Article of Interest

I read this today and my prayer is that the family has a change of heart on the issue of abortion!

Family of Irving 'Bud' Feldkamp, Owner of the Nation's Largest Privately Owned Abortion Chain, Dies in Montana Plane Crash
Contact: Gingi Edmonds, www.gingiedmonds.com,
MEDIA ADVISORY, Mar. 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Some of you may have seen the major news story of the private plane that crashed into a Montana cemetery, killing 7 children and 7 adults. But what the news sources fail to mention is that the Catholic Holy Cross Cemetery owned by Resurrection Cemetery Association in Butte - contains a memorial for local residents to pray the rosary, at the 'Tomb of the Unborn'. This memorial, located a short distance west of the church, was erected as a dedication to all babies who have died because of abortion.What else is the mainstream news not telling you? The family who died in the crash near the location of the abortion victim's memorial, is the family of Irving 'Bud' Feldkamp, owner of the largest for-profit abortion chain in the nation. Family Planning Associates was purchased four years ago by Irving Moore "Bud" Feldkamp III, owner of Allcare and Hospitality Dental Associates and CEO of Glen Helen Raceway Park in San Bernardino. The 17 California Family Planning clinics perform more abortions in the state than any other abortion provider - Planned Parenthood included - and they perform abortions through the first five months of pregnancy. Although Feldkamp is not an abortionist, he reaps profits of blood money from the tens of thousands of babies that are killed through abortions performed every year at the clinics he owns. His business in the abortion industry was what enabled him to afford the private plane that was carrying his family to their week-long vacation at The Yellowstone Club, a millionaires-only ski resort.The plane went down on Sunday, killing two of Feldkamp's daughters, two sons-in-law and five grandchildren along with the pilot and four family friends. The plane, a single-engine turboprop flown by Bud Summerfield of Highland, crashed into the Catholic cemetery and burst into flames, only 500 ft. from its landing destination. All aboard were killed.The cause of the crash is a mystery. The pilot, who was a former military flier who logged over 2,000 miles, gave no indication to air traffic controllers that the aircraft was experiencing difficulty when he asked to divert to an airport in Butte. Witnesses report that the plane suddenly nosedived toward the ground with no apparent signs of a struggle. There was neither a cockpit voice recorder nor a flight data recorder onboard, and no radar clues into the planes final moments because the Butte airport is not equipped with a radar facility. Some speculate that the crash was due to ice on the wings, but this particular plane model has been tested for icy weather and experts have stated that ice being the cause is unlikely.In my time working for Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, I helped organize and conduct a weekly campaign where youth activists stood outside of Feldkamp's mini-mansion in Redlands holding fetal development signs and raising community awareness regarding Feldkamp's dealings in child murder for profit. Every Thursday afternoon we called upon Bud and his wife Pam to repent, seek God's blessing and separate themselves from the practice of child killing. We warned him, for his children's sake, to wash his hands of the innocent blood he assisted in spilling because, as Scripture warns, if "you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you". (Ezekiel 35:6)A news source states that Bud Feldkamp visited the site of the crash with his wife and their two surviving children on Monday. As they stood near the twisted and charred debris talking with investigators, light snow fell on the tarps that covered the remains of their children.I don't want to turn this tragic event into some creepy spiritual 'I told you so' moment, but I think of the time spent outside of Feldkamp's - Pam Feldkamp laughing at the fetal development signs, Bud Feldkamp trying not to make eye contact as he got into his car with a small child in tow - and I think of the haunting words, 'Think of your children.' I wonder if those words were haunting Feldkamp as well as he stood in the snow among the remains of loved ones, just feet from the 'Tomb of the Unborn'?I only hope and pray that in the face of this tragedy, Feldkamp recognizes his need for repentance and reformation. I pray that God will use this unfortunate catastrophe to soften the hearts of Bud and Pam and that they will draw close to the Lord and wash their hands of the blood of thousands of innocent children, each as precious and irreplaceable as their own."I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then." (Deut. 30:19)
Gingi Edmonds is a freelance pro-life activist, writer and photographer based out of Hanford, California. Gingi writes a bi-monthly ProLife Opinion Column and is available for pro-life presentations and speaking engagements. Visit www.gingiedmonds.com for more information.

Father's Rights...or lack thereof

The following is taken from the Priests for Life website http://www.priestsforlife.org/postabortion/postabortiontestimonymen.htm
In addition to the short article, there are quite a few stories; testimonies of fathers who have dealt with the issue of abortion. Their stories are heartfelt and some even devastating. These men are dealing with the abortion of their child, like many women, so many years later. I think it is VERY important to read about these men and keep them in our prayers!


Men and Abortion

Abortion has many victims, and one of them is the father of the child.
The laws of the United States do not acknowledge the right a father to stop the abortion of his own child, but rather place that act solely within the decision of the mother.
This raises a multitude of problems.
On the one hand, the father who wants to defend the life of his child is often accused of meddling in something that is not his business.
On the other hand, the father who wants to leave the (mistaken) decision of abortion in the hands of the mother alone is often accused of being uncaring and distant. This, in turn, can create feelings of isolation in the mother, which in turn makes it easier for her to resort to abortion.
Furthermore, the law is a powerful teacher. It says the father has no rights in the abortion decision. But the other side of the coin of "rights" is "responsibilities." The current state of the law regarding fathers and abortion can easily foster a sense of irresponsibility in young men.
Post-abortion counseling services are seeing an increasing number of men come forward, grieving their aborted children. Many of the same dynamics of post-abortion distress that we see in women are are also present in men.
We offer here some testimonies of fathers whose children have been killed by abortion, along with our prayers for such fathers, and our readiness to help them.

If you have a testimony, send it to us at testimony@priestsforlife.org

Eric Eckenrode website
Papa's Post-Operative Blues
The Awakening
I was her boyfriend of just a few months
I was a coward
I wasn't strong enough
A Father's Post-Abortion Testimony
Silent No More
A Dad Grieves and writes to his aborted son
Grief for an Aborted Son
Another Regretful Father Shares his Thoughts
Priests for Life Column on Abortion for Men

Abortion for Men
Fr. Frank PavoneInternational DirectorPriests for Life
One of the slogans used by extremists in the pro-abortion movement is, "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." The slogan, besides being simply ignorant, is an insult to the Church and to the integrity of pro-life people. Less crude expressions of the same sentiment take shape in arguments like, "The prohibition of abortion discriminates against women," and "Pro-life people are intent on depriving women of their rights." In fact, pro-abortion forces took this argument all the way to the Supreme Court, but lost in their attempt to claim that women as a class were discriminated against by pro-life efforts.
The fact is that we oppose abortion both for women and for men. The fact that men do not get pregnant does not stop them from choosing abortion. Indeed, anyone who has worked directly to stop abortions has seen many instances in which the "choice" in question was being made by the man, not by the woman. In the thousands of case testimonies I have in my office, time after time I read these or similar words: "My boyfriend wanted me to have the abortion; I was unsure," or "The baby's father said that unless I aborted the child, he would leave."
Of course. Abortion is not about women's rights. It is often about men wanting the right to be able to continue to have sexual relations without the "intrusive burden" of the child that can come about.
Morally speaking, the sin of abortion is committed when it is chosen, knowingly and willingly. Many factors mitigate the guilt, but the point here is that the choosing of abortion does not require that one be pregnant. Men choose abortion; men perform abortions. Men are therefore often guilty of the sin of abortion.
Being pro-life is in no way to single out women for blame. Being pro-life is about helping men and women alike to have the courage to do what is right, namely, to conceive children only within the bounds of valid marriage, and to protect all children who have been conceived under any circumstances.
Ministry to men is increasingly important, and Christians are responding more and more. We see movements like Promise Keepers, St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers, and the Catholic Men's Fellowship striving to meet the pastoral needs of men in our day. We also see the post-abortion movement increasingly extending its resources of counseling and healing to the men who have become entrapped in the lie that abortion is a solution to their problems.
It was the promoters of abortion who from the beginning framed abortion as simply a "woman's issue." No, abortion involves everyone. Once, at a Life Chain, I was asked by a passerby what right I had, as a man, to say anything about abortion. "I'm a human being," I replied, "and when my fellow human beings are being killed, I have a right to stand up and say no." "No," that is, whether it is addressed to a woman or to a man.


Subscribe to Fr. Frank's bi-weekly prolife column (free): subscribe@priestsforlife.org

Prayers Please

My cousin passed on a story of a couple in MN who are in the process of deciding whether or not to have an abortion. The wife does not want to keep the baby and her husband is completely opposed to her having an abortion. Even though she is carrying a child that is also his, the father has NO RIGHTS and can do nothing to stop her. The abortion is planned for tomorrow (11/26). PLEASE PRAY!!!!

Frustrations

I was at a meeting last night at our parish for Justice and Human Concerns. Each time we meet one person brings in articles on a topic from one of the Seven Catholic Social Teachings. It was my turn last night and I chose to discuss the Life and Dignity of the Human Person. I presented several articles and also included a message from Francis Cardinal George (see below) when he addressed the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops this week.

I assumed that at a meeting in a Catholic church, I would be among people who agree with me and the church. However, I sat in a room with four other Catholics, three of whom questioned me. They all agreed that the death penalty, euthanasia, and other killing is wrong, BUT three out of four felt it wasn't right to take away a woman's right to choose! One woman said something like this, "How can I say you can't have an abortion, when I'm not willing to adopt your baby?" As a woman who has been trying to conceive another baby for OVER TWO years unsuccessfully, I about flipped. As a PRO-LIFE Catholic, I almost cried. My response was "If a man killed another man after a fight could we justify that simply because we weren't able to help them resolve it?" She said, "Well no. But, he is alrady 'alive' so that is different."

Then, someone else started debating when life begins. Now, my brother and sister-in-law just went through a miscarriage a few weeks ago. Imagine telling them that the baby wasn't alive because he/she wasn't born yet?!?! Having experienced pregnancy I can tell you that there is most definitely a life and soul within you! It went onto stem-cell research, frozen embryos, etc. and all got to be so disheartening.

After a while, I just began to pray and stop listening to their "justifications" for killing babies. I try very hard not to judge people because I believe that God is the ulitmate judge. BUT, I do judge their actions and beliefs and these are things I cannot condone!

My prayer today is specifically for Catholics....that the church and pro-life supporters may uncover the blinders which have covered so many people's eyes.

Cardinal: Obama's Presidency Heals Racism, Now Time to End Abortion

By Tim Waggoner

BALTIMORE, November 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – During today's address at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) 2008 Fall General Assembly, Francis Cardinal George received a standing ovation from America's bishops for candidly contrasting the significance of a black president in the US with President-elect Barack Obama's radical support of abortion.

Cardinal George expressed his deep satisfaction with the American people's capacity to vote for a black president in light of a history marred by racism and slavery.

"We can also be truly grateful that our country's social conscience has advanced to the point that Barrack Obama was not asked to renounce his racial heritage in order to be president," said Cardinal George. "We are, perhaps, at a moment when, with the grace of God, all races are safely within the American consensus."

"If the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision that African Americans were other people's property and somehow less than persons were still settled constitutional law, Mr. Obama would not be president of the United States," he continued.

The President of the USCCB then reflected on the fact that even if a nation affirms certain rights, by failing to uphold the fundamental right of all human rights – the right to life - it fails to uphold the common good.

"In working for the common good of our society, racial justice is one pillar of our social doctrine. Economic justice, especially for the poor both here and abroad, is another.

"The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice. Today, as was the case a hundred and fifty years ago, common ground cannot be found by destroying the common good," said Cardinal George, to applause from the bishops.

This is not the first time Cardinal George has challenged Obama on his pro-abortion position. In his public official congratulation to the President, Cardinal George said, "Our country is confronting many uncertainties. We pray that you will use the powers of your office to meet them with a special concern to defend the most vulnerable among us and heal the divisions in our country and our world. We stand ready to work with you in defense and support of the life and dignity of every human person."

Pro-life groups have for years used the comparison of abortion to slavery as a pro-life tool. Roe vs. Wade and the Dred Scott decision, which legalized slavery in the US, both justified the removal of the right to life from a particular class of human beings by labeling them both as non-persons.

However, while Obama's election to the presidency is being hailed as a huge step forward in stamping out any remaining racist tendencies in the US, some commentators have observed that, ironically, the African American population may have great reasons to worry under an Obama presidency.

Currently the greatest killer of the US black population is abortion, with over one third, or 13 million blacks in America having been aborted. Obama's radical position on abortion, including his promises to increase federal funding for abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, which routinely target black neighborhoods for their abortion centers, is likely to increase the number of black unborn babies being murdered in utero during Obama's tenure as president.

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/11/10/frj_1110/

Life is sacred until NATURAL DEATH!

My first few posts have focused on the lives of the unborn. However, they are not the only lives I want to protect. I hope and pray that people learn to value EVERY life from conception to natural death!

You probably remember the story of Terri Shiavo. While her parents, family, and friends, as well as MANY strangers fought to keep her alive, her husband and the courts declared that her life was not viable. Below is an essay written by Msgr. James C. Brunner. It is long, but worth reading; very moving.

Please keep all of the people who are in risk of euthanasia in your prayers today.

Terri's slow-motion torture death
An essay by Msgr. James C. Brunner:

As this is written, the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo has been removed by order of Judge George Greer and, unless a federal court intervenes, she will die a painful death by starvation in a period ranging from four to 20 days. In all the discussion of this case it seems to me that its essential morality has been overlooked. The argument seems to rage about who has the final authority in sentencing her to death. Which legislature or court, state or federal? The husband or the family? This misses the central point: Should any political entity or any individual have the right to sentence a person in a "persistent vegetative state" to death?

We need to be clear. Removing the feeding tube from Terri is not "allowing nature to take its course" or "allowing her to die." If a man locks his daughter in a closet for two weeks and gives her no food or drink, he is causing her death. Nobody would speak of letting nature take it course but about homicide. We have here a court-ordered homicide. No governmental agency or private individual should have authority to impose a sentence of this sort on an innocent human being.
ANH, or assisted nutrition and hydration, means only the giving of food and water to persons who get hungry and thirsty. Pope John Paul II teaches that even when provided by artificial means, it remains a natural method of preserving life and not a medical act. No one thinks that spooning food into an infant's mouth when he is incapable of feeding himself is an unnatural or medical act.

Even convicted criminals and terrorists who have tried to kill us are entitled to three meals a day. On what grounds do we deny food to Terri? Judge George Greer must have graduated from the Dr. Kevorkian school of law. If he wanted to impose a death sentence why did he not just have the tube capped instead of imposing on her the additional pain of having the tube removed?
Terri is supposed to be in a "persistent vegetative state." That description has an unfortunate, dehumanizing aspect. A vegetable is something that we eat. Ironically, it derives from the Latin vegetare , which means to enliven, activate, animate or quicken. Terri is not brain-dead or comatose. She is a human who cannot function at full capacity. Humanity is something that we are, not something that we do. We are human beings, not human "doings." Dehumanizing the handicapped not only lessens them but us.

Michael Schiavo, Terri's estranged husband, reported (five years after she became handicapped) that Terri once remarked that she did not want to live on life support. If the report is accurate, does it also mean that she wished to undergo an agonizing death by starvation? Does the so-called right to die include the right to be tortured? There seems to be little difference between starving her and giving her strychnine except that the latter would be faster and perhaps less painful. Either set of circumstances would be a homicide.

How did we come to a point that we are arguing about denying food to a human being, about a culture of death rather than a culture of life? A review of developments in Nazi Germany might be enlightening. The Nazi atrocities were based on a philosophy that made the "quality of life" more important than the "sanctity of life."

The Nazis slipped into the holocaust by seven recognizable steps. 1) There was an acceptance of mercy killing to put people out of their misery. 2) When Germany suffered a severe economic crunch efforts were made to remove "useless" expenses from the budget. That led to the killing of the chronically ill with no hope of recovery (Terri Schiavo?). 3) Next came killing of the elderly who were without relatives and resources but were a burden to the state. 4) This was followed by the elimination of bums, beggars, gypsies and hopelessly poor people. 5) Then came the economy of eliminating people who were drawing welfare. 6) It was then the turn of the ideologically unwanted, political enemies of the state, "religious extremists," "disloyal" individuals who were holding the government back from providing every citizen a better quality of life. 7) Finally there came those who in the ideology of the Nazis were evolutionally unfit such as Jew and those who were not pure Aryans. Once the first step, acceptance of euthanasia was taken, all other steps followed logically.

Could a holocaust happen here? Yes. A philosophy like that of Peter Singer that would permit the killing of infants under certain circumstances could serve as its intellectual underpinning. Indeed, one may say it has already begun with the killing of 40 million unborn infants by "legal" abortion. Abortion, euthanasia, cloning and embryonic stem-cell research represent a belief that certain humans should control the making and taking of human life. This is not unlike the Third Reich. Things that were once condemned as a crime against humanity at Nuremberg are now regarded as acts of compassion.

Terri's death sentence has many implications. Women's and civil-rights groups are notably absent from defending Terri. Also missing are leftists who seem to believe in government by the judiciary since their positions do not gain approval in legislatures. They would like Judge Greer to be upheld because, as Cardinal Renato Martino remarked on Vatican radio: "If Mr. Schiavo succeeds legally in causing the death of his wife, this not only would be tragic in itself, but would be a great step toward the legal approval of euthanasia in the United States."

Liberals rightfully are opposed to torture – except for Terri. They give the "right to die" priority over the right to live. Some liberals complain that intervention by Congress is a violation of states' rights, but they had no such concern for authority of states in court decisions overturning sodomy laws and gay marriage bans.

Do we want the government to allow people to be starved to death? We are not speaking here of extraordinary means of life support, but human feeding. Are we now going to kill Alzheimer's patients who have lost all capacity for memory and are unable to function without guidance? What about Parkinson's patients? If sentencing the handicapped to death continues, people are going to die under the guise of compassion and understanding when the decision will not really be about them at all but about the convenience of others. We will be making life-and-death decisions based on how much trouble it will be for us to let them live.

There are millions in nursing homes who cannot wash and feed themselves. In that sense they are very much like Terri. Her lot may soon be theirs. Roe v. Wade allowed killing human beings in the womb. Now, beginning with Terri, human beings outside the womb can be destroyed. Now judges decide who gets food and water.

Dr. Kevorkian was jailed for helping to dispatch people who wanted to die. How is Terri's case any different?

You Are Not Alone

The following quote has provided inspiration for many in the pro-life cause:

"When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God -- and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world -- and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, 'Spare him, because he loved us!'"

The Late Congressman Henry Hyde

Who is the chorus that Hyde speaks of? Each aborted soul!

So, I have never been to the NARAL Pro-Choice America site before, but tonight I took a peek to see where they're coming from so I know the army we're facing before we go into battle. Below is an excerpt they have about the Freedom of Choice Act:

"Following the Supreme Court's closely divided and bitter decision upholding the Federal Abortion Ban, it is clear that the right to choose is facing a new level of assault. That's why the pro-choice community is working to guarantee the right to choose through the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) – a measure that will codify Roe v. Wade and guarantee the right to choose for future generations of women. " www.prochoiceamerica.org

All I have to say is that if they think the right to choose is facing a new level of assault now, they haven't seen ANYTHING yet!

God bless every unborn soul!