Monday, June 15, 2009

Early Christians and Abortion Commentary by David W. T. Brattston

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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Early Christians and Abortion

Commentary by David W. T. Brattston

June 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This article presents the Christian attitude toward abortion before the first ecumenical council, that is, until A.D. 325. Because the New Testament does not comment on the morality of abortion, this article considers the writings of the first generations of Christians after the apostles, for they indicate that opposition to abortion (1) was shared at a time when the writers — or Christians not many generations earlier — personally knew the apostles or their first disciples and thus benefited from their unwritten teachings and interpretations of Scripture, (2) comes from a date so early that there was no likelihood for the original gospel to have been corrupted, and (3) is not based on only one interpretation of the Bible among many but was the interpretation of Christians who were personally familiar with the New Testament writers or their early followers.

With the exception of one author who wrote at length on the subject, early Christian writings do not discuss abortion in depth but merely state in a few words or phrases that it was forbidden to Christians. Most of the authors of the period do not touch on the subject but those who did considered it among the worst of sins.

The earliest source is an anonymous church manual of the late first century called The Didache. It commands “thou shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten.” (at 2.2)

The Epistle of Barnabas contains a similar guide to Christian morality. It was composed sometime between A.D. 70 and 132 and was included in some early versions of the New Testament. In the midst of several chapters of instructions on ethics, it states: “Thou shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born.” (19.5) The latter phrase refers to the ancient Greek and Roman practice of abandoning newborns to die in unpopulated areas if the baby was the “wrong” sex or suspected of health problems. To the author of Barnabas, this practice and abortion were equal in sinfulness.

Dating from just before A.D. 150, the Revelation of Peter was still read in church services in fifth-century Palestine. It describes in detail the various punishments in hell according to different types of sin. The punishment for women who induced miscarriage was to sit up to their necks in blood and dirt while the aborted children shot sparks of fire into their eyes (Chapter 25). Clement of Alexandria, the principal of Christendom's foremost Christian educational institution at the end of the second century, accepted these statements as an accurate exposition of the Faith (Extracts from the Prophets 41; 48; 49).

In Paedagogus 2.10.96 Clement spoke negatively of women who “apply lethal drugs which directly lead to death, destroying all humane feeling simultaneously with the fetus.” Clement and other early Christian writers often quoted from the Sibylline Oracles as the work of a pagan prophet who had predicted the coming Christ like the Jewish ones. Later, the Sibyllines were rewritten to increase the proportion of Christian ethical teaching. Oracle 2 describes abortion as contrary to God's law, while Oracle 3 commands people to raise their children instead of angering God by killing them.

A Plea for the Christians was written around A.D. 177 by “Athenagoras the Athenian, Philosopher and Christian”, partly to convince the Roman Emperor that there was no truth in the rumor that Christians ritually murdered and ate babies. In declaring that such a practice was contrary to Christian ethics, Athenagoras emphasized the sacredness of unborn life:

And when we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very foetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God's care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder. (Chapter 35)

To Athenagoras, abortion was the same as abandoning a newborn and other murder.

The Octavius of Minucius Felix was composed sometime between A.D. 166 and 210, in part to prove that Christians had a higher morality than pagans. In condemning pagan practices, Chapter 30 deplores the fact that “There are some women who, by drinking medical preparations, extinguish the source of the future man in their very bowels, and thus commit [murder] before they bring forth.”

Our next author is Tertullian, a lawyer who became a Christian and a theological writer. He wrote a large number of books on Christianity, three of which mention abortion: Apologeticum (A.D. 197), An Exhortation to Chastity (around A.D. 204) and On the Soul (between A.D. 210 and 213).  The Apologeticum was an introduction to Christianity for inquirers who wished to learn about it. Chapter 9 acquaints readers with the Christian position on abortion:

murder being once for all forbidden, we [Christians] may not destroy even the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. 

On the Soul was the longest work related to abortion in the first three centuries of Christianity. According to Chapter 37, “The embryo therefore becomes a human being in the womb from the moment that its form is completed. The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion, inasmuch as there exists already the rudiment of a human being.”

In An Exhortation to Chastity Tertullian mentioned that there were many difficulties in raising children but he asked: “Are you to dissolve the conception by aid of drugs?” and answers his own question with “I think to us [Christians] it is no more lawful to hurt a child in the process of birth, than one already born.” He recommended that life-long celibacy makes life freer because it relieves a Christian from the burdens of raising children; there is no alternative because, after a child is conceived, it is forbidden to kill it.

In the early decades of the third century, Hippolytus was a bishop in central Italy. Later, his followers purported to elect him bishop of Rome in opposition to another candidate, thus becoming the first “antipope.” For a few years Hippolytus and his rival operated competing church organizations. In his Refutation of All Heresies he made many accusations of lax morality against the opposing side in an attempt to maintain that it had departed from the standard of behavior commanded by the gospel. Among other practices, he charged that in the opposite camp,

women, reputed believers, began to resort to drugs for producing sterility, and to gird themselves round, so to expel what was being conceived on account of their not wishing to have a child either by a slave or by any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family and excessive wealth. (9.7) 

Whatever the truth in these allegations against Hippolytus’ opponents, this passage indicates common disapproval of abortion, sexual promiscuity and placing material considerations above the life of unborn children.

A generation after Tertullian, Cyprian, the bishop of his city, listed abortion among the sins of a Christian who was causing a deep rift in the universal Church (Letter 52.2). By including the reference, he indicated that it was impermissible among Christians.

The Apostolic Church Order or Ecclesiastical Canons of the Apostles were composed around A.D. 300 as a short law-book for Christians, ostensibly by eleven apostles. Its wide popularity is evidenced by the fact that it was translated into several languages. Included in Chapter 6 is a prohibition that Christians shall not kill a child, at birth or afterward.

After Christianity was legalized, congregations in various regions held conferences to regulate the affairs of the Church. One objective was to standardize the practices of excommunication. About time of Constantine’s conversion, or perhaps a few years before, the Council of Elvira in Spain decreed that anyone who committed abortion was to be given the Eucharist only when in danger of death (Canon 63). This was the same penalty as for repeated adultery and child-molesting (Canons 47 and 71). The more lenient Council of Ancyra in Turkey (A.D. 314) enacted a ten-year suspension for women who caused abortion and for makers of drugs that induced miscarriage (Canon 21). The first ecumenical council, held at Nicaea in A.D. 325, did not itself condemn abortion but the third ecumenical council (Chalcedon, A.D. 451) adopted the decrees of Ancyra, including those against abortion.

In short, in the first three centuries after Jesus all Christian authors who mentioned abortion considered it a grave sin. This opposition was not merely local: Christian sources in Spain, Italy, Tunisia, Greece, Egypt, Turkey and Syria recognized abortion as forbidden by God and in the same category as any other murder. The condemnation was universal and unanimous.

(Note: The author retains the copyright to this article. Hence, it may not be reprinted without the permission of the author.)

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Monday, January 22, 2007

10 Myths about Priestly Pedophilia – Crisis Magazine

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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                            "He's In" - Rabbi Jesus - by Kathleen Lalonde Becket Parish 1994

The Ongoing Saga of the Priest Sex-Abuse Scandal

PUBLISHED ON April 19, 2010

In October 2001, crisis Magazine published an article, titled “The High Price of Priestly Pederasty,” by Dan Michalski. Reporting on publicly known cases of sex abuse by priests, Michalski summarized his findings:

https://www.crisismagazine.com/2010/the-ongoing-saga-of-the-priest-sex-abuse-scandal


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10 Myths About Priestly Pedophilia

by Deal Hudson

https://www.catholicity.com/commentary/hudson/00197.html

1.           Catholic priests are more likely to be pedophiles than other groups of men.

This is just plain false.  There’s absolutely no evidence that priests are more likely to abuse children than are other groups of men.  The use and abuse of children as objects for the sexual gratification of adults is epidemic in all classes, professions, religions, and ethnic communities across the globe, as figures on child pornography, incest, and child prostitution make abundantly clear.  Pedophilia (the sexual abuse of a prepubescent child) among priests is extremely rare, affecting only 0.3% of the entire population of clergy.  This figure, cited in the book Pedophiles and Priests by non-Catholic scholar, Philip Jenkins, is from the most comprehensive study to date, which found that only one out of 2,252 priests considered over a thirty-year period was afflicted with pedophilia.  In the recent Boston scandal, only four of the more than eighty priests labelled by the media as "pedophiles" are actually guilty of molesting young children.

Pedophilia is a particular type of compulsive sexual disorder in which an adult (man or woman) abuses prepubescent children.  The vast majority of the clerical sex-abuse scandals now coming to light do not involve pedophilia.  Rather, they involve ephebophilia -- homosexual attraction to adolescent boys.  While the total number of sexual abusers in the priesthood is much higher than those guilty of pedophilia, it still amounts to less than 2 percent -- comparable to the rate among married men (Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests).

In the wake of the current crisis in the Church, other religious denominations and non-religious institutions have admitted to having similar problems with both pedophilia and ephebophilia among the ranks of their clergy.  There’s no evidence that Catholic prelates are more likely to be pedophiles than Protestant ministers, Jewish leaders, physicians, or any other institution in which adults are in a position of authority and power over children.

2.           The celibate state of priests leads to pedophilia.

Celibacy bears no causal relation to any type of deviant sexual addiction including pedophilia.  In fact, married men are just as likely as celibate priests to sexually abuse children (Jenkins, Priests and Pedophilia).  In the general population, the majority of abusers are regressed heterosexual men who sexually abuse girls.  Women are also found to be among those sexual abusers.  While it’s difficult to obtain accurate statistics on childhood sexual abuse, the characteristic patterns of repeat child sex offenders have been well described.  The profiles of child molesters never include normal adults who become erotically attracted to children as a result of abstinence (Fred Berlin, "Compulsive Sexual Behaviors" in Addiction and Compulsion Behaviors [Boston: NCBC, 1998]; Patrick J. Carnes, "Sexual Compulsion: Challenge for Church Leaders" in Addiction and Compulsion; Dale O´Leary, "Homosexuality and Abuse").

3.           Married clergy would make pedophilia and other forms of sexual misconduct go away.

Some people -- including a few vocal dissenting Catholics -- are exploiting this crisis to draw attention to their own agendas.  Some are demanding a married Catholic clergy in response to the scandal, as if marriage would make men stop hurting children.  This flies in the face of the aforementioned statistic that married men are just as likely to abuse children as celibate priests (Jenkins, Pedophilia and Priests). 

Since neither being Catholic nor being celibate predisposes a person to develop pedophilia, a married clergy wouldn’t solve the problem ("Doctors call for pedophilia research," The Hartford Currant, March 23).  One has only to look at similar crises in other denominations and professions to see this.  The plain fact is, healthy heterosexual men have never been known to develop erotic attractions to children as a result of abstinence.

4.           Clerical celibacy was a medieval invention.

Wrong.  In the Western Catholic Church, celibacy became universally practiced in the 4th century, beginning with St. Augustine’s adoption of the monastic discipline for all of his priests.  In addition to the many practical reasons for this discipline -- it was supposed to discourage nepotism – the celibate lifestyle allowed priests to be more independent and available.  This ideal also called diocesan priests to live out the same witness as their brothers in monastic life.  The Church hasn’t changed her directives for celibacy, because over the centuries she has realized the practical and spiritual value of the practice (Pope Paul VI, On the Celibacy of the Priesthood;, Encyclical letter, 1967).  Indeed, even in the Eastern Catholic Church -- which includes a married clergy -- the bishops are chosen only from unmarried priests.

Christ revealed the true value and meaning of celibacy.  Catholic priests from St. Paul to the present have imitated Him in their total gift of self to God and others as celibates. Although Christ raised marriage to the level of a sacrament that reveals the love and life of the Trinity, He was also a living witness to the life of the world to come.  The celibate priesthood is for us a living witness to this life in which the unity and joy of marriage between a man and a woman is surpassed in the perfect, loving communion with God.  Celibacy properly understood and lived frees a person to love and serve others as Christ did.

Over the past forty years, celibacy has been an even more powerful witness to the loving sacrifice of men and women who offer themselves in service of their communities.

5.           Female clergy would help solve the problem.

There’s simply no logical connection between the deviant behavior of a tiny minority of male clergy and the inclusion of women in their ranks.  While it’s true that most statistics on child molestation show that men are more likely to abuse children, the fact is that some women are also child molesters.  In 1994, the National Opinion Research Center showed that the second most common form of child sexual abuse involved women abusing boys.  For every three male abusers, there’s one female abuser.  Statistics on female sex offenders are more difficult to obtain because the crime is more hidden (Interview with Dr. Richard Cross, "A Question of Character,", National Opinion Research Center; cf. Carnes).  Also, their most frequent victims (boys) are less likely to report sexual abuse, especially when the abuser is a woman (O´Leary, "Child Sexual Abuse").

There are reasons why the Church cannot ordain women (as John Paul II has explained numerous times).  But that is beside the point.  The debate about women’s ordination is completely unrelated to the problem of pedophilia and other forms of sexual misconduct.

6.           Homosexuality isn’t connected to pedophilia.

This is plainly false.  Homosexuals are three times as likely to be pedophiles as heterosexual men.  Although exclusive pedophilia (adult attraction to prepubescent children) is an extreme and rare phenomenon, one third of homosexual men are attracted to teenage boys (Jenkins, Priests and Pedophilia).  The seduction of teenage boys by homosexual men is a well-documented phenomenon.  This form of deviant behavior is the most common type of clerical abuse and is directly connected to homosexual behavior.

As Michael Rose shows in his upcoming book, Goodbye! Good Men, there’s an active homosexual sub-culture within the Church.  This is due to several factors.  The Church’s confusion in the wake of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the tumult following the Second Vatican Council, and the greater approval of homosexual behavior in the culture at large created an environment in which active homosexual men were admitted to and tolerated in the priesthood.  The Church also came to rely more on the psychiatric profession for screening candidates and for treating those priests identified as having problems.  In 1973, the American Psychological Association changed its characterization of homosexuality as an objectively disordered orientation and removed it from the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual IV (Nicolosi, J., 1991, Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality, 1991; Diamond, E., et. al., Homosexuality and Hope, unpublished CMA document).  The treatment of deviant sexual behaviors followed suit.

While the Church’s approach to those who struggle with homosexual attractions has been compassionate, she has been consistent in maintaining the view that homosexuality is objectively disordered and that marriage between a man and woman is the proper context for sexual activity.

7.           The Catholic hierarchy has done nothing to address pedophilia.

While we can all agree that the hierarchy hasn’t done enough, this claim is nevertheless false.  When the Church’s Code of Canon Law was revised in 1983, an important passage was added: "The cleric who commits any other offence against the sixth precept of the Decalogue, if the offence was committed with violence or threats, or publicly or with a minor who is under 16 years [now extended to 18 years], must be punished with just punishments, not excluding expulsion from the clerical state" (CIC 1395:2).

But that certainly isn’t the only thing the Church has done.  The bishops, beginning with Pope Paul VI in 1967, issued a warning to the Catholic faithful concerning the negative consequences of the sexual revolution.  The pope’s encyclical letter, "On the Celibacy of the Priests," addressed the question of a celibate priesthood in the face of a culture crying out for

greater sexual "freedom."  The pope affirmed celibacy even as he called on bishops to take responsibility for "fellow priests troubled by difficulties which greatly endanger the divine gift they have."  He advised the bishops to seek appropriate help for these priests, or, in grave cases, to seek a dispensation for priests who could not be helped.  In addition, he urged them to be more prudent in judging the fitness of candidates for the priesthood.

In 1975, the Church issued another document called "Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics" (written by Joseph Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) that explicitly addressed, among other issues, the problem of homosexuality among priests.  Both the 1967 and 1975 documents addressed kinds of sexual deviancy, including pedophilia and ephebophilia, that are especially prevalent among homosexuals.

In 1994, the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse issued guidelines to the nation’s then 191 dioceses to help them develop policies to deal with the problem of sexual abuse of minors. Almost all dioceses responded and developed their own policies (USCCB document: Guidelines for dealing with Child Sexual Abuse, 1993-1994).  By this time, pedophilia was recognized as a disorder that could not be cured, and a problem that was becoming more prevalent due to the increase of pornography.  Before 1994, bishops took their cue from experts in the psychiatric profession who believed pedophilia could be successfully treated. Priests guilty of sexual abuse were sent to one of several treatment facilities across the United States.  Bishops often relied upon the judgments of experts in determining whether priests were fit for ministry.  This doesn’t mitigate the negligence on the part of some in the hierarchy, but it does offer some insight.

In response to the recent scandals, some dioceses are setting up special commissions on child abuse, as well as victims´ advocacy groups; and they are officially acknowledging that any legitimate allegation of abuse must be dealt with immediately.

8.           The Church’s teaching on sexual morality is the real problem, not pedophilia.

The Church’s teaching on sexual morality is rooted in the dignity of the human person and the goodness of human sexuality.  This teaching condemns the sexual abuse of children in all its forms, just as it condemns other reprehensible sexual crimes such as rape, incest, child pornography, and child prostitution.  In other words, if this teaching were lived out, there’d be no pedophilia problem at all.

The notion that this teaching somehow leads to pedophilia is based on a misunderstanding or deliberate misrepresentation of Catholic sexual morality.  The Church recognizes that sexual activity without the love and commitment found uniquely in marriage undermines the dignity of the human person and is ultimately destructive.  As far as celibacy is concerned, centuries of experience have proven that men and women can abstain from sexual activity while living fulfilling, healthy, and meaningful lives.

9.           Catholic journalists have ignored the pedophile problem.

As any reader of CRISIS knows, this claim is patently false.  Our October 2001 cover story featured "The High Price of Priestly Pederasty," an expose on the scandal that wouldn’t erupt into the mainstream press for another three months.  You can read our full article at:

https://www.crisismagazine.com/2010/the-ongoing-saga-of-the-priest-sex-abuse-scandal. 

And we weren’t the only ones who have covered the pedophilia/pederasty problem. Charles Sennot, author of Broken Covenant, Rod Dreher of The National Review, CRISIS co-founder Ralph MacInerny, Maggie Gallagher, Dale O´Leary, the Catholic Medical Association, Michael Novak, Peggy Noonan, Bill Donohue, Dr. Richard Cross, Philip Lawler, Alan Keyes, and Msgr. George Kelly have all covered the issue exhaustively.

Just because the mainstream media have chosen to ignore our work doesn’t mean the work hasn’t been done.

10.      Requiring celibacy limits the number of men as candidates for the priesthood, resulting in a high number of sexually unbalanced priests.

First of all, there isn’t a "high number of sexually unbalanced priests."  Again, the vast majority of priests are normal, healthy, and faithful.  Every day they prove themselves worthy of the trust and confidence of those entrusted to their care.

Secondly, those who do not feel called to a life of celibacy are ipso facto not called to be Catholic priests.  Indeed, most men are not meant to be celibate.  However, some are -- and of those, some are called by God to the priesthood.

A priestly vocation, like a marriage, requires the mutual and free consent of both parties.  Thus, the Church must discern that a candidate is indeed worthy and fit mentally, physically, and spiritually to commit to a life of priestly service.  A candidate’s desire for the priesthood does not constitute a vocation in and of itself.  Spiritual and vocation directors are now even more attuned to the character flaws that would make an otherwise qualified man an unfit candidate.

By DEAL W. HUDSON – Reprinted with permission from Crisis Magazine.

Check out Crisis Magazine and their free email letter offers such as this one:

Here are 12 myths every Catholic should be able to expose. How many can you answer?”


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The High Price of Priestly Pederasty

How much are sex scandals costing the U.S. Catholic church in payouts to victims? Some groups estimate $1 billion.



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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Thursday, March 23, 2006

BAPTISM OF THE UNBORN

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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PLEASE NOTE: From the earliest times in the Church, during and after the apostolic age, because of Roman and other persecutions, many who wished to be baptized died or were killed before their desire could be realized. Church leaders and many others reflected on these situations and prayed about them. In time they understood that the Lord in practice granted the grace of Baptism under three different conditions: (1) the ordinary way was by the laying on of hands, water, the triple invocation of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, followed by the anointing with Sacred Chrism; (2) the extraordinary way was the "Baptism of Blood" by the shedding of one's blood, such as in the case of those who were executed and gave witness as martyrs of Jesus Christ; even though they had not yet had the opportunity of being baptized in the ordinary way; and (3) the provisional way whereby someone who greatly desired to be baptized and had begun to prepare or was about to take steps to prepare, but was interrupted by their sudden death in circumstances other than persecution for the faith. In the case of an infant or child too young to understand or of a person at any age unable to understand or signify their intent; it is sufficient that a parent or caregiver have and express on their behalf an authentic desire for their Baptism. This third way was called "Baptism of Desire". What follows would be understood to come under this third way.

     This text claims to be a private revelation.  To our knowledge at this printing, March 23, 2006, there has been no judgment by a Church authority on its value and whether it is worthy of belief by faithful Catholic Christians.  It has been offered to help you realize the gravity of taking a human life – even an unborn child – and pray for innocents whose lives have been untimely ended with no consideration for their right to life or eternal destiny.  God’s Divine Mercy offers salvation to all innocents at death, and if you have encouraged or helped procure an abortion, offers through repentance and confession reconciliation with God.  You may seek Baptism of the Lord for the little victim or for all little ones recently aborted or miscarried, as an act of love.

     Jesus, Our Lord, referring to the murder of the children in the womb, legally called ABORTION: "I say woe to those who assist in the act of abortion!"

The merciful love of the Holy Trinity for the unborn!

     A soul of expiation, a mother of several children, and who suffers greatly, blessed with many graces by Our Lord, writes:

     I am sitting in the tramcar by the window praying the Rosary. Suddenly, there is a bright light. I am frightened, for Jesus is at my side and says: "Look at the house of murder." 

     I look to the right, and then to the left, and say: "Lord, on the right there is only land. Do you mean the building on the left where an illuminated cross displays the word ‘Clinic for Women'?"

     Jesus replies: "Yes, that is what 1 mean. There are many more of them and still more are being built. Pray for the doctors and for all who assist, especially for the mothers, who kill their children and have their children killed before they are born to live! I shall tell you more tonight!"

     During the night, Our Lord shows me a gruesome picture. I see the earth covered with the bodies of tiny children.

     It is so-horrible that I write into my diary: I see the murder of Bethlehem increased by a thousand million times! I cried when I saw this gruesome picture.

     But Our lord says: "The evil spirit has knocked at all doors. Most doors were opened for him. Woe to those who listen to him. They will sink into the pool of their sins, together with their homes, quite unexpectedly!

     People stand at the graves and cry for the only child that was taken away from them by God, whose property it is. Yet people feel there is no need to weep for those who are murdered gruesomely! Rather, the time is nearing where one believes that one does God and mankind a favour if one murders those little ones. Blessed is each house in which a soul of expiation lives!"

     Then I see countless heads of children in the sky. I say: "My Lord, those are not the heads of angels!"

     Our Lord replies: "Those are they, the little ones, whose life was taken away from them. They will be accusers on the Day of Judgement. Pray for their murderers that they will still receive mercy in Court!"

     I ask again: "My Lord, why did you show and tell me all this? I know that these little ones will never see God."

     Our Lord replies: "You will have to fulfill a great mission. Those little ones can be given the Kingdom of Heaven. Make known what I tell you, also to My priests. You will meet resistance but in time they will bring great joy to those little ones."

 

PRAYER OF BAPTISM

     Our Lord: "Everyone can baptize the children killed in their mothers womb, and those children who died without baptism!

     At first, you will pray the Apostle's Creed. Then you will take the Holy Water and sprinkle it in all directions, saying:

     All of you who were born dead, and are still to be born dead, by day and at night, all of you, who were killed in the womb of your mother, and are still to be killed, so that all of you will be given eternal life by Our Lord, Jesus Christ, I baptize you - (give the child a baptismal name, generally the name of Mary, Joseph, John or the name of a Saint, whose feast happens to fall on the day) -in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

     God permits the baptismal water to wet the head of the child to be baptized, and also decides on a name for each child.

     After sprinkling the Holy Water, - and please understand Me well and comprehend what I want to say: "as often as you baptize them - and you cannot do it often enough - as often will the little souls, to whom you have opened the Kingdom of Heaven, be given to you."

     At the end pray the Lord's prayer and a ‘Hail Mary' and a 'Glory be to the Father.. .'!

     "It is My merciful love, the overflowing love of My Father, and of Our Spirit, who reveal themselves in this time of confusion and error, and urges Us to be a saving and joy-bringing God to the murdered little ones. Always remember Our love! Adorn the Apostle's Creed and the words of Baptism in psalms, and in words of your grateful love for Me! I will help you. Write My wish down once more so that even the very simple souls can help those little ones, and baptize them.”

BAPTISM OF THE UNBORN – SUMMARY

     'But the counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of His Heart for all generations; to deliver their souls from death; and feed them in famine' (Ps. 32.11,19).

1 believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator . . .

     All of you, who were born dead, and are still to be born dead, by day and at night, all of you, who were killed in the womb of your mother, and are still to be killed, so that all of you will be given eternal life by Our Lord, Jesus Christ, I baptize you - (give the name of, for example, Mary, Joseph, or the name of the Saint of the day) - in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

'I have called you by your name, you are Mine!' (Is. 43:11. 

'Sing to the Lord a new canticle, because He has done wonderful things.' (Ps. 97:1). 

'The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever.' (Ps. 88:1).

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

0 love! O greatest love! 0 infinite love of God! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory be to the Father...

     “Once again, I urge you to make known My words! Hurry, so that help will be given to the little ones, whose number increases all the time, and before it is too late for all of you and for them! Time is pressing! Recognize the signs of your time."

     The chosen soul added a further example of her experience and of God's great love for Man and his immortal soul. She writes:

     I myself had a still born child of 6 months. The lady doctor told me at the time that the child would be born too early. I, therefore, baptized it before it died. I did this on the place where its little head was resting in my womb, saying: "Beloved God, you will probably allow this baptismal water to enter through my abdominal wall and let it touch the head of my little child!"

     I received confirmation of this about one year later and after two major operations just as I came out of the anesthetic narcosis. There, at the side of my bed, stood a beautiful little child. I asked: "Who are you, little angel?"

     He replied: "I am your little David! You opened Heaven for me by baptizing me. I prayed for you so that you should become healthy again. I was allowed to appear to you, to bring you joy and to confirm the truth. Good-bye, dear mother!"

DIVINE MERCY CENTRE - 121 FALLS ROAD, BELFAST BT12

Word processed, edited, printed by Fr. Gilles A. Surprenant, Pastor, St. Thomas à Becket Parish, Pierrefonds, QC H9H 4Y7

OTHER LINKS 

The Two Patricks - An Invitation to Love Jesus 


Mary Patron of the Aborted 
- Will you be their voice? 

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

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© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Wednesday, October 5, 2005

ABORTION - A MARCH OF DIMES PRIMER The A-Z of Eugenic Killing By Randy Engel

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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In considering abortion as an option, or else before or after trying to understand what might be consequences of having an abortion, it is good to remember that LOVE UNLEASHES LIFE.

Courtroom genetics testimony of Dr. Jerome Lejeune on the wonder of human conception in the Circuit Court for Blount County State of tennessee at Maryville, Tennessee on August 10th, 1989. 

A MARCH OF DIMES PRIMER The A-Z of Eugenic Killing By Randy Engel

A is for Alpha—The Beginning

On July 22, 1958, the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis/March of Dimes announced it was turning its sites on preventing birth defects. Still reeling from a bad corporate conscience and massive coverup concerning the "effective, safe and potent" Salk Inactivated Poliomyelitis Vaccine, "a vaccine which turned out to be inadequately studied, seriously flawed and prematurely introduced,"' the MOD stated it would become a new conscience for America by extending its purview from poliomyelitis to birth defects.

Basil 0' Connor, President of the NF, and a very powerful national medical figure, became interested in medical genetics through his association with the Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, instructional course initiated by Johns Hopkins University and the Jackson Laboratory. The Bar Harbor grant has continued for more than thirty years—the longest grant in the 50 year history of the foundation.^

By the start of the 1970 ' s, the MOD ' s commitment to Eugenics and all that the commitment implies was evidenced by the plethora of openly proabortion speakers on the MOD circuit, by the addition of known eugenicists to its various National Advisory Committees, by the eugenic writings found in their Original Articles Series,by their energetic funding and promotion of mid-trimester, non-therapeutic prenatal diagnostic research, clinical testing, and by their provision of seed monies to expand eugenic services at university based medical centers throughout the United States' Once the Key Officials of the NF/MOD accepted the fundamental premise of eugenics—that there are certain people who never should be born and that it is a positive act for families and society, to insure that such persons are not born—the fate of the March of Dimes was chiseled in stone. This report is the story of the NF/MOD's journey into the killing fields of eugenics.

B is for Baby Parts

As the battle over the use of fetal tissues and organs of aborted babies heats up in the U.S. and abroad, we should recall that the MOD has funded such practices for more than two decades." In the early 1970's MOD funded John F.S. Crocker, MD of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The $19,000 study to examine environmental factors causing congenital kidney malfunctions involved "60 pairs of embryonic kidneys...obtained from human therapeutic abortions after five to twelve weeks gestation."^ Crocker's earlier animal studies were featured in the MOD'S Birth Defects Reprint Series (PERS—166,2/73).

In 1981-82, a combined MOD grant enabled Dr. Stanley J. Robboy and his colleagues at Massachusetts General to develop a method for testing the teratogenic and carcinogenic effects of drugs (DES) on developing human organ systems. The "researchers" isolated intact the reproductive tracts from human fetal tissue, obtained by D&C abortions of preborn baby girls up to ten weeks and prostaglandin abortions thereafter. The reproductive tracts were then implanted in laboratory mice to test the effects of diethylstilbestrol^

In 1983-84, a similar experiment was carried on the embryonic reproductive tract of the human male by Dr. G. Cunha, Robboy's associate at the University of California (S.F.) School of Medicine. Twelve male reproductive tracts were obtained by D&C abortions from which the gonads were removed and grafted onto mice. Additionally, the reproductive tracts of eight females obtained through D&C abortions were subjected to similar testing.^

C is for Cystic Fibrosis

The funding of Cystic Fibrosis "Search and Destroy" (S & D) operations was given top priority in the 1980's by the MOD. CF is the most prevalent inherited disease among Caucasians in the United States, and the discovery of a prenatal marker for the disease would make possible "a new program of mass genetic screening of vast proportions."^

In 1981-82, the MOD got the CF-S&D ball rolling with a $108,000 research grant to abortionist and MOD National Advisor, Henry L. Nadler, M.D., for "pre-natal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis." In 1983, the MOD, in collaboration with the CF Foundation, awarded a $50,000 grant to pro-abortionist and MOD National Advisor Dr. Michael Kabac to study the family planning patterns of CF families and see "whether parents of affected children would be more likely to plan other pregnancy if a prenatal test [presumably backed by selected abortion of affected children] for CF were available.""

In more recent years, Dr. Hope Punnett of St. Christopher's Hospital for Children ($20,000/4-1-8^—3-31-85) and Dr. Harry Harris of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine ($60,000/87-88-89) have received research grants for expanded prenatal testing of CF.

D is for Deceit

The fact that the National Office of the MOD deceives even their own chapters is demonstrated by the controversy surrounding the pre-natal diagnosis technique of fetoscopy—a form of live fetal experimentation, funded by the MOD. 

On June 3, 1980, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the MOD, in response to prolife criticism, stated that "...the March of Dimes funds no phase of fetoscopy research," and that "March of Dimes funds are not now, have never, and never will be used in support of anti-life programs."^

Actually, the MOD funding of fetoscopic research to identify "thalassemic fetuses by analyzing placental blood samples early in the course of high-risk pregnancy" has been well publicized in medical circles since such non-therapeutic research is prohibited under the moratorium of the federal NIH. Private foundations like the MOD are not covered by the ban.

Hence, over the last two decades, MOD funding offetoscopic techniques and blood analysis to such physicians as Blanche Alter, David Nathan, Haig Kazazian, Yuet Wai Kan and Mitchell Golbus have kept the killing fields open in the genetic community.

As Alter explained at a MOD-sponsored seminar on disorders held in New York in December, 1980, pre-natal screening for hemoglobenopathies is now available—and should significantly reduce the incidence of severe forms of this disease."

E is for Eugenic Mafia

Since the implementation of its eugenic policies and programs in the late 1960's, the MOD'S various Advisory Committees for Medical Services, Basic Research, Clinical Research and Basil O'Connor Starter Research have been dominated by nationally known eugenic abortionists famed for their late abortion technical skills, especially prostaglandin-induced abortion, which provide fresh fetal tissue and organs.

These MOD National Advisors have included William Spellacy, M.D., Edward J. Quilligan, M.D.,Leon Speroff, M.D.,* John C. Hobbins, M.D., Maurice J. Mahoney, M.D. and Henry L. Nadler, M.D.* Note should be made that Hobbins and Mahoney argue even in favor of the third trimester abortions (as in case of anencephaly) where (1) the disorder is incompatible with postnatal survival for more than a few weeks... (2) the presence of PND tests to affirm condition.^

Other nationally known pro-abortion MOD Advisory members (including MOD Research and Medical Services grant recipients) are Kurt Hirschhom, M.D.,* Charles Flowers Jr. M.D., David G. Nathan, M.D.,* John T. Queenan, Kenneth J. Ryan, Rodney Howell, M.D., Richard W. Erbe, M.D.,* Leon Rosenberg, M.D.,* Mitchell Golbus, M.D.,* Laird Jackson, M.D., Michael Kaback, M.D.,* Norman Kretchmer, M.D.,* Amo Motulsky, M.D.* and David Rimoin, M.D. Ph.D.* (*Current National Advisors—1989-90)

F is for Fetal Experimentation

It has never been clearly enunciated for nor understood by the general public that all forms of non-therapeutic first and second trimester techniques of pre-natal diagnosis (PND) have first been carried out on TBA patients, i.e. TO BE ABORTED women, and that these techniques were considered a form of LIVE FETAL EXPERIMENTATION!

It should also be noted that in many cases, it was the PND technique itself (i.e. mid-trimester amniocentesis or fetoscopy, or first trimester chorion villus sampling (CVS) that caused the death of the child and not the anticipated abortion.

Beginning in 1968 and continuing throughout the late 1980's, the MOD has funded and promoted all of the above techniques, including fetoscopy of chorion villus sampling and maternal blood sampling.^

In fact, it has been the financial backing of private foundations like the MOD that permitted fetoscopic and CVS researchers such as MOD grantees David Nathan, M.D., Blanche Alter, M.D., Yuet Kan, M.D. and Mitchell Golbus, to BYPASS the federal moratorium on live, non-therapeutic fetal experimentation.'"

G is for Genetic Diseases Act

The MOD is a registered lobby in Washington, D.C. In September of 1978, a "Dear Member" letter, signed by MOD president Charles L. Massey, was circulated to all members of the U.S. House of Representatives, staling that the National Foundation/March of Dimes "strongly endorse(s) passage ofH.R. 12370"—which incorporated the National Genetic Diseases Act of 1976 (Title XI—PHSA) and provided for federal, tax-funded expansion of genetic services, genetic education and genetic laboratory facilities in order to "reduce the incidence of all genetic diseases" in the United States. (Note: UNALLOWABLE costs under Title X—PHSA were treatment and inpatient hospital care.) This landmark legislation which passed in November, 1978, was to the eugenicist, what the Family Planning and Population Services Act of 1970 was to the birth controller and abortionist.

In lobbying the measure, Massey noted "The financial cost of treating and institutionalizing our severely affected survivors is staggering; we cannot begin to measure the cost...."

The Massey letter cites Sickle Cell Anemia, Cooley's Anemia, Tay-Sachs Disease, Down's Syndrome, Muscular Dystrophy...as diseases which could be reduced through genetic screening and prenatal diagnosis. Amniocentesis is described as a procedure that "saves thousand of babies..." How puncturing the womb with a needle, introducing the possibility of infection, miscarriage, exsanguination act and mistakenly aborting "normal" children and deliberately aborting "affected" children, contributes to "saving" lives can only be understood within the context of a eugenic mind set which disinherits from the human family genetically handicapped preborn children but bankrolls the moral defectives who lobby for their slaying.

H is for Health by Death

One of the many tragic consequences of the institutionalization of the "Health by Death" Ethic by the March of Dimes in the United States has been to divert medical science from its original objectives of cure, treatment and advocacy of the ill, the handicapped and infirmed to the killing of the afflicted—prenatally by abortion and postnatally by infanticide and euthanasia.

Amniocentesis, it should be remembered, was a strictly therapeutic innovation for use in late pregnancy and in labor before the MOD mounted its multi-million dollar genetic services campaign of "preventing birth defects" by fetal euthanasia.

Once prenatal diagnosis became linked with abortion, legitimate scientific research for cures or treatment of disorders especially Tay Sachs and Down's Syndrome fell dramatically.

Dr. Carlo Valenti of Brooklyn's Downstate Medical Center who has appeared at numerous MOD-sponsored genetic symposiums, has argued from the MOD pulpit for legal sanction of late eugenic abortions.

"Unrealistic" and "untreatable" were the words used by Valenti to describe the hope for treatment of most genetic diseases in utero. "...Although I would welcome an alternative to the abortion of a defective fetus. I reluctantly conclude that abortion must remain the solution to inheritable disease."^

I is for Insurance

Securing insurance funds for expanding health insurance coverage for genetic services including screening and prenatal diagnosis has been a major concern of the March of Dimes.

In 1982-83, the MOD, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Community Health Services (HHS), funded a $181,968.00 one year study by the Health Services Foundation—a Blue Cross-Blue Shield affiliate—to determine if private reimbursement methods will remove financial barriers to obtaining genetic services, thus saving, according to MOD Vice President, Dr. Arthur J. Salisbury, the government billions of dollars in "custodial care" of "geneti-cally handicapped children" born in the U.S. each year. No mention of increased coverage for treatment of disorders was mentioned in the HSF press release of March 1, 1982.

In its Final Report^ the HSF stated that screening and prenatal diagnosis were cost-effective when compared to the high cost of caring for "blighted" children, and authors cited the U.S.'s Tay Sachs program as an ideal program. "Prior to screening in 1970, between 50 and 1,009 children were born annually in North America with Tay Sachs Disease. In 1980, only 13 children in North America were born with the disorder. Costbenefit studies performed on different communities' experience with Tay Sachs screening along with prenatal diagnosis have demonstrated its cost savings potential." (pg. 53)

Since there is no known treatment or cure for Tay Sachs disease—in the womb or out—only the abortion of affected preborn children would make the Tay Sachs program "cost-saving."

Remember Dr. Salisbury's complaint and the HSF "Health by Death" ethic the next time you read the MOD'S Position Paper on "Search and Destroy" approaches: "...The MOD does not ally itself with those who view abortion as a means of reducing society's cost for care of the handicapped, or as a means of 'purifying the gene pod.'"

J is for Justice for the Unborn

Since the prolife battle with the March of Dimes began in the early 1970's, the movement has been virtually unanimous in its support of an MOD boycott. In 1978, the International Foundation for Genetic Research,^ popularly known as The Michael Fund, was formed to support prolife genetic research under the direction of the world famous prolife geneticist. Dr. Jerome Le Jeune.

One of the few prolife groups which has supported the MOD is American Citizens Concerned For Life.The ACCL defense paper, which was written by its Program Director, Raymond J. Di Blasio, Ph.D., is still widely circulated by the National Office, field staff and chapter administrators of the MOD to discredit prolife critics.

According to Di Blasio, "...the March of Dimes' good deeds speak for themselves, and I feel some outrage that idealogical zealots eager to invent new enemies should have forced this noble enterprise to defend its honor."

"Occasional misgivings...concerning the supposedly doubtful character of the March of Dimes," Di Blasio states, are "one of those despicable, utterly unfounded misconceptions that clings all the more stubbornly to some minds when it is forcefully reflected."

"As to amniocentesis" the ACCL director stated, "it is a dead issue to both ethicists and medical technicians; the primary question these days is the (medical) safety of its administration. BEDSIDES, THE BIG NEWS THIS MONTH IS THAT AMNIOCENTESIS IS ABOUT TO BE SUPPLANTED BY AN EASIER, SAFER TECHNIQUE." (emphasis added)

Di Blasio is of course making reference to chorion villus biopsy—the first trimester PND technique practiced on to-beaborted women, developed and promoted by the MOD, more dangerous than amniocentesis and which has as its sole claim to fame, that it permits earlier abortion of affected preborn children. Unfortunately, these affected children have no multimillion dollar public relations department to plead their case, but they should at least be able to obtain justice from those who call themselves "prolife."

K is for Kazazian

In 1984, Dr. Haig H. Kazazian of Johns Hopkins University, a long time MOD grantee and nationally recognized advocate of eugenic abortion was one of the first MOD grantees to receive MOD clinical research funds of $35,000.00 "to explore the safety and utility of first trimester diagnosis of hereditary anemias and other disorders, by gene analysis of chorionic villus samples."

During this time period. Dr. M. Golbus of the University of California (SF) received $50,000.00. Well known prostaglandin-abortionist Dr. Maurice J. Mahoney of Yale also received $35,000.00 for CVS grants for developing a PND technique which would permit the First trimester abortion of affected preborn children.

Moving into the 90's, the MOD continues to pursue its dream of a first trimester, safe and simple pre-natal test by awarding Dr. Kazazian with a more recent (89-90) Clinical Research Grant of S50.000.00 to refine and apply methods of "enabling accurate, timely prenatal and carrier diagnosis" for Beta-Thalassemia, Hemophilia A, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Cystic Fi-brosis—- none of which are treatable disorders in utero.

L is for Lymphocytes

l'rom the early 1970's to the present time, the MOD has demonstrated a special interest in non-evasive, simple and safe early prenatal diagnosis techniques to supplement or replace mid-trimester ainniocentesis, thus shifting the abortion timetable of affected children from the second to first trimester of pregnancy.

One such MOD grant was awarded to Dr. A. de la Chapelle of the Department of Medical Genetics of the University of Helsinki, Finland for the isolation/purification of human fetal lymphocytes found in maternal blood to determine fetal genetic diseases early in pregnancy.

It is instructional to note before hand that the de la Chapelle grant had been preceded by the controversial Adam grant of $9,240.00 (7374) which covered travel expenses to Helsinki and lab and technician costs for fetal brain metabolism studies on living, human babies aborted by hysterotomy (and still attached by the umbilical cord to the mother) who were decapitated and their heads mounted on perfusion equipment by Adam and his colleagues. According to Arthur A. Gallway, MOD V.P. for Development, (1) the "research" was "done legally and ethically under Finnish law" (2) "the investigators did not participate in the decision to terminate pregnancy" and (3) "they were concerned with the ethics of discarding such fetal tissue without seeking to find ways to improve the life and health of live born premature infants."^ (emphasis added) 

Having experienced considerable prolife flack over the Adam severed heads grants, it seems incredible that the MOD should turn around and award de la Chapelle research funds for fetal blood experiments involving more aborted babies.

Nevertheless, according to grant data published by de la Chapelle and associates in San. J. Immunol., (vol. 6, 1977) and credited to the NF/MOD (No. 1-405) and the Sigrid Juseluis Foundation, cell sources for the experiment were obtained from both maternal blood samples and "BY OPEN-HEART PUNCTURE OF 10 WEEK FETUSES THAT HAD BEEN ABORTED FOR VARIOUS REASONS, NOT CONNECTED WITH FETAL DISEASE..." (i.e. healthy unwanted babies).^

M is for Minors and Abortion

The 1989 MOD Position Paper "on Promotion of Abortion to Minors" (P. 14) states that MOD "educational materials prepared for use by minors, ..do not present abortion as a way of dealing with teenage pregnancy," and that a number of MOD cooperative programs..."not on matters related to abortion...are specifically designed to restore and support parental guidance."

Left unsaid however is that the MOD does promote proabortion materials produced by others

For example, in its Professional Education Catalog under Perinatal Publications (P. 16), the MOD offers FREE Adolescent Perinatal Health: A Guidehook for Services, prepared by an American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Task Force which INCLUDED GABRIEL STICKLE—MOD V.P. for Education.

When the ACOG report was released in 1979-80, the MOD 12 featured the guidebook in its Maternal/Newborn Advocate as "A positive approach toward improving health care for adolescents underage 17... "even though the rabidly pro-abort report endorsed I st and 2nd trimester abortion for minors without parental consent and a full range of contraceptive and abortifacient services including "post-coital treatment." (P. 24-26)^

On the educational front, the MOD has brought eugenics and abortion into the classroom and biology and science labs of American schools through its funding of the openly pro-abort Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) based in Boulder, Colorado. ^ 

N is for NOAPP
(National Organization on Adolescent
Pregnancy and Parenting)

The MOD has been funding NOAPP—a pro-abortion, proschool based clinic agency—since 1983. NOAPP lobbies "reproductive rights" heavily on Capital Hill.

MOD grants include an initial $1,000 PHE grant (83-84) for the production of a NOAPP newsletter with subsequent grants to publish the newsletter; and a CEG of $20,000 (1/1/90-12/31/90) fora series of training workshops on adolescent pregnancy program evaluation.

On March 25-27, 1985, the MOD co-sponsored and cofunded an adolescent pregnancy seminar titled "Inventing The Future," which included on its faculty, Mary Hughes, MOD V.P. for Community Affairs and NOAPP Advisory Council Member. Included in the "New Futures" Summary Report^ were numerous anti-life references and scenarios PROMOTING school based clinics, compulsory population control, homosexuality, birth control ads and divorce.

O is for Orwellian Newspeak

For an explanation of what is meant in MOD genetic circles by the phrase "therapeutic research" we quote Dr. Henry Foster, who served on the MOD'S Medical Service Advisory Committee in the early 1980's (the committee which reviews grant applications for funding of MOD medical service grants):

Flaving stated he personally had done "a lot of amniocentesis and therapeutic abortions, probably near 700,"" Dr. Foster defended fetoscopic research to detect thalassemia prenatally as "clearly therapeutic" since "it was done for the same reasons that we do amniocentesis, to decide whether or not the pregnancy should continue, and to provide a therapeutic abortion..."^

Similar examples of Orwellian Newspeak can be found in much current MOD prenatal diagnostic literature.

P is for Pope Blesses MOD!

One of the MOD'S top public relations seams occurred in the summer of 1984 when the MOD published its Volunteer News-letter featuring a cover picture of Pope John Paul II and headlined "Pope sends Blessing and gift to the March of Dimes."

In actuality, the alleged gift of $2,000 was a personal gift of a Vatican Bank official to an old friend who was being honored at a MOD fund-raising dinner in Hartford, Conn. Likewise, the Papal Apostolic Blessing was secured by the same Vatican official from the Rome offices which issue such honorariums.

Despite the fact that the Holy Father has repeatedly condemned "neo-nalal euthanasia" when the discovery of a prenatal deformity is the equivalent of a death sentence--^

And the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has condemned "any directive or program, ..of scientific organizations which in any way were to favor a link between prenatal diagnosis and abortion"

And the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio reputed the inference that the MOD has received "official church approbation"—" The Volunteer cover was kept in circulation until the National Office ordered its chapters to remove it from circulation in 1989-90.

Q is for Question: What are "Genetic Services?"

"Innovation' and 'leadership' are the words the MOD uses lo describe its role in supporting genetic services." One of these "innovative" genetic service centers is the Prenatal Genetics Clinic for Prenatal Diagnosis and Consultation/Wisconsin Clinical Genetics Center located at Rockford Memorial Hospital. The Rockford/University of Madison genetics complex has been the recipient of thousands of MOD dollars in the form of Basil O'Connor, Clinical and Basic, Social and Behavioral and Reproductive Hazards in workplace grants.

In December, 1980, Renata Laxova, M.D. of the WCGC unleashed the ugly truth about the eugenics war on the preborn at Madison in a Pediatrics article titled "Prenatal Diagnosis of Genetic Diseases" (P. 66-76). Mid-trimester arnniocentesis or fetoscopy combined with pregnancy termination of affected children to eliminate preborn children with (1) chromosomal disorders (2) neural tube defects (3) metabolic disorders (4) sex linked blood or muscular and other inheritable disorders were "grossly underutilized," complained Laxova. Included in the comprehensive genetic services' program are late abortions "complicated" by live births which has made Madison General Hospital and the University of Wisconsin Hospital the scenes of numerous pro-life picketing.

Despile bad press, MOD monies have continued to pour into Madison including a $10,800 (84-85) grant to spread the positive message of eugenics to clergy, teachers, professionals and the public, statewide. However in 1983, more "live births" complications inspired the possibility of revising late abortion killing procedures.

At the Genetics Center of Baylor College of Medicine, another MOD institution grant center, "In the circumstance of a lethal (sic) diagnosis PAST 24 weeks, pregnancy termination can be registered by our institutional review mechanisms..."^

R is for Right-To-Life

The contempt which National Officers and Staff of the MOD have exhibited toward pro-life critics is reflected in the now famous VOSS Memorandum circulated from the MOD'S Public Relations Department to all chapters nationwide in 1975-76.

Titled "Pro-Life Agitation," the internal memorandum was designed to counter "Pro-Life Resistance" to MOD'S Growing eugenic policies.

Interestingly, the memorandum features the familiar argument that prenatal diagnosis is not a "search and destroy mission(s)," but rather "life-saving." Where did this rationale originate? The answer is—with a pro-abortionist.

In the early 70's, prior to Roe vs. Wade, the MOD financially underwrote and co-sponsored a symposium on Advances in Human Genetics and Their Impact on Society featuring a number of key eugenicists who publicly hailed the "enormous" humanitarian gains of PND combined with selective abortion of affected children. According to Dr. M. Neil Macintyre, of Case Western, "Incongruous as it may seem to some readers, prenatal genetic evaluation, coupled with therapeutic abortion to eliminate a defective conceptus, is both a life-giving and a lifesaving procedure.""

I however, as pro-life ethicist, Prof. Arthur J.Dyck of Harvard has pointed out. "To decide that a given set of diseases is to be eliminated by elimination of the diseased, is one of the principles on which programs of eugenics and euthanasia rest."

Further. Dyck remarks, if both physician and society should "be impartial" regarding eugenic abortion, "What advocate is left for dcfen.,eless Life?""

S is for S.K.A.T. (Sex, Knowledge and Attitude Test)

In 1980, the MOD awarded a $25,974 Public Health Education Grant to Dr. Peggy Smith, Population Program of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX to provide funds "for the development and implementation of a teacher training kit for Parenting Education"' (emphasis added) as part of MOD'S program "to protect maternal and newborn health."

Fourteen public school teacher trainees underwent a nine week 72 hour sexual attitudinal desensitization and restructuring program, after which they taught 35 teachers in a 48 hour class setting. Evaluation of both trainers and trainees involved the use of various S.K.A.T. tests including the Autoeroticism Scale, the Abortion Scale, and the Sexual Myths Scale. " A significant shift toward more "liberal" view, especially toward masturbation and other sexual perversions was reported. 

According to the project director, the proposed pyramid training model "maximizes opportunities for future project replications," was "costeffective," and could be used as "a model for school based staff development programs in human sexuality."

T is for Tay Sachs

Tay Sachs Discase (TSD) is a fatal inborn metabolic disorder which primarily affects children of Ashkenazi Jews. In the early 1970's, it was the first disorder which met the key criteria for prototype "search and destroy" (S & D) programs for untreatable, recessive autosomal disease.

In 1975, the MOD co-funded the first International Conference of Tay Sachs Disease: Screening and Prevention, and its local chapters notified area physicians that TSD could be prevented "since intrauterine diagnosis of an affected fetus could be legally followed by termination of pregnancy.""

The MOD has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into TSD genetic "services" and "research" programs, the largest single recipient being pro-abortionist and MOD National Advisor, Dr. Michael M. Kaback (UCLA).

In the 1980's the TSD—S&D operations continued with MOD grants to such institutions as the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School "to test a new visual method for diagnosis, carrier detection, and prenatal detection of disorders such as Tay Sachs and Gaucher Disease." (7/1/84-6/30/85) (7/1/87-6/30/88)

U is for Understanding

The key to unraveling the mystery of the March of Dimes lies in an understanding of the role that money and public relations play in the success and survival of powerful national health agencies such as the MOD.

According to Dr. Herbert Ratner, editor of Child and Family and author of "An Untold Vaccine Story" (Complete four part series available from Child and Family, Box 508, Oak Park, IL 60303, $ 12.00)~an expose of the Salk Vaccine Fiasco of 1955—

"To be realistic, the success of national health agencies, and the tenure of their top administrators, depends heavily on the talent of their public relations divisions and for the most part, is measured by the amount of funds garnered from the public...appearance, good or bad, premature or otherwise becomes habitual..."

When the agencies make seriously flawed decisions says Dr. Ratner, and reputations and even the preservation of the organization is at stake, "the pressure and the temptation to cover up is intense," even when actual human lives are at stake.

The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions' 1962 American Character Critique of American Medicine captured the essential character of over publicized, media-type tactics of such agencies as:

"Mass manipulation by hand-selected, well-subsidized overly committed scientists backed by powerful public relations departments of wealthy national health agencies."

The recommendation of Dr. Ratner is that one become "less innocent and more sophisticated in regard to the trustworthiness of mass programs sponsored and supported by national health agencies, the alleged guardians of our health."^

V is for Villi as in Chorion Villus Sampling (CVS)

CVS is a new prenatal diagnostic technique which can be performed between the 9th-11th week of pregnancy for direct chromosomal and biomedical studies. According to the MOD'S head of CVS studies, Laird G. Jackson of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, CVS is preferable to Mid-trimester am-niocentesis, performed at 16 weeks gestation because, "Clearly, it would be preferable to identify genetic abnormalities before the 12th week of gestation, so that patients could opt for first-trimester termination of pregnancy, which is simpler, safer and less psychologically stressful than the mid-trimester procedure."

As with fetoscopy, Laird stated that "Our initial experience with chorionic villus sampling was obtained from a group of 60 volunteers who underwent the procedure immediately before termination of pregnancy." According to another MOD grantee, Dr. Mitchell Golbus, it is "very necessary" for doctors attempting CVS to practice on TBA patients first.

The Jackson statements were taken from an article by Dr. Jackson titled, "First-Trimester Diagnosis of Fetal Genetic Disorders" (Hospital Practice, AP. 15, 85), sent to this writer by Richard P. Leavitt, head of Corporate Communications for the National Office of the MOD in White Plains, New York.

In still another of its Public Relations seams, the MOD press release on CVS dated 4/15/84, claims that "safe first-trimester diagnosis of genetic disorders MAY make it possible to intervene and treat problems before damage is done in the womb. [emphasis added] The March of Dimes supports research on chorion villus biopsy and the Philadelphia registry in an effort to determine the risks and applicability of the new procedure." MOD'S reference to future therapy is ludicrous when one understands that the sole selling point of the more dangerous CVS procedure is that it makes possible an earlier eugenic abortion—the ultimate damage to the child in the womb.

W is for WHO—U.N. World Health Organization

The belief that First and second trimester prenatal diagnosis for untreatable disorders such as Tay Sachs or Downs Syndrome is inextricably linked to abortion of suspected affected pre-born children can be validated at the international level by the action of the W.H.O.

A report titled Prevention and Control of Genetic and Congenital Defects, published in 1984 by the Pan American Regional Office of WHO, under the section dealing with the Alpha-Fetopro-tein (AFP) testing for neutral defects (a test actively endorsed by the MOD and in effect at MOD-financially established genetic centers across the U.S.) reads:

"This primary prevention measure [i.e. AFP testing and amniocentesis] is already being applied voluntarily in countries with organized prenatal care programs and WHERE THERE IS THE LEGAL OPTION TO ABORT ABNORMAL FETUSES IN THE 2ND TRIMESTER. The technique is simple and the cost-benefit ratio very favorable." Listed as the first requirement for an effective AFP program was "Legislation permitting the interruption of pregnancy when the fetus is abnormal." (P. 12)

X is for X-Linked Disorders

The MOD has stated it does not support mid-trimester prenatal diagnosis for sex selection purposes, but this is not quite true.

Because of the relatively high risk of fetal loss following fetoscopy to detect sex-linked disorders such as hemophilia or muscular dystrophy Duchenne, an "alternative" genetic strategy has been to use amniocentesis or chorion biopsy to determine the sex of the fetus, and then abort all the males since there is a 50% chance the male offspring of a female carrier will develop the disease with the female offspring (at the same percentage) being only carriers.

According to Dr. Stylianos E. Antonarakis, of Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Pediatrics, "We certainly can reduce the cases of hemophilia by two-thirds, perhaps 250 cases a year. if all the women who have an affected fetus elected to abort."

In "Guidelines for the Ethical, Social and Legal Issues in Prenatal Diagnosis," a $17,000 MOD study by the pro-abort think-tank known as the Hastings Institute, the Institute's Genetics Research Group recommended that "Prenatal ascertainment of sex in fetuses at risk for otherwise undiagnosable sex-linked disorders should be available to parents who want it..."

Regarding sex selection across the board, the Hastings Report, which was sent to all MOD field staff, science writers and family interest editors throughout the U.S., concluded that "although we strongly oppose any movement aimed at making diagnosis of sex and selective abortion a part of ordinary medical practice and family planning. WE RECOMMEND THAT NO LEGAL RESTRICTIONS BE PLACED ON ASCERTAINMENT OF FETAL SEX..."

The MOD has funded research grants also to discover the gene marker for hemophilia B as a basis for PND (Jagadeeswaran-pudur $25,000: 9/11/84-8/31/85 & $20,830: 9/1/86-87) and for gene carrier tests for woman carrying the gene for hemophilia A or B. (R. Janco, $15,000: 1/1/90-12/31/90)

Y is for Yale-Harvard Medical Underground

Since the early 1970's there has existed among various MOD-funded university-based genetic medical complexes a type of "medical underground" which co-operates at a number of levels to provide various types of research assistance—for example, supplying fresh human fetal tissues, blood or organs—to their colleagues in need.

A very rare opportunity to witness the activities of this underground was provided in the Feb. 2, 1977, issue of Medical Tribune in an article titled "Fetal Research Continued Despite Hysteria."

In an exclusive interview with Medical Tribune (P. 1 -25), Dr. David Nathan, Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard University, a MOD grantee and current National MOD advisor, disclosed how his fellow MOD-funded colleague, Dr. Blanche Alter and their fetologic hemoglobinopathy team "master-minded a plane and bus shuttle of blood samples and patients and an interprofessional axis between London, New Haven and Boston in order that 'knowledge go on, vital clinical testing go on, and when necessary, abortions go on.'"

Through their fetoscopic trials, Nathan claimed, they have given the hematologic green light to abortions all over the world... Dr. Nathan said, "I told the Right-To-Life group here...there was no way to pass a law to stop us...You can't stop knowledge."

About the same time of the Medical Tribune interview, Nathan detended the policies of the National Foundation/March of Dimes against "attacks by 'Pro-Life' or 'Right-To-Life'" groups in a special issue of the Villanova Law Review on "Research on the Fetus." Here Nathan warned that "because the foundation supports research on the developing fetus, it became the object of utterly mindless calumny. "
Going into the 90's there is sufficient information to support the belief that the "underground" described by Nathan is alive and well today among MOD-funded researchers.

Z is for Omega—The End

Perhaps the most frequently asked question concerning the National Foundation/March of Dimes' role in spreading the gospel of eugenics is this—How did it happen? When did the MOD take the wrong turn in the road?

A similar question was raised in the final scene of the GM movie classic Judgement of Nuremberg, based on the war-guilt trials of the Nazis.

One of the convicted jurists (played by Burt Lancaster), expressing his deep regret at his role in the Holocaust, cries out to Judge Dan Hayward (played by Spencer Tracy):

"Those people—those millions of people—1 never knew it would come to that. You must believe it! You must believe it!"

Hayward's response was simple: "It came to that the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent."

The answer regarding the beginning of the National Foundation/March of Dimes' role in eugenic killing which has lead to the death of thousands of innocent preborn children whose only "crime" was to be suspected of being "less than perfect" is this:

It began the very first time the National leadership of the March of Dimes knowingly gave its assent to the contract killing of handicapped children in the womb. The rest is history!

MORE LINKS

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4421


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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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"I worry that my husband may leave me." OR "I am troubled that my wife no longer loves me." What light is there to dispell our darkness from the Wisdom of God revealed in his Eternal Word?

  ---------------------------------------------------------------- There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't...