November 2009 Archives

As a followup on the previous post Planned Parenthood to Pro-Life, here is another video in which Abby Johnson describes watching the abortion ultrasound.

In related news, Judge prevents Planned Parenthood from keeping Abby Johnson quiet.

Matt over at Fallible Blogma.com (love the name!) has a great project in the works called Support A Catholic Speaker Month. Bloggers participate by being assigned a speaker then making a post about them. My speaker is Mr. Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League.

Jim Sedlak is a Catholic, Pro-Life, inspirational speaker who has given hundreds of talks on three continents. A leader in the pro-life movement, he currently serves as vice president of American Life League and concentrates his efforts on fighting Planned Parenthood - the nation's largest abortion chain. A former Senior Engineer with the IBM Corporation, Jim has spent over 15 years working full time in the pro-life movement. His expertise comes from being in the streets in front of Planned Parenthood; addressing school boards, city councils, state legislators and members of Congress. He serves as an advisor to many local efforts against Planned Parenthood and belongs to Knights of Columbus Council 4034.

He will bring to your event a mixture of fact and wit, with a captivating speaking style that leaves audiences informed and motivated. His talks can best be summed up by the remark of a woman who heard Jim talk in Belfast, Northern Ireland: "This was the most inspirational talk I have heard in my life ."

Jim's talks include:

Planned Parenthood - the Problem, Not the Solution
Planned Parenthood's Health Care Hoax
The Dangers of Sex Education
Planned Parenthood Steals Souls
Parent Power - How parents can regain control of school systems
Taxpayer Funding of Planned Parenthood and How to Stop It
Planned Parenthood vs. John Paul II - a collision of cultures
Planned Parenthood vs. Pregnancy Care Centers
Matthew 10 - the Secret Weapon Against Planned Parenthood
Pro-Life and Personhood

Click here for Jim's contact info.

I love fall! It is my favorite season. Although here on the central coast of Cali, it feels more like summer. We get lots of fog and cool weather in July and August then it warms up in September and October. But now that November is here the chill is slowly moving in and anticipation for the holidays gets stronger. I am especially excited because we always spend a week in So Cal during Thanksgiving and I am sooo ready to see my family again - some of who have yet to meet John-Paul! Only 17 more days! WooHoo!

I tried that recipe for minestrone soup that my sis EL recommended. It was so tasty! Lots of veggies and flavor. Here's the link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jamies-Minestrone/Detail.aspx

Brian and I recently saw two movies with a Catholic theme. The first was Ostrov (Sold at http://www.notofthisworldicons.com). "The story begins in northern Russia during World War II. A Russian coal barge with a two-man crew is captured by a Nazi patrol boat. The Nazis force the young cowardly Russian furnace stoker, Anatolii, to shoot his captain. The Nazis blow up the barge but Anatolii is rescued by monks from a nearby monastery. Anatolii spends the rest of his life repenting in sorrow, and through this repentance becomes a God-bearing Fool-for-Christ who, with his God-inspired insights into human hearts, gives miraculous help to suffering people who come to him for aid. Nearing death Anatolii's own suffering is resolved through a miraculous manifestation of forgiveness."

It is a beautiful story and heartbreaking to watch Anatolii's sorrow over killing his captain, but he never gave up hope on God's mercy. In his humility and wretchedness, Anatolii became completely dependent on God and grew in holiness. God was then able to do marvelous wonders with the "little fool." (ie. He could read souls or knew when something bad was going to happen.) The story is in Russian but with subtitles.

Speaking of where we bought the movie, if you are looking for icons, check out Not of This World Icons.com. It is our favorite place to shop. So beautiful!

The second movie we saw was 2008's Henry Poole Is Here with Luke Wilson. It is not a religious movie but it had a surprisingly positive portrayal of the Catholic Church. Wilson plays Henry, a stand-offish loner (with a bit of mystery about him) that buys a house in his old neighborhood. His desire to be alone is thwarted by a friendly (and persistent) Catholic Hispanic woman who believes that a water stain on the side of Henry's house is actually a miraculous imprint of Jesus' face. During the course of the movie Henry must deal with his neighbors' faith, his own disbelief and anger, and his growing friendship with a single mom and her mute daughter. The movie is low-key and never preachy but there is a definite underlying message of faith and (physical/spiritual) healing. (Note: The movie is rated PG, mostly for language. Watch it when the kids are asleep.)

I also really enjoyed the soundtrack on the Henry Poole movie. There were some cool songs; however, there are two from the movie that are missing from the official soundtrack. If you get it from iTunes you'll have to download the Bob Dylan song (I didn't mind skipping that one) and the Blur (Song 2) separately. (I did download the Bur song - I hadn't heard them in years!)

Okay, Andrew is up and ready for breakfast so I need to get off the computer. I'll end with a pic of the kids from Halloween. Have a blessed weekend!

Came across this blog the other day and really enjoying it. Check it out. Fallible Blogma | A Catholic blog on Catholic issues

I know this story has been all over the Catholic blogs but in case you haven't heard, here's a great pro-life story about former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson.

(Note: It isn't mentioned in this news segment but Abby's turning point came when she saw an ultrasound of an abortion. There was no denying what was happening to the baby.)

I was reading through my twitter feed and saw a post about Duff Goldman (from one of my fave Food Network shows Ace of Cakes) being on a Catholic radio show to talk about his baking, his book and his charity work. Then I found out that the "The Catholics Next Door" radio show is put together by Greg and Jennifer Willits from the Rosary Army. (I interviewed Rosary Army years ago at RoL - back when I was friends with a crazy thing called "spare time.") I am so happy to see what they are doing! If you don't have Sirius Radio, you can download their podcast from itunes or listen here.

Lisa at CatholicMom.com posted about a new magazine for Catholic singles called Tobias. (Where was this ten years ago??) Check it out and get a complimentary issue here.