52 Years of Abortion

Sunday 26^th April is the Feast of Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel, which is the 52^nd anniversary of the last day in Britain when it was illegal to perform abortions. Please say the prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel, on this her Feast day: http://www.goodcounselnet.co.uk/Our-Patron-Saints.html  or see below.

 

Monday 27^th April, is the 52^nd anniversary of the abortion act coming in to effect. Since then, over 9 million babies have been aborted in the United Kingdom. Please join us that day in praying and fasting* for the end of abortion in this Country. Normally thousands of people would hear about our National Days of Prayer and Fasting for Life through their Parishes, with notices and posters. Sadly at this time, this will not happen, would you therefore please forward this email to family and friends and go onto the Facebook event and click Going and then click Share and then use the Invite option to invite others. Thank you. https://www.facebook.com/events/3035268766567721/

The March for Life have said, "27th April marks the very sad anniversary of the abortion act UK. When you go out for your exercise be a prolife witness by wearing a pro-life t-shirt!"

 

And SPUC, who would normally have thier Pro-Life Chains this weekend have also called for a day of prayer on Monday.

Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel:

O, Holy Virgin, to whose feet we are led by our anxious uncertainty in our search for and attainment of what is true and good, invoking thee by the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel we beseech thee to come to our assistance, when along the road of this life, the darkness of error and of evil conspires towards our ruin by leading our minds and our hearts astray.

Do Thou, O Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, Enlighten the doubtful and the erring, that they be not seduced by the false appearances of good, render them steadfast in the face of the hostile and corrupting influences of passion and of sin.

O Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us from Thy Divine Son a great love of Virtue and, in the hour of uncertainty and trial, the strength to embrace the way that leads to our salvation. If Thy hand sustains us, we shall walk unmolested long the path indicated to us by the life and words of Jesus our Redeemer; and having followed freely and securely, even in the midst of this world's strife, the sun of truth and justice under Thy Maternal Star, we shall come to the enjoyment of full and eternal peace with Thee in the Haven of Salvation. Amen.

*As we are in the Easter Season please limit your fasting to some small sacrifice.

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.

Please Say One Million Rosaries 4 The Unborn This Weekend

The Saint Michael the Archangel Organisation, based in Memphis, Tennessee, has launched a drive for one million rosaries for unborn babies between this Friday 4th May and this Sunday 6th May, from people all around the world. We urge all Catholics to join this wonderful pro-life campaign and spread the word among their contacts. For more details visit http://www.saintmichaelthearchangelorganization.org/

HT John Smeaton

Pro Life Video & A Talk In London

Do watch this Michael Voris Catholic Pro Life video and then came and see him live in London.

"Living the Catholic Faith Radically!" by Michael Voris, Wednesday 24 August, at Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street, London W1C 2DJ. Doors open 7pm. The closest tube station is Oxford Circus. Bond Street and Marble Arch are also within walking distance. All tickets are £5 and will be sold on a first come, first serve basis. You can purchase them via paypal at http://smeatonscorner.blogspot.com/2011/08/michael-voris-speaking-in-london-in.html

Do please try to attend and to spread the word.

Deerstalker tip to John Smeaton for the link to the video.

Stuart McCullough

Pro-Life Vigil, London Saturday 20th August

Are you pro-life? Would you like the opportunity to help stop abortions taking place in London? Could you give up a few hours this Saturday to help spread awareness in East London?

SPUC OUTREACH IN STRATFORD

Newham Borough in East London has the highest abortion rate in the U.K. (39.9 per 1000 women) and has the sixth highest number in Europe, with 2,341 abortions taking place every year. BPAS have recently opened a new abortion centre in the area, and so the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children will be doing a pro-life outreach there on Saturday 20th August. We aim to inform the local public about the positive pro-life services available, raise awareness about exactly what is happening in the area, and campaign against the new opening. Join SPUC this Saturday as help is needed to man the stall, distribute pro-life literature and engage with the public.

Meet outside Stratford Tube Station at 10.30am. We will finish no later than 2pm. Other details are on our facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147099005375311&view=wall¬if_t=event_wall

Hope to see you there!

Any queries please contact: 02078203140

Daniel Blackman – danielblackman@spuc.org.uk

Very happy to let you all know about this, if you cannot be there please pray and see here for other vigils. Photo is of John Smeaton of SPUC praying at a Good Counsel Vigil.

Stuart McCullough

Pro-Life Bishop, Michael Evans RIP

On Wednesday 13th of July The Holy Sacrifice of The Mass was offered, in the Good Counsel Network's chapel, for the repose of the soul of Bishop Evans, who died on Monday. Here follows some information about the Bishop from John Smeaton's blog.

Michael Evans, the Catholic bishop of East Anglia, died earlier this week after a long period with cancer. I wish to put on record my gratitude for Bishop Evans' defence of the unborn when Amnesty International decided to campaign for the decriminalisation of abortion and access to abortion worldwide. Below are some extracts from the statement Bishop Evans issued announcing his decision to leave Amnesty International after 31 years of active membership. May he rest in peace.

"...[O]ur proper indignation regarding pervasive violence against women should not cloud our judgement about our duty to protect the most vulnerable and defenceless form of human life. The International Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, and became a binding treaty for those countries which ratified it. Its Preamble quotes from the 1959 Declaration on the Rights of the Child, that 'the child, by reason of his or her physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth'. This must surely be part of the body of international human rights law to which Amnesty International is committed.

The Catholic Church shares Amnesty's strong commitment to oppose violence against women (for example, rape, sexual assault and incest), but such appalling violence must not be answered by violence against the most vulnerable and defenceless form of human life in a woman's womb. Catholics would want to show practical compassion for such women, and ensure for them all the medical and spiritual care and support they need. But there is no human right to access to abortion, and Amnesty should not involve itself even in such extreme cases...

To support access to abortion even in dire situations compromises Amnesty's mandate to 'Protect the Human'. In time Amnesty may seek to develop this policy further, but even this current limited decision makes it very difficult for Catholics to remain members of Amnesty or to give it any financial support. Very regretfully, I will be ending my 31 year membership of Amnesty International, which included in the 1980s several years on the British Section Council and its Religious Bodies Liaison Panel...

[Amnesty's] regretable decision will almost certainly divide Amnesty's membership and thereby undermine its vital work. Among all human rights, the right to life is fundamental. Commitment to work to 'Protect the Human' can only be deeply compromised by any support for access to abortion..."

Stuart McCullough

"The best talk I have ever heard" John Smeaton

Monsignor Philip J Reilly, has just given what John Smeaton, described as, "The best talk I have ever heard." And to be honest, I would be hard pushed to say he was wrong. If you were unable to be at Spanish Place last night, do contact the Helpers of God's Presious Infants as they were filming the talk. John's blog will no doubt cover the talk in detail.

Photo of Monsignor & John chatting at the end of the talk.

Stuart McCullough

Join the Novena Against Abortions At Home

John Smeaton talks today about SPUC's attempt to prevent even further loosening on the law surrounding the administering of the Abortion Pill:
We at SPUC have said that we will seek leave to intervene in a court case on the legality of so-called bedroom abortions. We are responding to a High Court challenge launched by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), one of Britain’s main abortion providers. BPAS is seeking to widen the scope for using the drug misoprostol, used in conjunction with RU486, the abortion drug. BPAS uses the drugs to poison the uterine environment and kill unborn children. Allowing misoprostol to be taken at home will increase the numbers of women delivering their dead child at home.
The abortion pill is a horrible spin on abortion which draws women in because they think "I will just take a tablet and my period will come", conjuring up a rather different picture than surgery - where even the tiniest of babies are torn limb from limb (and yes they do have 4 limbs when surgical abortion begins at 6-7 weeks).

In reality no abortion is that simple of course. The abortion pill has two stages - the first pill starves the baby of progesterone - nourishment for the baby and the continuing pregnancy - so causing the baby to quickly wither and die. Then 1 or 2 days later the returns to the abortuary for a second pill which will cause contractions and the delivery of her dead baby. No wonder one of the manufacturer's described it as an appalling psychological ordeal!
So BPAS - the largest UK abortion provider and hand in glove with the NHS - now wishes to give the first stage pills and send the woman home with the second stage pills to abort alone.
What difference will this make? Many women already lose their baby at home and alone after the first or second stage. Yet there is something new here; women can now be promised that they can come and get their pills and then carry out the whole procedure at home. A great offer for those women who desperately want this over quickly and privately. It's all the more tempting, and sounds all the more trivial if I can just take a couple of tablets at home...Almost like the morning-after-pill.
Yet these women find to their cost that the abortion pill is a false promise. Abortion still kills her blossoming child and it still wounds or sometimes even kills the Mother. Abortion still exacts a deadly psychological toll - perhaps worse when it is done by her own hand. The side effects of the drug range from sickness to prolonged heavy bleeding and - anecdotally at least vomitting, vomitting blood, anaemia, and the standard abortion complications - infection, future ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages. This drug also remains in the woman's system causing concerning symptoms and confusing changes to her health and her menstrual cycle.
And it is becoming more and more common. Many women who fear a surgical abortion being prepared to risk what they imagine is "just a tablet".
There is also a worrying issue over possible weakening of the conscience clause if BPAS's case succeed.
So let us pray and fast for the failure of the BPAS case, that SPUC's intervention will succeed and that the real intentions of all involved will be exposed and that evil will be overthrown.

The following Novena was posted today by Ecumenical Diablogger.
On 28th January (New Rite Feast of St Thomas Aquinas) the BPAS will go to court to seek the right to have the abortion pill taken by women at home. Please therefore say the following prayers each day for the next nine days;
Please join in whatever day you come across this, even if you are starting late:
Tantum ergo Sacramentum
veneremur cernui:
et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui:
praestet fides supplementum
sensuum defectui.
Genitori, Genitoque
laus et iubilatio,
salus, honor, virtus quoque
sit et benedictio:
procedenti ab utroque
compar sit laudatio.
Amen.
Sancte Thoma, ora pro nobis

Or in English;
Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,
newer rites of grace prevail;
faith for all defects supplying,
where the feeble sense fail.
To the everlasting Father,
and the Son who reigns on high,
with the Holy Ghost proceeding
forth from Each eternally,
be salvation, honor, blessing,
might and endless majesty.
Amen.
St Thomas, pray for us

Prayer for the Conversion of 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 did 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 Chief 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.

(for the prayers for Wales or Scotland click here )

Clare McCullough