Us Health Officials Admit Ignorance on the Link Between Abortion and Depression

US health officials have disclosed that the federal government has not collected enough data to study the possibility that abortion can cause depression among women, according to report from Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute.

Officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conceded that the data necessary to replicate a New Zealand study linking abortion with depression do not exist in America. The admission came in a reply to a letter from Congressman Mark Souder seeking the NIH's "advice on searching out the best US research data on the effects of abortion on women in the United States."

Souder's letter was occasioned by a New Zealand study released in January that showed a strong link between having an abortion and experiencing several mental illnesses. That study is thought to be highly credible because it is based on data from a 25-year longitudinal survey that followed more than 500 girls from birth to age 25.

Fagan said the letter from the NIH amounts to a startling admission of not only ignorance but indifference on the question of abortion and depression. "On the single biggest social change in this country's history the government research bodies and their social science agendas have studiously avoided studying its effects," he said. "The NIH letter says we have no good data, we cannot compare with anybody else's data and we don't have any specific suggestions for acquiring this data. In other words, we are blind and intend to stay blind."

As a priest who has studied this and had hands on experiece I can attest that there certainly is a link between abortion and depression.  My experience would be that it doesn't set in right away, but tends to come years after the abortion when the reality of what happened sets in.

Read the whole article here.

CNN

Well folks, CNN was here taping during our morning Mass today.  They also interviewed some parishioners about their thoughts on the Abortion Ban passed by the Legislature here in South Dakota.  So keep your eyes peeled for Holy Spirit Parish on CNN...not that I promote their slant on most issues.  It will be interesting to see what they do with the story.

Be There

Slow Blogging

Sorry things have been so slow.  It's Lent, which, in a parish translates into "busy time."  Hopefully I will be able to post some things soon.

My National Magazine Debut

Yeah, I know, you can't see my face, and my name isn't mentioned in the caption or in the story, but thats my hand and my rosary.  Here is a link to the online story or you can buy a copy of this weeks Newsweek and see the real deal.

Novena To St. Joseph Begins Today, March 12th

Please join me in praying this novena to St. Joseph:

A POWERFUL NOVENA TO ST. JOSEPH

This novena has proven to be highly efficacious. It seems to be pleasing to St. Joseph and helpful to souls. This form of novena was originally devised by the celebrated Fr. Louis Lallemant, S.J. (1587-1633). It has proved particularly effective in obtaining favors through the intercession of St. Joseph. In the Life of this saintly priest and great master of the spiritual life, to whom St. Joseph never refused anything he asked, the story is told that on one occasion he urged two young priests to make this novena, promising that they would obtain everything they asked through the intercession of St. Joseph if, in turn, they would show him special honor and spread devotion to him among others. Both did as Fr. Lallemant suggested. One of them asked for grace to speak and write worthily of Our Lord. But the next day he came to Fr. Lallemant to tell him that, upon reflection, he wished to ask for a different grace, which he considered more conducive to his perfection. Fr. Lallemant replied, “It is too late now to ask for another grace. The first one has already been granted.” This grace was conspicuously displayed throughout the whole course of the priest’s life, as he became one of the most noted preachers and writers of his day.

How to Make this Novena
No particular prayers need be said for this novena. Every day for nine days, turn to St. Joseph in spirit four times during the day and honor him in the following four points. (These “visits” may be made anywhere—at home, at work, on the street, in the car or bus—and at any time.)

1. During the first visit, consider St. Joseph’s fidelity to grace. Reflect upon the action of the Holy Ghost in his soul. At the conclusion of this brief meditation, thank God for so honoring St. Joseph, and ask, through his intercession, for a similar grace.
2. Later in the day, consider St. Joseph’s fidelity to the interior life. Study his spirit of recollection. Think, thank God, and ask.
3. Later still, consider St. Joseph’s love for Our Lady. Think, thank God, and ask.
4. Finally, in a fourth visit, reflect upon St. Joseph’s love for the Divine Child. Think, thank God, and ask.

It Was A Sad Sight

"The noon rally, which drew more than 300 people to the federal courthouse on Phillips Avenue, is the latest flare-up in a battle that shows no signs of cooling. It was one of 50 gatherings organized by Planned Parenthood nationwide.

But the rallies in Sioux Falls and Rapid City held special significance because of the state's abortion ban, which has focused the nation's attention on South Dakota since it was signed into law Monday by Gov. Mike Rounds. The law is seen as a direct challenge to Roe vs. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case in 1973 that made abortion legal nationwide."

I was at the rally, praying on the other side of the street and I have to say that it was one of the saddest things I have seen.  The pro-abortion people are so angry and full of hate, but that didn't stop a group of courageous women, about seven in number who, dressed in black, stood silently holding signs that said "I regret my abortion," "Abortion: 1 dead, 1 wounded," and "Abortion hurts women."  One of the women commented "We all have dead babies." 


All of the ridicule and chanting didn't stop them, and it also didn't stop me or the thirty or so other people who stood silently and prayed.

The fact that South Dakota is a pro-life state and would overwhelmingly vote to ban abortion if it were put on the ballot must have Planned Parenthood scared to death, so much so that they they have to import people to oppose it. "People from across the country have volunteered to board buses bound for South Dakota in an effort to fight the abortion ban, Wilson said." 

It was also interesting how deceptive these people can be.  For instance, they were holding signs that said "Honk if you love planned parenthood" and as would be expected some people honked, but what was noticed by many is that it was the same people driving around the block over and over again, sometimes even changing vehicles to be even more deceptive.  These people are so scared of losing the "right" to murder that they resort to childish deceptions...it's so sad.

The battle has just begun and we must pray.  As much as politics will play a part in winning the battle for life prayer will play a bigger part.  When it comes down to it this is a spiritual battle between good and evil, between Satan and Jesus Christ.  We know who will win, but we must pray and pray hard.

All quotes are from an Argus Leader article found here.

Wonderfully Surprising

The Bishops have said something in response to the recent document from a number of Catholic Democrats that seek to explain away their pro-abortion stances.  Here are some excerpts from the Washington Post article:

Top U.S. Roman Catholic leaders told Democratic lawmakers yesterday that there is no wiggle room in church teaching on abortion and that they are duty-bound to work against "the destruction of unborn human life." The statement by three top leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is a response to 55 Catholic Democrats in the House who issued a public statement Feb. 28 asking for room to disagree on abortion.

The bishops, in turn, said they were willing to work together on issues affecting the "poor and vulnerable" but would not budge on church teaching that says abortion is gravely immoral.

"While it is always necessary to work to reduce the number of abortions . . . Catholic teaching calls all Catholics to work actively to restrain, restrict and bring an end to the destruction of unborn human life," the bishops said.

Good Job Cardinal William Keeler, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio for having the courage to preach the truth.

Laying Down The Liturgical Smack

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City - St. Joseph Diocese in Missouri has layed down the smack on liturgical "innovations" during the season of  Lent, specifically the popular innovation of removing holy water from the fonts during Lent.  Here is the memo he sent to the involved people:

To: Pastors and Liturgists
From: The Office of Worship
Re: Holy Water Fonts during Lent

The DaVinci Hoax

Tonight Carl Olson, editor of Ignatius Insight will be speaking at my parish. 

His bio on the Ignatius Insight says  that "He is the co-author, with medievalist Sandra Miesel, of The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code (Ignatius, 2004). Known for his knowledge of Evangelical and Fundamentalist beliefs about the end of the world, he has written over two dozen articles about Bible prophecy, the belief in the "Rapture," and Left Behind books. His recent book, Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today’s Prophecy Preachers (Ignatius Press, April 2003) is the result of years of research on the topic; it was recognized by the Associated Press as one of the best religious titles of 2003.

Carl grew up in a devout Fundamentalist Protestant home in western Montana. After two years of art school, he attended Briercrest Bible College, an Evangelical Bible college in Saskatchewan, Canada, graduating with an associate’s degree in 1991. Carl's wife, Heather, is a graduate of Multnomah Bible College in Portland, Oregon. They married in 1994 and entered the Catholic Church together in 1997. Their conversion story appears in the book, Surprised By Truth 3.

In May 2000, Carl graduated from the University of Dallas with a Masters in Theological Studies. For two years he was the director of catechesis and evangelization for Nativity of the Mother of God, a Byzantine Catholic parish in Springfield, Oregon. From 2002 to 2004 he was the editor of the award-winning Envoy magazine.

He has written articles for Crisis, The Catholic Faith, National Review Online, Catholic Parent, Envoy, This Rock, First Things, Gilbert!, Saint Austin Review, New Covenant, CatholicExchange.com, and Catholic.org. He is a regular contributor to National Catholic Register and Our Sunday Visitor. Carl has been a guest on BBC radio, FOX-TV, CNBC, "Catholic Answers Live!," "Kresta in the Afternoon," "Living His Life Abundantly," "The Catholic Connection," "Morning Air," and EWTN’s "The Journey Home," "The Abundant Life," "EWTN Live," and "Threshold of Hope."

Carl and Heather have one daughter, Felicity. In his spare time, Carl enjoys recreation with his family, collecting music, reading, playing tennis, drinking coffee and singing Swedish love ballads in a sweet falsetto (just kidding!). For more about Carl visit his personal web site: www.carl-olson.com.

It Passes!!!!

From Governor Mike Rounds:

“I have signed House Bill 1215 into law. It is An Act to establish certain legislative findings, to reinstate the prohibition against certain acts causing the termination of an unborn human life, to prescribe a penalty therefore, and to provide for the implementation of such provisions under certain circumstances.

HB 1215 passed South Dakota’s legislature with bi-partisan sponsorship and strong bi-partisan support in both houses. Its purpose is to eliminate most abortions in South Dakota. It does allow doctors to perform abortions in order to save the life of the mother. It does not prohibit the taking of contraceptive drugs before a pregnancy is determined, such as in the case of rape or incest.

In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them.

Because this new law is a direct challenge to the Roe versus Wade interpretation of the Constitution, I expect this law will be taken to court and prevented from going into effect this July. That challenge will likely take years to be settled and it may ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court. Our existing laws regulating abortions will remain in effect.

The reversal of a Supreme Court opinion is possible. For example, in 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy versus Fergusoncasethat a state could require racial segregation in public facilities if the facilities offered to different races were equal. However, fifty-eight years later, the Supreme Court reconsidered that opinion and reversed itself in Brown versus Board of Education. It proclaimed that separate could not produce equal. The 1954 Court realized that the earlier interpretation of our Constitution was wrong.

HB 1215 will give the United States Supreme Court a similar opportunity to reconsider an earlier opinion.

While this is a state and national issue, I want to emphasize that whatever the courts decide, South Dakotanswill continue to care about both the unborn child and mother. If we are pro-life, we must recognize the need to take care of women who are faced with a difficult pregnancy. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy, we cannot protect the innocent child, unless we protect and care for the mother. We must help each mother to see the value of the gift that is a child, and nurture the mother for her own sake and for the sake of her child.

Our state is committed to helping greater numbers of pregnant woman who will allow their babies to grow inside them and be born. In both the private and public sector in South Dakota, we have healthcare options, economic assistance before and after birth, adoption services, and, most importantly, people who want to help pregnant women, young mothers and their children.

There are also many people in South Dakotawho will continue to help those women who have had abortions in the past. We want those women to know that we care about them, too.”

Amen!  God Bless you Governor Rounds!  You are clearly a man with moral integrity and a good dose of logic and common sense.

A Fatherly Embrace

Homily:  Ash Wednesday

Remember man that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Remember…don’t forget…keep it always before you that without God we are nothing.  Were it not for God’s love and mercy toward us we would be nothing more than a clump of dirt upon the ground of Eden .  God’s great love breathed life into us; His great mercy created us, yet our first parents fell, they sinned against God – they rejected that love.

Again God showed his fatherly love to us in sending his only son to suffer torture, abandonment, and a horrible death upon the cross that we might be re-created through baptism…and again we sin – we forget the awesome good God has done for us in giving us new life.  So he gives us this time, this forty days to remember, to keep present before us his love and mercy.

So my friends remember His love for us, a love embodied in Jesus Christ.  Remember also how we fail, day after day to respond to that love, and then, with great love return to him with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping and mourning…return to the Lord, your God…for gracious and merciful is he.

Homily:  8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.”

As we grow closer and closer to the Holy Season of Lent I was reminded of a story about a man named Oliver.  Oliver was a painter, and often would thin his paint so it would go further. So when the Church decided to do some maintenance, Oliver was able to put in the low bid, and got the job. As always, he thinned his paint way down with paint thinner.

One day while he was up on the scaffolding -- the job almost finished -- he heard a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened.

The downpour washed the thinned paint off the church and knocked Jock off his scaffold and onto the lawn among the puddles of thinned and worthless paint.

Oliver knew this was a warning from the Almighty, so he got on his knees and cried: “Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?”

And from the thunder, a mighty voice said: “REPAINT! REPAINT! AND THIN NO MORE!”

Now seriously, we are indeed fast approaching the season of Lent in which, as our first reading reminds us, God will lead us into the desert and speak to our heart.  Lent has always been associated with the desert because it reminds us of the forty years the Israelites wandered through the desert in search of the promised land and the forty days that Jesus spent fasting and praying in the desert.  The desert, in Sacred Scripture was always a place of encounter with God, with ourselves, and with the devil.

            It was a place where one encountered God because the silence and barrenness of the desert lends itself to prayer.  In the desert we have nothing to look at or listen to except God himself…all distractions are removed and we can focus on listening to the voice of God as he speaks to our hearts, and then responding with our love and worship.

            The desert is also a place where one encounters themselves.  The desert is a lonely place…there is nobody to talk to, nobody to impress, and nobody to distract us, and so naturally we turn to ourselves.  We begin to examine ourselves and look into the very depths of our hearts and there discover things we never even knew about ourselves, both good and bad.

            It is also a place where we can be tempted.  In the desert we have nowhere to run, we have nothing and no one that we can turn to for consolation…in many ways, we become vulnerable and the devil takes advantage of that.  He knows when we are weak and that is often when he strikes with strong temptations.

            Lent is a spiritual desert which we enter into every year.  It is a time for us to get rid of distractions and to deprive ourselves of that which we do not truly need so that we can free ourselves to listen to the voice of God.  It is a time for us to examine our lives with honesty and courage so that we may, with a truly sorrowful heart repent of our sins and Follow Christ more closely.  It is a time to strengthen our will so that we will be able to say no to any temptation that the world or the devil might throw at us.  This is why we give up things during lent…it’s a form of spiritual training that builds up our strength and endurance.  After all, if we can give up something that is legitimate, something that is not in itself bad, like chocolate, eating in between meals, alcohol, or TV, then it will be a lot easier for us to give up illegitimate things, things that are in and of themselves is sinful.  Lent is a time to build spiritual muscle so that come Easter will be spiritually stronger, healthier, and more holy than when we began.  So in order to enter more fully into this spiritual desert of lent we should start thinking and praying about what God might be calling us to do this coming lent.

If you are looking for some suggestions, let offer a just a few:

Come to daily Mass if it is at all possible, and I’m just not talking to the adults either, it would be a great Lenten sacrifice to get up just a little earlier and come to Mass before school.  The Mass is the greatest prayer we can pray, so lent is a perfect time to begin a commitment to daily Mass.

Go to confession every other week of lent…or maybe even every week.  Regular confession can help us to build ourselves up spiritually more than we can imagine.  It’s a wonderful Lenten practice that will certainly help us to grow in holiness.

The Daily Rosary…preferably as a family.  The rosary will help us to meditate on the life, death and resurrection of our Lord.  In the Words of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen  "The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description."

Come to the Stations of the Cross every Friday of Lent.  The Stations of the Cross take us on the spiritual journey of the last hours of Christ’s life and lead us to a better appreciation of his immense love for us.

And last but certainly not least give up your favorite sin.  We all have our favorite sins that we find ourselves falling into time and time again.   Lent is the perfect opportunity to focus on overcoming that particular fault, or at least making some serious headway in becoming less attached to it.  If we could eliminate just one predominate sin every lent, we would be living saints before we know it.

            So today, my friends, as we gather at this Altar to enter into passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord let us ask for the grace and the strength to make this coming lent the best lent of our lives…one that will lead us one step closer to our eternal happiness in heaven.

You Cannot Serve Both God and Mammon

Hmmm...sounds like some people I know...