James Caviezel adopts disabled children from China

I really like this guy, both as an actor and a human being. He has a great talent, and I hope his career gets a well-deserved comeback.

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This man, Rusty Leech (what an appropriate name), a paralytic, claims he now has some feeling in his legs after two months of embryonic stem cell “therapy,” but he can’t walk!

Meanwhile, Jacki Rabon, paralyzed by a 2003 car accident, can now walk because of adult stem cell therapy she received in Portugal. So can Laura Dominguez and Susan Fajt, who also received adult stem cell therapy in Portugal. An exception is Melissa Holley. She has regained bladder control and movement in her limbs thanks to the use of adult immune cells, in a treatment she received in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Here are some others, from the Free Republic:

Paralysis/Spinal Cord Injury – Maria da Graca Pomeceno of Brazil regained her
ability to walk and talk after a bone marrow stem-cell transplant from her
pelvis. 13
Paralysis/Spinal Cord Injury – Treatment using stem cells derived
from umbilical cord blood allow Hwang Mi-Soon of South Korean to walk again with
the aid of a walker. “This is already a miracle for me,” says Mi-Soon. 14

One less abortuary in the world

Thanks to 40 Days for life, one abortuary has closed its doors, and two Planned Parenthood “clinics” have stopped performing abortions.

Biotechnology is not against Catholic teaching

The Holy Father’s beverage of choice

I always love to find out that people I admire for their artistic, intellectual and/or spiritual achievements shares things in common with me in terms of their “regular” lives.

Pope Benedict’s is known for liking things that are German, classy, and/or intellectual (his love for Mozart exemplifying all three).

Thus, when one considers what his favorite drink might be (until recently, I never though to consider what a Pope’s favorite drink was, or even if he had one!), one might think Schnapps, or some kind of lager, or some kind of wine.

But, in fact, the Holy Father rarely drinks alcohol. His favorite drink is, in fact, Fanta Orange!

I never knew that Fanta was a German brand, and, apparently, Fanta Orange in Europe is more like carbonated orange juice than the US version. But the US version has always been one of my favorite sodas, so I’m pleased as punch by the notion, and I went out and bought a carton of Fanta in honor of the B16 Bomber.

Fast food chains are really trying to improve our family’s health

Last fall, we realized that, like our daughter Gianna, I’m allergic to wheat (and so are, apparently, Josef and Clara). So that has severely limited our choices for dining out.

At face value, one would think that it’s more economical *not* to eat out, but, in this day and age, it can cost as much to buy food as to get it at a restaurant. And, when you work part-time, you interpret all time as money. So, for example, eating at home requires a great deal of time for setup, cooking and cleaning, all of which, when we tally the time it takes, times our hourly pay rates, versus what it costs to eat out, means that, if we eat out frugally, we save money, or at least in theory.

Plus there are the issues of fatigue, always being on the go between various jobs, doctors and other errants, etc.

Anyway, like many young families these days, we tend to eat out too much than is healthy. Since giving up wheat almost completely as a family, we’ve limited our choices to *where* we eat out.

While the total bill is cheaper than, say, making a big family meal at home, there are foods that are cheaper and easier to make at home, so I dont’ see the point in buying them at restaurants.

Since we don’t eat the buns, for example, I don’t see the point in wasting money on burgers when I can cook them at home.

So, when you look at wheat-free foods at restaurants that are affordable, that are worth eating out versus making at home, the choices are few.

Last year, we stopped shopping at Arby’s because they had a slogan on their bag that corrupted a saying from the Gospel (I think it was “Man does not live on bread alone,” but I can’t remember). Mary contacted them in protest, and they never replied. The slogan was bad enough, but it was their lack of a response that really ticked us off.

Recently, we decided to start boycotting McDonald’s because of their endorsement of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

We like Chick-fil-A, and we stop there occasionally, but they fall under the “I’m not going to pay full price for a sandwich when all I’m eating is the meat” category.

We eat at Taco Bell (we call it “Taco Barrell,” because that’s what Gianna called it when she was younger) a lot, and it’s nice because the local franchises in Columbia promote themselevs as a Christian company.

Since we stopped eating at McDonald’s, we’ve been going to Wendy’s more often. In one sense, this is fine with me, because I really like Wendy’s–in other sense, it’s all the more frustrating, because I’ve always loved their sandwiches, and it’s a lot harder to resist buying a sandwich at Wendy’s than buying a sandwich at McDonald’s.

Now, comes the sad news that Arby’s is buying Wendy’s.

This is how evil and scary Barack Obama is

I never thought I see the day when (legitimate) Catholic and pro-life sites were happy to see Hillary Clinton win anything:

From LifeSite News
From Catholic Online
“Clinton Wins . . . but What?”

Heritage Foundation Study: Abstinence Education Works

Couple to Couple League International Updates materials

CCLI has produced some updated materials for Natural Family Planning, incorporating new technologies and resources on John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body.”

Cardinal Trujillo dead at 72

On April 19, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo died at the age of 72, of heart disease. Head had been president of the Pontifical Council for the Family and had become quite well-known the past few years for some hard-hitting statements on abortion and other issues of life and family.

Sadly, I was just saying the other day how he’d make a great pope.

Pope Benedict XVI calls Catholics to be Courageous, like Cardinal Trujillo

From Catholic News Service
From LifeSite News
From Vatican Information Service

A PDF on Different NFP Methods and Fertility Monitors

Here is an interesting information sheet that covers not only different methods of Natural Family Planning but also the most reliable “fertility monitor” machines.

The “problem” with NFP boils down to pinpointing the date of ovulation, especially in women who have double peaks. I’ve wondered for years why there can’t just be a machine that analyzes cervical mucous rather than putting the couple through the “guesswork” of all the “signs” (“Is it sticky?” “Is it cloudy?” and so forth).

Turns out, there are. Of course, they all say they don’t work if you’re breastfeeding, which basically goes to say that NFP doesn’t work at all for women who are breastfeeding. In any case, I’ll be posting individually on my research into these machines.

Another Pro-Life Movie Coming

Producer George Escobar hopes his film Come What May will say what politicians are afraid to.

Fr. Frank Pavone starts "Is This What you Mean?" Project

Fr. Frank explains Dismemberment D&E abortion procedure.

Fr. Frank explains suction abortion procedure.

While we’re at it, here’s The Silent Scream on YouTube (published with permission from APF)

4D Ultrasound of an unborn baby

40 Days for Life: “Being Human”

And Dana’s “This is My Body”

Pope: All Vocations are Missionary in Nature, especially Marriage

Pope says respect for marriage is necessary for peace

Maggie Gallagher has compiled Pope Benedict’s speeches regarding marriage, and shows how Benedict has repeatedly tied marriage to just about every social issue–which makes sense, since the Church says that society exists for the sake of the family.

If you don’t know Maggie Gallagher’s work, The Abolition of Marriage; it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Another Pro-Life Movie Coming

Producer George Escobar hopes his film Come What May will say what politicians are afraid to.

Fr. Frank Pavone starts "Is This What you Mean?" Project

Fr. Frank explains Dismemberment D&E abortion procedure.

Fr. Frank explains suction abortion procedure.

While we’re at it, here’s The Silent Scream on YouTube (published with permission from APF)

4D Ultrasound of an unborn baby

40 Days for Life: “Being Human”

And Dana’s “This is My Body”

Anti-family Catholics Protest Pope Benedict

After giving a list of “festivities” from anti-Benedict “Catholics”, Bill Donohue points out the association between radical Catholics, atheists and radical fundamentalists like Westboro Baptist Church.

What does Gaudium et Spes say about NFP?

It is interesting how Catholics play with terminology. Take “extra-ordinary”. If the Church says, “extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion,” one group will say, “See? Extra-ordinary means ‘out of the ordinary,’ and thus, rare,” while the others basically ignore the term or try to say it means “special.” Meanwhile, if Pope Benedict says, “Extra-ordinary usage of the Roman Rite,” that first group suddenly says, “see? Special!” while the second group says, “See? It’s supposed to be extremely rare!” Then, when the Church talks about “extra-ordinary” demonic activity, such as oppression and spiritual attack (whereas “ordinary” demonic activity is temptation, which occurs 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day), people of both stripes will say, “See? It’s extremely rare.”

Now, the same goes on with the word “grave.” Post-Vatican II documents tend to speak of “grave sin,” for example. “Grave sin” is just a synonym for “mortal sin,” but “liberal” Catholics will try to say that “grave sin” is “not quite mortal.” Meanwhile, when the Church says “grave” matter for NFP, many people seem to think “grave” means “serious, but not necessarily too serious.”

Ultimately, we’re not supposed to be judging other people’s motives, which is fine. The problem is that’s exactly what people like Greg Popcak do: they tell you that, to have a “perfect family,” you *have* to “space” your children. They immediately come down hard on anyone they label “providentialist” or anyone who expresses trouble practicing NFP.

The problem that some of us have with NFP is that the grave matter should be “grave” enough to warrant the kind of self-sacrifice involved in NFP (self-sacrifice that some people apparently think is “no big deal”).

Even the NFP instructors say, “If you really can’t wait, maybe God’s calling you to have a baby.”
The hardest part of NFP is not the abstinence, but the stress and the scruples. It gets so frustrating. If you feel it’s grave enough to abstain, you try hard, but it’s hard to abstain. So you beat yourself up for not abstaining.
Then, if you decide “go ahead and have kids,” then there’s that stress of being told, by people like Popcak, that you’re not “responsible,” and that you’re bad for that reason.

You’re darned if you do, darned if you don’t.

Obama: Children are a "punishment"

1. Sex education? You mean, “education that seeks to titillate young people and encourage them to fornicate”?
2. Why not teach kids NFP? that would be true “sex education.” I know that even this is controversial in some quarters, but NFP teaches us not only that women are fertile on only certain days, but also that women are less inhibited–and men are more attracted to them–when they are fertile. Teach your daughters NFP and ask them, when they want to go out, what their charts showed. If they’re in Phase II or Peak, don’t let them go out of the house.

It would make them far less likely to even have premarital intercourse.

3. But what Obama is really saying here is that *he* doesn’t want the responsibility of helping a prodigal daughter raise his grandchildren. He’d rather *kill* HIS OWN GRANDCHILD than face social or financial trouble.