My favourite bigot

 A quick post to warm-up the blogging fingers: it's time to start writing again. 

While all has been quiet on this blog there have been some excellent new contenders for the coveted title of Bloggers We Would Most Like To Invite to Dinner. This year's top entry is from Northern Ireland. The Belfast Bigot is a pseudonymous blog by a self-proclaimed bigot who has the measure of secularism as well as a scalding way with words. 

A Christian and pro-lifer, the BB is more rational than the rationalists, brighter than the brights, and considerably funnier than either. See Thou shalt not be biased: the fallacy of secular neutrality to get a flavour. At my fantasy bloggers dinner party Mr Bigot will sit across from Bruvver Eccles, and the wit will carry us through four courses with ease.

Covid restrictions being what they are, I think the party may have to wait some time ... but while menu preparations are underway and the table is being set you might want to pop over to Belfast and see what the Bigot has to say. 

Pope Francis Leads March for Life in Rome. Yes!

Setting a wonderful example for priests and - yes - Bishops (yes!) the Holy Father lead the March for Life today in Rome. Security was a little higher than we have seen recently, which suggests that this was a planned (and strategic) outing rather than a spontaneous gesture. Read the full story here.

I look forward to an increased participation by the Bishops of England and Wales in pro-life initiatives here in the UK. Yes?

 

The old sow that eats her farrow...

News yesterday that abortion megabusiness (no honestly we're a) charity Marie Stopes are opening an abortion clinic in Belfast despite massive local opposition brought to mind Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man where Stephen Dedalus describes Ireland as "the old sow that eats her farrow". Until now Ireland has been (officially at least) an abortion free zone both North and South of the border. It is interesting that pro-life issues are one of the few places that have traditionally seen unity between Catholics and protestants in the northern six counties.

The Belfast Telegraph has a vote as to whether Marie Stopes Ltd International should have been allowed to open the clinic. You can let them know what you think here.

Please pray that this diabolical enterprise is ended.

Yeat's words in The Second Coming seem equally apt:

    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
 

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for the unborn of Ulster.

A testimony to self-sacrifice, unconditional maternal love, and utter trust in God

The story of Chiara Petrillo's selfless love for her unborn child and trust in God which led her to delay treatment for an aggressive cancer in order to protect her unborn baby is one of the most inspiring testimonies to maternal love and abandonment of self to God's will that I've ever read. It is all the more poignant for the fact that this was Chiara's third child: her two previous much loved babies, David and Maria, had both been severely disabled and had each died shortly after birth. In both cases she had been pressured to abort the babies but had refused.

You can read her story here, here and here and there's a lovely montage of her life on YouTube (above - in Italian only, but it's easy to catch the drift).

Chiara's baby Francisco was born on the 30th of May 2011. Chiara lived to see his first birthday, and nurture him through his first year. She died on June 13th  2012, and was buried in Rome on June 21st.

Eternal Rest grant unto her O Lord, and May Perpetual Light shine upon her.

Your vote will be recorded in eternity...

An American family member drew my attention to the excellent "Test of Fire: Election 2012" video by a group called Catholics Called to Witness about this November's presidential elections. Both the Holy Father and Cardinal Dolan are quoted in an attempt to remind American Catholics that their first duty in voting is to God and His law. I liked the following quotations - "Many issues are at stake, but some issues are non-negotiable" "Marriage should be reinforced not redefined" "Your vote will affect the future and be recorded in eternity" and "Will you vote the values that will stand the test of fire?"

This is exactly the sort of thing that we need in the UK right now.

British Muslims launch petition to protest government's redefinition of marriage

Following on from the Coalition for Marriage petition (which at last count had 535731 signatures), the Muslim Council of Britain has launched a campaign to support natural marriage, which has been endorsed by SPUC. The petition launched by "Muslims Defending Marriage" states:

I disagree with the government’s proposed re-defining of marriage. I fully support the long-standing legal definition of marriage as the voluntary union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others.

This is good news as it makes the point - which should be obvious but clearly isn't - that it isn't just Christians who oppose proposals to redefine natural marriage.  I hope this new effort gains many signatures. Please point any Muslim friends in the direction of the website and petition.

This raises another interesting question: the Coalition for Marriage petition has well over half a million signatures, and yet has largely been ignored by the government and mainstream media. I wonder just how many signatures it will take before this latest petition makes the government sit up and pay attention. Just sayin'.

"...how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties..."

"Conception to birth, visualised" is a stunning use of MRI technology to show the development of the human baby. I was interested to note that the video's subtitles say  "baby's first division" at 24h showing the initial cell division, not "embryo" or  "clump of cells" or "blob" or other dehumanising euphemisms that we've become inured to. The video's creator, Alexander Tsiaras, Chief of Scientific Visualization in the department of Medicine at Yale University, seems almost overwhelmed by the miracle of developing human life. It is, he says, beyond any human imagining. 





Indeed. Whilst the video was clearly not made with a pro-life agenda (it's the result of scientists enjoying the fruits of new technology) it's virtually impossible not to take a pro-life message as a given, particularly if you have any understanding of the science. What is clear here is that the miracle of human life is evident from the very first moments after conception; describing the moments before conception Tsiaras  says "these two simple cells ... have this unbelievable machinery that will become the magic of you" then notes that at four weeks "[heart] cells are developing at one million cells per second".


It's rare to hear a high-profile scientist using words like "it's a mystery, it's magic, it's divinity..." and the video would would be worth watching for this alone, but the conception to birth imagery is so breathtakingly  beautiful that it stands alone, needing no explanation. It makes a sobering contrast with recent stories about the new RCOG abortion/feticide guidelines and the tragic story of the Australian 32-week-gestation twins killed in utero (one by "accident" the other deliberately).

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."

“Even at that early stage [moments after fertilization], the complexity of the living cell is so great that it is beyond our comprehension. It is a privilege to be allowed to protect and nurture it,”

- Dr. Hymie Gordon (d. 1995), Chief Medical Geneticist, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. 

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth your eyes saw my unformed body. 

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be

(Psalm 139)

Hurrah for Sir Nicholas Windsor! Queen's cousin stands up for human life

"The world doesn't have a right to abortion" writes Lord Nicholas Windsor, the Queen's cousin and a Catholic convert, in today's Daily Telegraph.


Lord Windsor's writes that his robust defense of the right to life comes on the day that 

an important project is launched today in the House of Lords by parliamentarians and experts, as it was last week in the United Nations General Assembly and around the world.
The aim of this, based on a document called the San José Articles, is to stop the practice we've been talking about from being foisted on to countries that don't want it. The Articles aim to show that there is no "right to abortion" to be found in international law that would oblige such countries to "conform, or else". This is in spite of the UN and other agencies' claims to the contrary.
Human rights lawyers of a certain stamp around the world are taking the same pro-abortion line, manipulating the current provisions of international law. Frankly, officials and politicians in developing countries are being bullied into writing such a right to abortion into their domestic law. This project aims to help them to fight back. 

 This campaign is one to watch and support. And no prizes for guessing who my favourite member of the Royal family is!

"Ignore science, this is about opinions"

That's what representatives of Planned Parenthood told American university students at a debate in Colorado on 20 October 2010. Anyone with a basic understanding of human biology would find it difficult to argue a pro-abortion stance using science, but I've never before heard someone say "just ignore the science. This isn't about science, it's a matter of opinion". Oh, and isn't it a bit scary that the brightest and best that Planned Parenthood could put together for the debate think that a baby's heart starts beating at 24 weeks?! Yes, weeks!

Watch the video with commentary on Lifesite News ; a video of the whole debate, including the impressive pro-life arguments is on the EternityImpact website.

Evidence is one of the things that will win minds and hearts in this debate. But the pro-life movement needs foot soldiers and prayers as well. If you're near London, please consider signing for an hour praying at the 40 Days for Life vigil at Bedford Square. Details and how to sign up are on the 40 Days for Life London website (click on "vigil schedule" link at top of page).

Every life has value

Twitch of the mantilla to Fiorella @ Monstrous Regiment of Women for this utterly inspirational video.

I'd love to know more about this young man's family. After watching this video I couldn't help but think about the baby at the centre of the successful $4.5 million dollar "wrongful birth" lawsuit in Florida. That baby was born with no arms and only one leg; his parents sued as had the ultrasounds been read correctly they would have aborted the baby because of his disabilities.

Given the current moral and ethical climate today,  I wonder whether Nick Vujicic would have been allowed to live, or whether his parents would have had to fight his corner against medical "advice". 

I think this video should be shared widely -- it's a wonderful rebuttal to the "quality of life" arguments put forward for aborting disabled babies. Equally importantly, I think that lack of familiarity with disabled people creates an environment where fear of the unknown panics mothers into aborting children with even minor disabilities. Seeing a person like Nick Vujicic living a happy, fulfilling life goes some way to redress the balance.  Please share this, and show it to your children.

Ban on "street prayer" fuels attack on pro-lifers

Photo Anne Kerjean

A French commentator has claimed that the recent French ban on "street prayer" was a critical factor last Saturday's attack on a peaceful pro-life protest in Paris. More than 200 pro-abortion militants from the Partie de Gauche attacked a small group of pro-life advocates who were protesting peacefully and legally outside a hospital that has recently resumed performing abortions (see the full story here). The pro-lifers, from SOS Tout-petits had to be protected by police who were forced to charge to leftist militants on two occasions in order to protect the group of seven pro-lifers praying the Rosary. The militants mocked the pro-life protesters, shouted blasphemous slogans, insulted the Blessed Virgin Mary and slandered the Catholic Church. They physically and verbally attacked protesters on several occasions; "it was pure hatred" said a witness. 


Eyewitness and photographer Anne Kerjean, writing on Nephtar et Nephtali, points out that the leftists have never before taken the risk of mounting a counter-demonstration until the ban on street prayers came into force. This view is supported by the call to action on the Partie de Gauche website which refers to SOS-Tout-petits as "Catholic fundamentalists" and, with reference to the proposed Rosary protest, declares that "the Partie Gauche reminds you that religion has no right to interfere in our secular republic and denounces the fundamentalists who attack women's rights."   Anne Kerjean writes that within a day of the ban on street prayer legislation, the Partie Gauche "demonstrated their cowardice by physically and verbally attacking a small group of men and women who were, thankfully, well protected by numerous policemen". 


She had intended to join the protest, but lost her way and, arriving late, was bewildered to find a large and belligerently aggressive crowd shouting pro-abortion and anti-Catholic slogans where she had expected to find a small, quiet group praying the rosary. Blending into the crowd she took photos, trying get a record of this unexpected event. As she came through the crowd she spotted a line of police officers in riot gear and realised that behind them were seven pro-lifers, quietly praying the Rosary. they looked frightened, and she exchanged glances and smiles of recognition with them. Unfortunately this gave her away as one of the "enemy" and she found herself physically attacked by leftists demanding that she give them her camera; she reports that she was grabbed, pushed and hit, and had several people trying to take her camera and backpack from her while screaming abuse. The police intervened and put her in the "safe zone" with the pro-life protesters; she was later escorted to safety alone by the police.She has put her photos of the event online, and has subsequently been inundated by abuse and threats from members of the Partie Gauche.


Another witness, Jean Vincent at Lesalonbeige, reports that there was originally a larger group of pro-life protesters but that they were split up by aggressive action by the Partie Gauche, leaving the group of seven "stranded" against the hospital railings - cornered (which is why they needed police protection). This second group were (deliberately) prevented from joining the rest of the pro-life group by the Partie Gauche extremists, but  managed were to pray the rosary unimpeded until the 4th decade when they were pelted with eggs by the pro-abortion group which then attacked them from two sides. The police were confused by the tactic, and the protesters were outnumbered more than 5 to 1. The priest who was leading the Rosary and several others were assaulted, thrown to the ground and beaten.
"It is one thing to disagree" writes Jean Vincent, "but to attack peaceful people, praying the Rosary, with a ratio of five to one is shameful". 


Anne Kerjean notes that the groups that had a "call to action" against the Rosary protest included Alternative libertaire, Les marxistes révolutionnaires, Le parti de gauche, L'Union Syndicale Solidaire, Le front de gauche, and Les anarchistes de Montreuil -- or as she puts it wryly "...feminists, transexuals, homosexuals ... and not there for a Techno-Parade -- they were all there for us!"


We saw extraordinary pictures recently from Madrid of warped protesters verbally attacking children praying in the public arena; last Saturday in Paris it seems that the public recitation of the Rosary was as much a motivator to the pro-abortion rainbow coalition as anything else. I've not commented until now on the French law banning street prayer because I've not been sure how I've felt about it. on one hand I sympathise with those who do not want roads provocatively taken over by Muslims on Friday afternoons: this is the supposed motivation behind the legislation. On the other hand, Christine at Laudem Gloriae makes the apt point that the new law could be just as easily applied to a Eucharistic procession or the Paris-Chartres pilgrimage. I think that it's essential that prayer remains in the public sphere, that prayer doesn't become something invisible, something that only happens behind closed doors between consenting adults. So what can we, the average pewsitter, do about this?  Here are a few ideas: say grace when you're out in public. No, it isn't rude or weird or antisocial. Nobody bats an eyelid when people raise a glass of wine in a toast; how much more important is making the sign of the cross, saying grace, and then making the sign of the cross again?! Over the years our family has grown in boldness with this: we used to only say grace if we were in a semi-public space -- having a picnic for example. Then we started saying it in restaurants, and now we say it everywhere. Nobody has ever taken offense -- if we're in a home where grace isn't said, we'll say "we usually say grace at home before a meal, do you mind if we do the same here?" Nobody has ever minded. My husband and I say grace before our meal when we eat out together; we don't flaunt it, but nor do we hide it. We just say it.  OK, perhaps somebody somewhere will think we're a bit odd, but more importantly it's a witness to our Faith, to Our Lord, and is a small sacrifice to make for all the good things that we've been given. 


I was recently at the Treasures of Heaven exhibition at the British Museum with a small group of families on a tour led by a priest. As there are many relics, including more than one relic of the True Cross, we were reminded that these are objects worthy of veneration, not simply "exhibits". Accordingly the priest led us all in adoration of the relic of the True Cross. It was humbling and powerful to kneel and pray in that secular space. I suspect that some people viewing the exhibition might have been a little taken aback, but I'd be surprised if anyone had been offended. I don't know if I would have had the courage to do that if I'd been at the exhibition on my own, but I felt that kneeling and praying before a relic of the cross on which Our Lord suffered and died provided both a powerful witness whilst buttressing  my faith. 


Public prayer can be awkward whether you're used to it or not. Human beings have a natural fear of ridicule, of looking silly, of contempt by our fellow humans. But here's a thought to bolster your courage: look at the photo at the top of this page. Next time you feel sheepish about saying grace in Starbucks or Pizza Express, just think about the seven frail elderly people praying the Rosary surrounded by a violent and baying mob. A few funny looks isn't much to put up with really, is it?

Neonatologist: fight against abortion reflects end of humankind

A French neonatologist involved in the pro-life movement has commented that  the fight against abortion is “eschatological,”, that is, a reflection of the end of the world, the destruction of mankind. LifeSite News reports Dr. Xavier Dor's comments which followed violent attacks by pro-abortion counter-protesters on a legal and peaceful pro-life protest outside a Paris Hospital which has recently re-started performing abortions. The pro-life protesters had to be defended by the police who were forced to charge the counter-protesters twice in order to prevent them harming the pro-life group. The pro-lifers, a group called, SOS Tout-petits (SOS Tiny-ones), managed to pray a complete Rosary under police protection before being escorted away by the police for their own protection. 


Dr Dor commented that the well organised and violent reaction to his group's protest shows how seriously the power of prayer is taken, even when only a few people gather to pray the Rosary for the victims of abortion - babies and mothers - as well as for those who participate in this evil. Apparently there have been no violent reactions to pro-life demonstrations by SOS Tout-petits in the last 12 years, but Dr Dor fears that things are changing. 


His comments remind me of what Mary Wakefield wrote in the Spectator a couple of weeks ago about the change in social attitudes towards abortion : "that abortion is not just a necessary evil, but a jolly good thing. That being pro-choice no longer means just accepting that a woman has a right to decide, but that abortion must be celebrated and all doubters deemed religious nut jobs". This sort of attitude gives protesters a perverse permission to attack pro-life demonstrations as the pro-lifers are seen as "beyond the pale", expressing socially unacceptable opinions. The debate about abortion is changing - the pro-abortion lobby is finding it harder to make any argument based on logic or science (there aren't any), and has to resort to subjective  "rights" and "choices". This makes the pro-abortion reaction "personal" and emotional. I hope and pray that we do not see scenes like those in Paris here in London. Given the current disproportionate bias against Christian belief in the public sphere, I wonder whether our police would protect the legal pro-life protesters or see them as trouble-makers and ask them to move on?