Hon. Speaker Nancy Pelosi
235 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Speaker Pelosi,
I write you in the spirit of the Easter season, when we Catholics celebrate the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, and commemorate His calling to us to lives of faith, holiness, and good works in His Name.
I write you also as a native son of the United States of America, and a concerned citizen asking that the leaders of this great nation lead her in a way that is edifying and to the benefit of the people now and the years to come.
I am deeply concerned, Speaker Pelosi, about the potential for expansion of abortion law in this nation. In particular, I am most discouraged by the promise of our President Barack Obama to sign the so-titled "Freedom of Choice Act" should it be brought to a vote, and expand abortion rights in this nation as a matter of human civil rights.
My question to you, Speaker Pelosi, is how we can consider it to be a civil right for a woman to murder her child? What about the civil rights of that baby? The biological difference between a 26-week-old fetus and a newborn infant is roughly 14 weeks of development and growth to better prepare for life outside the womb. But in legal terms, the 26-week-old may be murdered and discarded without so much as a certificate and a court order if the mother is under legal age.
Speaker Pelosi, I remind you as a Roman Catholic of your duty to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church, especially on so important a matter as opposing the judicially-approved executions of infants.
May Christ be with you and guide you in this Easter Season.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Best intentions
I hope you all had a blessed Holy Week and especially a blessed and joyful Easter.
Perhaps this, the busiest of weeks for many of us, was a bad time for me to launch this website. Still, I'm glad to have one letter out the door, and I write another tonight.
He is Risen! Alleluia!
Perhaps this, the busiest of weeks for many of us, was a bad time for me to launch this website. Still, I'm glad to have one letter out the door, and I write another tonight.
He is Risen! Alleluia!
Monday, April 6, 2009
4/6/09 Letter #1
Office of Sen. Claire McCaskill
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building, SH-717
Washington, D.C. 20510
5850 A Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63112
Dear Sen. McCaskill,
As a fellow Roman Catholic Missourian, I am pleased to have a Catholic represent my family in the Senate, and I would admonish you to remember the teachings of the faith you profess in dispensing your legislative duties.
To that end, I urge that you support S. 270, the "Pregnant Women Support Act", which would provide important information to women about their pregnancies, help provide access to prenatal care, protect women who are victims of domestic abuse, and provide financial and counseling support for at-risk mothers and children, especially those from low-income groups. This legislation recognizes the dignity of human life and seeks to protect those who are vulnerable.
I also urge that you support S. 96, the "Abortion Non-Discrimination Act of 2009", which would protect health care workers from acting against their consciences, and prevent them from being forced to dispense abortive medications, from being compelled to perform abortive procedures, or otherwise take actions that would endanger human life.
Finally, I urge that you support S. 346, the "Life at Conception Act", which would extend the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to all persons born and pre-born in the United States. This legislation would protect the dignity of human life at all stages from conception through natural death.
I pray that you have the clarity of vision and moral compass to guide you in your work as our legislator.
Regards,
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building, SH-717
Washington, D.C. 20510
5850 A Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63112
Dear Sen. McCaskill,
As a fellow Roman Catholic Missourian, I am pleased to have a Catholic represent my family in the Senate, and I would admonish you to remember the teachings of the faith you profess in dispensing your legislative duties.
To that end, I urge that you support S. 270, the "Pregnant Women Support Act", which would provide important information to women about their pregnancies, help provide access to prenatal care, protect women who are victims of domestic abuse, and provide financial and counseling support for at-risk mothers and children, especially those from low-income groups. This legislation recognizes the dignity of human life and seeks to protect those who are vulnerable.
I also urge that you support S. 96, the "Abortion Non-Discrimination Act of 2009", which would protect health care workers from acting against their consciences, and prevent them from being forced to dispense abortive medications, from being compelled to perform abortive procedures, or otherwise take actions that would endanger human life.
Finally, I urge that you support S. 346, the "Life at Conception Act", which would extend the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to all persons born and pre-born in the United States. This legislation would protect the dignity of human life at all stages from conception through natural death.
I pray that you have the clarity of vision and moral compass to guide you in your work as our legislator.
Regards,
First Project: Week of April 6, 2009
A blessed Holy Week to all who are reading. My prayers are that God will bless each of you richly with a depth of insight and understanding of our Lord, and a clearer discernment to His call in your life.
My project this week is to write by hand five letters opposing FOCA or any expansion of abortion rights in the United States. One letter each to:
- My two state senators
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi
- President Barack Obama
- Vice President Joe Biden
If you have a few minutes, I would ask that you share this project by writing a letter as well. If it helps, I will include the print of each letter on this blog - you can borrow the verbiage wholesale if you feel it helps you to express your beliefs better.
If you do write a letter, please email me to let me know. I will keep a tally running and report it at the end of the week.
Blessings,
J
My project this week is to write by hand five letters opposing FOCA or any expansion of abortion rights in the United States. One letter each to:
- My two state senators
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi
- President Barack Obama
- Vice President Joe Biden
If you have a few minutes, I would ask that you share this project by writing a letter as well. If it helps, I will include the print of each letter on this blog - you can borrow the verbiage wholesale if you feel it helps you to express your beliefs better.
If you do write a letter, please email me to let me know. I will keep a tally running and report it at the end of the week.
Blessings,
J
Introduction
This blog is my pithy and simple attempt to fill a void in my own spiritual life, and maybe share that method with some of you.
I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I believe that I must follow His commands and obey Him. I look to Scripture and the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church for guidance in how to fulfill His commands and let Him work His Grace in me and in my life, and I find myself wanting for a more active role in this world, which I feel as a calling according to the Grace that has been given to me.
I am an American middle-class husband and father, which means I am wealthier than most of the world. Yet my income is limited beyond what I can give for my family, and my time is limited, again needed to provide for my family both materially and spiritually and emotionally. My free hours are few though my desire is strong.
It came to me that I should try to use those spare hours to help make a substantive difference in the world, according to the calling of Christ for those who love Him, and the consistent social teaching of the Catholic Church. I suspect that many of you may find yourselves in similar situation, your desire to share your love tangibly frustrated by a lack of time.
My goal with this Lay Apostolate (and it's not an official Apostolate, although that word seems to be most appropriate) is to encourage all of you to use those spare hours toward a substantive good that builds the Kingdom, even if it is only one brick at a time.
How do I know we are called to do good works in God's Name?
In particular, the words of the prophet Isaiah in Is 58 speak plainly and powerfully to me:
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
This is consistently preached by Jesus in Mt 25:
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' ... 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
and by the Apostles and their successors, the Bishops of the Church, as early as the first century, as evidence in the letter of St. James:
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world"
and in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians:
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
and in the First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy:
"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share."
I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I believe that I must follow His commands and obey Him. I look to Scripture and the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church for guidance in how to fulfill His commands and let Him work His Grace in me and in my life, and I find myself wanting for a more active role in this world, which I feel as a calling according to the Grace that has been given to me.
I am an American middle-class husband and father, which means I am wealthier than most of the world. Yet my income is limited beyond what I can give for my family, and my time is limited, again needed to provide for my family both materially and spiritually and emotionally. My free hours are few though my desire is strong.
It came to me that I should try to use those spare hours to help make a substantive difference in the world, according to the calling of Christ for those who love Him, and the consistent social teaching of the Catholic Church. I suspect that many of you may find yourselves in similar situation, your desire to share your love tangibly frustrated by a lack of time.
My goal with this Lay Apostolate (and it's not an official Apostolate, although that word seems to be most appropriate) is to encourage all of you to use those spare hours toward a substantive good that builds the Kingdom, even if it is only one brick at a time.
How do I know we are called to do good works in God's Name?
In particular, the words of the prophet Isaiah in Is 58 speak plainly and powerfully to me:
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
This is consistently preached by Jesus in Mt 25:
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' ... 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
and by the Apostles and their successors, the Bishops of the Church, as early as the first century, as evidence in the letter of St. James:
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world"
and in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians:
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
and in the First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy:
"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share."
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