter

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health 

is the 2022 Supreme Court case that reversed Roe v. Wade that had falsely asserted a constitutional right to abortion. On its June anniversary, Bishop Kevin Sweeney (Paterson, NJ, Diocese) wrote: “While the Dobbs decision was certainly welcome, it also teaches us that ‘changing laws’ is only part of building a Culture of Life in the midst of what sadly seems to be, more and more, a Culture of Death. We need to ask for the inspiration and gifts of the Holy Spirit, that the Lord might use us as instruments to touch and change people’s hearts so that all may see that life begins at the moment of conception. We need to truly ‘Walk with Moms in Need,’ offering to expectant moms & families all the love, support, and help that they may need to say ‘Yes’ to the gift of life.” [The Beacon, 6/22/23]


Since 2009, the Knights of Columbus have supplied more than 1,500 ultrasound machines to pregnancy centers.


Catholic School Has Student Arrested

That Canada is becoming less tolerant comes as no surprise, but even so a Catholic high school getting one of their 16-year-old students arrested is a bit of a shock, especially when the heart of the issue is his religious beliefs. Josh Alexander believes there are only two genders, that people can’t switch genders and that male students shouldn’t use girls’ washrooms. “I said there were only two genders and you were born either a male or a female and that got me into trouble.” Expressing those views in a classroom discussion on gender at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School (Ontario) got him suspended. When he showed up again for class, the school had police arrest him. It appears we are now so intolerant that we cannot stand people defending their religious beliefs in a classroom at a supposedly religious school. The problem may be that, instead of Christian principles, the area’s Catholic District School Board takes its guidance from the policies issued by the Ontario Human Rights (OHR) Commission and directive issues by the Ministry of Education. [Michael Higgins, nationalpost.com/opinion/2/8/23]

Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”

The song is not about his romantic interest. “She” is the newly born daughter of the renowned blind composer and performer who issued the song in 1976:

We have been heaven-blessed.
I can’t believe what God has done.
Through us, He’s given life to one.
But isn’t she lovely? Made from love

The singer recognizes that couples partner with God in the creation of human life. He says that in a loving family, a child is created in an act of love. That child is a walking symbol of that act of love. A child is not conceived every time a couple comes together. But the creation of a child is God’s blessing of the conjugal act. [Bobby Neal Winters, Salvo #65, Summer 2023.]

Mama Bear Apologetics

Guide to Sexuality: Empowering Your Kids to Understand and Love Out God’s Design- Hillary Morgan Ferrer

This book for moms explains that Christians are increasingly urged to give lip service to the god of sex. From young ages, our children are being desensitized and groomed to pay homage. This excellent primer identifies the tactics being deployed against our children, and empowers them to know and embrace the beauty of God’s design for gender and sex.

The Sexual Revolution

Peter Elliott, retired bishop

The book explains how hook-up culture, same sex “marriage,” abortion, pedophilia, sex trafficking,
transgenderism and the porn industry all have their roots in the movement we’ve come to call the sexual revolution. Elliott explains that when someone says, “I’m gay,” a more truthful response would be, “No, you are a man.” “Why.” he suggests asking, “define yourself by one element in your life – that you happen to have same sex attraction?” People now identify themselves only by
their sexual orientation. Doing so creates an “identify game reinforced by ideological and political power.”

Honoring the Greatest Pro-Life Leaders

Legacy of Life, is a new, engaging, easy-to-read history of the pro-life movement in America. A team of authors assembled this work to inspire generations of new leaders in “the greatest human rights struggle in history.” Among the lives honored are Mother Teresa, Phyllis Schlafly, James Dobson, Francis Schaeffer, and 46 others. [LegacyofLifeBook.com]

Who Will Defend Unborn Babies?

  • The abortion giant Planned Parenthood kills nearly 60
    babies for every single individual prenatal service that it
    renders.
  • Its adoption referrals totaled 1,800 for the year, but it
    aborted over 370,000 babies.
  • It also dispensed 543,000 abortion pills, a number not
    counted in its abortion totals.
  • Though it is responsible for 40% of the 930,000
    abortions in America annually, it continues to claim it is
    “not really in the abortion business.”
  • Last year, it received $670.4 million in taxpayer funds.                                                 [American Center for Law & Justice, www.ACLJ.org]

Serving Women

In Sienna Women’s Health (Michigan), there’s the usual stuff of a modern-day pregnancy center such as a reception area with comfortable seating, a copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, & rooms for pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and discussions of alternatives to abortion. “We define our success by being a safe space for women to consider their options and not to
give in to what the culture is telling them, that abortion solves problems,” says Yarimar Cherney, center operator.

Like many other such centers, it doubles as a thrift store that stocks clothes for newborns, toys for toddlers, and high chairs for hungry kids. Mothers can acquire them by enrolling in parental-education programs, earning points that function as currency. The most striking feature of these rooms may be the fresh scent of the most popular items, which are disposable diapers. Last year, the center gave away 39,000 to the moms of young children. Despite hundreds of attacks on such
centers over the past two years, they now number over 2,000 across the nation and continue to serve moms in need. [John J. Miller, National Review, 6/26/23]

When Does Human Life Begin?

We know that well over 80% of people think that it’s absolutely important to stop abortions that take place in the third trimester. And over 60% consistently say that abortion should be illegal in the second trimester. The reason is that it’s pretty obvious what you see when you look at an ultrasound–a baby that is fully human and fully alive. The reality is that every biology textbook posits that life begins at conception. As a scientific matter, we can establish that the same
baby that deserves protection during the second trimester equally deserves protection earlier. [Erin Hawley, senior counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom.]

Fighting Online Child Exploitation

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops emphasized that the voices of Catholics are crucial in advocating for the protection of children and vulnerable individuals in legislation being proposed in Congress. The bishops’ letter highlighted their firsthand experience with the devastating impact of child exploitation and stressed the need for safeguards to shield children from internet pornography. The bishops urged lawmakers to consider three moral principles rooted in Catholic social teaching: respect for life and dignity, the importance of the family, & the necessity of community and participation. [Our Sunday Visitor, 6/25/23]

Google recently announced that it would automatically blur sexually explicit images in search results– a request that the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) has been making to Google since 2013. Children could easily stumble on sexually explicit images even by entering an innocent search term. In fact, research shows that most children are first exposed to pornography accidentally. Now there is one more level of protection. NCOSE is thrilled that Google has taken this positive step forward to help create a safer internet. [https://ncose.salsalabs.org/safe-internet-brochure _02022023_copy1]

Pregnancy is Not a Disease

Dr. Monique Wubbenhorst, renowned medical professor and senior research associate at the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, Notre Dame Univ., and a former professor at Duke University School of Medicine, frequently testifies in Congress about the humanity of unborn babies and debunks false claims about abortion. In a recent hearing, she asked Senate lawmakers wanting to legalize abortion on demand: “If abortion is health care, what disease are you treating?

She said the goal of an abortion is to kill a human being, which is not health care. Abortions do not treat or prevent diseases. “Abortion not only poses risks to the mother, it is always lethal to an embryo or fetus, an unborn child, a human being, a member of the human family, not a clump of cells or a potential child.”

Forced to Accept Contrary Views?

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, there have been nearly 300 incidents of arson and vandalism perpetrated against American Catholic churches since May 2020. These attacks are unjust and have no place in civil society. Our civic officials must condemn them and work to protect our places of worship.

Not every assault on the free exercise of religion is so clear. Will Catholics be able to hold their views on marriage and family life in their workplace? Will we be forced to accept the redefinition of marriage and forced to promote actions or teaching contrary to the Catholic Faith? Religious exemptions, conscience protections and conflicts between religious beliefs and certain laws or policies require ongoing vigilance and dialogue.

Religious liberty is not merely an abstract concept but a cherished value that underpins the fabric of American society. The Catholic Church teaches that it is a fundamental right rooted in the inherent dignity of every person. Let us unite in defending religious liberty, for in doing so we strengthen the very foundations upon which our great nation was built. [editorial, Our Sunday Visitor, 7/2/23]

Save These Resources (voxvitae.org)


This free monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert, and since 2013 has had over 30,000 readers. To receive each month’s issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu

Life, Medicine and Science – June 2023 Newsletter

Lila Rose Slams Hookup Culture

Pro-life leader Lila Rose caught the attention of millions of people online on May 9 when she defended abstinence until marriage & monogamy on “Whatever” a popular dating podcast. Rose, the president and founder of the pro-life organization Live Action, offered a number of compelling arguments about marriage and sex throughout the three hour podcast, despite some rough & crude language used by panelists. “That’s where the power of love comes in, a love that doesn’t leave, a love that isn’t based on feelings or desire, but a love that’s based on choice,” Rose said. “And I think deep down we’re all wired for that. … I think deep down we want a love that stays, a love that lasts, and it is possible for everyone.” [LifeNews, 5/17/23] 

Gender Confusion Everywhere

Is there a religious or ideological bias in those who promote the transgender idea? The American Medical Assoc., Amer. Academy of Pediatrics, Amer. Psychiatric Assoc., and Amer. Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry all have spoken out against state laws to restrict access to “gender-affirming medical care” for children, including both hormones and surgery. Yet none of these organizations object to restrictions of children’s rights to express their self identity in the form of permanent tattoos. Many, many states have absolute bans on tattoos for children, and others have strict parental notification and consent laws. Jim Riley of Innervision Tattoo (Nevada) says he wouldn’t tattoo a minor even with parental consent: “Of all the people I’ve tattooed in my 20+ year career, it’s very common to hear the phrase ‘I got this tattoo when I was 15 and now I hate it. Can you cover it up?’ Let’s face it, when we’re teenagers we don’t have the foresight to know what we will like when we are in our 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond.” [J. Sciortino, WSJ, 5/15/23]

The Department of Education under the current administration has proposed a new rule that would generally require sports programs to allow athletes to compete according to, not their sex, but their gender identity. Permitting any male to compete against females undermines the long-standing goals of equal opportunity for women & girls. [National Review, 5/1/23]

Transgender rights are among a slew of hot-button issues driving states in opposite directions. New proposals include bans on gender-affirming treatment for minors, limits on discussing gender identity in primary schools, and prohibitions on transgender students competing on school sports teams that align with their identified gender. [S. Armour, WSJ, 4/24/23]

The Archdiocese of Portland, OR, has adopted a model policy on dealing with transgender students: designations and pronouns should accord with biological sex; restrooms and locker rooms should be organized according to biological sex; no person should have on site or distribute medications for the purpose of gender transition; parents are the primary educators of their children and should be involved in any psychiatric or medical decisions regarding their children. [Catholic League, Catalyst, April 2023]

He Thought Abortion Was Good Medicine

Dr. John Bruchalski’s book Two Patients: My Conversion from Abortion to Life-Affirming Medicine (Oct. 2022) tells his pro-life story as an OB/GYN. At first, I adopted the mindset that abortion was good medicine for women. I grew up during the so-called “sexual revolution.” My faith journey outside of my family and parish in the 1970s and 1980s told me that my conscience was my supreme guide and the Church could not force me to change my mind. My journey into studying the scientific taught me that what my faith taught me was backward, dangerous and a curse on women and science and medicine.

The change came for me in early 1989. I was an OB/GYN resident practicing so-called “good medicine.” Cognitive dissidence was building up inside me. At night I was visiting a pregnancy resource center, getting to see the faith of an evangelical community rescuing women from abortion. During the day I was performing atrocities as an honorable and caring OB/GYN. Yet medical data in our journals were clearly indicating the
dangerous side effects of abortion and its association with mental illness, preterm birth, and breast cancer.
But with each abortion I performed my heart grew harder and harder, darker and darker.

Then an honest Catholic NICU doctor, Dr. Debbie Plumb, challenged me to stop treating her patients, these babies, as tumors to be cut out and discarded. I went to Medjougorie and became a redeemed sinner. I was touched in the sacred font of Divine Mercy through the assistance of His Blessed Mother. By 1994 I had
founded Tepeyac OB/GYN. My heart was exploding in fire to share what merciful, life-affirming medicine
could be with other practitioners and with patients.

Rather than seeing fertility as something to be controlled and shut off and polluted with class one carcinogens,
fertility awareness is utilized fully. Rather than considering unborn children as sexually transmitted diseases, the unborn child is our second patient. Rather than treating embryos as property to be used, children and progeny are to be unconditionally loved and nurtured. Rather than seeing the underserved as someone else’s problem to be fixed and a waste of precious time, we do what we can to accompany our patients. Rather than pitting mom against her child in elective abortion, we collaborate with regional pregnancy centers. Rather than seeing a sick unborn child in the womb as a sump for pain and needless suffering and ending the life of the person/child with that illness, we offer perinatal hospice. It is the breaking of the unity of reason with faith that led to the sterilizing tables in the 1930s, the gas chambers in the 1940s, and now to the abortion mills and chemical abortions of today. In a post-Roe world, we must continue the political and the advocacy and the scientific inquiry. We must serve human flourishing, collaborate with fertility, and not treat our children as sexually transmitted diseases to be altered or eliminated. Through God’s grace, and in sacrificial relationship with others, we can provide a light in the darkness and show that the way of medicine going forward must be
toward care, healing and wholeness. [Zoe Romanowsky interview, 1/19/23, https://aleteia.org/]

Salt-N-Pepa Singer Rejected Abortion to Save Her Singing Career

Cheryl James of the hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa said the entertainment industry tried to pressure her to abort her daughter. In an interview, James said her daughter was one of the best things that ever happened to her. James, the “Salt” of the group, and Sandra Denton, or “Pepa,” spoke about balancing their careers with raising their children even though many in the entertainment industry told them that they could not do both. “You just have to know that it’s something that you’re capable of handling if you want a kid and a career. And it’s definitely harder. Having my girls, besides finding Jesus, is the best thing that I’ve ever experienced, my kids,” she said.

Other celebrities have shared similar stories about the pressure female entertainers face to abort their unborn babies. Earlier this year, former Pussycat Dolls lead singer Kaya Jones told of the “train of trauma” she suffered after having three abortions as a young woman. Jones described the entertainment industry as almost like a sex trafficking ring that objectifies women and girls and, when they become pregnant, pressures them to abort their unborn babies. Later, Jones said she found forgiveness and healing in Christ. [M. Bilger, LifeNews.com, 5/9/23]

Mutilated Animals Left at Clinic

The FBI and local police opened an investigation after three mutilated animals were left on the property of a pro-life pregnancy center in Orlando, Florida. All of the clinic’s services are free and it mostly serves minority
women. The director Bob Perron thinks the clinic was targeted “because we don’t support or refer for abortions
because we know that that hurts women & their families. We are just a medical clinic trying to help moms.” A doorbell camera may have recorded part of the targeting. There have been more than 60 attacks on pro-life
pregnancy centers since May 2022 when it was reported that Roe v. Wade would be overturned. Yet, there have been only six reported arrests. Many Catholic churches, a maternity home, political organizations, billboards and ads, a political figure, and a memorial have all also come under pro-abortion attacks since last May. [Excerpt from Joe Bukuras, 5/16/23: © 2023 EWTN News, Inc. Reprinted with permission from CNA, www.catholicnewsagency.com]


Abortion Pill Safety The FDA only requires fatal complications from mifepristone to be reported. In other words, “if the woman has to go to the emergency room if she has excessive
bleeding, if she is in the ER on life support for days and days and days, if she recovers from that, the FDA says, ‘Don’t tell us about it. Only tell us if she dies,’” U.S. Sen. James Lankford said. And because of the lack of reporting, OB-GYN Dr. Donna Harrison said doctors cannot provide good information about its risks to their patients. Research indicates that emergency room doctors take care of more than half of abortion pill complications. [Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com, 5/10/23]


Three Parent Baby?

An English Catholic bishop has denounced the first reported births of “three-parent” babies in the UK as
“deeply concerning.” Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington of Westminster said the creation of babies by mitochon- drial donation treatment (MDT) was unethical because the process involved the destruction of two embryos to
create a single new life. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, the British regulator, has
permitted the creation of 30 babies by pronuclear transfer although “less than five” have been born.

The procedure assumes that the nucleus and the mitochondria can be transferred without any consequence. Yet Paul Knoefler, a researcher and professor of cell biology and human anatomy at the University of
California, Davis, writes that “there is strong evidence that the mitochondrial genome, for example, ‘talks to’ the nuclear genome, and has ‘pervasive effects on cellular and organismal functioning.’” Professor David Albert Jones, director of Anscombe, said: “This is a new and unnecessary technique that does not add to the safety of IVF involving an egg donor, but adds further risks.” [Simon Caldwell, Our Sunday Visitor, 5/15/23]


This free monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert, and since 2013 has had over 30,000 readers. To receive each month’s issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu