Rosary in the Mirror?

Many people hang a rosary from there rear view mirror (including myself). This was a topic of discussion at Spirit Daily and seems to be a bit of a controversy over whether this is proper.

"I started hanging a rosary when I spotted a Playboy bunny decal on someone else’s rear-view mirror some fifteen-plus years ago and was offended," writes Maureen Wellik of Middletown, Delaware. "So I hung a rosary in compensation to God, kind of like when Christian holidays were created to replace pagan holidays. Practically speaking, having a rosary on the rear-view mirror is a great reminder and is helpful especially when I am driving on a highway and my rosary is buried in my pocket under my seatbelt: I can just grab the one on the mirror. Actually I have a physiological reaction when I see a rosary on someone’s rearview mirror. A feeling of peace comes over me. I figure God is important to them, Mary is important to them, the driver prays, is a counter-cultural person who is not concerned about what folks think, and if I am in a jam and need help, that’s who I can go to."

This also extends to the proper display of other sacred items such as, statues of St. Joseph, which are buried in a home owners yard to aid in the sale of that property. or the burying of medals or the spreading of sacred salt, sprinkled in the 4 corners of a property to bring protection.

"Now onto burying medals," says Elaine Dallaire of Massachusetts. "There is some merit to this practice. I have been told by several priests and religious that in order to protect your property and house take one of each Miraculous, St. Michael the Archangel, and St. Benedict, have them blessed, and tie the three together and do the same with others so you have four sets of three medals.

I personally do not see anything wrong with this and in fact through out the centuries people have worn scapulars to give protection, and of course the church still practices excorcisms to expel demons.

Homosexuality & Pedophilia: A Missing Link

LifeSite News is reporting that a battle is being waged in Canada to lower the age of consent for anal sex from 18 to 16 years of age. This is in response to the Conservative parties attempt to change the age of consent from 14 to 16 for normal sexual intercourse.

Reacting to the Conservative Government's plan to raise the age of consent for normal sex from 14 to 16, EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) has commenced a campaign to have the age of consent for anal sex lowered to 16 from 18. Laurie Arron, the director of advocacy for EGALE remarked to the Ottawa Citizen, "There's no reason to treat anal sex differently than other sexual acts except to stigmatize gay and bisexual men."

So it would seem that the agenda is outed in Canada. The group EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) is actually fighting to legalize sodomy for teenage boys. What most people had known (that the incidence of pedophilia per capita, was greater in homosexuals than among heterosexuals) is finally out in the open. While the hetereo community is pushing to protect our children from premature sexual contact until they are older, the homosexual community is attempting to "Push Back" by forcing the age of consent even younger. In fact this has been a goal of the movement since the 1970's. In a study conducted by Steve Baldwin "Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement" The Report states

The Holy Grail of the pedophile movement is the lowering or elimination of all age of consent laws. The main warriors in this political and legal battle are "mainstream" homosexual groups. Robert Knight and Frank York of the Family Research Council have thoroughly documented this in a report. "As far back as 1972, the National Coalition of Gay Organizations adopted a ‘gay rights platform’ that included a demand to ‘repeal all laws governing the age of sexual consent.’" It is homosexual activists within the United Nations who are lobbying to give sexual rights to underage children. In England, the campaign is being led by Outrage! and Stonewall, both homosexual organizations. The Dutch homosexual group, Association for the integration of Homosexuality, has succeeded in lowering the age of legal sex to twelve in Holland. Assisting them was another homosexual group, the COC, which stated: The liberation of pedophilia must be viewed as a gay issue . . . [and that] ages of consent should therefore be abolished . . . by acknowledging the affinity between homosexuality and pedophilia, the COC has quite possible made it easier for homosexual adults to become more sensitive to the erotic desires of younger members of their sex, thereby broadening gay identity.

In Canada, the effort is led by homosexual activist and NAMBLA defender Gerald Hannon. In America, aside from NAMBLA, the effort is supported by most of the major homosexual organizations such as the National Gay Task Force. Indeed, the annual homosexual "March on Washington" invariably releases a "statement of demands" which includes abolishing age of consent laws. Homosexuals in Hawaii have already successfully lowered the age of consent there to fourteen. To be frank, it is difficult to find an advocate of lowering the age of consent laws in the United States or elsewhere who is not a homosexual activist.

So we have an agenda driven mostly by the homosexual activists to lower the age of consent and to incorporate pedophilia into the homosexual movement. This contrasts with there public statements which attempt to discredit any link to homosexuality and pedophilia.

Please pray that the Lord will intercede for our neighbors in Canada.

Cause for Sainthood

At the funeral of Father Andrea Santoro, Cardinal Camillo Ruini announced that a Cause for sainthood would be opened for the slain priest. Italian priest Andrea Santoro, 59, was shot twice in the entrance of the Santa Maria Catholic Church in the northern city of Trabzon. The gunman shouted "God is great" as he fired his pistol. It is perceived that his murder was in response to Danish cartoons that insulted Mohammed.

Cardinal Ruini, the vicar for the Rome diocese, had presided over the funeral of the slain priest and received loud applause during his homily when he mentioned that he expected the eventual beatification. (as quoted by Catholic Exchange)

"In the process of beatification and canonization that I hope will be opened, we must fully respect all the laws and schedules of the Church," the cardinal said. "But today, I am persuaded that all the elements of Christian martyrdom are present in the sacrifice of Father Andrea."

Cardinal Josà Saraiva Martins, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was more cautious in his comments as reported by Catholic Exchange

The prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints had been more cautious in his response to questions about the possible beatification of Father Santoro. In remarks to the Italian daily La Reppublica, Cardinal Josà Saraiva Martins said that he would wait to "really see how things turn out" before discussing the opening of a cause for beatification. He did note, however, that with the death of the Italian priest, "the Church is once again colored in red, the color of the blood of martyrs."

Speculation Alert... I suspect that the slain priests cannonization will go through, though it will take longer than many would like. Primarily, many will oppose his beatification for political reasons, such as a fear of offending Muslims. However, eventually, God willing, he will be recognized as a saint.

'Till Death do Us Part?

This past Sunday, my wife and I were listening to Father Joe’s Country Road with Father Joe. I find his counseling abilities quite astounding to say the least. But that is not why I’m writing this post as you might have guessed by now.

To my shock, I heard Father Joe,(a catholic priest) say that sometimes divorce is necessary, (as in the case of physical or mental abuse). He has further went on to say tht even though a good arguement from scripture exists to prohibit divorce, that he feels that God would not want someone in a bad relationship to stay married. He went on to give an example of a woman who suffered from migraines for many years and after her divorce, the migranes disapeared.

I do empathize with someone going through physical abuse, and I do agree that drastic measures need to be taken to protect the wounded spouse and children, however the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1650-51, 2382-86 speaks clearly in no uncertain terms to the indivisibility of a marriage. The only exceptions mentioned are in the CCC 2383 which states

If civil divorce remains the only possible way of insuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritances, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense”.

You will notice the line “it can be tolerated” implies that divorce is not permitted, but that in certain very limited instances it will consider it. This was put into place because in certian cultures a woman loses her inheritance if she is seperated and does not recieve a divorce. This is not permitted so much as excused due to the extreme circumstances. In fact church teaching is quite clear on the issue. I found this at Catholic Answers which shows the the church's stand on the issue.

When Jesus came he elevated matrimony to the status of a sacrament. Any valid marriage between two baptized people is a sacramental marriage and, once consummated, cannot be dissolved. Jesus taught that if anyone so married divorces and remarries, that person is living in perpetual adultery, a state of grave sin.

He said, "Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery" (Luke 16:18; cf. Mark 10:11-12).

Paul was equally insistent on this fact, declaring, "Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. . . . Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive (Rom. 7:2-3).

In the midst of the Greco-Roman culture, which allowed for easy divorce and remarriage, the Church Fathers proclaimed Christ's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage-just as the Catholic Church does today in our secular, easy-divorce culture (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1614-1615). Other denominations have modified their teachings to accommodate the ethos of modern culture, but the Catholic Church preserves the teaching of Jesus and the early Christians.

While their ex-spouses are alive, the only time that a baptized couple can remarry after divorce is when a valid, consummated sacramental marriage never existed in the first place. For example, for a marriage to be contracted, the two parties must exchange valid matrimonial consent. If they do not, the marriage is null. If the competent authority (a diocesan marriage tribunal) establishes this fact, a decree of nullity (commonly called an annulment) can be granted, establishing that the parties are free to remarry (CCC 1629). In this case there is no divorce followed by remarriage in God's eyes because there was no marriage before God in the first place, merely a marriage in the eyes of men.

If, however, the parties are genuinely and sacramentally married, then, while in some cases there may be good reasons for them to live apart and even to obtain a legal separation, in God's eyes they are not free to remarry (CCC 1649).

This is not a commandment of men, but one that comes directly from Jesus Christ. As Paul said, "To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband)-and that the husband should not divorce his wife" (1 Cor. 7:10).

So you can see Fr. Joe is plain wrong on this and the Arch Diocese of Baltimore is complicit in this as well. This would not go on without the knowledge and consent of our William Cardinal Keeler.

Supreme Challenge?

Catholic Exchange is reporting in an article by Russell Shaw that Justice Kennedy is not the justice that many anticipated.

When Ronald Reagan named him to the Supreme Court in 1988, people believed that Kennedy, a Catholic, would be a reliable conservative vote. Instead, the former federal appeals court judge from California was apparently socialized into the mindset of his liberal colleagues.

Over the years, Kennedy, now 69, has helped uphold legalized abortion, spoken for the court in overturning anti-sodomy laws (and thus given a boost to the drive for same-sex marriage, despite assurances that that wouldn't happen), and just last month delivered a majority opinion rendering the same service to the cause of physician-assisted suicide.

The court is now one justice away from a moral majority (my apologies to the reverand Falwell). According to Mr Shaws article, President Bush could, by the end of his term in office, have the chance to appoint another supreme court justice.

There is no guarantee that will happen soon, but it could, even as early as next summer. John Paul Stevens is 85 years old with 30 years on the Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is said to be in frail health. Sometimes it is even rumored that David Souter isn't happy in his work.

Justice Kennedy has voted to strike down sodomy laws, which have given a boost to the issue of gay marriage, supported Roe vs Wade and just last month ruled with the majority for physician assisted suicide.

Let us pray that the Lord intercedes on our behave and that either justice Kennedy "finds religion" or President Bush gets a chance to appoint another Justice.

Anti Western Sentiment

Cardinal Paul Poupard (as reported in the Catholic Exchange )has commented on the growing anti western sentimant that seems to be growing in the world. These comments were made concerning the murder of Father Andrea Santoro in Turkey, and more broadly on the violent anti-Western demonstrations that have spread through the Islamic world.

Cardinal Poupard noted that the young man who killed Father Santoro had said that he was motivated by outrage over the cartoons published in European newspapers mocking Islam. The killer's confession shows "the climate of hatred" that threatens Christians, the cardinal remarked.

In fact, the cardinal continued, the victim of this killing was a priest who had been working to establish fraternal dialogue with his Muslim neighbors. So the murder illustrates "the mystery of good and evil," he observed. "But evil will not have the last word."

The rising hostility of Muslims toward the West is aggravated, Cardinal Poupard said, by the militant secularism that mocks all religious beliefs. This attitude sometimes produces "acts that some people find gravely offensive," he noted, and the results "can inflame the world."

While I do believe that militant secularism is to blame for much that is wrong in this world, in this particular case I'd have to disagree. I seems that the Islamic world must take the lions share of the responsibility in what is happening. The Belmont Club is reporting that the idea that islam forbids images of the prophet is false. That images of Mohammed is often presented in the Islamic press, and not always in a flattering light.

The claim that the ban on depicting Muhammad and other prophets is an absolute principle of Islam is also refuted by history. Many portraits of Muhammad have been drawn by Muslim artists, often commissioned by Muslim rulers. There is no space here to provide an exhaustive list, but these are some of the most famous ...

The truth is that Islam has always had a sense of humor and has never called for chopping heads as the answer to satirists. Muhammad himself pardoned a famous Meccan poet who had lampooned him for more than a decade.

So if the prophet never forbade the making of images and in fact even forgiving someone who made fun of him, then what is going on? The answer seems to be in that the people who practice islam have a natural aversion toward the west, and what they percieve as a christian culture. This culture is a competing ideology, and as Islam has been spread, not through missionary zeal, but by the sword, then the roots of the issue and the islamic reaction can be completely understood.

Islam sees itself as completely superior to the rest of the world and therefore takes exception when any other culture or ideal critisizes it, as this flies in the face of there superior self image. So the revulsion found in the islamic world is more about saving face than being offended. So the reaction is little different than the drunken bravado of a sailor on shore leave.

Pray for peace, and that the Lord shows the world the true path.

Slovakian Concordat Creates Crises

The government of Slovakia is in crises today. Is it political corruption? No. Is it due to bribery and corruption in the highest places in government? No. It seems the problem is that the government is balking at signing a concordat with the Vatican. Specifically, the mention of a "conscience clause" which stipulates that citizens of Slovakia could not be forced to participate in anything that would offend there religious beliefs.

Catholic Exchange is reporting that christian democrats in response to prime ministers refusal to sign the concordat, have quit the Dzurinda government creating a crises.

On February 6, the Christian Democrat members of the ruling coalition announced that they were quitting the government, after Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said that he would not press for acceptance of the pact with the Vatican.

In December, the Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights, a committee of the European Union, had issued a 40-page opinion arguing that the proposed concordat could interfere with a woman's legal access to abortion, since the agreement would allow doctors and nurses to refuse to perform the procedure. Such a pact, the committee said, "should be regulated in order to ensure that, in circumstances where abortion is legal, no woman shall be deprived from having effective access to the medical service of abortion.

The concordat has been under discussion in Slovakia since 2003, with the Dzurinda government originally favoring the pact. The coalition's support eroded after the European Union report.

It seems that the Dzurinda government only favors the right to choose if it means the death of an infant. It's hard to imagine that a country that is 70% catholic would even be debating this issue. To there credit the christian democrats did the right thing in quitting the government. They need our prayers.

Italian Italian Priest Killed in Turkey

Well, the devil is at it again. The islamic response to criticism seems to be to kill catholic priests. This story was carried by Catholic World News

Father Andrea Santoro, an Italian missionary priest who had served in Turkey for 10 years, was shot twice at point-blank range in his church in the port town on the Black Sea. The gunman shouted, "Allah is great!" before running out of the church.

Bishop Luigi Padovese of Anatolia, who rushed to the scene on hearing of the priest's death, told the AsiaNews service that the timing of the killing-- as Muslim militants around the world protest the cartoons mocking Islam-- "does not seem incidental to me." The bishop reported that the atmosphere in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, "is heated, not to say overheated." Christian churches were under heavy security in the aftermath of the killing.

If ever there was a time when good and evil were so obvious it is now. I don't agree with someone who mindlessly insults someones religion. I however don't think that critism aimed at members of a religion who act poorly is offensive. And if offended the proper responce is to picket or protest, not burn embassies or kill priests. I pray that the Lord works into there hearts.

Islamic Cartoons

Muslims around the world are going nuts in response to political cartoons that make satire of Islam and the prophet Mohommad. Now in the West, this "going nuts" would entail fierce letter writting to the editors, or maybe picketing the offices and a boycott of the sponsors. In the Islamic world, this entails bombing the religion most closely associated with the perpetraters. This may seem strange to us in the West, but in Islamic culture, everything is viewed through the eyes of religion. Hence, if a secular person in Europe, whose grand parents were christians writes a harmful, insulting cartoon, then the nearest christian church, no matter the denomination or the fact that the people who attend this church live thousands of miles away, are to blame, and violence is vistited onto them. An example is Islamic Jihad's threat against christians living in the Gaza strip. Now most people in the rest of the world would know that the christians in Gaza have nothing to do with this. And Hamas, at least on the surface, is saying that no attacks will take place.

This is (conjecture alert) the thinking I believe is going on in the Vatican with the statement issued stating that Caricatures of Mohammed are a "Scandal,".

An influential Vatican prelate has declared that caricatures of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, published in the European press, are a "scandal."

In the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini wrote that the deliberate mockery of religious beliefs is offensive, and should be curbed. He said that the cartoons which have caused a furor across Europe and the Islamic world illustrated a tendency in Western society to consider liberty of expression as an absolute right.

I think that the Vatican knows that its priets and religious as well as parishoners are in danger and is seeking to provide some safety for them with this statement. True, critisism of someones faith is a sensitive matter and should not be done to insult, as may or may not be the case in Europe. After all how many times have we christians had to endure scathing insults from secular papers and other media outlets?

The Vatican (I believe) is trying to thread the eye of the needle with this statement. Will it work? Shouldn't we also respect others religions?

Tridentine vs Novus Ordo

There is one sure way to start a discussion/argument within catholic circles and that is to mention the loss of the tridentine rite mass. At Roman Catholic Blog a spirited discussion is taking place on the merits of either form of worship.

Now how one chooses to worship, (either the novus ordo or tridentine), if done with reverence should not matter. However, I think what the underlying criticism made of the novus ordo, is the loss of reverence experienced since Vatican II. It seems that the until recently, those Catholics who wanted the church to change her positions on items such as abortion and gay marriage, had been winning the spin control on this. Thus Vatican II was used to support these positions when in fact Vatican II never supported them.

Now I personaly have never attended a tridentine mass, (though I'd love to) but from what I've heard others say, that mass inspired more reverence than those that attend the local parish folk mass. Not that the folk mass is bad. A folk mass can inspire reverence if approached properly. The problem is, that the tridentine mass had elements that reminded people (such as Latin) that there were things greater than they. An example is the loss of the alter rail. This loss accompanied the loss in the belief in the real presence. The fact that people did not feel the need to kneel and bow to our Lord is lost to most. I know its not a direct one to one corrolation, but a link does exist. The removal of those reminders has hurt our faith, not in there direct loss, but in what they held together.

Christians Tortured for Faith

Christians in the Phillipians Mandanao region were killed by islamic terrorists, bent on spreading the religion of pieces. Catholic World News was reporting

A cold-blooded massacre of Christians in the Philippines, believed to be the work of Muslim terrorists, has raised fears of a full-scale religious conflict in the region around Mindanao, the AsiaNews service reports.

Gunmen broke into a farm in the small town of Patikul and killed six people, including a 9-month-old baby girl, after first having asked if they were Christians. Five others were wounded in the attack.

The gunmen were believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf organization, a Muslim extremist group with links to al Qaida. Muslim terrorists have been active in the region around Mindanao.

Being martyred for being a christian is still happening today.

Feminist Suicide Bomber

Europe and the West are facing a demographic crises that will lead to the end of the West and Christian culture. The strange thing is that the fall of the West is not at the hand of Communist armies, not at the hands of Nazi's. The end will come from a self induced demographic suicide bomb. The West, having abandoned God and adopted the tenets of secularism and feminism, are careening towards a cliff. The very tenets of this new religion are killing the west off. World Net Daily reports that a promenant feminist actually admit that woman should only have one child, and that to only secure there position financially.

In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks reported on Linda Hirshman, a retired Brandeis professor who has decided the time is right to push the feminist case to the next plateau, to, as she says, “radicalize feminism.” In the December 2005 issue of The American Prospect, Hirshman informs us that women who stay home and dedicate themselves to children and family concerns are shortchanging themselves and society. Why? Because the “family — with its repetitious, socially invisible, physical tasks — is a necessary part of life, but it allows fewer opportunities for full human flourishing than public spheres like the market or the government.”
....
Hirshman argues that parents and schools should make clear to young women that their primary goal in life is to find careers that pay well: “The best way to treat work seriously is to find the money. Money is the marker of success in a market economy; it usually accompanies power, and it enables the bearer to wield power, including within the family.”

To achieve this goal, she recommends that women find husbands who will share domestic drudgery equally: “You can either find a spouse with less social power than you or find one with an ideological commitment to gender equality.” And one other thing: “Have a baby. Just don’t have two.” Having two children, she argues, is the tipping point that will make it near to impossible to pursue a truly meaningful career. She warns that if talented women continue to make the bad choice of staying home and raising children, it will leave men forever in charge of the things that matter in life at the highest levels of society.

Europe and the Liberals in the U.S. share the same philospohy, and the knife is at there own throats. Abortion, birth control and not getting married at all are the weapons the non Catholic West is using as there suicide bomb.

Society of St Pius X

Pope Benedict is meeting with the Roman Curia where the topic of discussion will be the reconciliation of the Society of St Pius X with the See of Rome. The group broke with Rome in 1988 after its founder, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained three new bishops in defiance of Rome's orders. The vatican's responce to the illicit ordinations was to excommunicate the new bishops along with bishop Lefebvre. Now Rome would like to recind these excommunications. Roman Catholic blog is reporting via a link to Catholic News Agency.

Vichy, Feb. 01, 2006 (CNA) - The Saint Pius X Fraternity and its superior general Bishop Fellay , are seeking the regularize their situation with the Holy See, in a declaration made by the same bishop on January 13th, and in comments to French newspaper La Croix.

According to the superior general, the Vatican would be willing to grant them a status of autonomy and the creation of a personal apostolic administration directly under the administration of of the Pope. The same has been done already in 2001-2002 in Campos, Brazil.

Bishop Fellay is confident this status will be granted to them, even though, he says, “we don’t want to be a catholic group aside. We don’t ask for the old mass just for us, but for all. But maybe we have to go through this transitory status.”

With any luck the Lefebvrest's won't do as has been there want in the past, which is to find a way to sabatoge the talks.

The Church and Demographics

There is an opinion piece by the Action Institue for the Study of Religion and Liberty that argues that the root of Europes declining birthrate is due to the waning influence of the Catholic church and the nannt state.

Now, the more urgent task is to show that Western European socialism has also failed. Although some aspects of the Western European model originally claimed Christian inspiration and objective, it is now clear that the modern Western European welfare-state
is collapsing. And while many modern countries share some of the problems loosely
categorized under the “European social model,” it is Europe that most desperately needs a genuinely Catholic alternative.

The simplest way to see the failure of the extended welfare state is to look at the
demography of Western Europe. The demographic implosion of Europe has both economic and spiritual causes. And the demographic problem illustrates the most basic flaw of the system: It is not sustainable. The modern welfare state or social assistance state can not replenish itself because it has marginalized the family.

The onslaught of the secular nanny state has taken the idea of marriage as a stabilizing force in society and turned it on its ear. With the onslaught of the "Dutch Experiment" the number of children born out of wedlock has doubled from 18% to 31%, while the propensity to marry had been dropping since 1997.

Europe: Homophobia Illegal?

The European Union has passed a resolution "Homophobia in Europe" that equates homophobia with racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and sexism.
World Net Daily is reporting

The European Parliament's recently passed resolution "Homophobia in Europe" has raised alarms among European pro-family groups, Christians and others who worry the measure is a move to cut off public debate over same-sex unions and force universal acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. The controversial resolution urging member states to ban "homophobia" states that "homophobia can be defined as an irrational fear of and aversion to homosexuality and of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people based on prejudice, similar to racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and sexism."

This is a dangerous precedent as it basically outlaws one of the very basic tenents of christianity. Our faith is under attack and one center of that attack is Western Europe. This only calls to our attention how vital Pope Benedict's call to re-evangelize Europe is.

The Struggle Continues

The fight to stop abortion continues on many fronts, and recently many events have taken place that I felt needed attention. Perhaps this is due in part to the country's becoming more conservative, or the fact that the baby boomers, that great bastion of liberal ideas have lost influence with the average American, or maybe it might be as simple as they have not been able to sell there ideas and values to the seceeding generations of Americans. For whatever reason, the fight to prevent abortion is picking up steam.

Some recent events are:

1)The Washington Times has reported that 5 states are considering an outright ban on abortion, with the only exception being the life of the mother.

Legislators in at least five states are proposing bold anti-abortion measures as the Bush administration reshapes the U.S. Supreme Court, a report said. With the goal of challenging the Roe vs. Wade ruling that ensured a woman's right to an abortion, lawmakers in Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, South Dakota and Tennessee propose banning all abortions except when the woman's life is in danger, Stateline.org reported. If enacted, legal experts said the laws would be the first absolute abortion bans since the landmark 1973 ruling.

2) The pro life group, National Right to Life is reporting that a victory at the supreme court was obtained in the rights of a parent to be notified and be present if there daughter is going to have an abortion.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously remanded Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood, the case dealing with New Hampshire's parental notification law, to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Today's decision reaffirms that parents have a right to know and that girls have a right to have their parents involved--it is a victory for both parents and minor girls," stated Mary Spaulding Balch, State Legislative director. "There is no abortion procedure that can be performed so quickly that there is not enough time to make a short phone call to a minor girl's parents."

This does not mean that the path is clear or rosey in the least. Life Site News is reporting that in the state of Illinois, the Republican candidate is in favor of a law that would require a pharmacist to fill any prescription for birth control, without an exception for conscience.

Illinois Gov Candidate Topinka Backs Rule Targeting Pro-Life Pharmacists
Showing her pro-abortion colors, Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka said on Monday she supports a much-criticzed executive order implemented by Gov. Rod Blagojevich that forces pro-life pharmacists to dispense drugs that could cause abortions.

So the fight is in no way over and may still be lost. There seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not an oncoming train.