I’ve often found that just as I really start to dive deep into learning an aspect of our faith, something happens that solidifies the teachings.
When an electrical outlet caught on fire a few nights ago less than a foot from my sleeping baby son, and complete with a burnt section of the crib and a room full of smoke, I knew that my children’s guardian angels were close by. Miracles happen.
I hadn’t given much thought to guardian angels until recently. Last week I was missing a dear friend and neighbor from Soldotna and so I wandered around the house reading through all the different Catholic books she has given my children. Praying to my guardian angel, a Saint Joseph picture book caught my eye. more…
A recent letter appeared in the Anchorage Daily News by a writer identifying herself as Catholic. She states that use of birth control is basic health care and thus Catholic employers should be forced to underwrite it, regardless of what the church teaches. She is referring to the use of contraception, abortifacients and sterilization rather than natural family planning (NFP).
The letter also states that all of her Catholic friends use these artificial methods. Alas, as a teacher of natural family planning since 1995 I believe this last statement. In fact, it is what motivated me to become an NFP teacher.
The letter came shortly after Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz asked area Catholics to oppose the recent mandate from the Obama administration, which forces Catholics to pay for methods of family planning that contradict Catholic teaching about God’s divine law. How did we come to this place where someone who identifies as Catholic thinks this is a good idea, not recognizing the bald face violation of religious liberty it involves? more…
Dominican Father Lukasz Misko will deliver two separate talks titled, “Our Bodies, Our Selves” in Palmer and in Anchorage. He will explore the extent to which people “own their bodies” and the moral implications of this. Additionally, Father Misko will offer a critique of a controversial upcoming exhibit at the Anchorage Museum “Body Worlds Vital,” which will display flayed human corpses as art.
Father Misko is from the Dominican Province of Poland; currently he is parochial vicar at Holy Family Cathedral. The talk in Palmer on Feb. 22 takes place at The Turkey Red Restaurant (550 S. Alaska St.). The Anchorage talk on Feb. 23 takes place at Don Jose’s Mexican Restaurant (2052 E. Northern Lights). Both events run from 7 to 9 p.m., and admission is free and open to the public.
On Monday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Wilda Marston Theater in the Loussac Library, all are invited to a screening of the third episode of “Catholicism,” a new nationally acclaimed 10-part, professionally produced movie series on the Catholic Church and its beauty, art, architecture, liturgy and faith. This episode is on “The Ineffable Mystery of God – That Than Which Nothing Greater Can be Thought.” The movie followed by a panel discussion with local Catholic priests will explore evidence for the existence of God. It will also look at the enduring question of why evil exists in a world created by an all-powerful and all-good God.
Each month, one episode is being shown. The screenings are free and open to the public. After each viewing, attendees may participate in a discussion of the movie, in which a panel of local Catholic clergy field questions from the audience. The upcoming panelists include Father Leo Walsh, Father James Barrand and Dominican Father Lukasc Misko.
The movies were filmed in high definition at holy sites around the world, and have been aired in part on PBS. The developer and host of the series is author, television commentator and professor of faith and culture at Mundelein Seminary Father Robert Barron, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Anchorage area pro-life advocates gathered today, Feb. 18, to kick off the most recent 40 Days for Life campaign of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion.
Participants gathered in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic on Lake Otis, where they will have held similar campaigns dating back to 2008.
““We hope to draw attention to the issue of the sanctity of life, and the tragic effects that abortion has in any community – including here in Anchorage”, said coordinator Haylee Shields.
This year, in addition to 24-hour-a-day prayer vigils outside the abortion clinic, participants also plan to conduct a “door-to-door outreach.”
“We will be standing in a peaceful vigil every day from February 22nd through April 1st at Planned Parenthood where our efforts are concentrated,” Shields explained. “Every week we will also be conducting a coordinated outreach program where we actually take the message of the campaign door-to-door throughout our city.”
She added: “We stand here in love for abortion vulnerable women, their unborn children, and those who work in the abortion industry. We want to be available when anyone wants to know about other options.”
40 Days for Life is an internationally coordinated campaign that is taking place in 258 cities corresponding with the Christian season of Lent. “Thousands of people will be taking part in the campaign and praying to God for an end to abortion” Shields said. “It has been so encouraging to see the positive effects that this prayer campaign has had in every city where it has been conducted. We know of 5,045 babies who were spared from abortion because their mothers saw people just like us out here praying for them.”
For more information about the effort contact Haylee Shields at 907-982-9895 or email haylee40daysforlife@gmail.com.
Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz has again reiterated his opposition to the federal health care mandate which would force virtually all private health care plans must cover sterilization, abortifacients, and contraception.
In a Feb. 16 letter to all pastoral leaders across the Anchorage Archdiocese, Archbishop Schwietz reiterated that while the rule claimed to exempt religious employers it excluded those that served or employed people who were not members of their religious community.
“This rule was so narrow that it failed to cover the vast majority of faith-based organizations, including Catholic hospitals, universities, and service organizations that help millions every year,” Archbishop Schwietz wrote.
To read Archbishop Schwietz’s the entire letter, click here.
To read a bulletin insert that was sent with the letter, click here.
During a 2011 roundtable discussion on Fox News, guest commentator Jay Thomas argued that young people should not be too concerned when it comes to pre-marital sex, because nobody would choose to “buy a car without driving it first. You don’t get married, and you don’t learn about sex, by not having it.” Any reasonable person would prefer to avoid someone who might be, in his words, “odd in the sack,” much as any reasonable person would prefer to avoid getting a lemon when purchasing a new car. Mr. Thomas, therefore, could hardly envision anyone’s committing to marriage without first “kicking the tires” a bit, and going for a sex “test drive.” more…
A group of progressive education organizations in league with the family planning and homosexual lobby have released a new set of sex education “guidelines” that they are pushing on schools nationwide.
The guidelines were published Jan.9 in the Journal of School Health.
The document is being touted as “the first-ever national standards for sexuality education in schools,” and as an answer to what it calls “the inconsistent implementation of sexuality education nationwide.”
“Forty individuals from the fields of health education, sexuality education, public health, public policy, philanthropy and advocacy convened for a two-day meeting in December 2008 to create a strategic plan for sexuality education policy and implementation,” reads the introduction. “A key strategic priority that emerged from this work was the creation of a national sexuality education standards to advance the implementation of sexuality education in US public schools.”
While the document does not say what organizations were represented at the meeting, the “advisory committee” and list of “additional reviewers” includes two representatives from Planned Parenthood, a representative from Planned Parenthood’s former research arm, the Guttmacher Institute, and the director of training and curriculum development for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. more…
A trial began Monday in Planned Parenthood’s ongoing challenge of a law requiring minors in Alaska to notify their parents before getting an abortion.
The organization, which provides women’s health and reproductive care, including abortion services, is challenging the constitutionality of the law.
But a lawyer for the state told the judge it can prove Planned Parenthood wrong on each of its points by looking at how the law has actually worked since it was implemented 14 months ago.
The law, approved by voters in August 2010, is working as intended, said Assistant Attorney General John Treptow.
“Abortion is a complex and weighty decision,” he said. “Once the decision is made to abort, it can’t be reversed.”
Email a letter to the editor
