Legal Abortion Advocate to Speak at Jesuit Retreat House Fundraiser

This important pro-life e-mail alert was sent to me today. Please read it and share it with others:

The Jesuit Retreat House in Cleveland is having a fundraiser on February 2, 2003. The featured speaker is Regina Brett, a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Here are a few quotes excerpted from a recent Regina Brett column, where Ms. Brett discussed her ambivalence over the abortion issue:

* Don't tell us to oppose sex education. We should try everything to prevent unplanned pregnancies, including teaching abstinence and birth control.

* Don't lump pregnancies from rape and incest with those who choose abortion out of convenience or use it as birth control.

* Don't tell us you are proudly pro-life but refuse to discuss stem-cell research that could save existing lives.

* Don't tell us we should make every abortion illegal, even when a mother's life is in jeopardy. Is it pro-life to let a pregnant woman die?

* Don't tell us that a full human being begins at conception. It's not that simple, when we have embryos conceived in petri dishes and frozen for years for infertile couples. . * Tell us what you will do to make sure all insurance companies cover birth control.

As you can see, Regina Brett holds views in direct opposition to Catholic Church teachings. Here is the contact info for those of you who have something to say about this:

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/regina_brett/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1042381306299730.xml




Caught between Roe and Wade 01/12/03 T he invitation to a local "Roe vs. Wade 30th Anni versary Celebration" arrived in my mailbox by mistake. A celebration? No matter where you stand on the issue, it's hard to "celebrate" terminating 40 million pregnancies in 30 years. This month marks three decades since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion. It's time to brace ourselves for the vigils and rallies. Before all that happens, the majority in the middle would like to send both sides a message: We're tired of the rhetoric. Put away the coat hanger symbols that remind us of the back-alley abortions. Put away the placards of torn fetuses that remind us of medical procedures. Stop the name-calling. We don't care if you call yourselves pro-choice or pro-life, or call abortion a murder or a choice. To those of us in the middle, every abortion is a tragedy. Don't tell us it isn't a life being aborted. We all know that by the 12th week, that life has a beating heart and brain waves. That life can squint, swallow, sleep, and curl its toes. We've seen it in the ultrasound pictures we stick under refrigerator magnets and glue into photo albums under "Baby's First Picture." Don't tell us that any restriction on abortion hurts women's reproductive rights. We don't want late-term abortions. We've seen the babies who survive early births, babies who fit in the palm of a hand after 24 weeks. Don't tell us that abortion makes it so every child is a wanted child. Women are still tossing newborns in Dumpsters. Don't tell us to oppose sex education. We should try everything to prevent unplanned pregnancies, including teaching abstinence and birth control. Don't lump pregnancies from rape and incest with those who choose abortion out of convenience or use it as birth control. Don't tell us to respect life when you won't speak out against attacks on clinic workers. Don't tell us you are proudly pro-life but refuse to discuss stem-cell research that could save existing lives. Don't tell us we should make every abortion illegal, even when a mother's life is in jeopardy. Is it pro-life to let a pregnant woman die? Don't tell us the "It's my body, it's my choice" motto hasn't hurt child support. Many men figure, "It's your body, it's your baby." Don't tell us that a full human being begins at conception. It's not that simple, when we have embryos conceived in petri dishes and frozen for years for infertile couples. Instead, tell us something new. Tell us you are going to put aside politics and put your time, money and power into solutions. Tell us what you will do to prevent unwanted pregnancies, encourage adoption and support women who keep their babies. Tell us what you will do to help women get affordable day care, health insurance, job training and child support. Tell us what you will do to make adoption more socially acceptable, so our society glorifies women who give the gift of life. Tell us what you will do to make sure all insurance companies cover birth control. Tell us what you will do to support crisis pregnancy centers that counsel women to keep their babies, choose adoption and prevent future unwanted pregnancies. Tell us what you will do to prevent women from needing abortions in the first place, so that no matter what happens to Roe vs. Wade, we will all have something to celebrate. To reach this Plain Dealer columnist: rbrett@plaind.com, 216-999-6328 © 2003 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. Copyright 2003 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.





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Attend the Magis Mass and Brunch
Sunday, February 2, 2003- 10:00 am to 12:30pm
9:30am registration
10:00am Mass
10:45am to 12:30pm Brunch and Featured Presentation

Mass Celebrant: Fr. Daniel T. Reim, S.J. (John Carroll University Campus Minister and member of the Jesuit Retreat House Board of Trustees)
Featured Speaker: Regina Brett (Metro Columnist for The Plain Dealer and frequent JRH retreatant)

This is the second of an ongoing series of fundraising events at JRH. Magis is Jesuit Latin for "more", as in "What more can I do my Lord?" Featured speaker, Regina Brett will share how she applies her retreat experiences to the decisions she makes 'between retreats'. The title of her talk is Living a Life of the Spirit in the Real World. Ms. Brett will speak about her job description, "To comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable" and about what it truly means to live your vocation every day.

The funds collected will go toward the JRH Capital Improvement Fund. Ticket prices are as follows:

Benefactor- $1,000 - 4 premium seats
Sponsor- $400 - 2 premium seats
Patron- $125 per seat - program listing
Donor- $60 per seat

For more information call JRH Development Director, Patrick Burns, at
440-884-9300 or email pburnsjrh@att.net.

Magis is Jesuit Latin for "more", as in "What more can I do my Lord?" Featured speaker, Regina Brett will share how she applies her retreat experiences to the decisions she makes 'between retreats'. The title of her talk is Living a Life of the Spirit in the Real World. Ms. Brett will speak about her job description, "To comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable" and about what it truly means to live your vocation every day.

What sort of bunk is this? Here is the speaker they should have ....

John Corapi grew up in Hudson, New York. He always wanted to be somebody. In high school he was a football star and thought he was on the way to being somebody but sports didn’t work out for him. During the Vietnam War he thought he could be somebody by being patriotic so he enlisted in the army and became a Green Beret. He was on his way to being somebody until he got hurt in an accident and then he was sent to Germany on administrative duties. After finishing in the army he decided to become an accountant. A friend’s father, a business executive, invited him to Las Vegas. As he drove into Las Vegas and saw all the lights he got excited and thought to himself, now he would be somebody. He began doing the round of the casinos conducting audits, the Las Vegas Hilton, the Flamingo Hilton and so on. He met famous people and began to make money. Through the state governor he got a job for the Nevada Gaming Control Board and investigated gaming fraud all over the country. He was beginning to like it and to think that this is the meaning of life and that he was somebody now.

But when the governor didn’t get re-elected he lost his job and went to Los Angeles, California, where there was a real estate boom in the 1970's. When he arrived he looked through the biggest adds for residential property brokers. He went to the company with the biggest add, they gave him a job. Within a few months he was vice-president of the company. He began to make money and have standing. He moved into a pent-house suite overlooking the golf course in Beverly Hills. He said, “Now I really have arrived, this is it.” His clientele were the rich and famous. You would know who most of them, they are in the entertainment business. He would invest their money in real estate. He began eating and drinking with the wealthy and went to their parties and fell into their fast lane life. One day an actress at a party took from her purse a small gold container and said, “Meet my best friend, cocaine.” He began to take the drug that evening. His conscience was dead and so it didn’t bother him if he did immoral things.

He gradually lost everything and ended up in hospital due to drugs. For over a month he neither ate nor spoke nor functioned. The only thing he desired was death. For a couple of years he saw no possibility of ever having a normal life or being somebody again. It was absolute darkness, he felt sick in every cell of his being. His mother, who had kept in contact with him all the time, asked him to come home and sent him a one-way ticket. She didn't send him the money for it because she knew what he would do with it so she sent him the ticket.

He began to say one Hail Mary a day, and he didn’t even know it by heart, he had to read it. Then he prayed a Rosary a day, and that led him on to read the Bible every day. Eventually he decided to go to Confession after twenty years of not being to Church. He said the priest was probably brain-damaged after hearing his confession. After that he spent two years in a monastic environment discerning his future, then he entered seminary and on 28th May 1991 he was ordained a priest in St Peter’s Basilica by Pope John Paul II. He wishes he could convey how much he loves the priesthood. Now he has found the meaning of his life, faith in God and being a priest Some of you may have seen Fr John Corapi S.O.L.T. teaching on EWTN, the Catholic TV Channel. He travels widely teaching.

I just got off the phone with the Jesuit priest answering the phone there today. In his Tom Daschle delivery (soft, unrattled, perfectly reasonable) he stated that he didn't know her views on abortion, wasn't familiar with the column of 1/12/03 in question, was very concerned about all life, especially the bad news about moving closer to war last night, he wasn't familiar with the Pope's pronouncement of this week that public officials claiming to be Catholic are in grave error if they support abortion, in favor of Jesus's message to love and accept all persons, especially those we disagree with, that her talk would not be on abortion, that there was no problem inviting people with opposing views to speak on Catholic property, that the culture of death wasn't just abortion but also our battles with loss of our spiritual side, and that it simply didn't follow that because aq Catholic held views contrary to Church teaching that said person should be excluded from speaking at a Jesuit retreat house.

Does that about paint the picture here? I of course lodged an emphatic protest, having graduated from St. Ignatius High School in Chicago, and told him this is the reason that the Jesuit order is not long to prevail.

Dear NYer,

You are absolutely right on! Fr. Corapi is one of the most powerful preachers/speakers/homilists in the world today. I have had the great honor of meeting Father twice at Marian conventions. I have his 48 hours of Catechesim videos and have watched some more than twice. His voice is like THUNDER, and when he gets intense you might think you are in the presence of one of the Apostles at Pentecost.

Here is a direct transcript (re: abortion) from his Easter Triduum:

" One dark day in January of 1973, SATAN donned judicial robes! Robes flowing, gavel in hand, he swept onto the floor of the United States Supreme Court. He presided over the most atrocious travesty of justice that ever took place, and he declared - we now have the 'right' to murder the most innocent, in what should be the safest place in the universe for them! And since then, tens of millions of babes have been assassinated in their own mothers' wombs! The darkness indeed grows deeper." Fr. John Corapi S.O.L.T.

Visit here to order his tapes.

I just sent this out:

Dear Patrick Burns, Fr. Clem Metzger, S.J., Barbara Leggott, Father Robert J. Scullin, S. J., Father Jurcak and Father Estock,

It has come to our attention that the Jesuit Retreat House in Cleveland is having a fundraiser on February 2, 2003. The featured speaker is Regina Brett, a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Here are a few quotes excerpted from a recent Regina Brett column, where Ms. Brett discussed her ambivalence over the abortion issue:

* Don't tell us to oppose sex education. We should try everything to prevent unplanned pregnancies, including teaching abstinence and birth control.
* Don't lump pregnancies from rape and incest with those who choose abortion out of convenience or use it as birth control.
* Don't tell us you are proudly pro-life but refuse to discuss stem-cell research that could save existing lives.
* Don't tell us we should make every abortion illegal, even when a mother's life is in jeopardy. Is it pro-life to let a pregnant woman die?
* Don't tell us that a full human being begins at conception. It's not that simple, when we have embryos conceived in petri dishes and frozen for years for infertile couples. .
* Tell us what you will do to make sure all insurance companies cover birth control.

As you can see, Regina Brett holds views in direct opposition to Catholic Church teachings.

In an age where the crimes and sins of many priests and misfeasance and malfeasance of many bishops has caused incalculable damage to the credibility of Catholicism and the faith of many rank and file Catholics, it seems incredulous that a Jesuit Retreat House would cause further scandal by inviting such a a speaker, whose positions are obviously stated in her recent column, posted below for your review.

I would hope that, at a minimum, this speaker's engagement would be canceled, and further that an investgation begun into why such a speaker would be invited in the first place.

I will await your responses before we seek further publicity regarding this scandalous situation.

In Christ,

Dr. Brian Kopp
Vice President, Catholic Family Association of America

cc: Tim Chichester, President, Catholic Family Association of America

Caught between Roe and Wade
Regina Brett
01/12/03

The invitation to a local "Roe vs. Wade 30th Anni versary Celebration" arrived in my mailbox by mistake.
A celebration?
No matter where you stand on the issue, it's hard to "celebrate" terminating 40 million pregnancies in 30 years.
This month marks three decades since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion. It's time to brace ourselves for the vigils and rallies.
Before all that happens, the majority in the middle would like to send both sides a message: We're tired of the rhetoric.
Put away the coat hanger symbols that remind us of the back-alley abortions. Put away the placards of torn fetuses that remind us of medical procedures.
Stop the name-calling. We don't care if you call yourselves pro-choice or pro-life, or call abortion a murder or a choice.
To those of us in the middle, every abortion is a tragedy.
Don't tell us it isn't a life being aborted. We all know that by the 12th week, that life has a beating heart and brain waves. That life can squint, swallow, sleep, and curl its toes. We've seen it in the ultrasound pictures we stick under refrigerator magnets and glue into photo albums under "Baby's First Picture."
Don't tell us that any restriction on abortion hurts women's reproductive rights. We don't want late-term abortions. We've seen the babies who survive early births, babies who fit in the palm of a hand after 24 weeks.
Don't tell us that abortion makes it so every child is a wanted child. Women are still tossing newborns in Dumpsters.
Don't tell us to oppose sex education. We should try everything to prevent unplanned pregnancies, including teaching abstinence and birth control.
Don't lump pregnancies from rape and incest with those who choose abortion out of convenience or use it as birth control.
Don't tell us to respect life when you won't speak out against attacks on clinic workers.
Don't tell us you are proudly pro-life but refuse to discuss stem-cell research that could save existing lives.
Don't tell us we should make every abortion illegal, even when a mother's life is in jeopardy. Is it pro-life to let a pregnant woman die?
Don't tell us the "It's my body, it's my choice" motto hasn't hurt child support. Many men figure, "It's your body, it's your baby."
Don't tell us that a full human being begins at conception. It's not that simple, when we have embryos conceived in petri dishes and frozen for years for infertile couples.
Instead, tell us something new. Tell us you are going to put aside politics and put your time, money and power into solutions.
Tell us what you will do to prevent unwanted pregnancies, encourage adoption and support women who keep their babies.
Tell us what you will do to help women get affordable day care, health insurance, job training and child support.
Tell us what you will do to make adoption more socially acceptable, so our society glorifies women who give the gift of life.
Tell us what you will do to make sure all insurance companies cover birth control.
Tell us what you will do to support crisis pregnancy centers that counsel women to keep their babies, choose adoption and prevent future unwanted pregnancies.
Tell us what you will do to prevent women from needing abortions in the first place, so that no matter what happens to Roe vs. Wade, we will all have something to celebrate.
To reach this Plain Dealer columnist:
rbrett@plaind.com, 216-999-6328

© 2003 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.

CC:

Tim Chichester, President, Catholic Family Association of America

JRH Development Director: Patrick Burns, pburnsjrh@att.net
Director: Fr. Clem Metzger, S.J. c.metzgersj@att.net

Executive Assistant: Barbara Leggott jrhcleve@att.net

Provincial: Father Robert J. Scullin, S. J. rjssj@aol.com

Cleveland Diocese: Father Jurcak ljurcak@dioceseofcleveland.org

Father Estock (Bishop Pilla Secretary) eestok@dioceseofcleveland.org

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