Black Friday

I'm sure most of you heard the story about the security guard who was trampled this past Friday as a crowd rushed through the doors to get the specials they'd been standing in line for hours to find. It is sad they we've truly lost the spirit of the season that we are now in. Advent is about preparing for the Lord's return, and, as we get closer to Christmas, preparing for the remembrance of coming of the child Jesus. For many people, the consumerism and materialism of the society has completely taken over. I want to encourage all who take the time to read my blog to take a moment to pray for the fallen security guard. Also pray for all of those buyers throughout the nation who have lost track of what we should be preparing to celebrate. May they learn the true meaning of Christmas and work to keep Christ in Christmas.

Bishops Oppose Freedom of Choice Act

I got this from Zenit

BALTIMORE, Maryland, NOV. 12, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. bishops criticized the Freedom of Choice Act as "bad legislation" that would ultimately cause more division in the country.

Cardinal Francis George, the president of the U.S. episcopal conference, said this today in a statement published on behalf of the nations' bishops. The conference approved the statement upon concluding their three-day fall assembly, held in Baltimore.

Pledging to work with the Obama administration on issues of economic justice immigration, education, health care and religious freedom, the cardinal reminded the president-elect that a "good state protects the lives of all."

The statement called the Supreme Court's decision in favor of the right to abortion in Roe v. Wade a "bad court decision," and warned that it could soon "be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself."

Referring to the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), Cardinal George said the law would "deprive the American people in all 50 states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry."

He continued: "FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country.

"Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial-birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. Abortion clinics would be deregulated.

"The Hyde Amendment restricting the federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. FOCA would have lethal consequences for prenatal human life."

Divisive

He said the act would "have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities."

"It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil," said Cardinal George.

"On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will," the conference president said. "They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby.

"Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted."

"The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world," the cardinal continued. "If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve.

"Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion."

Freedom of Choice Act -- Fight FOCA

With the current national leadership, we need to be aware of the effort to wipe out all state legislation to protect the lives of the unborn. Please check out this link and sign the petition. Those without a voice need us to speak up for them.

Be sure to check out the video.

Young New Yorker leaves police force to become priest

From the Catholic News Agency

New York, Nov 6, 2008 / 01:34 pm (CNA).- At the age of 25, Nicolas Fernandez had all of the qualities needed to be a great policeman and his future in the force looked promising. However, during his daily work he discovered he needed different weapons to help the “troubled souls” he encountered, so he decided to become a priest.

Born on Staten Island of an Irish mother and a Spanish father, Fernandez has begun his six year-long formation at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers. He had been serving as a police officer for two years when, inspired by the teachings of John Paul II and the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to New York, he decided to change careers and become a priest.

According to El Nuevo Diario, the young seminarian recalls that when he was a policeman, people went to him with their problems because of the uniform he wore. “Now, they will do so because I’ll be wearing a priest’s cassock,” he said.

Fernandez was a patrolman in Brooklyn and his partner always said he could easily rise to the rank of lieutenant. “But that was the last thing I wanted,” he said.

“My choice for the priesthood was influenced by the discourses and speeches of John Paul II on the culture of death, which includes thousands of murders, suicides, homicides and national situations in which children are being abandoned or are victims of abuse in their homes because of drugs,” Fernandez said.

“For these turbulent souls, I never had an external solution as a policeman. There has to be an interior change, a change of heart and therefore, being a priest is necessary,” he added.