Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category

Yesterday, we marked the 35 "anniversary" of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision - Roe v. Wade. Planned Parenthood "celebrated" the day, while we in the pro-life community solemnly note the day with prayers and action - March for Life, prayer services, etc.

For today's Open Discussion Thread, I wanted to ask:

How has the decision to legalize abortion affected the United States? Are we better off or are we worse? How so?

Planned Parenthood has a slogan that says "Choice on Earth", replacing "Peace" with "Choice".

Which would you rather have, "choice" or "peace"?

God Bless,
Roger

A condensed portion of this post has been sent to the Beacon letter to the editor - but I'm posting here to share with all of you as who knows if it will get to print.

I guess I’m naïve but I don’t understand why the city fought so hard to keep the truth from surfacing in the zoning issue with the Planned Parenthood facility. I, for one, would like to see the truth brought out—whatever that may be.

When the zoning appeal was made, I thought it would be a debate with the owner of the Planned Parenthood facility; instead it has been a debate with the city, with the Planned Parenthood lawyer, basically saying ‘yeah, what she said’. When this started, I thought the city would be the neutral party in this, wanting only to ensure the right thing was done for its citizens (i.e. city ordinances were followed).

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At Saturday's protest, we restored 70 of the memorial crosses torn apart by city workers after the November protest. Here are two of them, and if you look to the lower left corner of this picture you can see how effectively the booted feet of our two hundred picketers cleared the sidewalk.

In anticipation of this Saturday's "Empty Manger" Christmas Caroling Day, I thought I would launch the Wednesday Open Thread with this question: What is your favorite Christmas carol?

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Today at about 2:30PM, I was standing outside the Planned Parenthood facility, praying and trying my hand at sidewalk counseling, when a big white truck pulled into the facility and on the back of the truck was a sign that said "Medical Waste". My heart dropped as I realized what this truck was really here for and what it meant.

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Pictured here are the memorial crosses sponsored by participants at the "We're Here for Life" Rally on Saturday, October 27—all piled up in my garage.

As Matt reported, they were found dug up and left in the parkway on Monday, October 29 and reinstalled that afternoon, then confiscated by police on Thursday, November 1 and recovered by pro-lifers the next day—fittingly on All Souls Day in the Roman Catholic Church. Our information is that the city legal department authorized the removal of the crosses.

The legal department answers to the mayor, which both illustrates the importance of even a mere mayoral election to the pro-life cause (not to mention the cause of freedom), and suggests a possible topic for this Wednesday's discussion thread: pro-life and politics.

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Before the hideous fence went up, someone formed the sign of the cross out of large rocks on the hillock facing Planned Parenthood. Several other rock crosses soon appeared.

Now that all of these crosses are barricaded behind the fence, they have a sort of "early church catacombs" quality. The remind me of those ikthys fishes etched into the walls of ancient cities by our Christian ancestors.

While of course any "life topic" is free to be discussed on the Wednesday Open Thread, the above reflection suggests the topic of religious faith and the pro-life movement.

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As Roger reported, Saturday's rally was a tremendous success. I would estimate that at least 1,000 pro-lifers participated in the event, sending the message: "It's not over. We're here for life."

The Aurora police did a great job of keeping the peace and defending our First Amendment rights—that is, until the near the end of the Rally, when Police Chief William Powell and Corporation Counsel Alayne Weingartz came on the scene.

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The little crosses in this photo were dug up out of the dirt around Planned Parenthood and tossed in the gutter by a couple of employees one day during the 40-day vigil. I retrieved them and brought them to the Vigil area, where I snapped this photo.

Folks seemed to appreciate the open discussion thread last Wednesday, so I thought I'd make it a regular Wednesday feature. This thread is for discussion on any aspect of the life issues, but to get the ball rolling and make it interesting I thought I'd throw out a starter question:

What makes a human person a human person?

YOUTH FOR TRUTH

The Archdiocese of Chicago (currently running the Chicago 40-Days For Life Prayer Vigil) invited Youth For Truth to hold a Pro-Life Youth Rally in Chicago.

The Rally will be this Sunday, October 21, 2007, from 1:00-4:00 pm, in Chicago! At 1pm, meet at the Chicago Planned Parenthood (1200 N. LaSalle Street—corner of LaSalle and Division) where we will kick off our rally with prayer. From there we will march from the Planned Parenthood to St. Joseph’s Church (located at 1107 N. Orleans Street, Chicago) where our rally will continue with a band, to lead us in music, and great speakers!

Stand up for life! Be a voice and a witness for the silenced! All youth, Jr. High through College invited! Bring Friends!Wear your pro-Life apparel! All who cannot join us: Please keep us in your prayers!

Parking: You are welcome to park at Holy Name Cathedral (located at 735 N. State Street, Chicago). However you will be walking a distance to the Planned Parenthood from there. If possible, you may want to find a nearby parking spot on the street.

I saw these crosses here this morning at St. Peter's Church in Geneva when driving up to attend Patricia Bainbridge's talk on Planned Parenthood. I thought the shot would be a good graphic to accompany this open thread.

I wanted to provide an opportunity for open, free-wheeling discussion on the life issues in the wake of my having closed down comments on the "vacant lot fence" article. There were over 400 comments—but that many starts to clog the server, and the polemic was getting a little out of hand.

The comments section is now open for discussion. Enjoy!