The Areopagus 11-25-08
posted by Phil Lawson
11-25-08
Much has been made, and will continue to be made, about the US Bishops speaking out forcefully on the issue of Life, especially with regards to abortion and embryonic stem cell research. I don’t imagine this advocacy will cease with the conclusion of the presidential election. In fact, judging from the comments made at the Annual Fall Bishop’s meeting this week, they’ll continue to speak out forcefully.
Archbishop Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver has been one of the more eloquent and vocal champions in the defense of life and the role that faith should play in public and political discussions. He authored a splendid book, “Render Unto Ceasar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life” Published by Doubleday, 2008. The book lays out the historical role Catholics have played in the development of this country. In essence, he argues that the more we love and serve God in light of our Catholic faith, the more faithfully and fruitfully we love and serve our country.
It’s a book well-worth reading. One of my favorite quotes/stories is the following:
“We can take a lesson from the early church. The emperor Valens ruled the eastern half of the Roman Empire in the AD 360s. He was a brutal man at a time of bitter political and religious turmoil, and he sought to destroy the orthodox faith in Christ. Saint Basil the Great, then the bishop of Caesarea, confronted him face-to-face about his policies. ‘Never has anyone dared to speak to me with such freedom,’ Valens said. Basil replied, ‘Obviously you have never met a bishop before.’” –p. 189 Render Unto Caesar
Here’s guessing you won’t be hearing silence from our Catholic leaders in the foreseeable future as long as there are moral issues that need to be addressed.
One final side note—it’s striking how the same people who chastise the bishops for speaking out on abortion tend to be the same ones who castigate the church for failing to speak out loudly enough against Hitler and the holocaust. You can’t have it both ways.
Phil’s Tidbits:
The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, MI http://www.sistersofmary.org/ recently held their discernment retreat for young women. They were expecting 130 young ladies. (No that’s not a typo). They hold these retreats about 3 times a year and always have a tremendous response. While numbers alone are not a guarantor of God’s blessing and being in harmony with His Will—the fruits in this case are certainly telling. “For you shall know them by their fruits…”
An increasing number of parents, my wife and I included, have expressed discomfort with the origins of a number of the childhood vaccines on the market. In many cases, the vaccines were created using cells from aborted babies. Hence, this is a very fruitful development!
New Biotech Firm Will Focus on Making Vaccines not Tainted by Abortion Available to the Public
WASHINGTON, November 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI), a pro-life public educational organization encouraging safe and moral medicines and therapeutics, has given backing to a new biotech firm which will be providing vaccines to the public which have not been tainted by abortion.
SCPI has announced their first successful support for a new biotech firm - AVM Biotechnology. AVM has a new vaccines division that will be importing safe and effective vaccines for those who, for philosophical or moral reasoning, are opposed to the vaccines that are tainted with human DNA contaminants.
AVM Biotechnology has added the vaccine division in addition to their regenerative medicine and human therapeutics division in response to the request from numerous parents and grandparents who have chosen not to vaccinate until moral and ethical vaccines are available.
Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director of Children of God for Life - a pro-life organization which has focused on the vaccine issue – said of the effort to produce ethic vaccines: "Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute is a light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel for thousands of parents who want to protect their children and communities - but are concerned about the moral implications for that choice. If we have an ethical alternative - and with the support of SCPI and AVM Biotechnology we hope to have that in the coming months - we can comply with vaccination recommendations from the American Pediatric Association and still comply with our faith."
According to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data, as many as 10% of United States children are not fully immunized. The reasons vary, but most focus on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines that are available. It is estimated that about 3% of the population will not vaccinate based on the knowledge that the vaccines are produced using human cells from an aborted fetus.
Although a moral objection to vaccinations is an accepted objection in some states, others may only accept a medical or philosophical objection. Each state delineates their own specific acceptable objection criteria and process.
"AVM's original business plan was to focus on adult stem cell regenerative medicine due to the safety and economics. It wasn't until we were approached by COG for Life that we rethought our original strategy and realized - we could do both." says Dr. Theresa Deisher, president of SCPI.
Dr. Deisher, a Stanford doctoral graduate in molecular and cellular physiology and former Principal Scientist with Amgen says she is excited about being able to help a community of parents and children that have, up to this point, been discriminated against. "I can see an opportunity to help not only these parents, but also safeguard the children and the communities in which they live and ultimately our nation's health," stated Dr. Deisher. "This is a small niche market - one that the larger pharmaceutical industry is not likely to venture into - but one that we will gladly support."
See the websites for more info:
http://www.avmbiotech.com
http://www.soundchoice.org
This is from Fr. Richard John Neuhaus as written in First Things—referring the future saint from Vietnam Cardinal Van Thuan. It’s an inspiring piece, especially as we approach the start of Advent this Sunday:
I met him only a couple of times, and then briefly, but my memory is that of meeting a saint, which is what many who knew him well say he was. Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan wore a pectoral cross made from the barbed wire of the prison where the Communists kept him for thirteen years, nine in solitary confinement. Paul VI named him Archbishop of Saigon in 1975. John Paul II invited him to Rome and created him a cardinal. He died in 2002. The following is from a Lenten reflection published in Our Daily Bread, by Fr. Ralph Wright: “ The most beautiful Masses of my life. Once more, I return to my own experience. When I was arrested, I had to leave immediately with empty hands. The next day, I was permitted to write to my people in order to ask for the most necessary things: clothes, toothpaste. . . . I wrote, ‘Please send me a little wine as medicine for my stomachache.’ The faithful understood right away. They sent me a small bottle of wine for Mass with a label that read, ‘medicine for stomachaches.’ They also sent some hosts, which they hid in a flashlight for protection against the humidity. The police asked me. ‘You have stomachaches?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Here’s some medicine for you.’ I will never be able to express my great joy! Every day, with three drops of wine and a drop of water in the palm of my hand, I would celebrate Mass. This was my altar, and this was my cathedral! It was true medicine for soul and body, ‘Medicine of immortality, remedy so as not to die but to have life always in Jesus,’ as St. Ignatius of Antioch says. Each time I celebrated the Mass, I had the opportunity to extend my hands and nail myself to the cross with Jesus, to drink with him the bitter chalice. Each day in reciting the words of consecration, I confirmed with all my heart and soul a new pact, an eternal pact between Jesus and me through his blood mixed with mine. Those were the most beautiful Masses of my life!” Our Daily Bread is a collection of eucharistic reflections from the first century to the present day and I suggest you check it out.
St. Therese of Lisieux, known as the Little Flower, always wanted to be a missionary and in fact stated that she “wanted to spend her time in heaven doing good on earth.” I doubt she ever expected to be a missionary in space!
St. Thérèse Relic Makes Space Flight
NEW CANEY, Texas, NOV. 20, 2008 (Zenit.org).- St. Thérèse wrote that she wanted to be a missionary on every continent simultaneously and reach the most remote islands -- now her dream has extended to space flight.
The Carmelite community of New Caney, Texas, enjoys the friendship of Colonel Ron Garan, who was on the May 31-June 14 Discovery shuttle mission.
Before heading into space, Garan had called the women religious to request their prayer for the voyage, and he told them he could take some small item into space on behalf of the community.
The sisters reported that the words of St. Thérèse came to mind: "I have the vocation of an apostle. I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach your name and to plant your glorious cross on infidel soil. But oh, my beloved, one mission would not be enough for me, I would want to preach the Gospel on all five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles. I would be a missionary, not for a few years but from the beginning of creation until the consummation of the ages."
The Carmelites gave the astronaut a relic of St. Thérèse for his flight.
Now, they report, she has traveled 5,735,643 miles around the earth for 14 days at 17,057 miles an hour. Meanwhile, the sisters commended the world to her intercession.
God Bless you!
Phil Lawson For the latest info on St. Peter’s, check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com (You can also find old editions of the Areopagus here)
The Areopagus is a regular email for adults that includes various reflections, tidbits, news and events. Hope you find it fruitful!
If you would like to be added to this list, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com
On the other hand, if you would like to be removed, send an email to the same address indicating that.
Much has been made, and will continue to be made, about the US Bishops speaking out forcefully on the issue of Life, especially with regards to abortion and embryonic stem cell research. I don’t imagine this advocacy will cease with the conclusion of the presidential election. In fact, judging from the comments made at the Annual Fall Bishop’s meeting this week, they’ll continue to speak out forcefully.
Archbishop Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver has been one of the more eloquent and vocal champions in the defense of life and the role that faith should play in public and political discussions. He authored a splendid book, “Render Unto Ceasar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life” Published by Doubleday, 2008. The book lays out the historical role Catholics have played in the development of this country. In essence, he argues that the more we love and serve God in light of our Catholic faith, the more faithfully and fruitfully we love and serve our country.
It’s a book well-worth reading. One of my favorite quotes/stories is the following:
“We can take a lesson from the early church. The emperor Valens ruled the eastern half of the Roman Empire in the AD 360s. He was a brutal man at a time of bitter political and religious turmoil, and he sought to destroy the orthodox faith in Christ. Saint Basil the Great, then the bishop of Caesarea, confronted him face-to-face about his policies. ‘Never has anyone dared to speak to me with such freedom,’ Valens said. Basil replied, ‘Obviously you have never met a bishop before.’” –p. 189 Render Unto Caesar
Here’s guessing you won’t be hearing silence from our Catholic leaders in the foreseeable future as long as there are moral issues that need to be addressed.
One final side note—it’s striking how the same people who chastise the bishops for speaking out on abortion tend to be the same ones who castigate the church for failing to speak out loudly enough against Hitler and the holocaust. You can’t have it both ways.
Phil’s Tidbits:
The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, MI http://www.sistersofmary.org/ recently held their discernment retreat for young women. They were expecting 130 young ladies. (No that’s not a typo). They hold these retreats about 3 times a year and always have a tremendous response. While numbers alone are not a guarantor of God’s blessing and being in harmony with His Will—the fruits in this case are certainly telling. “For you shall know them by their fruits…”
An increasing number of parents, my wife and I included, have expressed discomfort with the origins of a number of the childhood vaccines on the market. In many cases, the vaccines were created using cells from aborted babies. Hence, this is a very fruitful development!
New Biotech Firm Will Focus on Making Vaccines not Tainted by Abortion Available to the Public
WASHINGTON, November 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI), a pro-life public educational organization encouraging safe and moral medicines and therapeutics, has given backing to a new biotech firm which will be providing vaccines to the public which have not been tainted by abortion.
SCPI has announced their first successful support for a new biotech firm - AVM Biotechnology. AVM has a new vaccines division that will be importing safe and effective vaccines for those who, for philosophical or moral reasoning, are opposed to the vaccines that are tainted with human DNA contaminants.
AVM Biotechnology has added the vaccine division in addition to their regenerative medicine and human therapeutics division in response to the request from numerous parents and grandparents who have chosen not to vaccinate until moral and ethical vaccines are available.
Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director of Children of God for Life - a pro-life organization which has focused on the vaccine issue – said of the effort to produce ethic vaccines: "Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute is a light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel for thousands of parents who want to protect their children and communities - but are concerned about the moral implications for that choice. If we have an ethical alternative - and with the support of SCPI and AVM Biotechnology we hope to have that in the coming months - we can comply with vaccination recommendations from the American Pediatric Association and still comply with our faith."
According to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data, as many as 10% of United States children are not fully immunized. The reasons vary, but most focus on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines that are available. It is estimated that about 3% of the population will not vaccinate based on the knowledge that the vaccines are produced using human cells from an aborted fetus.
Although a moral objection to vaccinations is an accepted objection in some states, others may only accept a medical or philosophical objection. Each state delineates their own specific acceptable objection criteria and process.
"AVM's original business plan was to focus on adult stem cell regenerative medicine due to the safety and economics. It wasn't until we were approached by COG for Life that we rethought our original strategy and realized - we could do both." says Dr. Theresa Deisher, president of SCPI.
Dr. Deisher, a Stanford doctoral graduate in molecular and cellular physiology and former Principal Scientist with Amgen says she is excited about being able to help a community of parents and children that have, up to this point, been discriminated against. "I can see an opportunity to help not only these parents, but also safeguard the children and the communities in which they live and ultimately our nation's health," stated Dr. Deisher. "This is a small niche market - one that the larger pharmaceutical industry is not likely to venture into - but one that we will gladly support."
See the websites for more info:
http://www.avmbiotech.com
http://www.soundchoice.org
This is from Fr. Richard John Neuhaus as written in First Things—referring the future saint from Vietnam Cardinal Van Thuan. It’s an inspiring piece, especially as we approach the start of Advent this Sunday:
I met him only a couple of times, and then briefly, but my memory is that of meeting a saint, which is what many who knew him well say he was. Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan wore a pectoral cross made from the barbed wire of the prison where the Communists kept him for thirteen years, nine in solitary confinement. Paul VI named him Archbishop of Saigon in 1975. John Paul II invited him to Rome and created him a cardinal. He died in 2002. The following is from a Lenten reflection published in Our Daily Bread, by Fr. Ralph Wright: “ The most beautiful Masses of my life. Once more, I return to my own experience. When I was arrested, I had to leave immediately with empty hands. The next day, I was permitted to write to my people in order to ask for the most necessary things: clothes, toothpaste. . . . I wrote, ‘Please send me a little wine as medicine for my stomachache.’ The faithful understood right away. They sent me a small bottle of wine for Mass with a label that read, ‘medicine for stomachaches.’ They also sent some hosts, which they hid in a flashlight for protection against the humidity. The police asked me. ‘You have stomachaches?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Here’s some medicine for you.’ I will never be able to express my great joy! Every day, with three drops of wine and a drop of water in the palm of my hand, I would celebrate Mass. This was my altar, and this was my cathedral! It was true medicine for soul and body, ‘Medicine of immortality, remedy so as not to die but to have life always in Jesus,’ as St. Ignatius of Antioch says. Each time I celebrated the Mass, I had the opportunity to extend my hands and nail myself to the cross with Jesus, to drink with him the bitter chalice. Each day in reciting the words of consecration, I confirmed with all my heart and soul a new pact, an eternal pact between Jesus and me through his blood mixed with mine. Those were the most beautiful Masses of my life!” Our Daily Bread is a collection of eucharistic reflections from the first century to the present day and I suggest you check it out.
St. Therese of Lisieux, known as the Little Flower, always wanted to be a missionary and in fact stated that she “wanted to spend her time in heaven doing good on earth.” I doubt she ever expected to be a missionary in space!
St. Thérèse Relic Makes Space Flight
NEW CANEY, Texas, NOV. 20, 2008 (Zenit.org).- St. Thérèse wrote that she wanted to be a missionary on every continent simultaneously and reach the most remote islands -- now her dream has extended to space flight.
The Carmelite community of New Caney, Texas, enjoys the friendship of Colonel Ron Garan, who was on the May 31-June 14 Discovery shuttle mission.
Before heading into space, Garan had called the women religious to request their prayer for the voyage, and he told them he could take some small item into space on behalf of the community.
The sisters reported that the words of St. Thérèse came to mind: "I have the vocation of an apostle. I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach your name and to plant your glorious cross on infidel soil. But oh, my beloved, one mission would not be enough for me, I would want to preach the Gospel on all five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles. I would be a missionary, not for a few years but from the beginning of creation until the consummation of the ages."
The Carmelites gave the astronaut a relic of St. Thérèse for his flight.
Now, they report, she has traveled 5,735,643 miles around the earth for 14 days at 17,057 miles an hour. Meanwhile, the sisters commended the world to her intercession.
God Bless you!
Phil Lawson For the latest info on St. Peter’s, check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com (You can also find old editions of the Areopagus here)
The Areopagus is a regular email for adults that includes various reflections, tidbits, news and events. Hope you find it fruitful!
If you would like to be added to this list, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com
On the other hand, if you would like to be removed, send an email to the same address indicating that.
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