Steve Jobs: How His Mother Saved His Life

Since this is Respect Life Sunday, and the beginning of Respect Life month, I wanted to talk about one woman who did respect life – and her choice has made a difference in the life of virtually every person in this church.

Her name is Joanne Schiebel. In 1954, she was a young unmarried college student who discovered that she was pregnant. In the 1950s, her options were limited. She could have had an abortion – but the procedure was both dangerous and illegal. She could have gotten married, but she wasn’t ready and didn’t want to interrupt her education. Joanne opted, instead, to give birth to the baby and put it up for adoption.

And so it was that in 1955, a California couple named Paul and Clara Jobs adopted a baby boy, born out of wedlock, that they named Steven.

We know him today…as Steve Jobs.

It would not be overstating things to say that Steve Jobs is my generation’s Thomas Edison. As one observer put it, he knew what the world wanted before the world knew that it wanted it.

If you have an iPhone or an iPad or an iPod, or anything remotely resembling them, you can thank Steve Jobs.

If your world has been transformed by the ability to hear a symphony, send a letter, pay a bill, deposit a check, read a book and then buy theater tickets on something roughly the size of a credit card…you can thank Steve Jobs.

And: you can thank Joanne Schiebel.

If you want to know how much one life can matter, there is just one example.

~ Excerpt from Deacon Greg Kandra's Homily Oct 2, 2011 ~

Legal Killing of Humans: German Holocaust Compared to Abortion Holocaust

A new 33-minute documentary film titled 180 is changing public opinion on abortion 180 degrees in a matter of minutes, as author and film producer Ray Comfort uses the new film to ask students a question that challenges their abortion views.

Abby Johnson, who resigned her position as the director of a Texas Planned Parenthood abortion business, has also seen the film and said pro-life advocates “must check it out,” saying it is “one of the best things you will ever watch.”

~ Excerpts from here ~

Abortion Stops a Beating Heart: Join Supporters of the Heartbeat Bill!

"Science has already given us a yardstick to determine if someone is alive--a beating heart. We just want to see that measurement applied evenly. This bill calls for an end to discrimination and the protection of every human being with a beating heart--no matter their age!

~ Lynn Wachtmann, Ohio State Representative and New Chair of the House Health Committee ~

"Knowing that I killed my own precious baby, who had a beating heart, has traumatized and devastated me beyond description and has destroyed so much happiness and has lead to chronic migraine pain easily triggered by inconsolable grieving. An unplanned pregnancy would have lead to unplanned joy. I regret this choice with every fiber of my heart and soul... I've thought about and loved this baby intensely every day of my life for almost 30 years. And I never was a mom to another child-due to infertility. This means that in a moment of haste, in my youth, not fully informed, I killed the only child I ever conceived. If I would have seen an ultrasound--would have seen that beating heart-wild horses couldn't have kept me in that clinic. I would have known the truth and my baby would be alive today. That's why I'm here. Please vote yes on this important legislation."

~ Kathryn Bretz, Post-Abortive Woman, Cleveland, Ohio ~

 

~ HeartbeatBill.com ~

Dr. Paul Byrne: What Everyone Should Know About Organ Donation

Uploaded by franciscanfriars on Jun 24, 2008

Ave Maria! In this Roving Reporter, Dr Paul Byrne alerts us on the laws being passed by states nation wide called 'Presumed Intent', which states that all persons are perspective organ donors (... or involuntary organ donors) unless the individual declares otherwise, under the guise of 'brain death'.

About Zack Dunlap who was declared brain dead: 

The young man himself told NBC that he heard the doctors pronounce him brain dead, and said, "I’m glad I couldn’t get up and do what I wanted to do." When asked what he wanted to do, he responded, "There probably would have been a broken window they went out." (Source)

A more detailed interview with Dr. Byrne:

Zen Garcia interviews Dr. Paul about the uniform anatomical gift act and how this law requires people to give up their organs without consent especially if they are not of sound mind or have disabilities. This video also warns people about the living will and why you should use a durable power of attorney for health care decisions for protecting one's life in an emergency situation. Living wills do not protect you, they only protect the doctors and institutions which take your life and organs.

~ Articles written by Dr. Byrne on life issues ~

Bl. Teresa of Calcutta: "America...Roe vs. Wade has deformed a great nation."

"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe vs. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts--a child--as a competitor, an intrusion and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the dependent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners."

 

"Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or sovereign. The Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany recently ruled: 'The unborn child is entitled to its right to life independently of its acceptance by its mother; this is an elementary and inalienable right which emanates from the dignity of the human being.'"

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta ~

A Pro-Life Prayer for Our President and Public Officials

Lord God, Author of Life and Source of Eternal Life,

move the hearts of all our public officials and especially our President,

to fulfill their responsibilities worthily and well to all those entrusted to their care.

Help them in their special leadership roles,

to extend the mantle of protection to the most vulnerable,

especially the defenseless unborn,

whose lives are threatened with extermination by an indifferent society.

Guide all public officials by your wisdom and grace

to cease supporting any law that fails to protect the fundamental good that is human life itself,
which is a gift from God and parents.

You are the Protector and Defender of the lives of the innocent unborn.

Change the hearts of those who compromise the call to protect and defend life.

Bring our nation to the values that have made us a great nation,

a society that upholds the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Mary, the Mother of the living,

help us to bear witness to the Gospel of Life with our lives and our laws,

through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Imprimatur: January 22, 2009 + Most Reverend Robert J. Baker Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama

Pope John Paul II: Children Are the Future of a Nation

 "I wish to express the joy that we all find in children, the springtime of life, the anticipation of the future history of each of our present earthly homelands. No country on earth, no political system can think of its own future otherwise than through the image of these new generations that will receive from their parents the manifold heritage of values, duties and aspirations of the nation to which they belong and of the whole human family. Concern for the child, even before birth, from the first moment of conception and then throughout the years of infancy and youth, is the primary and fundamental test of the relationship of one human being to another. And so, what better wish can I express for every nation and for the whole of mankind, and for all the children of the world than a better future in which respect for human rights will become a complete reality throughout the third millennium, which is drawing near?"

~ Pope John Paul II, excerpt from Familiaris Consortio ~

March 25: Honoring the Conception of Jesus-- "Day of the Unborn Child"

Celebrate the “Day of the Unborn Child” on the March 25th Feast of the Annunciation

This site was developed to advance the movement toward international recognition of March 25th as the “Day of The Unborn Child,” and equally to promote among Christians the observance of this traditional feast day of the Incarnation honoring Christ’s conception (once celebrated as the old New Year’s Day) which is currently named “The Feast of the Annunciation.” The date was chosen because it falls nine months before the most celebrated birth in Western civilization, known throughout the world as Christmas. Regardless of whether one emphasizes the secular or religious aspects of the March 25th memorial, the symbolic interval of a full-term pregnancy reminds us of the reality and dignity of life from conception.

PRAYER TO CHRIST UNBORN

Dear Lord Jesus in the womb

of Blessed Virgin Mary,

before your birth You filled

the unborn Baptist

with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Inspire us to see You

in every unborn child.

Grant us the perseverance

to defend vulnerable human life

from abortion, abandonment,

experimentation, and all violations.

Fill us with reverence for the moment

of your Incarnation in Nazareth

when the Word became flesh.

Celebrate the March 25th Feast of the Annunciation

(Festum Incarnationis) as the “Day of the Unborn Child”

Lk 1:15, 30-44; '94 Cat., pass. 717, 486, 495

REDEEMER IN THE WOMB

Lord Jesus Christ, You took our human nature upon Yourself. You shared our life and death, our childhood and adulthood.

You also shared our time in the womb. While still God, while worshiped and adored by the angels, while Almighty and filling every part of the universe, You dwelt for nine months in the womb of Mary. You were our Redeemer in the womb, our God who was a preborn child.

Lord Jesus, we ask You to bless and protect the children who today are in their mothers’ womb. Save them from the danger of abortion. Give their mothers the grace to sacrifice themselves, in body and soul, for their children. Help all people to recognize in the preborn child a brother, a sister, saved by You, our Redeemer in the womb. (Source)

Archbishop Timothy Dolan & Dr. Alveda King: Abortion in New York City

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Dr. Alveda C. King, Director of the African American Outreach for Priests for Life, sat down recently with CNA and commented about abortion and pro-life issues facing New York City.

~ To see the New York billboard,
 "The Most Dangerous Place for an African Americam is in the Womb",  go here. ~

Quiet Euthanasia: Death by Dehydration

"Evil has a way of mixing in truth with untruth, partial truth rather than whole truth, or using something appropriate at one time but misusing it at another time. In the 'active phase of dying' — the very, very end — a person does not eat or drink naturally, for he or she is truly dying: The individual's organs and bodily systems are shutting down. At that time, it would be inappropriate to provide food — he or she would choke on it or it would be aspirated into the lungs — and a good amount of fluid would easily go right into the lungs.

"But if one deprives a patient of food and fluid before he or she is at the very, very end, the patient is dying not of their terminal illness, but of dehydration. There is not enough fluid in the circulatory system and it collapses, causing death. It 'looks' peaceful if the patient is sedated, which is often the case nowadays." (Source)

~ Ron Panzer founder and executive director of Hospice Patients Alliance ~

Ave Maria! ...a two part series hostess Corinn Dahm discusses with guest Darlene Wagner the increasing rates of euthanasia being committed against our elderly since the Teri Schiavo case. They call it the "Quiet Euthanasia" a "third way" by using dehydration of elderly to quietly sidestep the law. Ave Maria! +++

Saint Faustina Suffered in Reparation for Souls Murdered in the Womb

September 16, 1937. I wanted very much to make a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament today, but God's will was otherwise. At eight o'clock I was seized with such violent pains that I had to go to bed at once. I was convulsed with pain for three hours; that is, until eleven o'clock at night. No medicine had any effect on me, and whatever I swallowed I threw up. At times, the pains caused me to lose consciousness. Jesus had me realize that in this way I took part in His Agony in the Garden, and that He himself allowed these sufferings in order to offer reparation to God for the souls murdered in the wombs of wicked mothers. I have gone through these sufferings three times now. They always start at eight o'clock in the evening and last until eleven. No medicine can lessen these sufferings. When eleven o'clock comes, they cease by themselves, and I fall asleep at that moment. The following day, I feel very weak.

This happened to me for the first time when I was at the sanatorium. The doctors couldn't get to the bottom of it, and no injection or medicine helped me at all nor did I myself have any idea of what the sufferings were about. I told the doctor that never before in my life had I experienced such sufferings, and he declared he did not know what sort of pains they are. But now I understand the nature of these pains, because the Lord himself has made this known to me.... Yet when I think that I may perhaps suffer in this way again, I tremble. But I don't know whether I'll ever again suffer in this way; I leave that to God. What it pleases God to send, I will accept with submission and love. If only I could save even one soul from murder by means of these sufferings!

~ St. Faustina; excerpt 1276 from  The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska ~

40 Days for Life, Lies of Planned Parenthood, Pro-life Witness at Abortion Centers

"Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love,

but to use violence to get what they want.

That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion"

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta ~

Fr. Barron Comments on Abortion: Shocking Numbers Out of New York!

Eduardo Verastegui: Dura Realidad--Hard Truth About Abortion

"We need to put an end to abortion."

~ Eduardo Verastegui ~

~ To see Eduardo's video  Dura Realidad--Hard Truth, click here.

Watch video in Spanish or English

Eduardo's recommended links:

Hispanics for Life and Human Rights

Vida Humana Internacional

ProLife.com

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: Answering to God for Ending the Lives of His Children

"I find it a great, great poverty that a child must die

because we are afraid to feed one more child,

to educate one more child.

The fear of feeding one more old person in the family

means that that person must be put away,

and yet one day we too have to meet the Master.

What will we answer to Him about that child,

that old father and mother, because they are His creation,

they are children of God."

~ Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta ~

Pope John Paul II and Fr. John Corapi: A Nation That Kills Its Own Children

"A nation that kills it's own children is a nation without hope."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Death Wish! The Impending Suicide of a Once Great Nation

An excerpt from Father Corapi's book, Letters.

A large number of endangered, unwanted, and unborn children held a town hall meeting on the 4th of July - alarmed at the brutal and untimely killing of millions of their brothers and sisters in recent years. That the murderous war waged on them had the full force and respectability of the law made their plight all the more terrifying.

Their complaint was humble and it was simple. They were not distressed by rising gas prices, or the deteriorating economy in general. They were not even frightened by the exponential increase of natural disasters. The threat of global warming or global terrorism did not greatly disturb them.

They had become an endangered species, and little had been done to answer their terrified and silent screams from the womb. They decided that the barbaric treatment that they and their fellow unwanted unborn human beings have had to endure for perilous decades was unconscionable and unbearable. They cried out to their Creator for inspiration and protection, and then unanimously they put forth a declaration. It began as follows:

"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of nature and the Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, THAT AMONG THESE ARE LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS...

THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE; THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE; THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE!"

The first and pre-eminent right is the right to life. This truth the Founding Fathers were sure of, and anyone with any common sense at all is equally sure of it. 232 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed the amount of common sense that seems to be operative in many spheres of influence - most notably the courts and the political arena - can easily be poured into a very small thimble. The United States of America seems to have a death wish, and we have traveled far down the road to having that wish realized. When law divorces itself from common sense and spawns the illegitimate offspring of distortions of law, resulting in illegal laws - based neither on the natural law nor divine law - this undermines law itself, generating disdain for the law. Erosion of trust in the courts, or the system in general, is inevitable.

The genesis of the death wish is rooted in the fall of man that we see in the Book of Genesis. The substance of the fall is wrapped up in Lucifer's pride, transferred to Adam and Eve - "You can be like gods, knowing good and evil." The unholy, yet inevitable, consequence of that price is disobedience - eating the forbidden fruit. The ultimate end is death, as God said it would be. That's the way it was in the beginning. That's the way it is now. That's the way it will be until time breathes forth it's last moment.

The prototypical sin is pride, the pride that seeks to exalt the creature above the Creator:

"I can be like God." Then, subjectively and arbitrarily, man tries to assert himself, imagining that he knows what's good and evil for himself without reference to God and God's law. This was the fall of the angels and the fall of man. The attempt by creatures to usurp what is only the province of God. Only God knows what is good for His creation.

In recent years it took the form of a self-inflicted heart wound when some dissident Catholics rejected the teaching of the Church, a teaching that clearly held that artificial contraception is intrinsically evil. Then, as Pope Paul VI had warned, it metastasized into abortion. From abortion it degenerated even further into partial-birth abortion. It was then a short and easy step to infanticide.

It's hard to believe that we have degenerated to the point that we'll murder a helpless baby should it escape the violence of an abortion and be born alive. Can a Catholic vote for such persons? [who support abortion] We are told, "yes" for a "proportionate reason." What, I might ask, is the proportionate reason so weighty as to excuse supporting those responsible for what is tantamount to genocide?

The judges and politicians that support such barbaric practices are truly guilty of genocide: genocide - the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious, national, or social group. "What is the group so targeted?", you might ask. The group is unwanted, unborn children - tens of millions of them. The Supreme Court justices that gave us Roe v. Wade will have to plead temporary insanity in the court of history. There will be no defense in the highest Court that is the judgment seat of almighty God if they do not repent of the incalculable evil they have wrought.

Yet, despite the life and death importance of this travesty of authentic law, there will be no serious discussion among political candidates, or anyone else. It is as if society has been bewitched, blind to the splendor of truth, deaf to the cries of the most innocent, most vulnerable, and most utterly helpless.

From artificial contraception to abortion to partial-birth abortion, then on to infanticide we march toward the abyss of oblivion, a society marked for death...

Fr. John Corapi, SOLT, STD

Rick Santorem: The Denial of Civil Rights to Slaves and Unborn Human Beings

"For decades certain human beings were wrongly treated as property and denied liberty in America because they were not considered persons under the constitution. Today other human beings, the unborn of all races, are also wrongly treated as property and denied the right to life for the same reason; because they are not considered persons under the constitution. I am disappointed that President Obama, who rightfully fights for civil rights, refuses to recognize the civil rights of the unborn in this country."

~ Former Senator Rick Santorem ~

The Presence is Real: The Holy Eucharist and Catholics Who Support Abortion

From the moment of consecration, Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. We do not see Him as we see other people, but He is there, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Even though we cannot see Him, He is always with us in the Blessed Sacrament.

From the moment of creation, a person is truly present. We can't see him or her as we see other people, but the whole person is there. Unique DNA can be detected, which will determine his or her physical and mental characteristics.

There is a striking similarity between the number of Catholics who support abortion (40-47 percent) and those who do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist (43 percent). Thus, we must pray and fast for intellectual, spiritual, and psychological healing for baptized Catholics who have strayed from the truth.  ( from American Life League)

Claire Culwell: The Twin Who Survived an Abortion

"My life is a miracle and I would be selfish to keep this GIFT of life to myself. I want to tell everyone what a gift I and even they have been given!! I want to encourage them to seek alternatives to abortion because I would never want any woman/man to go through the grief and the pain that my birth mother went through simply because she didn’t know she had any other option. I also want to be a vessel to offer God’s forgiveness to the men and women who have previously had abortions. I know healing is possible and I have been given the gift of surviving an abortion so that I can tell these men and women that they are forgiven…coming from an aborted child, I hope they know the power of forgiveness and healing through meeting me... “I am here not because of anything I did, but ONLY because of God’s mercy and love for me.”

"My life is a testimony that there are wonderful alternatives to abortion (such as adoption in my case) and an accident/unwanted child still deserves life…even a child with disabilities. I was born 2 1/2 months early, weighed 3 lbs 2 oz, had dislocated hips and club feet. I had to wear casts on my feet, a harness and eventually a body cast. The abortion still affects me today. All that to say, LIFE IS STILL WORTH IT. If my life can touch just one person who has had an abortion or considering an abortion or adoption, then I am fulfilling my purpose in the pro-life movement."

~ Claire Culwell ~

~ Above quote is from Claire's website ~