Protestant pro-lifer thanks pope, Catholic Church

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | April 8, 2005 | Jill Stanek

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Friday, April 8, 2005

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Protestant pro-lifer thanks pope, Catholic Church

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Posted: April 8, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jill Stanek

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© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

I did not organically grow into a pro-life activist. I came into the movement unexpectedly, a bit disoriented.

A first discovery was that most pro-life activists were Catholic. I didn't know Catholics have carried the largest share of the water fighting abortion since it was legalized. More and more Protestants are becoming involved, but the pro-life movement as we know it would not exist were it not for Catholics.

This is because the Catholic Church saw the modern-day culture of death coming and stood strongly against it. Read Pope Paul VI's "Humanae Vitae," written in 1968. It's prophetic.

Theological commendations go to Catholic leaders for understanding from the onset that contraception took God out of copulation, and sexual behavior would only go downhill from there.

In fact, the Catholic Church has examined every aspect of human sexuality I can think of and some I would never have considered and has developed detailed, biblically sound answers for all its nuances. Long ago, Catholics connected the dots between contraception, illicit sex and abortion.

The wisdom of the Catholic Church on the theology of life surprised me, a snooty evangelical who thought we had a greater grip on Scripture than they did. There are indeed insurmountable differences I have with certain Catholic teachings, but here is one area (and there are likely more) where I think they have formed sounder doctrine than many Protestant churches.

When I read the teachings in "Humanae Vitae," my mind was blown. Then the scales fell off as I read Scripture from that perspective. I realized God plans the conception of each and every child, whether or not his or her parents are pervs, pigs or prostitutes. It's not all about us. God sees the once-in-human-history opportunity for a certain sperm to meet a certain egg and says, "This child would be awesome!" and ordains it. Who are we to say no?

I also appreciate that the Catholic Church is structured to apply pressure to renegade Catholic politicians on the issue of abortion. I love that lay Catholics can and do rat on the rats. Abortion is an issue of communion for Catholics, of membership in their body. I know the pressure isn't always brought to bear as greatly as some would like, but at least it is there. Most Protestant churches don't have the structure to hold their politician members accountable on abortion.

The Chris Matthews' liberal-Catholic types, who now call for a more "progressive" pope, don't get it that truth doesn't change with the times, nor is truth determined by humans.

Pope John Paul II was a good man, a great man. He resisted incredible pressure and stood for God's truth on the miracle and blessing of human creation during some of the most challenging times in modern history, as the end draws ever nearer. The pope never swayed on the life issue. He provided strong arms to help keep the gates of Hell from opening any wider than they have.

It is not just Catholics who need an unwavering pope. The world does.

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Jill Stanek fought to stop "live-birth abortion" after witnessing one as a registered nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill. In 2002, President Bush asked Jill to attend his signing of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. In January 2003, World Magazine named Jill one of the 30 most prominent pro-life leaders of the past 30 years.

[cpforlife.org]

Pro-Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[cpforlife.org]

Pope John Paul II Quotes on Abortion Issues

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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 8, 2005

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The following is a compilation of quotes from Pope John Paul II on abortion issues:

-- "I appeal urgently to all of you, dear brothers and sisters, to do everything in your power to ensure that life, each and every life, will be respected from conception to its natural end," the Pope said. "Life is a sacred gift, and no one can presume to be its master."

-- "What stronger aspiration is there than that of life?" he asked. "And yet on this universal human aspiration threatening shadows are gathering -- the shadow of a culture that denies the respect of life at all its stages," the Pope explained.

-- The Pope said the "challenge to life has grown in scale and urgency in recent years." "It has involved particularly the beginning of human life, when human beings are at their weakest and most in need of protection," he said.

-- The government of each nation "has as its primary task precisely the safeguarding and promotion of human life."

-- "The Church's position, supported by reason and science, is clear: the human embryo is a subject identical to the human being which will be born at the term of its development," he explained. "Consequently whatever violates the integrity and the dignity of the embryo is ethically inadmissible."

-- "We must not be resigned to attacks on human life, above all, abortion. Human life is a precious gift to be loved and defended in each of its stages."

-- "We have to question the legal regulations that have been decided in the parliaments of present day democracies. The most direct association which comes to mind is the abortion laws. Parliaments which create and promulgate such laws must be aware that they are transgressing their powers and remain in open conflict with the law of God and the law of nature."


Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/nat1259b.html

[big'ol_freeper]

Excellent article.

[cpforlife.org]

“Abortion and euthanasia are crimes, which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to ‘take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it’”

--Pope John Paul II, 1995 The Gospel of Life .

[workerbee]

It's not all about us.

That's about as succinct as it gets.

[cpforlife.org]

Yep,

Of course every article from Jill is great. She a true hero.

[cpforlife.org]

† Ioannes Paulus II Requiescat in Pacem †

[cpforlife.org]

Pope John Paul II Quotes on Human Cloning, Euthanasia Issues Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 9, 2005

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The following is a compilation of quotes from Pope John Paul II on bioethics issues such as human cloning and embryonic stem cell research:

-- The Pope said that scientists who engage in human cloning have an "arrogant belief that their project is better than the Creator's design."

"The results achieved in various fields of science and technology are considered and defended by many as a priori acceptable," the Pope said in a statement released on Sunday. "In this way, one ends up expecting that what is technically possible is in itself also ethically good. The way taught by Christ is different: respect for human beings."

-- "A man, even if seriously sick or prevented in the exercise of its higher functions, is and will be always a man ... [he] will never become a 'vegetable' or an 'animal,'" the Pope said. "The intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being does not change depending on their circumstances."

-- Providing food and water to such patients should be a natural thing to do and "morally obligatory," but not considered extraordinary measures, the Pope added. "In particular, I want to emphasize that the administration of water and food . . . always represents a natural means of preservation of life, not a medical treatment."

-- Removing the feeding tube of a disabled person is a "serious violation of the Law of God."

-- The Pope said that scientists who engage in human cloning have an "arrogant belief that their project is better than the Creator's design."

-- "Medicine always places itself at the service of life. Even when it knows it cannot defeat a serious pathology, it dedicates its own capabilities to alleviating suffering."

-- "To work with passion to help the patient in every situation means to be aware of the inalienable dignity of every human being, even those in the extreme conditions of a terminal state," the Pope, who suffers from debilitating Parkinson's disease, said. "Suffering, old age, the unconscious state, the imminence of death do not lessen the person's intrinsic dignity, created in the image of God," the Pope concluded. "[T]rue compassion, on the contrary, promotes every reasonable effort to favor the patient's healing."

-- "Scientific research in the field of genetics needs to be encouraged and promoted, but, like every other human activity, it can never be exempt from moral imperatives," he said. "[A]ny form of scientific research which treats the embryo merely as a laboratory specimen is unworthy of man."

-- "The care of the elderly, above all when they pass through difficult moments, must be of great concern to all the faithful. What would happen if the people of God yielded to a certain current mentality that considers these people, our brothers and sisters, as almost useless when they are reduced in their capacities due to the difficulties of age or sickness."

-- "Though shalt not kill" must always be respected from the beginning of life "to its natural end." "It is a command that applies even in the presence of illness and when physical weakness reduces the person's ability to be self-reliant."



Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/nat1261b.html

[alloysteel]

Abortion was NEVER a doctrine that was even countenanced by the Catholic Church, in any form or at any time in its history. People had intercourse for the express purpose of producing babies, everything else connected with sex was either secondary or proscribed.

The Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians all had means at their disposal of aborting pregnancies, which were about as hazardous for the mother as they were for the developing infant. It is only in recent decades that abortion has become only relatively safe, and there is still a 50% mortality rate. Rarely does a developing infant survive an abortion attempt, and successful abortions are invariably fatal for the child. So the injunctions against abortion were pretty well ingrained in the Catholic theology. The term "kill" comes to mind, and while people do not like to be reminded of the unpleasantry connected with the conscious act to terminate a healthy pregnancy, that is the stark reality of what happens.

All this is old ground, and it is persons of little or no religions persuasion who have been in the forefront of promoting "abortion on demand", apparently as a backup plan for inappropriate sexual encounters. No theological contemplations for them, if a matter of convenience is of greater importance.

[Siobhan]

Bump and

P I N G

[Barnacle]

This Catholic thanks Protestant pro-lifers.

[Eagles6]

Good one.

[Lesforlife]

Jill was fantastic as our March for Life speaker a few
years ago.

You won't be disappointed!!

[Smartass]

The Pro Life movement need more people like Jill Stanek!
The word is slowly getting out on the 45,000,000.00 murders,
of which is, an unpardonable crime against humanity.

[don-o]

Jill Stanek is This Catholic's Hero!!

[shhrubbery!]

The Chris Matthews' liberal-Catholic types, who now call for a more "progressive" pope, don't get it that truth doesn't change with the times, nor is truth determined by humans.

To which Chrissy would likely reply: What is truth?

[shhrubbery!]

I still can't read Jill Stanek's testimony for the "Born-Alive Infant Protection Act of 2000" without breaking down in tears.

If every adult citizen had heard what Jill Stanek said on that day, I believe we would've seen Roe v. Wade overturned already.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Humanae Vitae

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

[TAdams8591]

"The Chris Matthews' liberal-Catholic types, who now call for a more "progressive" pope, don't get it that truth doesn't change with the times, nor is truth determined by humans."

Exactly. Such comments uttered by the Chris Matthews of the world, drive me INSANE!!!!!!

Well written article!