Schindler Family Attends Mass for Terri Schiavo Hosted by Ave Maria University

Life News ^ | 4/1/09 | Steven Ertelt

[wagglebee]

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The Schindler family attended a special Mass on Tuesday, which marked the fourth anniversary of the painful starvation and dehydration euthanasia death of Terri Schiavo. Ave Maria University, a Florida-based Catholic college, hosted the mass, which saw the entire Schindler family attend.

Bob and Mary Schindler, Terri's parents, joined their other children Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Vitadamo for a ceremony in Terri's honor.

As the Schindlers prayed with participants for other disabled people who face the same euthanasia concerns, they placed a picture of Terri on her wedding day on the altar and joined more than 400 people in remembering her life.

The Mass was part of the International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo that the Schindler family jointly co-sponsors with the Terri Schiavo foundation and Priests for Life.

The two organizations established this day last year to foster education, prayer, and activism regarding discrimination against the disabled.

"God is using Terri to impact the world in a very special way," Bobby Schindler told the News Press.

Thomas Monaghan, founder and chancellor of Ave Maria University, told the newspaper the college was happy to help with the ceremony.

“We're very big on pro-life,” he said. “Our purpose is to fight evil and pro-life is center stage, and that’s where we want to be.”

Fr. Frank Pavone, who was with Bobby and Suzanne at Terri’s bedside as she died, recalls that painful day and the support from pro-life advocates and others.

"As we consoled Terri and prayed with her, what I felt most strongly was the presence of countless people around the world who, by their love, prayers, and tears, accompanied Terri and her family through those difficult days," he said. "I am confident that these same individuals, families, and Churches will want to observe Terri’s Day."

Related web sites:
Terri’s Day - http://www.TerrisDay.org
Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation - http://www.TerrisFight.org
Priests for Life - http://priestsforlife.org

[wagglebee]

A great editorial by Jill Stanek!

Thread by me.

Jill Stanek: Turbulence surrounds Notre Dame 'abortion plane'

This is finals week for students at the University of Notre Dame.

But a new kind of buzz may be getting in the way of scoring good grades, and it's not illegal (yet, anyway).

For the past 10 days the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform has been conducting an air and land campaign in, around and over the Notre Dame campus to educate students and faculty exactly what its intended May 17 commencement honoree, President Barack Obama, supports by being "pro-choice."

On the roads are CBR's "Reproductive 'Choice' Trucks," six-paneled moving billboards with large signs such as these plastered on them:

And in the air at least three hours a day (six during finals week) has been an airplane trailing a large photo banner behind it, also showing in vivid detail what Obama means when he says he's pro-choice:

It is the plane that has caused the most commotion. . .

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[floriduh voter]

bttt. Flip Wilson Geraldine’s boyfriend’s nickname was “killer”.

[floriduh voter]

Farrah Fawcett is in her final days at home. At least she has an IV for nutrition but she’s bedridden and frail.

[floriduh voter]

Didn’t Barry euthanize his grandmother before the inauguration??????? Michelle and the kids didn’t go bk to Hawaii w/him and shortly after, Hawaii declared that Barry was born in Hawaii. Killed 2 birds w/one stone. Grannie was a commie though. She taught him all the crap he’s using on us now.

[wagglebee]

The scandal at Notre Dame continues to heat up.

Threads by KLT and topher.

Archbishop Chaput: Habit of "Vanity and Compromise" Led to ND Scandal

NEW YORK, May 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The University of Notre Dame's decision to honor pro-abortion President Obama resulted from "vanity and complacency" with modern culture, said Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver yesterday. Chaput also remarked on the controversy stirred by President Obama's statement that America is "not a Christian nation," asserting that America is under attack from groups working "very vigorously" to de-Christianize popular culture.

The Catholic News Agency published portions of the archbishop's remarks to the American Bible Society in New York City yesterday, where he received the Becket Fund's Canterbury Medal, which honors those who "most resolutely refused to render to Caesar that which is God's."

Reflecting on the spirituality of St. Paul as the theme of his talk, Chaput urged American Catholics to be uncompromising in witnessing to their faith. "As even St. Peter discovered, Paul never let shallow courtesies interfere with his witness for Jesus Christ," he said. . .

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Catholics Overwhelmingly Oppose ND Honor to Obama: Ramussen Poll

May 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new Rasmussen Reports survey finds that more than twice as many Americans - and a wider margin of Catholics - oppose the University of Notre Dame's decision to give an honorary law degree to President Barack Obama, as those who support it.

The Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that, by a 60% to 25% margin, U.S. Catholics say Notre Dame should obey guidelines issued by the U.S. bishops and refrain from awarding an honorary degree to the president. Among all Americans, 52% oppose the honor and 25% support it.

"Faithful Catholics are sick to the heart over this scandal, which reflects decades of such scandals in our Catholic institutions," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. . .

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Alan Keyes among 21 arrested at Notre Dame

Alan Keyes among 21 arrested at Notre Dame May 8, 2009 1:29 PM Former Illinois U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes and 20 other protesters were arrested this morning when they refused to leave the Notre Dame campus during a protest of President Obama's upcoming commencement address there, a university spokesman said. . .

[wagglebee]

More of Zero's "change we can believe in."

Thread by me.

President Obama's New Budget Calls for Tax-Funded Abortions in Nation's Capital

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama's new federal budget calls for taxpayer funded abortions in the nation's capital. Although Obama has promised Americans he wants to reduce the number of abortions, one pro-life group says he is violating that promise by calling for taxpayer-financed abortions in the District of Columbia.

The budget Obama submitted to Congress urges the House and Senate to repeal a law sometimes called the Dornan amendment that has prevented tax-funded abortion in the District of Columbia for many years.

Congress, as authorized by the U.S. Constitution, holds complete legislative authority over the District of Columbia and, therefore, determines whether taxpayer dollars will be used to fund abortions for poor women there.

Although Congress has banned taxpayer-funded abortions in D.C. for years, the budget Obama released today, on Appendix page 1209 asks Congress to repeal the ban. . .

[wagglebee]

Well, it seems that Judy Blume is upset that she is getting negative e-mails from pro-lifers and Klan Barrehood now has lesbian B actress Cynthia Nixon pimping for them.

Three threads by me.

Planned Parenthood Begs for Response to Criticism of Judy Blume Abortion Plug

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The criticism of children's author Judy Blume has reached such a fever pitch so quickly after an expose' article from Lifenews.com that Planned Parenthood is begging for help. Blume wrote a mother's day fundraising letter for the abortion business that has pro-life advocates aghast.

Blume plugged the pro-abortion group in an attempt to raise money near Mother's Day and her missive ironically suggested that abortion advocates celebrate mothers by donating to Planned Parenthood.

LifeNews.com received an email blast this afternoon from Planned Parenthood to its supporters titled "Please help" and begging for assistance in responding to the deluge of criticism.

"Yesterday, Judy Blume — a beloved writer and icon to generations of women — graciously wrote a letter about Mother's Day for Planned Parenthood," Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards writes. "Now, anti-choice extremists are inundating her with hate mail and phone calls."

"We rarely respond to these outrageous attacks, but when it comes to Judy Blume ... well, I can't stand by and do nothing. I just can't," Richards added. "Please, let her know how much we appreciate her courage."

Blume has likely directly seen the critical response. . .

_____________________________________________________________

Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon Wants Planned Parenthood Mother's Day Gifts

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda on the popular television program and movie, is the latest celebrity to stump for donations for the Planned Parenthood abortion business on Mother's Day. Her letter to Planned Parenthood donors follows one from children's author Judy Blume.

The Blume letter sparked so much national outrage after LifeNews.com exposed it, that Planned Parenthood begged its supporters to send thank you notes to her.

Like the Blume letter, the missive from Nixon ironically urges donations to Planned Parenthood to celebrate Mother's Day even though Planned Parenthood routinely puts women's health at risks with unsafe abortions and spends most of its time doing abortions instead of offering women legitimate prenatal health care services.

"I am Cynthia Nixon. I am an actor, an activist, a mom, a daughter. But today, I am writing to you about motherhood, on behalf of Planned Parenthood and the many people they serve," the actress writes. "The truth is, in my book, there is no organization that supports motherhood more than Planned Parenthood. That's why I'm honoring the moms I know with a gift to Planned Parenthood today."

With Planned Parenthood killing children and injuring women in abortions, Nixon displays an astonishing impudicity when she adds, "To me, it just makes sense: honor the courageous mothers who are raising kids ... with a gift to the courageous organization that helps so many women."

Like Blume, Nixon says the fact that more women are going to Planned Parenthood centers for abortions is another reason to support the organization. . .

_____________________________________________________________

Post-Abortive Women to Planned Parenthood: Hands off Mother's Day

STATEN ISLAND, NY., May. 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- Leaders of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign (SNMAC), the world's largest network of individuals harmed by abortion, responded today to Planned Parenthood's new Mother's Day appeal and urged post-abortive women to seek healing.

"Just when it seemed Planned Parenthood's Mother's Day fundraising letters couldn't get more hypocritical, this year they've brought in a children's author to say we should honor mothers by donating to the nation's largest abortion business," said Janet Morana, co-founder of SNMAC.   "Honoring mothers by giving money to Planned Parenthood, though, is like honoring our troops by sending care packages to al-Qaeda.  It makes no sense and it's highly offensive."

"Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby told us that terminating our children's lives would solve our problems, but that lie has turned Mother's Day into a time of anguish and regret for far too many," said Georgette Forney, another co-founder of SNMAC.  "This Mother's Day, the voices of Silent No More want women to find healing and healing begins with the truth."

"Acknowledging a mother's pain and regret is a critical step in her restoration from abortion," said Fr. Frank Pavone, Pastoral Director of SNMAC.  "The Silent No More campaign understands this and connects post-abortive women with resources that not only help them cope with their feelings of loss, but also to become emotionally and spiritually whole again.  I urge everyone who has been impacted by abortion to visit Iregretmyabortion.org to share their regret and begin the healing process. . .

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[floriduh voter]

Alan Keyes arrested at Notre Dame - trespass, just like when they arrested people at Hostage Woodside including CHILDREN. It was just a sidewalk but imo, was Homeland Security's first training mission. When the "trespassers" went bk to their states, the Pinellas Courts upped the charges to incitement. Pinellas County is hurting right now. They can't get tourists here like they used to. Poor babies. Who wants to visit murder central? (what some attorneys call it).

Neither JEB or CRIST would meet w/Alan Keyes. Neither Jeb or Crist are manly men. They are wimps.

[wagglebee]

I get a certain amount of satisfaction watching the death mongers turn on each other.

Thread by kellynla.

Suicide Expert Turns on 'Dr Death'

For well over a decade, they were friends as they launched a global campaign to legalise assisted suicide for terminally-ill patients.

But after Dr Nitschke conducted a tour of Britain last week to show people how they can end their lives effectively, Dr Irwin has hit out at his former colleagues actions.

Dr Irwin accused Dr Nitschke of being "totally irresponsible" for telling people how to obtain an "easy access" drug either for their own suicides or to help with the deaths of seriously-ill relatives. . .

[wagglebee]

Alan Keyes has been released from jail but plans to return to Notre Dame and the media are doing their best to provide cover for Zero and Notre Dame.

Three threads by me.

Dr. Alan Keyes Released from Jail -- And Will Bear Witness on Notre Dame Campus Again

SOUTH BEND, Ind., May 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Alan Keyes and 20 peaceful pro-lifers were arrested yesterday after they walked onto Notre Dame's campus praying the rosary and pushing baby strollers carrying baby dolls covered in "stage blood" to protest the invitation of Notre Dame to President Obama to deliver the commencement address at this year's graduation.

Dr. Keyes will be leading peaceful witnesses again on campus this coming Tuesday and Friday -- and is calling on others to join him.

Dr. Keyes said upon being released from jail, "I went on campus to bear witness to the truth that the invitation by the University of Notre Dame to Barack Obama is a travesty and abomination against the truth that is characteristic to our Catholic and Christian faith. Obama's actions deserve condemnation, not honor.

"I am issuing a call to everyone of like mind that we must come together now to bear witness to the world, to send a message to destroy this scandal and spread the truth of the Christians' dedication to life.

"I am going back on campus to prayerfully bear witness. Come, join me, let us trespass together so that in our trespasses we might find ourselves fully in obedience to the will of God."

. . .

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Is ND Catholic enough? Obama visit prompts examination of identity

SOUTH BEND — As soon as it was announced March 20 that President Barack Obama would be the University of Notre Dame's commencement speaker and receive an honorary degree, the reaction started.

Online petitions by some Catholic groups were launched that day, denouncing the decision by the Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, to honor Obama, who is pro-choice and who on March 9 had given approval for expanded fetal stem-cell research.

Pro-life activists have flooded into town, conducting rallies and petition drives, standing at Notre Dame's main gate holding large photos of aborted babies. Airplanes have been flying above the city towing banners, and trucks are being driven along city streets, showing graphic abortion photos and demanding Notre Dame cancel the president's visit to campus, where 85 percent of undergraduates and 53 percent of faculty identify themselves as Catholic.

The Most Rev. John M. D'Arcy, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, announced he will not attend commencement because of Obama's presence.

"Even as I continue to ponder in prayer these events, which many have found shocking, so must Notre Dame," D'Arcy said in a written statement a few days after the announcement of the president's visit. "Indeed, as a Catholic University, Notre Dame must ask itself, if by this decision it has chosen prestige over truth."

Some are demanding that Jenkins be fired for honoring a president who doesn't adhere to moral teachings of the Catholic Church. . .

______________________________________________________________

Roman Catholics’ War Over Abortion (NYT Barf Alert!)

Discord is nothing new for Roman Catholicism. But the controversy surrounding the appearance of President Obama at the University of Notre Dame’s commencement on May 17 suggests that run-of-the mill discord among American Catholics is escalating into something closer to civil war.

Just watch that airplane circling over the famous Golden Dome of Notre Dame’s Main Building and the spire of the university’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The plane pulls a banner with a picture of an aborted fetus.

The group flying the banner is unhappy not just with the university but also, according to a spokesman quoted in The South Bend Tribune, with “the pro-life community at Notre Dame.”

“If they were doing a good job of reaching the campus,” he said, “it’s unlikely Obama would have been invited.”

Now listen to Bishop Robert W. Finn, bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese in Missouri. “We are at war!” he told an anti-abortion convention on April 18. “We are engaged in a constant warfare with Satan.”

Although this war must never involve violence, he said, and Christians must love the human enemies who come under Satan’s power, “even without their fully realizing it,” he went on to say that the most dangerous enemies were not those openly attacking the church but “more subtle enemies.” These included Catholics who “attack the most fundamental tenets of the church’s teachings.”

. . .

"We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
The White Rose will give you no rest."

[wagglebee]

Studies have confirmed that when the terminally ill are given proper palliative care they DO NOT want to be killed.

Thread by me.

Assisted suicide for ill 'unnecessary'

Good medical care to ease the suffering of terminally ill patients makes assisted suicide unnecessary, experts said at a European conference in Vienna.

Physicians at the meeting of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) also called for improved services across Europe, as the infrastructure varies widely across the continent.

Patients asking for assisted suicide should be taken seriously, said professor Franco De Conno of Italy's National Cancer Institute in Milan.

'But we have to keep in mind that requests for euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are often altered by the provision of sufficient and comprehensive palliative care,' he said. Such patients should therefore get access to such treatment.

Palliative medicine tries to help the terminally ill or dying by providing pain treatment and other therapies, including psychological help.

In a study carried out in Vienna among 778 patients receiving such treatments, only 2 asked for assisted death, according to the Vienna physicist Hans-Georg Kress, who also took part in the meeting of some 3,000 experts. . .

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[wagglebee]

Archbishop Burke makes the truth crystal clear.

Thread by kellynla.

No Other Issues Can Justify Voting for Pro-Abortion, Pro-Euthanasia, or Pro-Same-Sex Marriage

Archbishop Raymond Burke, the prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest court in the Roman Catholic Church, told a crowd at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on Friday that no matter what good positions a politician may hold on other issues it is never justified to vote for him if he supports abortion, euthanasia or same-sex marriage.

“In a nation set so firmly on a path of violation of the most fundamental moral norms, Catholics and others who adhere to the natural moral law are pressured to think that their religious commitment to the moral law as the way of seeking the good of all is a merely confessional matter which cannot have any application in public life,” Burke told a crowd gathered at the Hilton Washington.

“Apparently, a number of Catholics in public life have been so convinced,” he continued.

“How often do we hear Catholic legislators who vote in favor of anti-life and anti-family legislation claim that they are personally opposed to what the legislation protects and fosters, but that they as public officials may not allow religious beliefs to affect their support of such legislation?” he asked.

“How often do we hear fellow Catholics supporting candidates for office, who are anti-life and anti-family, because of political-party loyalties or for reasons of other policies and programs supported by the candidate, which they deem to be good?” he continued. . .

[wagglebee]

God Bless this courageous woman and her family!

Thread by Deo volente.

Mother-to-be sacrifices her chance of surviving cancer for her baby

She leaned on her husband, using his strength to hide her unsteadiness. Her steps were tentative, measured, cautious, with her gait more typical of a woman decades older than her late 20s. She could still walk, shake hands and almost smile, at least with one side of her mouth; she couldn't let the tumor take those gifts away -- not yet. She had to stay healthy another few weeks, until her baby was born. . .

[wagglebee]

While criticism of Notre Dame continues to pour in a group of pro-life students will be holding an alternate graduation ceremony with the always wonderful Father Frank Pavone as their speaker.

Two threads by me.

Notre Dame has Hurt Itself with Invitation to "Most Radical Anti-life" President Ever

ROME, May 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Notre Dame University, with its invitation to President Barack Obama to give the commencement address on May 17, has hurt its reputation and Catholic identity, perhaps irrevocably, a prominent US Catholic scholar and author told LifeSiteNews.com in Rome on Friday. Robert Royal, a professor of history and president of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C., told LSN, "I don't think this is going to end well for anyone."

The university, that he described as having lived under a "sacred canopy" of its religious and academic identity, has made a critical error with the invitation. "I think that, in spite of the fact that the they'll manage the public relations of this deftly, it's going to hurt Notre Dame, and not just financially."

"This sort of thing doesn't do well," he said. "It doesn't contribute to the distinct identity that even Catholic universities now recognise they need to have."

Royal, an author, lecturer and editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing online magazine, was in Rome last week as one side of a debate organized by the Italian publishers of his book, The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West. Arguing against a leading Italian secularist, Luciano Pellicani, Royal said that western history has shown that the so-called "triumph of reason" over religion has led to some of the bloodiest episodes of the last two centuries, from the Terror of the French Revolution, the Soviet Gulags, the Nazi Holocaust and, he said, "the slaughter of the innocents via abortion."

Royal described the invitation, and Notre Dame's persistent refusal to admit any mistake in the face of opposition from over 70 bishops, as a "watershed moment."

"It's a watershed for Catholicism in the US, if what is clearly the most visible Catholic university in the country can openly, openly, ignore the wishes of our bishops expressed as a body.

"As a body, the USCCB has asked Catholic universities not to honour people who represent values directly in contradiction to our own, primarily anti-life and family issues. I think this is going to speak ill of Notre Dame for a long time."

. . .

______________________________________________________________

Notre Dame Students Select Father Frank Pavone to Lead Obama-Free Graduation

South Bend, IN (LifeNews.com) -- Notre Dame students who don't want to attend a graduation ceremony involving pro-abortion President Barack Obama put together alternate plans. Today, they announced that Father Frank Pavone, the director of Priests for Life, will lead prayer at a pro-life prayer vigil.

The Class of 2009 Vigil for Life will be celebrated at Sunday's commencement ceremony at the same time as the graduation event.

“In standing with these students, I am standing with the true spirit of Notre Dame: a pro-life spirit, in harmony with human reason and Catholic Faith," Father Pavone told LifeNews.com on Monday.

"The scandal that has been generated does not represent what Notre Dame is all about," Pavone added. "It represents a radical betrayal of what Notre Dame is all about."

Pavone said the scandal has resulted in pro-life Catholics standing up for the teachings of the Catholic Church and wanting to hold the university accountable to them.

“Hundreds of thousands of Catholics, hundreds of priests, and dozens of bishops have called upon Notre Dame to end this scandal by withdrawing its invitation to President Obama," he said. "The result of that demand is not in our control."

Pavone told LifeNews.com he thinks pro-life students should exercise their right not to attend the graduation ceremony, where President Obama will give the commencement address and receive an honorary degree.

"One final response to this scandal is fully in the control of each graduating senior: don't show up. Don't participate in an event which will only serve to obscure rather than highlight the Church’s pro-life teaching and the true spirit of Notre Dame," Pavone continued.

"The seniors who do this are manifesting the real meaning of commencement: they are carrying out the witness to truth and service that their hard-earned degrees have prepared them to give in the world," he added. . .

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[floriduh voter]

Father Pavone’s da man.

[wagglebee]

Great job by Lesforlife!

Thread by presidio9.

Notre Dame to be given 'Collaborator' status? Abortion opponents say rescind invitation or else

A pro-life group is warning that the University of Notre Dame may be given its "Collaborators" designation, a mark it reserves for those it considers the worst offenders in the war over abortion, because of its invitation to President Obama to speak at its commencement.

In a letter today to university officials, Leslie Hanks, chief of the Collaborators Project, wrote:

Because Notre Dame has extended the extraordinary honor of speaking at one of America's foremost Catholic colleges to one with such cavalier disregard for the sanctity of life, social tension is increasing exponentially in your community.

Collaborators Project was founded to do precisely that. Our motto is, "No Child Killing with Tranquility."

On the organization's Website, officials for the Collaborators Project said: "For their plan to honor Barack Obama, the leading pro-abortion advocate in America, the Collaborators Project is considering designating Notre Dame with Permanent Collaborator Status (PCS). If the university does not rescind their Obama invitation to deliver their commencement address on Sunday, May 17, 2009, the CP will designate Notre Dame with PCS.

"This would be only the second time in its history that the Collaborators Project has issued such a designation. If this occurs, the Collaborators Project will ask Indiana and Michigan pro-lifers to add Notre Dame to their ongoing anti-abortion protest itinerary," the group said.

Hanks explained to WND that only once before has the group awarded its Permanent Collaborator Status, to the Weitz Corp., which built Denver's Planned Parenthood megaclinic abortion facility. . .

"We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
The White Rose will give you no rest."