Choose life - and vote life!

We're not Catholic but I thought this video from CatholicVote.com was outstanding. Please see also the quotes on abortion below attributed to Mother Teresa.



"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters.

And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

(Mother Theresa -- "Notable and Quotable," Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94, p. A14)

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion."

"Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!"

"What is taking place in America is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."

"Any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants."

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

Gay Marriage Comes to Connecticut

It has happened. The Supreme Court of Connecticut has issued its long-awaited decision in the Kerrigan case, and has effectively legalized homosexual marriage by judicial decree.

I haven't read the decision yet, but you can download a copy here (large PDF file).

As a recovering lawyer I will give you my analysis at some point FWIW.

There are several dissenting opinions:

• Justices Borden and Vertefeuille (who always did right by me when I appeared in front of her)
  

• Justice Vertefeuille separately
  

• Justice Zarella.

Kudos to Justice Zarella, who bravely stated:

The ancient definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman has its basis in biology, not bigotry. If the state no longer has an interest in the regulation of procreation, then that is a decision for the legislature or the people of the state and not this court. Therefore, I conclude that the equal protection provisions of the state constitution are not triggered. I further conclude that there is no fundamental right to same sex marriage. Accordingly, I dissent.

Columnists starting to sound like preachers...

And, who can blame them?

Ultimately, however, we must address the deeper roots of this financial crisis. There is a moral crisis that infects every aspect of our society. Since the 1960s, American popular culture has waged a relentless war against ethical absolutes and Judeo-Christian morality. This has been replaced with a shallow secular humanism, which champions materialism, consumerism and individual gratification. In short, our culture has done everything to destroy what used to be called "character." What happened to individual restraint, thrift and personal responsibility? These are the virtues that built the most impressive capitalist economy the world has ever created.

We are now facing more than just a financial mess; almost every other major institution is under threat. The political system is adrift; public schools are failing; the borders are porous; the intelligence agencies are dysfunctional; the inner cities are infested with drugs and gangs; the family is broken; and millions are fleeing their churches.

And they say I'm dour sometimes! More here from Jeffery Kuhner at the Washington Times.

What happens when same-sex marriage is permitted?

Think it can't affect you or affect many different spheres in society? Think again! Watch this video which is being used to rally people to the pro-family cause in California. You will be alarmed at what happened in Massachusetts when same-sex "marriage" was legalized there. As we await the Connecticut's Supreme Court decision in the Kerrigan case, please keep praying earnestly for our State.

Be sure to use the video menu to email it to others who care about our State and our children.

Change is good. Sometimes.

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, author of Love and Economics:It Takes a Family to Raise a Village, will not buy into the hoopla concerning same-sex marriages:

Advocates of same-sex “marriage” insist that theirs is a modest reform: a mere expansion of marriage to include people currently excluded. But the price of same-sex “marriage” is a reduction in tolerance for everyone else, and an expansion of the power of the state.

Read the rest here.

State Supreme Court allows limits on adult businesses

Some good news on the family front where the Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld the right of the Town of Berlin to regulate so-called adult businesses.

The high court's unanimous ruling comes a month after hearing arguments from attorneys representing the town and VIP, an adult novelty store. The dispute is over the legality of a Berlin ordinance regulating the location of sexually oriented businesses.

At least five other municipalities around the state enacted similar laws, said Berlin lawyer Erika Amarante.

"I'm obviously pleased," Amarante said. "I'm sure those municipalities are happy as well."

Berlin officials contend the ordinance is a way to control the adult businesses that have popped up in recent years. The ordinance bars adult-themed businesses from being within 250 feet of a residentially zoned area.

Give thanks for this good news and let's pray for sanity to make more inroads. More here from the Connecticut Post.

The list of America's 10 favorite books - and what it means

Let me alleviate the fears of Christians everywhere. The Bible is still ranked as America's Number 1 book. But now that we got that out of the way, what are the Top Ten, and what does this list say about our nation?

According to a Harris Poll, here they are:

1. The Bible
2. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
3. Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
5. The Stand, by Stephen King
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
7. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
8. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown
9. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
10. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

My observations:

1. My first observation is that traditional religious belief remains high. Of course, this could be too simplistic by far - perhaps people feel the need to put forward the Bible as their first choice. This is a classic problem in polling: is a certain response what the man really thinks, what he wants you to think, or what he is supposed to think?

2. Americans are increasingly cut off from their past. With the exception of the Bible, of course, no book on the list was written before 1936. This is dangerous in the life of any people - to be so cut off from their past and so to be lacking in any understanding of themselves.

3. What kind of literature is this?

• Nine out of ten books are fiction.
• Two and maybe three are "coming of age" stories.
  
• Most are fiction of a particular kind: fiction that explores a quest for meaning, often through struggle.
• Many could be viewed as protests against (or escapes from) the historic Christian order and the traditional roles expected of people in Western society.
• Several are deliberately aimed at undermining or assume the irrelevance of Christian character. Among those aged 18-31, the Harry Potter series was the most popular work.

I'm not sure this list bodes well for our future. If books 2 through 10 are today's Secular Canon we will never have a confident society but one which will exhaust itself by seeking to reinvent itself with little reference to what has inspired our culture for 3500 years. And to cut ourselves off from what has ennobled our society seems truly foolish.

We still like reading about Atticus Finch, but I'm not sure our secular culture is capable of producing too many like him any more.

Demographic Winter: coming soon to a country near you

Trailer for the DVD Demographic Winter

What is "demographic winter?" If you haven't heard this buzzword yet you will shortly. It refers to the belief that we are about to experience the opposite of a "population bomb." Abortion, failure to reproduce, denigration of traditional families and other factors are working to depopulate developed societies around the globe. In the short run, this will have the noticeable effect of Islamicizing regions such as Western Europe, a trend most ably discussed by political writer Mark Steyn in his bestseller America Alone. In the long term, even nations such as China will be affected by a failure to, well, breed at the "replacement rate" of 2.1 children per woman.

Worldwide, birthrates have been halved in the past 50 years. There are now 59 nations, with 44% of the world’s population, with below-replacement fertility

Sometime in this century, the world’s population will begin to decline. At a certain point, the decline will become rapid. We may even reach population free-fall in our lifetimes.

For some countries, population decline is already a reality. Russia is losing three-quarters-of-a-million people a year. Its population (currently 145 million) is expected to fall by one-third by 2050....

Of the 10 countries with the lowest birthrates, 9 are in Europe. Overall, the European fertility rate is 1.3, well below replacement level (2.1). No European nation has a replacement-level birthrate.

Italy’s fertility rate is 1.2. Spain’s is 1.1. That means in the not-too-distant future, absent massive immigration, these countries will lose half of their people in every generation.

Russia’s birthrate fell from 2.4 in 1990 to 1.17 today – a decline of more than 50% in less than 20 years. Each year, there are more abortions than live births in the Russian Federation.

These aren't even the scariest parts of the Demographic Winter movie website. Check it out here.

Christian divorce rates confirmed to be as high as anyone else's

From The Christian Post comes more disturbing evidence of the disintegration of society:

After months of revived debate over divorce and its increasing acceptance among Americans, a new study affirmed born again Christians are just as likely as the average American couple to divorce.

The Barna Group found in its latest study that born again Christians who are not evangelical were indistinguishable from the national average on the matter of divorce with 33 percent having married and divorced at least once. Among all born again Christians, which includes evangelicals, the divorce figure is 32 percent, which is statistically identical to the 33 percent figure among non-born again adults, the research group noted.

"There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage," George Barna, who directed the study, stated in the study, which was released Monday.

More here.

What does Connecticut believe?

Apparently we're not in Kansas any more:

It's not that people in the state aren't religious - 62 percent said religion was an "extremely important" or "very important" part of their lives.

But even the state's most devout residents draw a clear line between religion and politics: 51 percent of those who said religion was "extremely important" to them said religious leaders should stay clear of politics.

"One of the things that make Connecticut distinct is that even the most religious residents believe that religious leaders shouldn't get involved in politics," said Monika McDermott, research director of the center and an assistant professor of political science at UConn....

The survey provides further evidence of just how different Connecticut's political culture is from that of the bulk of the nation. A Newsweek poll of 1,004 Americans conducted in March found that only 32 percent of the respondents said religion has too much influence on public policy - and 31 percent believe it has too little influence. Only 17 percent of Connecticut respondents said religion has too little sway.

The results don't surprise David A. Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary. Though evangelical Christians are the dominant voice of religion in American politics these days, their views are sharply out of step in a socially liberal state such as Connecticut, he said.

"Here in the Northeast, we're blue states," he said. "The perception of religion in politics is that it's this conservative, reactionary evangelical Christian movement. ... That's not our religion."

I hadn't noticed! See more here at The Courant.

What do teenagers really want?

As we head back to school many are touting as good news the results of a recent MTV/AP poll showing what teens really think and want:

Religion and spirituality are an integral part of happiness for most American young people. 44 percent say that religion and spirituality are either a very important or the single most important thing in their lives, with more than one in ten reporting the latter. And those for whom religion and spirituality play a bigger role in life tend to be happier. 80 percent of those who say spirituality is the most important thing in life say they are happy with life in general, compared with 60 percent of those who say that spirituality is not an important part of life at all.

This is comforting, and Christian groups should take heed:

Bob Waliszewski, director of Focus on the Family's Plugged In magazine and Web site, said teens want sustenance for their souls.

“It’s no surprise to find out that kids are searching. Many of them consider themselves ‘spiritual’ – I say that in quotation marks. It doesn’t say that they are Christians or evangelicals. But they are wired by God to seek after a Creator.

“I think one of the things that this study could help lead to is more openness, especially on campus, for student-led groups exploring Christianity.”

Read more here from Citizen Link.

More on Trinity Episcopal Church in Bristol

Thanks to the sharp-eyed anonymous reader who alerted us to the fact that the Episcopal Diocese lawsuit against Rev. Helmandollar and church vestry members was mentioned today in the Bristol Press. (Link unavailable.) Other folks are now picking it up as well:

Hartford Courant (an AP story which was also picked up by Channel 3 and some newspapers)

Channel 8

Channel 30

I'm sure we'll be hearing about this one for months to come. I'll be interested to see just how deeply the Connecticut courts want to enmesh themselves in matters of church governance. Oddly, there are actually sections of our State statutes (see Sect. 33-266) dealing with the polity of the Episcopal Church:

The manner of conducting the parish, the qualifications for membership of the parish and the manner of acquiring and terminating such membership, the number of the officers of the parish, their powers and duties and the manner of their appointment, the time of holding the annual meeting of the parish and the manner of notification thereof and the manner of calling special meetings of the parish shall be such as are provided and prescribed by the constitution, canons and regulations of said Protestant Episcopal Church in this state.

Here's my short list of questions:

• Will the State follow this statute, and is it even constitutional for Connecticut to have legislated in this manner?
• What if the Episcopal Church has severed itself from the Anglican Fellowship worldwide?
• What if Bishop Smith has acted improperly in taking this step?
• In other words, should a Connecticut Superior Court judge be deciding this or should the Episcopal or Anglican bishops?

The best social program we ever had was the DAD

In the office of the DAD they had phones like this one

The DAD.

That's not an acronym. It's Dad. Your Pop. The Old Man. He was the best social program we ever had, back in the day when we had them - and only one, mind you, not two.

In an article entitled Urban Pathology And Distance, Don Pesci nails it:

If the root cause of urban pathologies is to be found, as some analysts have suggested, in partial family structures – single parent households abandoned by fathers, or those in which fathers never were present – then a solution to the pathologies must include a restoration of more adequate social structures.

What is the possibility that architects of social policy, including politicians and legislators, will in the future dedicate themselves to writing laws and policies that encourage the formation of traditional family structures, remembering that such legislation must include sanctions that discourage less successful forms?

To ask the question is to answer it. There are many powerful political interests arrayed against such a restoration, and politicians are not celebrated for an excess of courage in opposing powerful and politically well connected interests. Children in the cities are the victims of such timidity, not to say cowardice; and however much money is thrown their way, they will continue to be victimized by a system of sanctions and rewards that is blissfully unconcerned with families and convinced – despite clear evidence to the contrary – that it is possible for a village to raise a child in the absence of honorable, loving and working fathers.

Bingo. Read the whole thing here.

Photo by Bill Gantz. Some rights reserved.

Young people are leaving churches in droves. What's the answer?

Spiritual damage is harder to see than weather damage

What is the answer to the American church's inability to retain young people? LifeWay research points us the pressing problem:

Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30 — both evangelical and mainline — who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23, according to the survey by LifeWay Research. And 34% of those said they had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30. That means about one in four Protestant young people have left the church.

"This is sobering news that the church needs to change the way it does ministry," says Ed Stetzer, director of Nashville-based LifeWay Research, which is affiliated with the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"It seems the teen years are like a free trial on a product. By 18, when it's their choice whether to buy in to church life, many don't feel engaged and welcome," says associate director Scott McConnell.

The statistics are based on a survey of 1,023 Protestants ages 18 to 30 who said they had attended church at least twice a month for at least one year during high school. LifeWay did the survey in April and May. Margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Any clues as to what will hold them and, more importantly, help them continue to grow into solid disciples?

The survey found that those who stayed with or returned to church grew up with both parents committed to the church, pastors whose sermons were relevant and engaging, and church members who invested in their spiritual development.

"Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza. There's no life transformation taking place," Stetzer says. "People are looking for a faith that can change them and to be a part of changing the world."

Read the rest here from USA Today.

What can churches do?

Photo by "cottergarage." Some rights reserved.

New Haven launches illegal immigrant ID card program

Has the Mayor put the welcome mat out?

You can find this story everywhere in the Connecticut media, but it's interesting to see the view from abroad, in this case the BBC no less:

A city in Connecticut has become the first in the United States to issue identity cards to illegal immigrants.

New Haven - best known as the home of Yale University - is offering the cards to all its residents, including to some 12,000 undocumented immigrants.

City leaders say the plan will enable immigrants to open bank accounts and make them less vulnerable to crime....

But opponents said the move would encourage illegal immigration.

Bill Farrel, of Southern Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Reform, said: "It's going to be a welcome mat for illegal aliens to come to the region, flood the labour market and dry up working-class and middle-class jobs."

BBC Americas editor Will Grant says the controversial move stands in stark contrast to the approach towards illegal immigrants adopted in other parts of the US.

New laws and proposals in more than 90 cities or counties across the country include prohibiting landlords from renting to illegal immigrants and penalising firms that employ them....

Are there really 12,000 undocumented immigrants in New Haven, a city which ostensibly has a population of only 124,000?

It's this kind of cold, hard number that bothers people, something which IMHO the political leaders of both parties don't understand. In my experience of half a lifetime, most people bear no ill will towards immigrants - especially in Connecticut, where so many of us have immigrant roots through grandparents who arrived between 1890 and 1930. But many people who are not xenophobic or racist feel that society is being completely made over without anyone even asking them for their opinion. Lawmakers castigate the people for being concerned about the lack of security, increase in crime and education costs and so on and so on.

And we may wonder why it is in Connecticut that a city feels compelled to thumb its nose at the Federal government and create a potential magnet for lawlessness.

Will lawlessness breeds lawlessness? Witness New York City's possible issuance of New Haven-style IDs.

Photo by Vanessa Hamtaro, some rights reserved CC2.0.

The Contradictions of Connecticut - The Pocket State

For cities its size, Stamford is a very safe place. How safe? Safe enough to be the 9th safest city in the country. And, what's more:

Stamford was the second safest among 26 cities in the Northeast with populations of at least 100,000, trailing only the town of Amherst, N.Y. Bridgeport ranked 25th and Hartford ranked 26th among Northeast cities in that category.

But all is not rosy even in Stamford:

Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy said he was pleased with the ranking but said the police department faces a new challenge in keeping Stamford among the elite during a budget crisis.

"How do you continue to do that in light of the resources?" Malloy said. "We're all scratching our heads over that question."

The department has cut overtime spending, taken officers out of the detective bureau and reduced the number of on-duty patrol officers to cope with budget cuts slated for 2007-08.

The city's violent crime rate has climbed five years in a row, including double-digit percentage increases in 2005 and 2006, city records show.

Police responded to 393 violent crimes last year, up from 353 in 2005 and 305 in 2004 - a 29 percent increase over two years.

The increase outpaced the nationwide jump in violent crime over the last two years. Violent crime in the United States increased by 2.3 percent in 2005 and 1.3 percent last year after declining consistently for nearly a decade.

Experts have blamed the trend on declining federal aid to police departments and rising youth violence.

Well, there are problems - and then there are problems. Would Mayor Malloy swap his problems for Hartford's? Or Bridgeport's?

Stamford was the second safest among 26 cities in the Northeast with populations of at least 100,000, trailing only the town of Amherst, N.Y. Bridgeport ranked 25th and Hartford ranked 26th among Northeast cities in that category.

In case you're wondering, New Haven typically doesn't report numbers to the FBI. They are perhaps too busy at the moment subverting Federal law by legitimizing illegal immigration. Whatever your views on that, what does this teach the next generation about lawlessness? I frankly find it disturbing. And, to even ask the question about how many crimes are being committed by illegal immigrants is to invite accusations of racism and xenophobia.

More to the point, what does it say about us as a people that Connecticut is the Pocket State - a pocket of money here, a pocket of poverty there, a pocket of safety here, and pocket of real danger there? How long can this be a viable model?

I could have linked to stories about the crime in Hartford (four killings in one weekend) but I don't know which one to pick.

Massachusetts will uphold gay marriage for now

Massachusetts legislators narrowly defeated today a measure which would have allowed voters to vote directly on the question of same-sex marriage. Fifty votes were needed but only 45 voted in favor of the measure. Read an AP story here.

This is obviously a deeply disappointing day for pro-family advocates in Massachusetts. Please continue to pray for this situation.

Pray urgently for Massachusetts

Massachusetts State House in Boston

Please pray for our neighbor to the north as Massachusetts faces a Constitutional Convention. New England Concerts of Prayer states:

Once again, thank you for your powerful prayer support for the Massachusetts Marriage Amendment. The amendment must now pass a second vote by the Legislature in the Constitutional Convention which is scheduled for 1:00 pm, Thursday, June 14. In order for the Amendment to appear on the Massachusetts ballot in November of 2008, it must receive 50 votes and we currently have 57 legislators who are on record to vote for the amendment.

The new Senate President, Therese Murray, who presides over the Convention, has publicly stated that she will ask for a vote on June 14 though she herself will vote against it. Powerful forces, including the governor, attorney general, and house speaker are now pressuring the state legislators to vote against it. Newspaper reports cite that Governor Patrick will offer high paying patronage jobs to legislators to change their votes. Even U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and DNC Chairman Howard Dean have been calling our legislators twisting arms for the gay lobby. On top of all this, our opponents, MassEquality, have launched a $750,000 media campaign leading up to June 14 designed to change the votes of our legislators.

Click here to watch an important Prayer Alert video from PrayTV (Windows Media file).

Waterbury's kids in trouble

And in Waterbury, they're thinking of holding back some 2,000 schoolkids for truancy. That's not a typo... 2,000 schoolkids. I can't imagine the chaos this will create:

School officials are making no apologies saying that there were warnings and notifications of the new policy. Now schools will have to make room for those that are repeating grades.

"A lot of them are at the high school level and they will be repeating because they are getting incompletes so it will be difficult for us, but we have to do what we have to do," said Chairman of the Board of Education Patrick Hayes.

Channel 30 shows us an even tougher side of Mr. Hayes:

"These kids shouldn't be advancing -- end of discussion, unless I hear otherwise," Board of Education President Patrick J. Hayes Jr. said Monday. "It would make a mockery of the whole system."

Some 2,025 students have missed 18 or more school days -- 10 percent of the total school year. Most of those absences in the 18,200-student district were among high school students.

School officials adopted the tougher policy last year after noting the number of excuses at the end of the year. An average of 1,500 students missed school each day last year and officials were concerned too many absences were being waived by principals.

Those are indeed disturbing numbers and we want to continue to pray for Waterbury's kids and educators.

In New Haven, armed patrols... and more murders

When people perceive, rightly or wrongly, that their government cannot or will not defend them from criminals, the people will take such measures as they think expedient to defend themselves. So we were not surprised to see that armed citizen patrols are arising in the Elm City. According to Channel 30:

The group calls themselves the Edgewood Park Defense Patrol and they claim police aren't doing enough to keep them safe.The armed group said they patrol the streets from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. They said the mission was prompted by a vicious attack on a rabbi Sunday night. The group said they all legally bear arms and just want their neighbors to feel safe.

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano issued a statement saying,” I believe that individuals that carry weapons with the intent of enforcing their view of appropriate behavior in the neighborhood is a recipe for disaster.”

Now Channel 8 reports this morning that the Guardian Angels are coming in:

The founder of the Guardian Angels is coming to New Haven Thursday to help patrol the city's Edgewood Park area.

Speaking by phone on Good Morning Connecticut, Sliwa said he's been counseling Rabbi Dov Greer, who started an armed patrol around the park following a weekend mugging.

Sliwa says he will bring in an unarmed, inter-racial patrol.

This news is overshadowed (or should be at any rate) by the murders of two more men yesterday. Read the New Haven Register here for information and background on the tensions in the community.

Please take time today to pray for New Haven, its leaders, and its churches.