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Roe v Wade: 46 years later, hurting baby turtles is illegal but, in America, killing baby people is a “guaranteed right”

January 22, 2019/1 Comment/in Current events, Pro-life/by Larry Peterson

By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region – Hatchling In Ripples_Uploaded by AlbertHerring, Public Domain, Link

Sea turtles are protected by Florida’s Endangered and Threatened Species Act of 1977. They are also protected by federal law which prohibits disturbing sea turtles while they are “nesting” (AKA: unborn). The Marine Turtle Protection Act states that “no person may take, possess, disturb, mutilate, destroy, cause to be destroyed, sell, offer for sale, transfer, molest or harass any marine sea turtle or its nests or eggs at any times.”

Yes, we sure love our turtles, especially here in Florida where they nest around the entire peninsula. In fact, we love them so much we have penalties for “disturbing” them. A first offense could cost a person up to 60 days in jail and a $100-$500 fine. A second charge could put you in the slammer for six months with a punishment of $1000. After that, the penalties continue to increase with each additional offense. Federal penalties include jail time and fines up to $15,000 for each offense.

Naturally, we do need laws to protect our wildlife and our environment. But what about “Baby People?” Don’t they count? Why is it perfectly “legal” to kill Baby People who have not been born and you can go to jail for harming or disturbing a baby turtle that has not been born? Does that make sense?

The Loggerhead Sea Turtle is one of these protected turtles. Like Baby People, it can be found all over the world. However, its primary habitat is the Florida coast and the coastline as far north as Virginia. It is estimated that these turtles build 67,000 nests a year along the beaches. The female lays her eggs in the sand and buries them. After two months they hatch, crawl to the sea and begin their lives. Those that survive will live close to 60 years.

It is illegal to harm, harass, or kill any sea turtles, their eggs, or hatchlings. It is also illegal to import, sell, or transport turtles or their products. It is perfectly legal to kill Baby People who have not been born. Since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973, over 61,000,000 abortions have been performed in the United States. Sixty-one million baby people have been vanquished from existence, many of them burned alive via the saline abortion method. That extrapolates out to, on average since 1973, 1,326,086 Baby People a year killed in America.

In 2017 there were 3.86 million births in the United States. That means that approximately one out of every four pregnancies in our country results in a life extinguished. Sea turtles are given every chance to survive, with the government going so far as to put people in prison who might interfere with their survival. On the other hand, Baby People are welcomed into legalized and sweetly painted extermination camps and, unmercifully and without fanfare or emotion, eradicated.

Whatever are we doing? We civilized people have allowed a portion of our past to be destroyed. We are allowing our present to be vilified by what can only be called a great lie fabricated as the virtue of “helping” women. We have short-circuited the future of our children and grandchildren. We have taken away from them the possibility of another Rembrandt, another Mozart, another Jonas Salk, another Martin Luther King Jr. or even another Abraham Lincoln living among them.

Most of all, we have taken away the meaning of the beauty and wonder of human life. We have changed it from a wondrous mystery, given to us by God our Creator. Instead, we have turned it into a disposable commodity that can be discarded at will under the guise of “reproductive rights.” Does not “reproductive rights” mean having the freedom to reproduce — not to destroy? Un-reproducing leaves only one result; that result is death.

There is a world-wide abortion counter that ticks off the abortions around the world as they happen. Look for yourself. More than one life a second is being aborted. Genocide of the innocent, living in and out of the womb, is rampant on planet Earth. Whatever have we wrought?

As the great St. John Paul II said, “A nation that kills its own children is a nation without hope.”

©Larry Peterson 2019

Were we supposed to learn a specific lesson from Irma and Harvey?*

October 3, 2017/5 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Current events, Prayer/by Larry Peterson

“Speak to Him often of your business, your plans, your troubles, your fears — of everything that concerns you.” — St. Alphonsus Liguori

Officially, the annual hurricane season begins June 1 and ends on November 30, and every year we Floridians receive our annual Hurricane Preparedness Newsletter

The fact is, most of us who live here are usually prepared and ready for these storms. We know the drill.

By the morning of September 10, Hurricane Irma’s journey was predicted to go from the Florida Keys up to the Florida Panhandle and points north. People the world over had been informed that Irma was the biggest, fiercest, mightiest hurricane in the history of the Atlantic Ocean.

I’d like to say millions of Floridians simply boarded up their houses and waited with élan, but truthfully, most everyone was afraid this time. I know I was. There is not one thing you can do about these storms except get into a secure facility or evacuate; otherwise you do NOT stand a chance. All the models suggested our area would take a direct hit from a Category 4 storm with sustained winds from 130 -156 mph, and that the flooding would be catastrophic.

Amid all the dire predictions, however, there is one thing print and broadcast media fail to mention, that Catholic media does: the powerful and important weapon of prayer that so many of us bring to these storms. For the millions of Americans who have faith, no matter their religious preference, prayer was a key weapon against Irma.

Here’s what happened in my parish, located in Pinellas Park, adjacent to the City of St. Petersburg. Bishop Gregory L. Parkes canceled all Masses for September 10, which was a Sunday. The only Mass available before the storm was projected to move in was the 4 p.m. Vigil Mass on Saturday. With the winds already starting up, the church was packed.

The Mass was quite beautiful. There was a sense of anxiety that filled the church prior to Mass, but once the liturgy began, you could feel it begin to evaporate. Father Anthony’s homily confronted the impending danger we all were facing and calmed us by inviting us to embrace the fact that Christ was, and always is, with us.

At the Mass’s end, he blessed boxes filled with tea candles, and each household took one. There was a sense of comfort and solidarity in the know that while sitting before the lit candle in your own home and praying, you were connected to all those other folks who also had the blessed tea candles in their homes. During the early morning hours of Monday, 9/11, Hurricane Irma became a Category 1 Hurricane and began moving away from Pinellas County. Aside from power outages, the damage was minimal.

I cannot explain nor do I understand why our area was spared. Much damage and destruction and death have occurred in other places — some communities have been upended — yet I know people were praying everywhere, not just in our parish. The Florida Keys, Miami, Jacksonville, Houston and many other places will be weeks and months putting themselves to rights, and in the Caribbean, entire islands must rebuild. It is a mystery and a humbling one. To paraphrase St. Paul, “Who can know the mind of God; who can tell him what to do?” (Romans 11:34).

All we can do is pray for strength, and then reach out to give aid where needed.

Maybe God lets us see and feel his presence in ways we sometimes do not understand. Maybe these storms are permitted to teach us something about how his handiwork requires our hands. Perhaps the brutality of some storms are meant as a relief from the vitriol, contempt, nastiness, and hatred that has consumed our society recently, and are meant to remind us who we are.

We’re only halfway through the hurricane season. Is it possible that these storms, Irma and Harvey (and perhaps others down the line), are being permitted to make refugees of some of us, in order to instruct us about the reality of suffering and loss that refugees encounter, everywhere?

Could it be possible? “Who has known the mind of God …”

Perhaps we are meant to remember the lessons of Job, who said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Is it possible we actually needed these storms? Is it possible that one day people will believe that these storms were actually God’s gift to us? Has the Holy Spirit been helping us to see beyond all the divisive daily ranting — to see each other again as simply people, loved sinners all, who need to help one another?

I guess that is for each of us to decide for ourselves. I have decided.

*An edited version of this article also appeared in Aleteia on Septemeber 19, 2017

The “Protector” Saint of the Mexican Border*

September 6, 2016/1 Comment/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Current events, Defending the Faith/by Larry Peterson

By Larry Peterson

Since there is so much discussion about the Mexican border I thought I would share this column I wrote about two months ago. Meet St.Toribio Romo,The Protector of the Mexican Border.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometime during the early summer of 1973, Jesus Gaytan and two friends began making their way north to the United States. They were planning to ‘”sneak” across the border and find work as farmhands. They did not care where, they just wanted to work.

At the border their plans quickly unraveled. They were spotted by the Border Patrol and, frightened, ran back toward Mexico. Jesus became separated from his friends and began wandering around the desert. He had no idea where he was. After several days of walking and wandering and without any food or water left, Jesus was sure he would die.

As he stared across the bleak landscape peering through the undulating heat waves rising from the ground, he saw a pickup truck coming his way. Not knowing who was approaching, he became instantly afraid and yet also relieved. The truck pulled up and a young man with light skin and blue eyes stepped out. He smiled and gave Jesus food and water. Then he directed him to a nearby farm where they needed workers. He also gave Jesus a few dollars to keep in his pocket. Jesus thanked him profusely and asked him where he could return the money to him.

Speaking perfect Spanish the man said to him, “When you finally get a job and money, look for me in Santa Ana de Guadalupe, Jalisco. Ask for Toribio Romo.”

And so the story goes that years later Jesus Gaytan did make that trip to Santa Ana de Gaudalupe. When he arrived he asked how he could find Toribio Romo. He was directed to the small church nearby. Hanging on the outside of the chapel was a large picture. Jesus stared wide-eyed looking up at the picture. It was the man from the desert, Toribio Romo.

Jesus had arrived at Toribio’s shrine where his remains were kept. He was shocked to learn that the man who had helped him in the desert 20 years before had been beatified in 1992 by Pope John Paul II. He was doubly shocked that his rescuer had been murdered in 1928 during the Cristero War. Jesus Gaytan realized he had been saved by a man sent from heaven.

Luciano Lopez tells of being on his way to Colorado to find work when he got lost in the encapsulating heat of the Arizona desert. Luciano tells of seeing a “shadowy” figure standing next to what appeared to be an ocean. Luciano told how the person waved him to him and how he began walking. He was led right to a rest-stop with food and water and he was saved. When he told his wife back in Mexico she said, “It was St. Toribio, the migrant-smuggling saint, leading you to safety. I have been praying to him for your well-being.”

Toribio Romo was born on April 16, 1900 in Santa Ana de Guadalupe, Jalisco, Mexico. He was, with permission from the bishop, ordained a priest at the young age of 22. His age did not matter to the authorities. The anti-religious Constitution of Mexico had been enacted in 1917. Toribio may have been only 22 but he was immediately placed under watch by the government. Then along came the fateful year of 1927. That was the year that the Catholic hating president of Mexico, Plutarco Ellas Cartes, ordered his soldiers to strictly enforce the anti-religious Constitution of 1917.

Besides saying Mass “under the radar” and making sick calls and hearing confessions, Father Toribio had also been teaching catechism to both children and adults. Now he was told to confine himself to his residence and to not say the Rosary in public or offer Mass. The young priest took up refuge in an old factory near a town called Agua Caliente. Here he defied the secular authority and celebrated Mass and tended to his ministry the best he could.

On February 22, 1928, Father Toribio, began organizing his parish registry. He finished doing that on February 24. Father Toribio knew the danger he was in and he was afraid. He prayed daily for God’s grace and strength but would not let his fears stop him from doing his work. It was 4:00 am on February 25 when the young priest climbed into his bed to get some sleep.

An hour later government troops stormed the place and broke into the priest’s bedroom. One soldier shouted, “I have found the priest. Kill him!”

Father Toribio said, “Here I am, but you do not have to kill me.”

The soldiers did not care. One soldier fired and the wounded priest stood up and began to walk toward the soldiers. After a few steps they opened fire and Father Toribio Romo fell dead. The story of the young priest’s martyrdom spread quickly and his popularity soared. Many Mexicans who have headed north tell inspiring stories about how their lives were saved through the intervention of Father Toribio.

In 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Father Toribio and 24 other martyrs murdered for their faith during the Cristero War. Today, Santo Toribio Romo, is honored as the Patron Saint of Mexican migrants and “border crossers.” He is a saint who all Mexican and American Catholics should pray to for help with the border crisis confronting us today.

Saint Toribio Romo, pray for us.

*This article appeared in Aleteia in June of 2016

Euthanasia–Celebrating the Destruction of God’s Greatest Gift—Life

October 6, 2015/0 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Current events, Pro-life/by Larry Peterson

IT MAKES SENSE TO ME

Milou de Moor, dead at 19

Euthanasia (aka assisted suicide), is a pathetic concept promoted under the guise of compassion, mercy and kindness. It is no such thing. Euthanasia is not compassionate. It is not merciful. And it is not kind. It is an abomination because it celebrates the destruction of the greatest gift each and everyone of us has been given by God: the gift of life.

Enter the glorification of this process via legalization. The “muckety-mucks” and sophisticates who know what is best for everyone have succeeded in having this practice legalized in Belgium, the Netherlands, the states of Oregon, Washington, and Vermont, and one county in New Mexico. In the state of Montana they have what we would call “de facto” euthanasia. There is no law on the books. They “just do it”–no problem. The twisted logic in this narrative called euthanasia or assisted suicide is nothing more than egotism and meism stretched to its secular limits. The fact is this: every human life is sacred unto itself. It is a gift from our Creator and we are each responsible for how we treat this gift. It is NOT up to governments and people to decide who should live or die.

Look at the photo above of a young woman named Milou de Moor. Milou was stricken with lupus when she was 12. The course of the illness caused her not only pain but also mood swings, blackouts, and depression. By the time she was 16 she requested to be euthanized. Life had become too hard and painful to bear any longer. And her own mother and father and sister encouraged her to do it.

It makes sense to me that if a teenager is afflicted with an autoimmune disease and is severely depressed and requests to end her life, all she might need is the encouragement of her parents and sibling(s) to push her to finalize that request. If her doctors are telling her how painless her non-life will be and how easy it is to arrive in non-life, how easy does it become to go there? People who encourage another who is weak and vulnerable to begin with, to take his or her own life and help them to do it, have entered into a dark celebration of nothingness. They have joined forces with others who rejoice in choosing death over life. How utterly sad that is.

There is such a thing as palliative care which includes end of life care rather than the option of ending life. There are medications, and counselors and treatments for all types of illnesses and disabilities. Drugs for depression and severe pain are available. But what is always most important is the great intangible that you cannot see or swallow or touch. This I can attest to from experience: that the love and support of family and friends combined with an abiding faith in the Creator of life is the true power that transcends any celebration of nothingness.

There is a strange irony in the tragic saga of Milou de Moor. Apparently her date to be euthanzied had been set. Then at the last minute her general practitioner decided that he could not go along with her dying. When Milou heard this, she ran off to her family’s apple orchard and hanged herself. The parents are outraged at the doctor and are suing him for NOT killing their daughter. Think of the long-term ramifications of such a thing. Will doctors now be told that they MUST take lives to spare their own careers and futures?

California is next up to bat. That state’s euthanasia law has been passed and it awaits Governor Brown’s signature. Whatever have we wrought?

The Bible Has the Best Writing Prompts

September 1, 2015/2 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Current events, The Writing Life/by Larry Peterson

by Larry Peterson

As a cradle Catholic who went to twelve years of Catholic school “waaaaay” back in the ’50s and ’60s, I can say without hesitation that my education in the Bible and about the Bible and of the Bible was almost non-existent. The Catechism with its nays & yays and right & wrong dominated the conversation. However, over the past ten years or so I have come to honor and respect the Bible. It took me all those decades to realize how profound and so magnificently in our faces with truths this book, written so long ago, is. The seven Wisdom books alone are worth more than all the jewels on Pharaoh’s crown.

Back to the ‘truths’ I mentioned. The other day, August 26, the gospel reading was from Matthew 23: 27-32. I believe this gospel actually references today’s world and the egotistical and self-centered mindset that so many people have embraced. Countless people have stomped on the goodness within God’s creation by choosing to grasp onto the secular banner of “meism.” The Bible has their number–literally. It had it then and it has it now.

It follows that, as writers, the Bible also has the best writing prompts…especially if you are having trouble getting the words to flow from your brain to the screen or paper. The Gospel reading from August 26 did it for me. It was from Matthew 23: 27-32. (I’m just using 27 -28.) Here it is:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.”

There are actually seven “Woe to you” paragraphs in Chapter 23. I quoted number six because it was part of the Gospel reading for the day. Anyway, the first thing that came to mind was Planned Parenthood. Think about it: “beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.” I immediately thought of the people destroying the lives of babies and joking about it. I thought of all those defending this organization and insist that those vilifying it are taking away women’s health protections. There are many in high places that certainly appear beautiful on the outside and, since I do not get to look inside, I can only imagine. I do know this: abortion is the Holocaust of the last four decades.

In America, marriage between a man and a woman is being denigrated by the beautiful, sophisticated, upscale and highly civilized secular community. Same-sex “marriage” is hailed as a right and the enhancement of freedom. Rejecting one’s God-given sex and deciding to change to the opposite sex is hailed as heroic and courageous. Legalizing euthanasia has taken root in Europe and in America. In Belgium they now permit childhood euthanasia. I could go on and on but you all know what has and is happening. And many of those who proclaim Catholicism as their faith approve of these practices.

I am amazed that it has taken me so long to realize the magnificence and page-to-page wisdom the Bible holds. So much of Scripture defines the present. It describes us and our world. It tells us how and where are journey began, where it has taken us, and where we are going. It is a great gift and I shall never ignore it again. It is also the one and only book I will reference when seeking out writing prompts. The Bible has it all.

The “Shameful Silence” Ignores Evil

August 4, 2015/0 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Current events/by Larry Peterson

“Silence in the face of evil is evil itself.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran theologian in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler. His book, The Cost of Discipleship, has become a classic. Focusing on the “Sermon on the Mount,” the book more or less spelled out what Bonhoeffer thought was the true way to follow Christ. In addition to his theological writings and teaching, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a staunch anti-Nazi dissident. He spoke out vigorously against Hitler’s policies of euthanasia and genocidal persecution of the Jews and, in so doing, became a hated enemy of the Nazi Third Reich. As such, he was arrested in April, 1943. Accused of the ambiguous crime of “plotting against the Nazis,” he was hanged on April 9, 1945.

Moving ahead to the year 2014: the following is a statement from His Grace, Bishop Suriel of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Diocese of Melbourne from one year ago.

“The world watches in silence as the last Christians are expelled from Mosul, Iraq, in one of the most merciless and barbaric acts of genocide we have seen in the 21st Century.”

We are absolutely fascinating creatures, we humans are. Many of our species can be so kind and compassionate, loving and gentle, sweet and understanding. Many people will save a tiny bird with an injured wing or a cat stuck up in a tree. There is a world-wide outrage directed at a dentist who killed a lion. There are so many people who will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and give drink to the thirsty. One thing about the animal kingdom: the different species are predictable. One thing about we human beings: we are not.

You flip the coin and you have many of the very same species who are filled with a self-gratification which culminates in a hate and disdain for others of their own kind. These include those who will torture and kill their fellow humans because they HATE their religion, skin color, birthplace, political beliefs or whatever other self-serving, hate-filled reason a murderer may come up with. Many kill and torture, saying they were “only following orders” and had no choice. Others kill because of pride fueled by envy and greed.

Planned Parenthood, a non-profit, government funded organization, employs people who perform over 320,000 abortions a year on babies of ALL sizes. They even sell their body parts for profit and say “it is LEGAL.” Barely a word is said by many folks who are part of the mainstream media (print & broadcast). The leading Democratic candidate for President of the U.S. says that those reports are “disturbing.” Are you kidding me? Disturbing? How about heinous, hateful and/or murderous? So I ask: why? Why the Shameful Silence from so many?

Why are we, all of the same species, so different in our hearts? How can some of us kill and others forgive them for doing so? Why do some of us willingly and joyfully give of ourselves for people we may not even know? Why do some of us hate others we may not even know? Why are there those who love their fellow human beings unconditionally? And why the Shameful Silence from so many? The answer has to be because of the very existence of “Good vs Evil” that is always trying to invade our very souls. Many people fight back and conquer the invader. Many others give in and welcome him and embrace his twisted deception.

What is “Good vs Evil”? I can tell you what it is and I do not care if you disagree. It is the war waged by Satan and those that follow him against the God of Love that created Satan and all of his followers. If you take a breath and look at the world of today and then glance back at yesterday and the centuries before, what has changed in the hearts of man? Apparently, not very much. Love and Hatred have danced “toe to toe” since Cain slew his brother Abel. Why did that happen? Pride and envy. What drives the evil of today? Pride and envy.

God is real and Satan is real. God is the Creator of the Universe and the Master of Goodness and Love. His most beautiful creation, Satan (aka Lucifer) thought he was greater than God and turned against Him. He was cast from God’s presence by those angels that stayed true to their Creator. Filled with an unimaginable hatred for all that is good, Satan and his minions prowl the earth fomenting lies and deception to all who will listen. He and his fallen angels have used their cunning to gain entrance into the hearts of those who, before all else, love themselves. These are the easy prey for the king of deceit. And there is a gaggle of easy prey available, especially in today’s secularly charged world dominated by “meism.”

Mosul, the very cradle of Christianity, can trace the followers of Jesus back to the first century. As of today it seems that the entire Christian population of Mosul has been purged from this ancient and historic city. Murder, including the beheadings of civilians and the wanton murder of women and children, has virtually eradicated the city’s Christians. And what did we see and hear from the print and broadcast media a year ago? We heard the sound of almost nothing. What do we hear today about the atrocities of killing pre-born babies and selling their body parts under the guise of “savings lives”? We hear the sound of almost nothing. A Shameful Silence from many seems to reverberate throughout world when persecution is running rampant.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it: “Silence in the face of evil is evil itself.” He was hanged by the Nazis for his “crimes” over 70 years ago. What has changed? The press was quiet then as the Nazis purged the world of the “hated Jew.” Most of the mainstream media (print and broadcast) has been quiet as the Islamists purge the world of the “hated Christian.” There are many people in the United States of America, who go to work every day and kill living babies in utero and sell their body parts and have no problem whatsoever doing it because, as the Nazi workers said so many years ago, “it was legal.”

Josef Goebbels was the propaganda minister for Adolf Hitler and made sure the press and broadcast media kept news of the Nazi Final Solution quiet. There existed a Shameful Silence. That Shameful Silence among many is apparently alive and well in 2015, right here in the USA. Nothing has changed, nothing at all.

Does Legalizing “Same-Sex Marriage” also Legalize the “Three Parent Family”?

June 2, 2015/1 Comment/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Religious Liberty/by Larry Peterson

A blog I wrote on “same-sex marriage” was included in the Roundup on May 13. This post is on the same topic. The outcome of the pending court decision can profoundly change our Catholic freedom as we know it. The potential consequences for our children and their children could include the eradication of the traditional family.

The Republic of Ireland, once a bastion of Catholicism, now has embraced the distinction of being the first country in the world to approve a constitutional amendment endorsing “same-sex marriage.” I wrap the phrase in quotation marks because this whole concept is still an illusion. No matter how you spin, present, defend, and embrace the doctrine of “same-sex marriage” there is always going to be this tiny little problem called procreation. That is simply because within a “same-sex marriage,” procreation can never happen without the involvement of a third person, that person being of the opposite sex. “Same-sex marriage” spawns the “three-parent family.”

Already the Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, has said that Catholic schools will be required to teach “same-sex marriage” as part of the curriculum. How can they do that? That violates Church teaching. Have we arrived at an international secular tipping point where Church teachings are subject to the whims and mores of the present culture? Apparently we have. What about the children?

Even the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuld Martin, simply voted “no” because of his OWN belief and did not defend the church he represents. The Archbishop, referring to a time when the Church hierarchy would instruct Catholics on how they should vote said that “those days are gone.” How courageously pathetic is that? Have any of you heard anything from our Catholic pulpits about this? I am stunned at the number of Catholics I talk to who do not seem to have a clue as to what is going on regarding this subject. And what about the children?

The Supreme Court of the United States of America will pronounce its ruling on the constitutionality of “same-sex marriage” toward the end of June. I believe that the decision has already been reached and is in the can, ready to be read. I also believe that the Court will go 5 to 4 in favor of “same-sex marriage.” I hope I am wrong because the ramifications of such a decision will be (in my opinion) catastrophic for the nation and especially for our future children.

This new law in Ireland confers an automatic right on a “same-sex couple” to procreate. Will that be the same in America? Good luck with that one. It cannot be done. You need a person of the OPPOSITE SEX to procreate. So are we now to have a whole new industry arise whose purpose will be to provide wombs and sperm, depending on the “same-sex” genders of the wannabe parents? And what about the children? How many future children will be born into “three-parent families”?

Will the Catholic/Christian schools be required to teach the secular dogma of this law? If they do not abide by this law, will they have to forfeit any tax credits or exemptions, i.e. their 501(c)3s? Will hefty fines be imposed? Can they be closed down by federal mandate? Will Catholic hospitals be told to violate their faith-bound principles? If they refuse to do so, will they then be forced to close because of the sudden absence of Medicare and Medicaid funds? What about the children? How do they find out about any possible genetic anomalies they might have? The mysteriously-absent-yet-genetically-related “third parent” will be nowhere to be found.

Bottom line–this is a disaster. No one is trying to deprive “same-sex couples” of any civil or legal rights. What we are watching here is the attempted destruction of the First Amendment to the Constitution followed by the destruction of the traditional family. Once the law of the land can tell the religions of the land what their believers must think and do, it is the end of our Republic as we know it. And when the children of these “three-parent families” grow up and want to find out who their REAL moms or dads were, how does that work? Do you call Ancestry.com?

We all had better be praying very hard over the next few weeks. Much is at stake.