Dear Loreto  House Friends,

From Evangelium Vitae #13:

“In order to facilitate the spread of abortion, enormous sums of money have been invested and continue to be invested in the production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill the fetus in the mother’s womb without recourse to medical assistance. On this point, scientific research itself seems to be almost exclusively preoccupied with developing products which are ever more simple and effective in suppressing life and which at the same time are capable of removing abortion from any kind of control or social responsibility.”

This is where science seems to be going.  The fight for souls will become even more difficult because we will not be able to intercede on a personal level.  The abortion clinic will become obsolete…a good, but women will be able to just take a pill and “pretend” the pregnancy never happened.  It is sad, but this is already happening.  We have the morning-after pill.  Birth control pills are now being made that keep a woman from even having a menstrual cycle.  All of this can happen without the media even having to loudly deceive the public.  As is said above, any kind of control or social responsibility will not be effective because abortion will be in a sense “invisible.”

We will have to step up the prayers and develop new ways to change hearts.

In Christ Our Life,

Katherine

Evangelium Vitae #12

“In fact, while the climate of widespread moral uncertainty can in some way be explained by the multiplicity and gravity of today’s social problems, and these can sometimes mitigate the subjective responsibility of individuals, it is no less true that we are confronted by an even larger reality, which can be described as a veritable structure of sin. This reality is characterized by the emergence of a culture which denies solidarity and in many cases takes the form of a veritable “culture of death”. This culture is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency. Looking at the situation from this point of view, it is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favoured tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of “conspiracy against life” is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States.”

John Paul II

In this paragraph, Pope John Paul II first coins the phrase “Culture of Death.”  He calls this reality a “veritable structure of sin.”  It is a foundation based on power, wealth, and self-reliance.  There is no room for dependency.  Those who are “weak” will be squashed by the culture.  Life is no longer a gift, a blessing… it is a fight from the very beginning.  The structure expands past the individual, the family, the region, but also spreads internationally.  We see entire countries and continents, such as China and Africa, being attacked by the “conspiracy against life.”  There are governmental plans and major international organizations conspiring to bring contraception, abortion, and euthanasia to countries and continents under the guise of “global population control.”

In Christ our Life,

Katherine

Dear Loreto House Family,

John Paul II

Evangelium Vitae #11

“Here though we shall concentrate particular attention on another category of attacks, affecting life in its earliest and in its final stages, attacks which present new characteristics with respect to the past and which raise questions of extraordinary seriousness. It is not only that in generalized opinion these attacks tend no longer to be considered as “crimes”; paradoxically they assume the nature of “rights”, to the point that the State is called upon to give them legal recognition and to make them available through the free services of health-care personnel. Such attacks strike human life at the time of its greatest frailty, when it lacks any means of self-defence. Even more serious is the fact that, most often, those attacks are carried out in the very heart of and with the complicity of the family-the family which by its nature is called to be the “sanctuary of life”.”

John Paul II

Pope John Paul II is speaking of attacks on the most vulnerable, those human persons in the womb and those vulnerable to euthanasia.  They cannot defend themselves and it is particularly disheartening that they are silenced by those that should be able to protect them the most…their families.  Also, again we look to our government, which was founded on the inviolability of human rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  A distortion of “rights” has occurred by the evil one and we even pay to have these rights silenced!  There is no time greater than now to speak out for the rights of those that are most vulnerable.  We have elections coming soon, we have the Hike for Life, we have our everyday encounters with those whose consciences have been darkened by lies and their eyes need to be opened.  We are a people of LIFE, a people of God, and we are out to win souls…not just those that are vulnerable to these attacks on life, but to those who are vulnerable to complicity.  It does not hurt to tell the truth.  Our Lord speaks the Truth with Love and Gentleness.  It is OK if feelings are hurt.  It is OK to sting the conscience.  If this is done out of love, that love will be received.  Let us pray that we all have the courage to inform ourselves and to be receptive to that love for life within each one of us.

In Christ our life,

Katherine

Dear Loreto House Family,

From Evangelium Vitae #10:

“Some threats come from nature itself, but they are made worse by the culpable indifference and negligence of those who could in some cases remedy them. Others are the result of situations of violence, hatred and conflicting interests, which lead people to attack others through murder, war, slaughter and genocide.

And how can we fail to consider the violence against life done to millions of human beings, especially children, who are forced into poverty, malnutrition and hunger because of an unjust distribution of resources between peoples and between social classes? And what of the violence inherent not only in wars as such but in the scandalous arms trade, which spawns the many armed conflicts which stain our world with blood? What of the spreading of death caused by reckless tampering with the world’s ecological balance, by the criminal spread of drugs, or by the promotion of certain kinds of sexual activity which, besides being morally unacceptable, also involve grave risks to life? It is impossible to catalogue completely the vast array of threats to human life, so many are the forms, whether explicit or hidden, in which they appear today”

John Paul II

On the global level, the “unjust distribution of resources between people and between social classes” is on the scale of millions who are affected.  In reality, we are all affected, the entire Mystical Body of Christ.  We must go to the Garden with Jesus and make reparation for our sins.  This is our call on the spiritual level, which transcends the temporalities of the world.  We are the “burden bearers.”  We are the stones of His Church, holding up those who are to come and who cannot carry their own burdens.

In Christ Our Life,

Katherine