February 5^th; Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

For nurses and caregivers to family members:

that the Lord will increase their patience, gentleness, and strength

to continue witnessing to the dignity of each person in their care;

We pray to the Lord:

Respect Life

Todays readings speak of despair over suffering, our shared mission of proclaiming the Gospel, and Jesus power to heal, strengthened by prayer to the Father. Unless youve been isolated from current events, you must be appalled by the confrontation between the Church and the Administration over their direct attack on religion and our First Amendment rights.  This attack comes right after the Supreme Courts stunning 9-0 defeat of the Administrations attempt to regulate Church appointments through civil labor law.

Now, Health and Human Services (HHS) has ruled that sterilization and contraception, including controversial abortifacients, be included among preventative services coverage in almost every healthcare plan.  Pleas for conscience protection to exempt Catholic healthcare providers and insurance plans from providing such immoral products and services have been denied. The HHS decision, and its implications, leads to a crisis for Catholic institutions, forcing them to decide whether to serve their communities, or violate their consciences.

Recall that in the past, when the government has legalized/ promoted anything that violates our conscience because the Church has declared it immoral, our institution will be discriminated against/ punished unless it falls in line. For example, an organization serving human trafficking victims lost their federal contract because they refused to provide contraceptive/ sterilization/ abortion services to their clients. Similarly, Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to close because they declined to place children with gay couples. The implications are clear; politicians have said that Catholics should get out of the healthcare field if they are unwilling to provide every government-mandated service.

On January 25^th, Bishop William Murphy wrote: This mandate is a radical incursion on the part of our government into freedom of conscience founded on our religious beliefs! It contravenes the First Amendment and several federal laws. More importantly, it violates the law of God who gave us life and calls us to respect all human life. The Bill of Rights assures us that we have a right in this country to obey Gods law and follow our conscience, free to live out our religious beliefs as individual persons and as institutions. Forcing all of us to buy or provide coverage for sterilization and contraceptives, including drugs that induce abortion, is a radical incursion into our freedom of conscience and religious exercise. You can read letters from 125 bishops opposing this HHS mandate at http://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php .

What can we do about it? Of course, the first answer is always prayer and fasting; including the Rosary and Chaplet. Then, more direct action should be taken, beginning with informing ourselves on the issue. Visit the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website  www.usccb.org: click on The HHS Mandate for Contraception/Sterilization Coverage: An Attack on Rights of Conscience. Visit the National Committee For A Human Life Amendment (NCHLA) website www.nchla.org ; click on http://www.nchla.org/actiondisplay.asp?ID=292  to Support Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. It has been introduced in Congress (H.R. 1179, S. 1467) to ensure that those who participate in the health care system retain the right to provide, purchase, or enroll in health coverage that is consistent with their religious beliefs and moral convictions. Click on Send e-mail to Congress, edit/personalize the letter if you wish; your address will direct the letter to Senators Schuster and Gillibrand, and Congressman Israel. If the Life Issues are catching your attention, join the parish Respect Life Committee; call Joan & John Peters on 754-4522.

January 29^th; Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

For those who have committed crimes against the sanctity of human life,

especially those near death:

that they may be reconciled with God;

We pray to the Lord:

Respect Life

This past Monday we marched, chanted and prayed in the 39^th annual March For Life http://www.marchforlife.org in Washington, DC. This annual event memorializes the Supreme Courts January 22^nd, 1973 Roe v Wade decision decriminalizing abortion, leading to the intentional killing, by surgery, of an estimated 55 Million pre-born humans. Although the secular media doesnt pay attention to the several-hundred-thousand, mostly young participants, you can still view the March For Life on http://UTube.com . We traveled to DC on St. Anthonys Parish bus through the generosity of their pastor, Msgr. John Dreasen, snacks and water by the Knights of Columbus, and the able direction of our bus captain, Marianne Wright.  St. Philip Neri Parish was represented by us and John Begley, Rosemary Prie, teens Brittany Ford and Carolyn Johnston, her dad, Robert, and Rodi Hansen. The day began early, with 4:30 AM Mass celebrated by Fr. Frank Grieco, served by Seminarian Mario Curmi; the bus left East Northport just after 5 AM for the long ride south. We were joined by Pastor Darren Duncan, Senior Pastor at Bethany Baptist Church in Jamaica, Queens. We first met him January 4^th on a Long Island Coalition for Life (LICL) http://www.prolifeli.org lobby visit to the State legislature in Albany.

Marianne planned an early departure to allow time for a visit to Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand before the noon rally and March. Their offices are in the Hart and Russell Senate Office buildings, respectively, so she planned for us to be dropped off, go through one security check, and then take underground passageways to the other building, and back to the bus. We managed to bypass the crowds, visit both offices, speak to Staff, sign their Visitor Logs together with pro-life comments, return to our waiting bus, and drive to the Rally on the Mall at 9^th St. The rain, which had been light on our trip south, increased significantly, so the Mall filled with umbrellas and rain gear, which made it difficult for us to hear and see the large stage filled with religious and pro-life leaders, and many congressional speakers.

After the opening prayer by the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, Most Blessed Jonah; we heard from Archbishop Naumann of Kansas City; Very Rev. Kowalczyk, Pastor of St Michaels Orthodox Church in Jermyn PA;  Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Jews for Morality based in Brooklyn; a long succession of Pro-Life Congresspersons, and a closing prayer by Luke Robinson, Pastor of Quinn Chapel, Frederick MD. A few comments heard were: the pro-life movement is fighting an uphill battle against the Culture of Death that permeates much of the secular media; the March serves as a painful reminder of the injustice taking place in our country and the millions of lives lost but not forgotten; we are called to protect life and be stewards of Gods Creation. The March was compared to the marches that motivated the Civil Rights Movement, but this time for the rights of innocent pre-born humans. The violation of our conscience rights by the Administrations demand that all religious institutions provide health care which includes contraceptives and abortifacients, and the ongoing controversy over banning the abortion of pain-capable pre-borns, were also addressed. From what we could see, the whole mall was solidly filled with marchers, with a significant overflow in the surrounding streets. The extensive re-construction/ excavation going on in the Mall and museum areas did make movement difficult.

The March officially began after 1:30, with the usual juggling for position toward the front. Even though we were standing near the stage, our group melded into the march about 2/3 back. We are always impressed by the youth and enthusiasm of the marchers; it seems that high school and college-age youth are becoming more aware of the missing members of their peer group. We had to squeeze through 7^th St. because of the construction and parked vehicles, but everything opened up once we reached the wide Constitution Avenue for the trip up Capitol Hill. Where-ever we could look forward or back, the size of the throng was impressive; thousands of marchers, most carrying signs, chanting and praying together for Life. We saw no counter protesters, although the secular media usually find a dozen or so pro-abortion activists to demonstrate balance. Our plan is to march past the Capitol ending at the Supreme Court building, where a large rally of Silent No More victims and other forceful speakers gather, before we disperse to our bus pick-up location at the Hyatt Regency hotel.

The size of the crowd and the street constrictions made movement slow and time-consuming, so numerous groups split off, half-way up the hill, at the Union Station Plaza park area. Since it was already well after 3 PM, and we planned to leave DC around 4, we left the March and found our way to the Hotel, which served as the Marchs conference center. Here we found rest rooms, food, and many pro-life material displays. We found our bus around the corner, and left in the usual DC and Baltimore rush-hour traffic, arriving back in East Northport after 10 PM. It was a long, tiring day, but an experience not to be missed; we are left with feelings of solidarity, commitment and motivation for the pro-life movement and the Culture of Life. We invite you to share this life-affirming experience with us on Jan. 25^th, 2013!