A March They Will Never Forget

On Thursday, January 21st, 2016, youth and young adults from Chicago began an adventure of the rarest kind. The “Crusaders for Life” participate in the March for Life in Washington, D.C. every year, but this year would be different.
In the days preceding the trip, Father Nathan Caswell made a few remarks to the Crusaders at a planning meeting. He encouraged the youth to “Be present in a special way,” on the trip, emphasizing that “…when we go all out, when we really die to ourselves, we allow others to come out of themselves, too.” From the beginning, he and the other leaders set this challenge before the Crusaders: “Whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Luke 9:24)

However, as the 165 participants prepared for the trip in the following days, news of winter storm Jonas began to spread. Would they be able to go? The weather warnings loomed, the storm threatened to dump as much as two feet of snow on Friday night. Word came from organizers in D.C.: “The March for Life will not be cancelled.” Projected departure for home seemed promising. They would be just ahead of the storm.

The decision was made to go ahead. On Thursday morning after early Mass, 2 priests, 2 brothers, 160 youth and young adults from St. John Cantius in Chicago, St. Peter in Volo, and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Academy in Rockford loaded onto three buses.

Celebrating Mass in Barnesville, Maryland the morning of the March

Fr. Nathan Caswell, SJC prepares the Crusaders before the March for Life

http://www.lifenews.com/2016/01/26/mom-of-quintuplets-rejects-doctors-abortion-suggestion-to-kill-three-of-her-unborn-babies/

https://naturalwomanhood.org/can-the-birth-control-pill-cause-birth-defects/

by Gerard Migeon, Founder & CEO

As January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month, you may have seen articles like this one in Time Magazine claiming that birth control pills are not linked to birth defects. It’s because a recent large scale study from Denmark just came out with these conclusions. But this study is not telling the whole story and the news distracts us from the real problem. In fact, it’s missing the mark on serious effects of the Pill’s chemistry on the fetus. Here is the rest of the story: babies whose mothers have been on the Pill and are thus exposed to synthetic estrogen may not show the birth defects researched in the Danish study, like a congenital heart anomaly or a missing limb, but are likely to suffer longer term effects such as prostate cancer, breast cancer, or low sperm counts. Yet there is a deafening silence and lack of research on this inconvenient truth.

Three years ago, our daughter created a very clever animation video as part of a communications project where she made a statement that the Pill was linked to prostate cancer, which at first glance sounds like an odd concept. Last summer, this allegation was clarified for me when I attended the Contraceptive Conundrum Conference in Washington DC and heard a presentation by Frederick Vom Saal, PhD. Dr. Vom Saal is a developmental biologist and professor of biology at University of Missouri-Columbia, Miss. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The National Institute of Health funds his research. He was interviewed by PBS in 1998 on his research showing the relationship between estrogen found in the environment and prostate diseases.

What history and world health data tell us

We must learn from history. Vom Saal’s introduced his presentation by reminding us of the DES scandal. Between 1940 and 1971, millions of women were prescribed a drug called DES as a way to prevent miscarriages. In 1971, this drug was found to cause a 40-fold increase in risk of vaginal or cervical cancer in the teen or adult daughters of these women. A major lesson from these tragic events was that when pregnant women absorbed certain forms of estrogen, they exposed their fetus to small amounts of the hormone and it would have grave and irreversible health consequences for their baby. It also showed that these consequences would only show up much later in the child’s life.

What happened to these women had been previously demonstrated on mice. “There was data that was ignored because it was animal research that wasn’t relevant to human health,” reports Vom Saal. But the reality of the syndrome showed the contrary: the animal research was predictive of the human impact. “We know that mouse cells are essentially identical to human cells in the way that they respond to these hormones,“ said Vom Saal. Such biological evidence allows him to correlate the results observed in his research on mice and what we all observe in public health statistics.

Indeed, if we focus only on men’s health, which is Vom Saal’s research field, we find two areas are of major public health concern:

• The prevalence of prostate cancer: prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, accounting for 15% of the cancers diagnosed in men, with almost 70% of the cases (759,000 per year) occurring in more developed regions (which are also the main users of the Pill).
• The alarming rate of decreased of sperm count, a major cause of infertility. This article presents the dramatic, accelerating drop in sperm count reported in some studies: 50% since 1950 and 25% just in the past 20 years. (read here for more on this topic)

The science behind the facts

While traditional toxicology studies look at elevated levels of chemicals and their relationship to diseases during the lifetime of the person, Vom Saal research shows that in fact very small amounts of estrogen impact the fetus permanently, showing its effects during the rest of the person’s life, in ways that cannot be corrected. Further, he claims that such changes could be multi-generational.

Vom Saal observed that male mice from the same litter could experience very minor differences in estrogen hormone exposure during gestation that would lead to major differences in the fully developed mice: the size of the scrotum and the penis, the libido, and the size of the prostate were all clearly affected.

This discovery led to further research on mice. Vom Saal was able to show that by exposing the fetus to very small amounts of estradiol estrogen (also famously known as EE) at critical times of development, the resulting males’ prostates had doubled in size compared to the control sample. Later, when exposing the adults to normal hormonal changes due to age, 100% of these males got prostate cancer.

“We see dramatic change in the sprouting of glands within the fetal prostate. We see changes in testicular sperm production. We see changes in the structure of the endocrine control region in the brain, which is accompanied by changes in sex behavior, aggression, the way these animals behave towards infants, their whole social interaction, the way they age, the time that they enter puberty, the age at which they cease reproduction. It changes their entire life history, and these changes are capable of occurring at very low levels of hormones,” reports Vom Saal in his 1998 PBS interview about environmental EE. In this study published in the journal Human Reproduction, exposure to a small dose of EE (from 0.002 to 2 µg/kg/day) during the early phase of gestation led to an increase in the prostate weight, a change in its response to hormones, and a significant reduction in sperm count.

Vom Saal claims that the dose of EE in the Pill, which is about 0.3 µg/kg/day, has similar potential effects. Not only does it change the physiology of the person’s reproductive system, but it also affects the way the cells in the organs will respond to hormonal changes in the future. That’s where the higher risk of cancer comes from. That’s how the DES daughters syndrome happened. Could it be why prostate cancer is so prevalent or sperm count reaching crisis levels?  Vom Saal along with other scientists[i] are certainly making a strong case for it.

What is the exposure with the Pill?

The big question for women on the Pill is when does it likely happen, so that one would know when to quit hormonal contraceptives to minimize the chance of exposure? The answer is quite broad: before, during and after conception. According to Dr. Vom Saal, the impact can start as soon as the egg starts developing in the ovaries, which is 2 ½ to 3 months before conception: “you are at a stage of development of the ovocite when it’s absolutely clear that hormonal insults to the mother can impact that process.” Exposure during conception is pretty common. About 9% of women on oral contraceptive pills get pregnant. In the US, it represents about 1 million babies a year. Worldwide about 10 million. To make matters worse, it takes at least a couple of weeks for a woman to know she is pregnant, and some women won’t realize they are pregnant for some time simply because the pill is already suppressing their periods, which will potentially extend the duration of the exposure.

Dr. Vom Saal’s focus is on the male reproductive system. There are other areas and organs that are very likely affected in a similar fashion. The same process applies to female breast tissues and their response to estrogen, which can lead to breast cancer later in the life of babies exposed.

The CDC provides a list of measures to prevent birth defects, from eating healthy and avoiding harmful chemical substances to taking folic acid supplements. But they don’t warn about EE exposure from birth control. There is a deafening silence on these questions. “If anybody was looking, which the medical community does not want anybody to do because there is just panic over this, you would see the same kind of data. There is a massive uncontrolled experiment going on and nobody is collecting this data,” stated Dr. Vom Saal. Before we hurry and say it’s safe, have we really made sure?

Be safe,

Gerard Migeon

[i] Estrogenic chemicals in plastic and oral contraceptives disrupt development of the fetal mouse prostate and urethra. Communicated by Howard A. Bern, University of California, Berkeley, CA, March 28, 2005 (received for review November 2, 2004)

TOXICOLOGICAL SCIENCES 112(2), 331–343 (2009) Mal-Development of the Penis and Loss of Fertility in Male Rats Treated Neonatally with Female Contraceptive 17a-Ethinyl Estradiol: A Dose-Response Study and a Comparative Study with a Known Estrogenic Teratogen Diethylstilbestrol. Ensa Mathews et Al

BMJ Open 2011 Occupational & environmental medicine, Oral contraceptive use is associated with prostate cancer: an ecological study, by David Margel, Neil E Fleshner. See also the correction here

Few take the marriage vows “in sickness and in health” as seriously as Bernadette Adams.

In 1982, Jean-Pierre had routine knee surgery to repair a sports-related injury, but never woke up from the anesthesia; he was 34 years old, according to the report. The family later won a lawsuit against the medical staff who botched the procedure, the report states.

Bernadette, now 72, spends every day by her husband’s side at the home in Nimes, France. Jean-Pierre will be 68 in March; and his wife refuses to put him in a nursing home, according to the report.

“I talk to him all the time — about TV, what’s in the mail, anything!” Bernadette told CNN. “There is always movement around him. He is always next to us.”

The report continues:

“I think he feels things. He must recognize the sound of my voice as well,” Bernadette told CNN in a recent interview, saying he can still breathe on his own but needs round-the-clock attention.

Bernadette and Jean-Pierre met at a dance in the 1960s. As an interracial couple, the two grew in resilience through the challenges they faced and married in 1969. Not long after, Jean-Pierre was playing first division side football as the “garde noire” alongside some of the best in the world.

“He was the ‘joie di vivre’ embodied in human form – a laugher and joker who liked to go out,” his wife told CNN.

That all changed on March 17, 1982 when the understaffed hospital botched Adams’ intubation, causing a heart attack, brain damage, and an eventual coma. The surgery was ruled as an “involuntary injury” and the medical workers were found guilty seven years after the incident.

Jean-Pierre, now 68, is cared for daily by his faithful wife Bernadette. She feeds him, talks to him, clothes him, and still buys presents for him to open on his birthday.

“I’ll buy things so that he can have a nice room, such as pretty sheets, or some scent. He used to wear Paco Rabanne but his favorite one stopped so now I buy Sauvage by Dior,” Bernadette told CNN.

The couple has been married for 46 years. The first few years of their marriage were filled with Jean-Pierre’s rise to fame as one of the first black players for the French national soccer team, according to the report.

“He was the ‘joie de vivre’ embodied in human form — a laugher and joker who liked to go out,” Bernadette said. “Really, a smile was always bursting out. He loved the good life and was loved by everybody as well.

Then the tragic incident occurred, leaving Jean-Pierre in a coma. Though some have suggested euthanasia, which is legal in several European countries, Bernadette refuses to consider it. She still believes Jean-Pierre’s life is valuable, and hopes that he could get better.

“What do you want me to do – deprive him of food? Let him die little by little? No, no, no,” she said. “If one day, medical science evolves, then why not? Will there be a day when they’ll know how to do something for him? I don’t know.”

CNN reports more about the couple’s life together now:

Bernadette looks after her husband with an unfailing love — dressing, feeding and bathing him, turning him over in his bed to avoid sores, and often losing her own sleep to ensure he gets his.

It’s a measure of their bond that on the rare occasions Bernadette spends a night away from home, Jean-Pierre’s carers notice his mood seems to change.

“He senses that it is not me feeding him and looking after him,” says his wife of 46 years. “It’s the nurses who tell me, saying he is not the same.

“I think he feels things. He must recognize the sound of my voice as well.”

Though many would have given up on Jean-Pierre long ago or even thrown away his life by euthanasia, Bernadette perseveres in caring for him each and every day. And that is a true love story.

Weeks ago, I walked into our crisis pregnancy center and witnessed a miracle. I have been volunteering as a counselor for over 7 years now and never before have I seen this. I was honored to see God’s handiwork up close—watching the face and eyes of the woman who received a redemptive gift.

If you aren’t familiar with the abortion pill RU-486, I would like to introduce you before going any further. RU-486 is not a contraceptive. RU-486 kills an unborn baby (typically within 5-7 weeks of conception) whose heart has already begun to beat.

RU-486 is an artificial steroid that interferes with the action of progesterone, a hormone crucial to the early progress of pregnancy. Progesterone stimulates the increased development of the uterine lining, which nourishes the developing child. It also suppresses normal uterine contractions, which could dislodge the child implanted and growing on the wall of the mother’s womb.

This abortion-inducing procedure RU-486 fills the chemical receptor sites normally reserved for progesterone and blocks the progesterone signal. Failing to receive that signal, a woman’s body shuts down the preparation of the uterus and initiates the menstrual process.

The pre-born child, deprived of necessary nutrients, starves to death.

The baby’s heart—which has already begun to beat at least since 4 weeks old—stops beating. This is the only purpose for which the sponsor of RU-486 ever sought U.S. government approval: the stopping of a human heart. The baby then detaches and is swept out of the body along with the decayed uterine lining.

But that’s not all. A chemical abortion via RU-486 involves a second drug, misoprostol. By itself, RU-486 is able to induce an abortion only between 64% and 85% of the time—a percentage abortifacient researchers consider inadequate for general clinical use.

So two days after taking RU-486, a woman takes a prostaglandin, usually misoprostol, to induce powerful uterine contractions to expel the baby’s shrunken corpse. What does this part of the two-part pill abortion mean to the woman’s body? You will have severely heavy bleeding, nausea, vomiting and painful uterine contractions before and after the baby exits the body.

TIME Magazine describes this as “A painful, messy, and protracted” process. In its trial testing, two percent of women hemorrhaged while more than 1 in 100 required hospitalization. And this was when RU-486 was under constant trial supervision. Complications greatly increase when the woman is given the pills at abortion centers and sent home with instructions—no supervision and no follow up.

Can they really call this health care? (Let it be noted: Surgical abortions, though completely different in procedure, are just as dangerous to undergo.)

Having explained RU-486 and its process, let’s move on to that incredible evening at the crisis pregnancy center. In walks a young woman who had discovered she was testing positive on her home pregnancy test. She came into our clinic to follow-up and make sure the tests were correct.

She thought she felt movement inside of her, but wasn’t so sure it wasn’t in her head. She explained she had taken an RU-486 abortion pill some months prior and thought she might be imagining a baby moving. We naturally assumed that perhaps she was pregnant again, as a woman’s chance of pregnancy after a womb-loss is high.

She was tested and, sure enough, she was positive for pregnancy. I prayed as we waited to find out what was going on. The nurse took her into the ultrasound room to check her womb, since her claims of movement had left us stunned. Long after the clinic hours were passed, they emerged from the ultrasound room.

Photo for illustration only: Daniel Hoherd / Flickr

In her hand were 5×4 photos; I had to hold back my tears. The smile on her face was hard to miss, and I asked her how it went. She joyfully told me that she was 21 weeks pregnant and then asked me if I wanted to see. Ummm, yes! I thought. Please let me lay eyes on this miracle baby and never forget. There the baby was, sucking on a thumb. Beautiful. Perfect. Saved.

She was relieved and began telling me her crazy journey the last few months and how this had to have happened for a reason. I echoed, “God protected your baby. This is a miracle from Him.”

The young woman, who had only a few months prior decided to end her baby’s life, was now telling me she was going to decide whether to give the gift of adoption or parent. And she added that she would tell everyone never to take RU-486—it was traumatic and painful.

Asking her about that experience, I learned that she had visited the Tuscaloosa abortion center: West Alabama Women’s Center, Inc. They had given her the RU-486 pills and sent her home. The only information they gave her was that “there would be some bleeding and cramping.” She experienced severe bleeding and pain for days.

Did I mention there was no follow-up or continued care given by West Alabama Women’s Center? None. Thankfully due to their procedural negligence, she went on with a miracle pregnancy. However, many women suffer near-death hospitalizations due to this same negligence.

I’ve prayed outside this same abortion center before. While we were praying there, a song my husband and I had written from Psalm 27:5-6 came to my mind. It was written from the perspective of the baby in the womb facing their death by abortion:

“For He will conceal me there when troubles come; He will hide me in His sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me.”

That prayer and that song came to my mind as I meditated on God saving this miracle baby. I feel a confidence in my soul that God honored those prayers to Him outside that abortion center. And I was blessed to see the living fruit!

Another incredible part of this miracle was that the young woman came in with a friend, who was also testing positive for pregnancy and was abortion-minded. After seeing her friend’s live ultrasound, she decided to keep her baby! She said that she couldn’t wait to see her baby, too.

I am privileged and humbled to see God’s redemptive plan for these women, as I’ve never witnessed before. God’s plans for us and our families cannot be controlled like we so naively think. Ever so often, He will reach beyond our own limiting perspectives and fill our ill-thought-out decisions with His grace and mercy—His Sovereignty cannot be thwarted. I’m so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who moves in the midst of our desperate sin.

Her smile was evidence of the healing power of life. Her smile was proof of relief. And her smile was a confirmation of the beautiful choices that are now brilliantly before her.

Note: If you have recently started the RU-486 process within the last 48 hours, there is an effective process for reversing the abortion. Medical professionals are standing by at (877) 558-0333 or find more information at AbortionPillReversal.com.

LifeNews Note: Natalie Brumfield, chapter leader of Bound4LIFE Birmingham, serves at local crisis pregnancy center Sav-A-Life and at her local church. This Bound4LIFE article has been reprinted with permission.

http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/its-all-about-contraception?mc_cid=9df15c3950&mc_eid=9ed5db84d9

Ending contraception is the only way to end abortion.

It’s time once again for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., where hundreds of thousands of well-intentioned folks come to protest the slaughter of little children, demanding the law be changed. But how did it come to pass that killing children in the womb is now protected by the law?

Like everything, you have to go back to the beginning to get the full picture. Owing to massive movement of soldiers, the U.S. Civil War had given rise to the first large-scale beginnings of pornography as an industry. Pornographic materials and literature, such as they were in the post-Civil War era, had begun a lessening of morals.

In 1873, the U.S. Congress passed a law called the “Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use.” It was championed by Anthony Comstock and thereafter was called simply the Comstock Law.

It was a federal law, but over half the states adopted it as well. Among other things, Comstock outlawed abortifacients and contraceptives. Comstock was essentially the law of the land for nearly a century; but it began drawing heated opposition in the early 1900s from the burgeoning birth control movement largely spearheaded by women.

In 1961, Estelle Griswold opened a Planned Parenthood clinic in New Haven, Connecticut and was eventually convicted for dispensing birth control to married women. She lost every appeal of her conviction except the only one that mattered: the U.S. Supreme Court.

On June 7, 1965, four years after opening her clinic, in a 7-2 decision, the justices ruled that married couples have a constitutional right to contraception. They cited the Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth amendments as the basis for their ruling.

In the majority opinion, Justice William O. Douglas said that a right to contraception among married couples exists owing to “penumbras” and “emanations” in the fabric of the Constitution. Those are legal terms meaning, in short, things you can assume and interpret in a manner that will allow more than the actual law says. The Griswold case also established a right to privacy — and now you can see where this is all going to arrive.

In 1972, in another Supreme Court case, Eisenstadt v. Baird, the case was argued and eventually won that it is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to allow married couples to use contraception and deny that “right” to unmarried couples. The vote of the Justices was again 7-2.

Exactly 10 months to the day after the Eisenstadt ruling, the same justices voted — again 7-2 — that the same arguments to allow contraception also allow a woman to kill the baby in her womb.

Everything about abortion is about contraception. Almost half of women who get abortions do so because their contraception failed, a little-realized point that keeps Planned Parenthood and its allies constantly pushing contraception. Failed contraception leads to unintended pregnancy, which leads to abortion in half the cases.

Contraception establishes a thought process in the minds of people that sex doesn’t necessarily relate to conception — which is where the word contraception comes from. A person — especially a Catholic — cannot decry abortion while permitting, supporting or ignoring contraception.

Yet many people do, even those at the heart of the self-styled pro-life movement. If you are against abortion but permit contraception, then you are not pro-life. All you are is pro-birth. That is not Catholic, and no amount of pretense will make it so.

Tomorrow, a look at some of the bigger names that will be present at the March for Life on Friday, and how they do against this litmus test. Are they really pro-life? Or are they just pro-birth?

https://www.catholicextension.org/about-us/lumen-christi-award/2015-lumen-christi-award-finalists/fr-fredy-angel-building-mission

Father Fredy Angel, a native of Bogotá, Colombia, serves as pastor of Queen of Peace Parish in Lakeland and of the parish’s mission in nearby Ray City. In the Diocese of Savannah in southern Georgia, only 3 percent of the population is Catholic.  When he began his term as pastor in 2008, there was only a small group of parishioners attending Mass. Today Sunday Masses in the Lakeland church draw so many area Catholics that the congregation is spilling out of the church and into the street. Originally founded to serve a small population of African-American Catholics, the parish today is racially diverse and serves whites, African-Americans and the growing Hispanic population in the area.

Despite many difficulties early on in his pastoral appointment—Father Fredy had to travel more than 150 miles each week to celebrate up to eight Masses in four different locations, and he had to live in a run-down rectory—he persevered and has poured his heart and soul into turning this previously struggling small Catholic parish into a thriving, dynamic and growing multi-ethnic community. He has established religious education programs that draw both children and adults to the parish. Many Catholics who had previously stopped attending church have come back to worship, not only because of his outreach and dedication to the community, but also because of his charismatic personality and passion for his ministry. He has also earned the respect and admiration of many Protestants in the two towns, who see him as a leader of their community.

Today there are 100 children enrolled in the religious education classes. In the seven and a half years of being their pastor, Father Fredy has celebrated 32 marriages. In the 19 years prior to his time there, only 19 were celebrated. He has brought 154 people to celebrate their first Communion, when in the past 29 years, a total of only 140 people did so. His flock continues to grow, and with Father Fredy as their shepherd, it is easy to see why.

He has led his parish by example, always the first to pick up a mop to clean the buildings or lend a hand in washing the dishes. His congregation has seen how he cares for the sick. They have seen how he has bridged the long-standing gap between English- and Spanish-speaking parishioners. They have seen how he has hosted potlucks after Mass. They have seen how he has worked outside of the church walls to help them with daily struggles such as family problems, counseling needs, social services and the many challenges the area’s young people are facing. This kind of devotion has brought more life back to the church, as well as people.

As the parish has continued to grow, Father Fredy has had to realize that a new and larger church needed to be built. He is now leading and involving his congregation in building that new church in a centralized location—within 20 minutes of driving for any of the parishioners from the three towns it will serve. The new parish, to be named St. Anthony of Padua, is scheduled to be dedicated in early 2016 and will have enough space for every religious education class to have a single classroom, rather than the current situation of combining groups in one classroom, or being forced to use the kitchen as a substitute classroom. In addition, it will include soccer fields and the parish also owns a property across the street where Father Fredy hopes to one day build a parish school.

Father Fredy is a priest in the Pope Francis mold, a shepherd who, in the pope’s memorable expression, is “living with the smell of his sheep.” His perseverance, commitment to his community, his leadership in bridging the various ethnic communities, and his close collaboration with Bishop Gregory Hartmayer to build a sustainable new church for the parish are just a few of the ways he is bringing the “light of Christ” to the people in the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/judge-catholic-hospital-must-not-be-forced-to-sterilize-people

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/at-risk-children-losing-the-american-dream-because-were-too-politically-cor

NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina, January 15, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Americans are allowing a generation of at-risk children to lose their chance at the American dream, because we are “too politically correct” to say that the intact, traditional family is best for society, Rick Santorum said at last night’s Republican presidential debate.

The undercard debate, which began at 6 p.m., featured Santorum, Mike Huckabee, and Carly Fiorina.

Moderator Trish Regan asked Santorum about the role “family formation” plays in economic development. Currently, 40 percent of all children are born out-of-wedlock. “That’s twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it’s 11 times as high as in 1940,” she said.

The former Pennsylvania senator said he has been surprised to direct his audiences to “a book written by a liberal Harvard” social science professor: Robert Putnam’s Our Kids.

“He wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America’s hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer,” Santorum said.

But when Putnam “studied all the information…he realized that the biggest reason that we’re seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family.”

“The reality is that if you’re…a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood…the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20 percent of income earners is three percent in America.” “That’s not good enough,” Santorum said passionately. “And we have been too politically correct in this country, because we don’t want to offend anybody, to fight for the lives of our children,” he concluded to applause.

A wealth of social data support his conclusion that being reared by both parents greatly increases the chances of success.

Growing up with both parents “is strongly associated with more education, work, and income among today’s young men and women,” a study conducted in October 2014 by W. Bradford Wilcox and Robert I. Lerman for the American Enterprise Institute concluded.

The two found the benefits trickle down through the generations. Being raised in an intact family “increases your odds of becoming highly educated, which in turn leads to higher odds of being married as an adult. Both the added education and marriage result in higher income levels,” they found.

“Indeed, men and women who were raised with both parents present and then go on to marry enjoy an especially high income as adults,” they wrote.

They found the “premium” of education and increased lifetime economic earnings applies to all ethnicities, as well.

Being raised by both parents also decreases numerous social pathologies. Sarah Torre of the Heritage Foundation found, “Teens from intact, married families are less likely to be sexually active and also less likely to abuse drugs and/or alcohol, exhibit poor social behaviors, or participate in violent crimes.”

Economically, an intact family saves society a hefty sum in social spending.

Torre wrote, “Of the more than $450 billion spent on means-tested welfare for low-income families with children, roughly three-quarters goes to households led by single parents.” A 2008 study found family breakdown cost taxpayers $112 billion a year, the equivalent of the GDP of New Zealand.

“The substitutes to the family are expensive and ineffective, and taxpayers end up paying the price,” said Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of The Ruth Institute during a lecture at Acton University.

Not everyone would be happy to see traditional families flourish. NARAL Pro-Choice America tweeted:

National Right to Life revealed that 85 percent of all abortions are performed on single women in its third annual “State of Abortion in the United States” report, which was released on Thursday.

The flagging fortunes of the family is an issue close to Santorum’s heart. He raised the theme himself during the last Fox Business debate in November and introduced the notion to Mitt Romney in the 2012 campaign.

In addition to Putnam, AEI scholar Charles Murray came to similar conclusions about the importance of the intact family for social and economic advancement in his 2012 book, Coming Apart.

Wilcox and Nicholas Wolfinger will explore the theme further in their forthcoming book, Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love and Marriage Among African Americans and Latinos.

http://kofc.org/un/en/columbia/detail/contraception-aftermath-alternatives.html

Dr. Jeremy Kalamarides, medical director of the Vitae Clinic in Austin, Texas, and a member of Father Michael J. McGivney Council 5967, is pictured with his wife, Heather, and their daughter. (Photo by Jody Horton Photography) In the 1960s, legalized access to hormonal contraception promised to bring women freedom: freedom to limit family size and freedom to have sex without the “worry” of conception. Today, proponents promote another line: contraception as preventative health care, with some groups going so far as to pathologize women who don’t have access to contraception as “at risk for unintended pregnancy.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 62 percent of U.S. women ages 15-44 are currently using some form of contraception or sterilization. Though multiple forms of birth control exist, the pill remains the most popular, more than 55 years after it was introduced. Absent from nearly all of the public campaigns in support of contraception, though, are its health risks, which can be life-threatening. Adding to the concern about side effects, some of which are more troubling than others, is the reality that most women are simply not informed. “Women have a right to know,” said Vicki Thorn, who recently organized a conference titled “The Contraceptive Conundrum: Effects and Side Effects” at Georgetown University. The founder of Project Rachel and the National Office for Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing, Thorn has for years collected research about the detrimental effects of chemical contraception. “Contraception is hardly benign,” Thorn said. “Most forms use steroidal hormones that impact the pituitary gland, which is the master gland in the body, and there’s much fallout in terms of health issues.” CALCULATING RISKS The side effects of the pill and other forms of hormonal contraception can range from blood clots, headaches, weight gain, nausea, and irregular or diminished periods, to mood swings, loss of libido, depression and other psychological repercussions. Some of these side effects can significantly alter a woman’s lifestyle — leaving her feeling helpless and confused at her inability to control her emotions and even her physical appearance. Some potential side effects are particularly alarming. Studies dating back to the 1990s have shown increases in breast cancer related to the pill. A study published in the journal Cancer Research in August 2014 suggests that use of some types of oral contraception within the past year increases breast cancer risk by 50 percent. Pills containing higher doses of estrogen lead to even greater risk. While some side effects are rare, many are not, explained Dr. Marguerite Duane, adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University and a family physician. “You can go onto any Facebook page or any groups for birth control and see many women complaining about all the awful effects of the birth control pill: mood swings, weight gain and the psychological symptoms like depression and anxiety,” said Dr. Duane, who assisted with the “Contraceptive Conundrum” conference. The purpose of the conference, which was hosted at Georgetown’s Edmund D. Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics in August, was to educate attendees about contraception from a scientific perspective. Topics ranged from a pharmacist discussing nutrition deficiencies caused by the pill to a post-doctoral researcher discussing how contraception affects women’s brains. Other speakers noted that the side effects of contraception are not limited to women’s health; they include behavioral changes as well. Participants included doctors, researchers, graduate students and even a number of parents of women who had died due to contraception. Among them were the parents of Erika Langhart, who died in 2011 at age 24 due to pulmonary embolisms caused by NuvaRing, one of the more recent and controversial forms of hormonal birth control. Karen Langhart, Erika’s mother, told Vanity Fair in a January 2014 feature story that her daughter was meticulous about risks, but was unaware of the risks of this device. And her story is not unique. NuvaRing has been the subject of high profile class action lawsuits and cited as the cause of numerous women’s deaths. The Huffington Post reported in 2013 that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had advised Organon, a pharmaceutical company manufacturing NuvaRing, to warn users of the drug’s serious risks. “Organon executives adamantly opposed such a statement,” the article said. “An elevated [blood clot] warning label would have been a huge blow. Such a warning might have discouraged women from using NuvaRing and made doctors less inclined to prescribe it — significantly cutting into the potential return on investment.” Pharmaceutical companies that produce contraception are financially motivated to influence medical education as well, explained Dr. Duane. “The reality is,” she said, “if millions of women started learning how to chart their cycle and fertility, and stopped using hormonal contraceptives, pharmaceutical companies would stand to lose billions of dollars.” According to Dr. Jeremy Kalamarides, medical director of the Vitae Clinic in Austin, Texas, women are often prescribed contraception instead of receiving the medical care they need. “Over and over again, I find women frustrated with the fact that what they thought was being treated is actually not being treated at all by hormonal contraception,” Dr. Kalamarides said. “They come in and say, ‘Can you please give me something different?’” For Dr. Kalamarides, a member of Father Michael J. McGivney Council 5967 in Austin, his interest in contraception alternatives started when he and his wife were preparing for marriage in 1994. “I was thrown for a loop by the fact that [the reproductive system] is the only system in the human body that we turn off when it’s working correctly,” he said. A biology student at the time, Kalamarides’ interest in the topic led him to become an OB-GYN. He then studied NaProTechnology at the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Neb., and established a medical practice that does not prescribe contraception. AN EDUCATION IN FERTILITY Beyond the potentially dangerous side effects related to women’s health, hormonal birth control has resulted in a number of sociological consequences as well. “The pill was a technological shock that profoundly altered the mating market by lowering the ‘cost’ of sex,” explained Dr. Duane, pointing to research done by the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture. At the Austin Institute and elsewhere, sociologists have argued that sex has become a nearly universal precondition for being in a romantic relationship in modern society; contraception’s ability to “safeguard” against pregnancy has made it so. “It’s been well documented in particular how women date and how men date because of contraception,” said Dr. Kalamarides. “It contributes to young people getting married later in life and social distortion in the premarital process.” A growing body of research indicates that contraception even alters a woman’s ability to choose a more genetically suited spouse. A 2011 Wall Street Journal article noted, “The type of man a woman is drawn to is known to change during her monthly cycle — when a woman is fertile, for instance, she might look for a man with more masculine features.” But contraception suppresses fertility and its corresponding hormones, which can lead to a woman choosing a different spouse than she would otherwise. Conversely, a woman does not attract the same men when her fertility is suppressed. “Women tend to exhibit subtle cues when they are ovulating, and men tend to find them more attractive at this time,” the WSJ article explained. For years, Thorn has shared the findings of this research in talks to young people. “This is a big deal,” she said. “If you’re serious about marriage, then both men and women should know this.” Of course, proponents of contraception do not think that any of these risks warrant giving it up — since unintended pregnancy is a “risk” to be avoided. Still, no matter how “protected” people think they are from pregnancy, contraception is not foolproof. Since the legalization of birth control, the sexually permissive culture that contraception has facilitated has contributed to a rise in the nonmarital pregnancy rate from 5 percent in 1960 to 40 percent today. Additionally, more than 85 percent of abortions performed in the United States involve single mothers. And not only does contraception facilitate relationships that make abortion more likely, but hormonal contraception itself can have an abortifacient effect; by thinning the lining of the uterus, it can prevent a newly conceived embryo from being implanted. “Everyone knows that conception is the moment when sperm and egg unite, but for utilitarian purposes, some professional groups associate ‘pregnancy’ with implantation,” Dr. Kalamarides explained. “Many doctors don’t go over informed consent about how birth control works. But when women find out that it can potentially cause very early miscarriage, most are sincerely not interested anymore, or at least would like to try something else.” Many are skeptical, however, that viable alternatives to hormonal contraception exist. “The problem is,” Dr. Duane said, “there is this presumption that if you’re not on birth control, you will be pregnant.” As a result, relatively few women ever learn how to read and understand when they are fertile. To help bridge the knowledge gap, Dr. Duane co-founded and serves as director of FACTS — Fertility Appreciation Collaborative to Teach the Science of fertility awareness-based methods. “Our mission is to educate our medical colleagues about the evidence-based fertility awareness methods, because medical students, residents and physicians are not learning about them,” Dr. Duane said. “When women who are interested in these methods go to doctors who don’t have information, they stop talking to their doctors about this very important part of health care.” Nonetheless, the science of fertility awareness, including NaProTechnology, continues to advance and become more widely known. “Nationally and in the Church, we have not done enough to promote alternatives,” Dr. Kalmarides said. “But I see a lot of hope, because there is a growing number of doctors who are receiving training and using natural family planning in their practices.” The fact remains, Dr. Kalmarides added, that teaching modern fertility awareness methods serves patients much better than both contraception and assisted reproductive technology. “It is better, and it will help more people, whether you are avoiding pregnancy temporarily, trying to achieve pregnancy or treating underlying conditions,” he said. “And when women gain understanding of their fertility, they feel an enormous sense of relief and are empowered. That is what happens when you keep love and life together.” MEG T. MCDONNELL is executive director of the Chiaroscuro Institute and a journalist in Washington, D.C.

MICAIAH BILGER JAN 13, 2016

As a young adult, Lisa Duffy experienced one heartbreak after another: miscarriage, infertility, divorce.

Married at 26, Duffy and her first husband lost three children to miscarriage, one at almost 20-weeks gestation. Later, she went through a surgery that was supposed to help her carry babies to term – but ended up reducing her chances of getting pregnant instead. Then, her husband divorced her.

The Catholic writer recently shared these early life struggles in a column for Aleteia. Duffy said she wants to encourage other women who have experienced loss that there is hope.

She wrote:

The doctors were never able to figure out what was causing these miscarriages until that final pregnancy. My uterus had widened enough for them to detect the problem, which was a malformation that made it impossible to carry a child to term.

My OB/GYN was hopeful. He said if I had come to him with this problem a few years before, he wouldn’t have been able to help me, but now there was a groundbreaking surgery that could correct my problem. So I signed up and went under the knife. The outcome was successful. Sort of.

The surgeons had been able to fix the problem as they’d hoped, but the procedure was so invasive, it left me sterile. In fact, the odds of my ever conceiving a child were now fewer than 1 percent. I was heartbroken and angry, to say the least. Then my husband left, never to return.

The next several years were dark with the weight of her grief. Duffy said she let her anger and pain become excuses to “behave badly at times” and gave up hope of ever having children.

Eventually, Duffy said she met her husband Jim, who helped pull her up out of her misery. She said she began to find hope and happiness again as she worked to repair her relationship with God.

A month after she was married, Duffy said she joined a group of women on a week-long silent retreat in Bethesda, Maryland. On the second day, she began to feel a terrible but familiar experience – morning sickness.

I wanted to jump up and run out to tell the other women — one of whom was my new mother-in-law— but I couldn’t. It was a silent retreat. I didn’t have a cell phone back then, so I couldn’t call Jim. And then it dawned on me, the brilliance of what God was doing. It almost felt deliberate that he was the only one I could share my joy with for the next four days. He wanted me to recognize the miracle he had brought about and how great his love for me was. Despite all the doctors had predicted, I was going to have a baby!

Weeks later, as I sat in my doctor’s office, she said to me, “I hope you realize what a miracle this is. Someone with your history should not be able to get pregnant.” She didn’t have to tell me, I knew better than anyone. And today, I have three healthy, happy miracles who are the joy of my life.

Duffy ended her story with words of hope and encouragement for women who are struggling. Though Duffy experienced losses through infertility and divorce, her words also could apply to women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy or grieving after an abortion.

“Stay close to [God] in your struggles, and trust him with your future,” Duffy said. “Your plans might look different from his, but he ultimately knows how to make you happy.”

By Marissa Poulson Jan 11, 2016

In 2007, the Washington State Pharmacy Commission decided to make it illegal for pharmacists to live consistent with their religious beliefs by continuing to refer customers seeking abortion-inducing drugs, like Plan B, to other nearby pharmacies.

The burden of this unconstitutional law has been swift and severe for the Stormans Family—owners of Ralph’s Thriftway, a small local grocery store in Olympia, Washington. They, along with two other Washington-based pharmacists,

Margo Thelen and Rhonda Mesler,filed a lawsuit challenging the law, after facing formal complaints brought by the State and pro-abortion activists that threatened their pharmacy license.

Despite winning their case after 12-day federal trial when the court found that the state’s law was “aimed at” conscientious objectors, the Stormans Family has been embroiled in an 8-year legal battle for their freedom. Today, ADF asked the United States Supreme Court to hearthe Stormans’ case and uphold this family’s freedom and the freedom of all pharmacists in the state to live by their conscience, instead of forcing them to violate their beliefs.

Here are four reasons the Supreme Court should take their case:

1. Washington is the only state that doesn’t allow referrals to other pharmacies for conscience reasons

In 49 states in the U.S., it is standard practice to allow licensed pharmacists to refer a patient for all kinds of reasons—business, economic, convenience, and yes, religious or conscience-based reasons. In fact, major health organizations, such as the American Pharmacists Association, the Washington State Pharmacy Association, and over 30 other professional pharmacy groups, recognize and support these conscience-based referrals.

2. The state’s radical stance was driven by a controversial organization’s agenda

It raises the question: What made the state take such a radical stance on referrals? Why would the Washington State Pharmacy Commission choose to discriminate against religious pharmacists and their conscience-based reasons for deciding to refer customers to other local pharmacies for certain drugs?

Two words – Planned Parenthood.

Washington’s referral law is based on rules drafted by Planned Parenthood at the request of former Governor Christine Gregoire. In 2005, Planned Parenthood and Gregoire began pressuring the Commission to prohibit conscience-based referrals for Plan B, threatening the members with personal liability under anti-discrimination laws if they voted to allow conscience-based referrals.

After the state’s Pharmacy Commission voted unanimously against the law, Gregoire replaced two Commission members. In 2007, the Commission enacted the Governor’s rule requiring pharmacies to dispense Plan B and making conscience-based referrals illegal, despite continuing to allow pharmacies to refuse to stock it for other reasons.

3. The law is not only an extreme abuse of power by the State of Washington, but it completely disregards the established standard of care and the professionals who have dedicated their lives to improving patient health.

As the American Pharmacists Association, Washington State Pharmacy Association, and thirty-three other pharmacy organizations have explained, the regulations are “truly radical” and “grossly out of step with state regulatory practice.”

4. Allowing pharmacists to make conscience-based referrals does not impede women’s access to abortion-inducing drugs.

The State of Washington has even admitted this fact. But instead of honoring decades of settled pharmacy practice, they still chose to single out religiously-motivated pharmacists, at the urging of a billion dollar organization that kills over 300,000 unborn babies a year, and force them to participate in what they consider to be an abortion.

“The state allows pharmacies to refer for all kinds of reasons. In practice, it only bans religiously motivated referrals,” said Kevin Stormans. “With more than 30 pharmacies stocking the drug within five miles of our store, it is extremely disappointing that the state demands that we violate our conscience or jeopardize our family business. All we are asking is to be able to live out the beliefs that we hold, as Americans have always been able to do, and to be able to refer patients for religious reasons, as the medical and pharmaceutical associations overwhelmingly recommend.”

Please Keep the Stormans Family in your Prayers

Eight years is a long time, but the Stormans Family has remained steadfast, relying on their faith and each other in the midst of an intense legal battle. Please keep them in your prayers and be praying that the Supreme Court will hear their case.

Marissa Poulson writes for Alliance Defending Freedom.

[Please copy for your pharmacist, or forward this to him or her, or send the link—-> http://www.lifenews.com/2016/01/11/ planned-

parenthood-is-trying-to-force-these-pharmacists-to-dispense-abortion-] drugs-theyre-refusing/

http://www.today.com/parents/angel-board-see-ultrasound-photo-made-one-mom-believer-t65306

After an imgur user posted an ultrasound photo this week that appears to show a demon looking over an unborn baby, a mom from Wales decided to balance the scales of good and evil a bit by sharing her own ultrasound image.

Lewis’ ultrasound, performed in 2012, showed an image of what appears to be an angel in her womb with her unborn child.

The image, shared first with The Mirror by 26-year-old mom Kelly Lewis, shows what looks like an angel, watching over Lewis’ baby, Harper, in utero.

Harper is now three years old, and Lewis told TODAY Parents that she didn’t notice the angelic presence when the image was initially captured in 2012.

“It was when I showed my friend later that day — he pointed it out to me. From then on, everyone has been fascinated with it,” said Lewis.

Lewis says her daughter, Harper, now three, is her little angel.

Lewis points out that Harper’s name means, “someone who plays the harp,” instruments often attributed to angels.

“Harper is a very well-behaved little girl,” said Lewis. “She has a warmhearted, caring, and helpful personality — always polite and kind, and very sweet and innocent. She also has the sweetest smile — it’s very angelic. I am truly blessed to have her.”

“She has a warmhearted, caring, and helpful personality,” said Lewis of her daughter. “Always polite and kind, and very sweet and innocent.”

So, does Lewis believe that an angelic being was visiting her unborn daughter on that day in 2012?

“Yes, I’d like to believe that this is an angel,” said Lewis “It’s a nice thing to believe and a lovely thing to have.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/how-my-life-changed-forever-after-i-got-the-depo-provera-birth-control-inje

I had been putting off this visit for quite some time. I guess I really didn’t want to even think about it, and figured that maybe if I ignored it, it would just go away. Unfortunately, that isn’t reality.

So I sat there on the exam table answering questions about our presidents, reading letters off a card to check my vision, and listing off my health history for the past five years (that was the last time I saw a neurologist).

Are you willing to lose your vision in order to prevent pregnancy? Are you willing to develop osteoporosis in your 20s because of your “need” to be on birth control? Are you willing to have a stroke at 30?

I got married to Doug in 2005. I knew that we wanted to delay having children for a while, and I had tried pretty much every hormonal birth control method under the sun. I had not, however, gotten the Depo Provera birth control injection. It seemed like a pretty worry-free method. You only have to get a shot once every three months and most women didn’t even have a period on it. It sounded pretty good to me. I received my first injection just a few months before our wedding date.

About a week after getting the first injection, I started getting these debilitating headaches. And I mean, they were really BAD. I could hardly work. It was interfering with my job, my sleep, pretty much everything. After about of week of this, I made an appointment with my family doctor. I told her about my symptoms and she totally blew me off, saying, “Well, some people just get bad headaches.” Um, no they don’t…not like this.

My mom suggested that maybe it had something to do with my vision. I made an appointment with an ophthalmologist looking for an answer. It was time for my annual eye checkup anyway, so I just kind of figured that my vision must have changed. As soon as he sat down and pulled his fancy eye looker machine up to my face, he backed away from it, switched the light on and asked, “Have you been having really bad headaches?” Why yes I have. I knew it. Mom was right. My vision must have changed.

Here’s how the rest of the conversation went:

Doctor: “Your optic nerves aren’t pulsing. You will need to be seen by a neurologist immediately.”
Me: “A neurologist? Why? Don’t I just need a different contact lens prescription?”
Doctor: “No. This has nothing to do with your vision really, except that if they continue to lay dormant, you can go blind. Many times this means that your spinal pressure is very high, which could mean that there is a tumor in the brain.”
Me: “A tumor?”
Doctor: blah, blah, muffled sound, blah, blah (I heard nothing he said after the word “tumor”).

I suddenly felt hot and sick to my stomach. A brain tumor? Possible brain surgery? They will have to shave my head. I will look terrible bald. Am I going to die from this?

About three days later I was sitting in a neurologist’s office. A couple days after that, I was getting my first lumbar puncture. About a week after that, I was getting my first MRI. Then came another lumbar puncture and another MRI.

The results were all in and they had a diagnosis: Pseudotumor Cerebri, otherwise known as Intercranial Hypertension. Basically, I have increased spinal fluid pressure because of swelling in my brain. I also have reduced vein size because of the swelling. I would be on medication the rest of my life. And if I wasn’t diligent about taking my medication, my spinal pressure would become high resulting in debilitating headaches…and/or I will go blind…or anything in between.

I thought for a long time that my headaches must have been related to my Depo Provera use, but I didn’t have that confirmation until I was diagnosed. My neurologist told me that he very often saw this condition manifest after women took hormonal birth control…particularly birth control containing progestin. So I had to deal with the fact that because I was so desperate not to get pregnant, I put something in my body that gave me a life-long disorder, and could make me go blind.

I MEDICATED A PROBLEM THAT WASN’T THERE AND NOW I TRULY DO LIVE WITH THAT CONSEQUENCE EVERYDAY.

Like I said in part two of this series, when we use birth control we are taking medication in order to “fix” something that isn’t broken. I had done just that and now I was living with putting the pieces back together. Now I do have something to fix…something I never would have dealt with if I had never taken hormonal birth control.

I live everyday with the reality that I could permanently lose my vision. I live with very serious headaches, even though I am on daily medication. A medication, by the way, that costs me almost $500.00 per month.

The sad part is that I am not alone. We know the risks of birth control and yet we continue to pump it into our system as if we have no choice. So here are my two questions, ladies.

IS IT WORTH IT? HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK?

Are you willing to lose your vision in order to prevent pregnancy? Are you willing to develop osteoporosis in your 20s because of your “need” to be on birth control? Are you willing to have a stroke at 30? Are you willing to increase your risk of cancer by 30 percent? Are you willing to develop deadly blood clots because you just can’t be a mom right now? Are you willing to risk a hysterectomy because that IUD looks so appealing? Are you willing to have a heart attack just so you can “fix” your unbroken fertility? If you are a married woman, are you willing to completely lose the desire to have sex with your husband?

How much are you willing to risk? The good news is that you don’t have to risk a thing in order to space your children and avoid pregnancy. There are other, natural options available that give you control over your body. Birth control does exactly the opposite of what its name implies. It doesn’t control birth. It doesn’t control anything. It actually takes your control away.

If you want to truly stand up for women’s reproductive rights, then stand against birth control. Because nothing says anti-woman more than birth control. Any drug that is pushed upon women in order to simply prevent a natural part of a woman’s cycle is one that needs to be outright rejected.

For more information about your other fertility options, please visit www.iusenfp.com or www.naturalwomanhood.org.

If you have been diagnosed with PTC after taking hormonal birth control and would like to talk to an attorney about your situation, please visit http://www.schmidtlaw.com/pseudotumor-cerebri-lawsuit/. Getting these dangerous drugs off the market is one of the best things we can do for the safety of women. Thousands of women, including myself, have now come forward in hopes to do just that.

http://www.intothebreach.net/a-call-to-battle/

Porn. Fornication. Prostitution. Loving and leaving. Creating children and then abandoning them. Is this the greatness of men? The answer is a resounding ‘no’ according to a powerful short film titled “A Call to Battle” which was released yesterday by the Catholic bishop of Phoenix.

The short film, created by Blackstone Films, outlines how an epic battle is being waged for the souls of men. At stake is love and relationships, the family, and the very survival of society itself.

Drawing upon his landmark letter issued last September on the same topic, Bishop Thomas Olmsted is specifically summoning the men of his diocese to become the men that God created them to be and to “stand in the breach” against a raging enemy seeking to destroy.

“Men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging around you,” Olmsted encouraged in his September Apostolic Exhortation to Catholic Men.

http://www.lifenews.com/2016/01/04/this-amazing-couple-already-has-8-children-but-they-opened-their-home-to-terminally-ill-kids/

As a hospice nurse, Cori Salchert began to notice a heartbreaking practice. Some terminally ill babies were being abandoned by their families and left to die alone.

“There was no judgment on my part that the parents should just be able to deal with the circumstances,” Cori said. “But I thought, ‘Wow, I would really like to take those kiddos and care for them.’”

And that’s exactly what the Salchert family is doing. Cori and her husband, Mark, have taken in three terminally ill infants since they decided to pursue foster care less than five years ago, according to the report.

On Dec. 18, the family adopted a little boy named Charlie who has severe neurological impairments that force him to depend on a tracheostomy, ventilator and feeding tube, according to the report.

“He will die; there’s no changing that,” Cori said, brushing away a tear. “But, we can make a difference in how he lives, and the difference for Charlie is that he will be loved before he dies.”

“God is love, and He loves this little boy, and He loves us to love him,” Mark added. “Charlie is truly an amazing individual; he’s made us richer — more alive, in a sense.”

The Salcherts decided to begin fostering these vulnerable, sick infants after they experienced a tragedy of their own. Five years ago, Cori was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that caused gastrointestinal distress. Faced with multiple surgeries and constant illness, Cori left her job as a perinatal hospice nurse, according to the report.

“My prayer at that time was asking how God could possibly use this for good,” Cori said.

The news report continues:

As fate would have it, Cori’s circumstances opened up the time for her to pursue the Salcherts’ dream of becoming foster parents to hospice infants. They connected with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s treatment foster care program, which matches families with children who have significant to severe behavioral or medical challenges.

The Salcherts brought home Emmalynn in August 2012. She did not have the left or right hemispheres of her brain, only the brain stem. She lived 50 days. Emmalynn passed away tucked into Cori’s fuzzy green robe “like a kangaroo” while foster mother and daughter sat alone at the kitchen table one night.

The Salcherts’ next foster child was Jayden, who was able to overcome his medical challenges to become a thriving toddler. He was ultimately adopted by a cousin of his biological parents.

With Emmalynn’s passing and Jayden leaving the home, the Salcherts were heartbroken. Cori recalls turning to Mark and saying she was done with treatment foster care, but her husband encouraged her that “this is what she was meant to do.”

With their biological children in full-support, Cori and Mark persevered. That’s when they received Charlie, who now is officially a member of their family.

The family said they enjoy cuddling, watching movies and taking walks with Charlie. Their local fire department also made Charlie an honorary fireman, the report states. Charlie’s life is making an impact on people in their community. His father said Charlie “really brings out the nobler parts of a community.”

This amazing family humbly told the newspaper that they are far from perfect. Cori refused to accept the label “supermom,” the report states. But the Salcherts truly are extraordinary people in a culture that often devalues terminally ill people by suggesting that their lives be destroyed by abortion or doctor-prescribed suicide.

“These children need nurses, but the overarching thing is, they need moms,” Cori said. “Too many people never do anything because they can’t do everything and can’t save everyone. For me, even though I can’t help every child, I’m happy to make a difference in the lives of a few.”