Our Lady, St David and St Andrew Enter Local Election Campaigns

On Thursday 7th of May there will be elections to the Scottish Parliament and to the Welsh Senedd, as well as local council elections across England. We should of course do what we can to find out where all of our local candidates stand on the issue of abortion and then vote accordingly. If you are voting in Scotland you should see details here

However, as candidates are often very busy in the lead up to an election, it can sometimes be very hard to find out where they stand on abortion. I have just been reading the sequel to 'From Christendom to Apostolic Mission' by Mgr James Shea, "The Religion of the Day" where he said, “One act of self-denial for the sake of the Gospel, one single heartfelt prayer or act of charity toward those we are called to love, will have more power in advancing the cause of Christ than months of angry listening to podcasts, or hours of sparring on social media, or years of stirring up those around us with the latest evil reports from news articles. The devil is dismayed by humility, devastated by charity, and terrified by the Cross. But when he sees Christians trying to press the works of the flesh – greed, anger, calumny, and power politics – into the service of the Spirit, he only laughs.”

From this, it is clear that while engaging with candidates in an election is important, prayer is far more important. As we have just over nine days left until the election, we all have time to say one or more of the following prayers each day as a novena for these elections. We can pray that they bring about what God wants and not what man wants. If you are reading this when there are less than nine days left to go to the elections, please still say one or more of these prayers each day. You are, of course, most welcome to continue to say these prayers every day for the rest of your life. You can receive an Our Lady of Walsingham/Prayer for England Prayercard and others, from us here.

Prayer for England

O blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy "Dowry" and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross, O sorrowful Mother. Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home.

Amen.

Prayer for Wales

O Almighty God, Who in Thine infinite goodness has sent Thine only-begotten Son into this world to open once more the gates of heaven, and to teach us how to know, love and serve Thee, have mercy on Thy people Who dwell in Wales. Grant to them the precious gift of faith, and unite them in the one true Church founded by Thy Divine Son; that, acknowledging her authority and obeying her voice, they may serve Thee, love Thee, and worship Thee as Thou desirest in this world, and obtain for themselves everlasting happiness in the world to come. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for Wales.

Saint David, pray for Wales.

Saint Winefride, pray for Wales.

                                Prayer for Scotland

O Blessed St Andrew, Frist-called and Fisher of Men, of old thou didst summon into the presence of the Saviour thy brother St Peter; obtain now we beseech thee, by thy powerful intercession for the people of Scotland that they might recognise in his successor the Vicar of Christ, and so enter into the vision of Him who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, One God for ever and ever, Amen.

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Who Can Catholics And Other Pro-Lifers Vote For?

There is a lot of mixed opinion about what we should consider before deciding who to vote for. But I believe that if we looked at any mass killing of human beings other than abortion where hundreds of thousands of lives were being taken every year, such as in Nazi Germany for example, no-one (retrospectively at least) would say "We can't just vote on that one issue"!*@ Until abortion is ended, no other issue can compare with the huge and wholesale slaughter that deprives my unborn neighbour of his right to life, her right to own property, his right to work, her right to be educated, his right to have food on her table, his right to freedom. All rights are pointless if we do not have a right to be born! Fr Frank Pavone illustrates this perfectly in the following article, from his website, which is so good I am including it in this blog in full.
If we don't believe abortion is a big enough issue to be worth casting our vote on, how on earth do we imagine that any parliamentary candidate is going to? Read on...

by Clare McCullough

The following article was taken from the Priests for Life website www.priestsforlife.org

You Wouldn’t Even Ask….
By Fr. Frank Pavone

If a candidate who supported terrorism asked for your vote, would you say, "I disagree with you on terrorism, but where do you stand on other issues?

"I doubt it.

In fact, if a terrorism sympathizer presented him/herself for your vote, you would immediately know that such a position disqualifies the candidate for public office -- no matter how good he or she may be on other issues. The horror of terrorism dwarfs whatever good might be found in the candidate's plan for housing, education, or health care. Regarding those plans, you wouldn't even ask.

So why do so many people say, "This candidate favors legal abortion. I disagree. But I'm voting for this person because she has good ideas about health care (or some other issue).

"Such a position makes no sense whatsoever, unless one is completely blind to the violence of abortion. That, of course, is the problem. But we need only see what abortion looks like, or read descriptions from the abortionists themselves, and the evidence is clear. (USA Today refused to sell me space for an ad that quoted abortionists describing their work because the readers would be traumatized just by the words!)

Abortion is no less violent than terrorism. Any candidate who says abortion should be kept legal disqualifies him/herself from public service. We need look no further, we need pay no attention to what that candidate says on other issues. Support for abortion is enough for us to decide not to vote for such a person.

Pope John Paul II put it this way: "Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination" (Christifideles Laici, 1988).

False and illusory. Those are strong and clear words that call for our further reflection.

"I stand for adequate and comprehensive health care." So far, so good. But as soon as you say that a procedure that tears the arms off of little babies is part of "health care," then your understanding of the term "health care" is obviously quite different from the actual meaning of the words. In short, you lose credibility. Your claim to health care is "illusory." It sounds good, but is in fact destructive, because it masks an act of violence.

"My plan for adequate housing will succeed." Fine. But what are houses for, if not for people to live in them? If you allow the killing of the children who would otherwise live in those houses, how am I supposed to get excited by your housing project?

It's easy to get confused by all the arguments in an election year. But if you start by asking where candidates stand on abortion, you can eliminate a lot of other questions you needn't even ask.

For more election related articles and information, visit www.priestsforlife.org/elections (US)

See how your MP has voted on Life Issues in the past and how your other local candidates would vote if elected;
https://www.spuc.org.uk/campaigns/general_election_2015/ (UK)

 

So it is no good just voting for this Party or that, you need to ask all your local Candidates where they stand on abortion and how they will vote if elected.

Can Pro-Life Politics Rest Now Until the Next Election?

What is the aftermath of the Election? We now have David Cameron as our Prime Minister and a Liberal/Conservative coalition in power. We now have many new Members of Parliament some of whom, hopefully, will have similar moral values to ourselves. Perhaps this will make some small difference to the laws which are passed in this country, but what now?
Do we now forget about politics for another 4-5 years? Or until the next local elections? Leave things down to the politicians, the majority of whom are far from pro-life, to make decisions on our behalf?
No!
Now politics should be as important an issue as it was during the election campaign for those of us who are pro-life. Now we must find the most pro-life candidate for our local area and do everything we can up until the next election to put them in a position where they have a real chance to be elected. They will be more than willing to point you in the right direction for doing this. We must also try to convince our sitting MP that he/she should be pro-life, show them that there is a strong movement in his constituency that is pro-life.
If you already have an MP who is Pro-life then you must do all you can to support them. Show them that there is support for their very noble convictions and give them the courage to stick by them when it matters in Parliament. Write and thank them when they witness for life. Show them how important their vote on life issues is to you.

Conor Carroll

Abortion is the Issue in Every Election

A chap from the local labour party knocked on my door a few evenings ago, and asked me to vote for him in the forthcoming local elections. Twenty seconds into his patter I stopped him and asked,
"Where do you stand on Abortion?"
He started to mutter something about it not being relevant in local elections, but went on to say that he was from Tipperary so it was a difficult issue but that generally he supported Abortion and a woman's 'right to choose'.
I told him at that point I would, of course, not be voting for him as I didn't really care too much what his views were on any subject if did not believe in the right to life of unborn babies.
We went on to discuss why he has lapsed from the Church as well as other issues and then parted on good terms. He is now fully aware that is Abortion is relevant in every election and in fact all the time.
Having read Fr Pavone's article (on this blog yesterday) "You Wouldn't Even Ask" explaining why we can never vote for a pro-abortion politician no matter how good his other policies may be, it was very simple for me to deal with this candidate.
As we approach the forthcoming local and general elections it is important that we each individually make pro-life issues a deciding factor in how we vote. We need to make all of our politicians aware that we will decide on this issue and this issue alone. They will then have to take this issue more seriously.
Please pray for the conversion of England, Scotland and Wales as this is really the only way to end Abortion in these countries.
Changing some of the politicians along the way would be a good thing but changing hearts and minds with God's Grace will win the day. For details of where your candidates stand on this issue please see below.

Stuart McCullough

Contact SPUC for a questionnaire for any prospective election candidates
02070917091

To see how your MP has voted on Life Issues in the past
http://www.spuc.org.uk/lobbying/uk-mp-votes/overview

For Pro-Life Information on the election
http://spuc-director.blogspot.com/2009/02/spucs-general-election-campaign-starts.html
http://www.spuc.org.uk

General Election: Are We A One Issue People?

There is a lot of mixed opinion about what we should consider before deciding who to vote for. But I believe that if we looked at any mass killing of human beings other than abortion where hundreds of thousands of lives were being taken every year, such as in Nazi Germany for example, no-one (retrospectively at least) would say "We can't just vote on that one issue"!*@ Until abortion is ended, no other issue can compare with the huge and wholesale slaughter that deprives my unborn neighbour of his right to life, her right to own property, his right to work, her right to be educated, his right to have food on her table, his right to freedom. All rights are pointless if we do not have a right to be born! Fr Frank Pavone illustrates this perfectly in the following article, from his website, which is so good I am including it in this blog in full.
If we don't believe abortion is a big enough issue to be worth casting our vote on, how on earth do we imagine that any parliamentary candidate is going to? Read on...

by Clare McCullough

The following article was taken from the Priests for Life website www.priestsforlife.org

You Wouldn’t Even Ask….
By Fr. Frank Pavone

If a candidate who supported terrorism asked for your vote, would you say, "I disagree with you on terrorism, but where do you stand on other issues?

"I doubt it.

In fact, if a terrorism sympathizer presented him/herself for your vote, you would immediately know that such a position disqualifies the candidate for public office -- no matter how good he or she may be on other issues. The horror of terrorism dwarfs whatever good might be found in the candidate's plan for housing, education, or health care. Regarding those plans, you wouldn't even ask.

So why do so many people say, "This candidate favors legal abortion. I disagree. But I'm voting for this person because she has good ideas about health care (or some other issue).

"Such a position makes no sense whatsoever, unless one is completely blind to the violence of abortion. That, of course, is the problem. But we need only see what abortion looks like, or read descriptions from the abortionists themselves, and the evidence is clear. (USA Today refused to sell me space for an ad that quoted abortionists describing their work because the readers would be traumatized just by the words!)

Abortion is no less violent than terrorism. Any candidate who says abortion should be kept legal disqualifies him/herself from public service. We need look no further, we need pay no attention to what that candidate says on other issues. Support for abortion is enough for us to decide not to vote for such a person.

Pope John Paul II put it this way: "Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination" (Christifideles Laici, 1988).

False and illusory. Those are strong and clear words that call for our further reflection.

"I stand for adequate and comprehensive health care." So far, so good. But as soon as you say that a procedure that tears the arms off of little babies is part of "health care," then your understanding of the term "health care" is obviously quite different from the actual meaning of the words. In short, you lose credibility. Your claim to health care is "illusory." It sounds good, but is in fact destructive, because it masks an act of violence.

"My plan for adequate housing will succeed." Fine. But what are houses for, if not for people to live in them? If you allow the killing of the children who would otherwise live in those houses, how am I supposed to get excited by your housing project?

It's easy to get confused by all the arguments in an election year. But if you start by asking where candidates stand on abortion, you can eliminate a lot of other questions you needn't even ask.

For more election related articles and information, visit

www.priestsforlife.org/elections

For UK General Election Information:
Pro-Life Information on the election
http://spuc-director.blogspot.com/2009/02/spucs-general-election-campaign-starts.html
http://spuc.org.uk

See how your MP has voted on Life Issues in the past
http://www.spuc.org.uk/lobbying/uk-mp-votes/overview

Contact SPUC for a questionnaire for any prospective election candidates
02070917091