I am pleased to announce that we have added the first E-Booklet to our On-Line Library.
It is, appropriately, on Lent and offers you insight on how to make this holy sojourn both effective and fruitfu. Have a most blessed Ash Wednesday.
http://www.womenofgrace.com/en-us/library/details.aspx?id=208
I have a question:
Where is the frontal attack on the lynchpin of the left’s argument regarding Mandate HHS — that this mandate is pro woman’s health.
Balderdash! Read the rest…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
| Contact: | Michelle Johnson |
| Director of Communications | |
| EWTN Global Catholic Network | |
| Phone: (205) 795-5769 | |
| E-Mail: mjohnson@ewtn.com |
Friday, February 10, 2012
Woman of Grace: St. Scholastica (480 – 543)
St. Gregory the Great recounts this story from the life of St. Benedict’s beloved twin sister, St. Scholastica, which shows how expressing our petitions to God with childlike faith and confidence sometimes yields immediate and amazing results.
After Benedict founded a monastery for men, Scholastica remained very close to her brother, founding a convent for women some miles away. Every year Scholastica went to visit Benedict at a little place just outside the monastery gate. Read the rest…
Congratulations to EWTN for its courageous stand in suing the U. S. Government over the HHS Mandate requiring Catholic institutions to offer insurance coverage for contraception and abortion! As we so often emphasize through our television and radio programs and at our conferences and in our study groups, our day and time truly require heroic fortitude and perseverance. We MUST continue to preserve and protect all that is God-honoring in our culture and to reclaim that which has been lost. The Scripture passage from the Book of Esther says it all: “How do you not know that you have been born for such a time as this?” (4:14).
However, this will not be easily done. In many diverse ways we will all be called upon to exercise heroic virtue in the quest to rebuild a culture of life. It may, and will, cost us much. We need to prepare for trial and struggle. We need to embrace our holy duty to meet the challenge — every challenge presented– with faith and trust in the God who calls us to it. He will not abandon us nor will He leave us orphaned. But, He may well ask us to enter into the passion of His Son and to suffer with Him for the work to be accomplished. Remember, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of faith.
May we demonstrate by our faithful action and through thought and word that we are truly the sons and the daughters of the Most High God who understand the mission entrusted to us at this critical juncture in the history of man! And may the martyr saints and all of those who stood for truth in their day and time assist us by their prayers and holy example.
Mary, Help of All Christians, pray for us! Angels of God, assist us! Saints Triumphant and Suffering, pray for us! AMEN.
Woman of Grace: St. Josephine Bakhita (1869 – 1947)
It is natural to express thanksgiving for being released from difficult trials and circumstances. But who would be grateful for those who cause such difficult trials or circumstances? This is the stuff of saints — the very stuff of which Saint Josephine Bakhita was made. Read the rest…
I went to Cconfession today. And once again, I was overcome by the gracious goodness of our God. It caused me to wonder why it is that we do not use this sacrament more frequently.
I do know numbers of dear souls who have made a pledge of sorts to go to the Sacrament of Penance at least once a month. And this is commendable — laudable, even. And I know other souls who frequent the Sacrament bi-weekly or even weekly. This is saintly.
It is said that Pope John Paul II went to confession every day. Imagine. Every day! He, like so many others who have been raised to the altar of Christ, discovered the treasury of grace that awaits us in the Sacrament even when grave sin is not present. Simply put, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is restorative. It is, after all, a sacrament of healing.
For myself this morning, I found it to be exactly that: restorative. And renewing, revitalizing. redeeming. The graces received in the quiet and solitude of confronting Our Lord with our weakness and frailties, our struggles and concerns, our discouragements and frustrations are boundless — like God’s own mercy of which they are replete.
Something about exposing the dark parts of our being to the rays of light that emanate from the Heart of Christ sets us free in new ways. It affects every part of us — our psyche, our emotions, our spiritual life to be sure, even our physiology — all are inundated with the healing love of God and, in that holy exchange of Heart-to-heart, new life comes.
I remember one of my teachers in grade school tell us that she often prayed that God would let her die right after receiving the Sacrament of Penance because she would go straight to Heaven. My little girl’s mind strove to plumb the depths of what this good and holy religious woman was imparting. She pointed to the sun shining on the snow outside of our classroom window so bright it was near blinding. “That”, she said, “is what a soul looks like when it has made a good confession.” I got it then. I understood. At least to some extent. Today, I understand more.
What is your burden this day? Is it a deep sin for which you need to receive forgiveness? Is it a weakness or tendency from which you wish to be set free? How about discouragement, hopelessness, or despair? There is a solution. Run — don’t walk — to the Sacrament! Be set free!
Today is our 25th Anniversary in Catholic communications. I can’t believe it! What a joy it has been to proclaim the Good News of Our Lord, Jesus Christ around the world! And what an absolute pleasure and privilege it has been for both Fr. Ed and I to work together in this apostolic work. We appreciate your love and support! Read the rest…
Recently, Bishop David Zubik, Diocese of Pittsburgh, issued a call to action as he spoke plainly about the “battle line” drawn by President Barak Obama regarding health care. Below, you will find the whole letter the good Bishop wrote to his flock. In the meantime, consider the words of Our Lady of Salette, recently posted on the Women of Grace page on Facebook. She, too, is issuing a call to action. Will we heed it? Here is her urgent appeal, and followoing is Bishop Zubik’s letter:
“I make an urgent appeal to the earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in My arms, so to speak, those who have lived according to My spirit. Finally, I call on the apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in union with God, in suffering unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see.(…)
January 27, 2012
HHS Edict Will Force Catholics to Violate Conscience
By Bishop David A. Zubik
It is really hard to believe that it happened. It comes like a slap in the face. The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, “To Hell with you!” There is no other way to put it.
In early August, the Department for Health and Human Services in the Obama administration released guidelines as part of the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The guidelines mandated that by Summer 2012 all individual and group health insurance plans, including self-insured plans, cover all FDA-approved contraception, sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals that even result in abortion.
A million things are wrong with this: equating pregnancy with disease; mandating that every employer pay for contraception procedures including alleged contraceptives that are actually abortion-inducing drugs; forcing American citizens to chose between violating their consciences or providing health care services; mandating such coverage on every individual woman without allowing her to even choose not to have it; forcing every person to pay for that coverage no matter the dictates of their conscience.
Let’s be blunt. This whole process of mandating these guidelines undermines the democratic process itself. In this instance, the mandate declares pregnancy a disease, forces a culture of contraception and abortion on society, all while completely bypassing the legislative process.
This is government by fiat that attacks the rights of everyone – not only Catholics; not only people of all religion. At no other time in memory or history has there been such a governmental intrusion on freedom not only with regard to religion, but even across-the-board with all citizens. It forces every employer to subsidize an ideology or pay a penalty while searching for alternatives to heath care coverage. It undermines the whole concept and hope for health care reform by inextricably linking it to the zealotry of pro-abortion bureaucrats.
For our Church this mandate would apply in virtually every instance where the Catholic Church serves as an employer. The mandate would require the Catholic Church as an employer to violate its fundamental beliefs concerning human life and human dignity by forcing Catholic entities to provide contraceptive, sterilization coverage and even pharmaceuticals that result in abortion.
There was a so-called “religious exemption” to the mandate, but it was so narrowly drawn that, as critics charged, Jesus Christ and his Apostles would not fit the exemption. The so-called exemption would only apply to the vast array of Catholic institutions where the following applied:
Practically speaking under the proposed mandate there would be no “religious exemption” for Catholic hospitals universities, colleges, nursing homes and numerous Catholic social service agencies such as Catholic Charities. It could easily be determined that the “religious exemption” would not apply as well to Catholic high schools, elementary schools and Catholic parishes since many employ non-Catholics and serve both students and, through social outreach, many who do not share Catholic religious beliefs. Such a narrow “religious exemption” is simply unprecedented in federal law.
Last September I asked you to protest those guidelines to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, and contact your political leadership in the federal government. I asked that you request that this flawed mandate be withdrawn because of its unprecedented interference in the religious liberty and freedom of conscience of the Catholic community, and our basic democratic process.
You did. And you were joined by Catholics throughout the country (and many others as well) who raised their voices against the mandate, raised their voices against a meaningless religious exemption.
On January 20, 2012, the Obama administration answered you and me. The response was very simple: “To Hell with You.”
Kathleen Sebelius announced that the mandate would not be withdrawn and the religious exemption would not be expanded. Instead, she stated that nonprofit groups – which include the Catholic Church – will get a year “to adapt to this new rule.” She simply dismissed Catholic concerns as standing in the way of allegedly respecting the health concerns and choices of women.
Could Catholics be insulted any more, suggesting that we have no concern for women’s health issues? The Catholic Church and the Catholic people have erected health care facilities that are recognized worldwide for their compassionate care for everyone regardless of their creed, their economic circumstances and, most certainly, their gender. In so many parts of the globe – the United States included – the Church is health care.
Kathleen Sebelius and through her, the Obama administration, have said “To Hell with You” to the Catholic faithful of the United States.
We’ll give you a year, they are saying, and then you have to knuckle under. As Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responded, “in effect, the president is saying that we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.”
As I wrote to you last September, with this mandate the democratic process is being ignored while we are being ordered to ignore our religious beliefs. And we are being told not only to violate our beliefs, but to pay directly for that violation; to subsidize the imposition of a contraceptive and abortion culture on every person in the United States.
It is time to go back to work. They have given us a year to adapt to this rule. We can’t! We simply cannot!
Write to the president.
Write to Secretary Sebelius.
Write to our Senators.
Write to those in Congress.
Use the PA Catholic Advocacy Network to send an email message, too.
I have included the addresses in a box accompanying this article. Here’s what you can write:
“Dear (Representative):
“In early August, the Department for Health and Human Services released guidelines that would force Catholic institutions to subsidize through their health care plans contraception, sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals that even result in abortion.
“It was announced on January 20thby Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, that this mandate is affirmed and that non-profit institutions, including the Catholic Church, have one year to adapt to the mandate.
“This is a direct threat to the religious liberty of Catholics, freedom of conscience and the social service ministry of the Catholic Church. The so-called ‘religious exemption’ in the mandate is no exemption at all as it would require any Catholic institution (that serves non-Catholics or employs non-Catholics) to violate Catholic belief, discontinue to provide health care, or close its doors.
“I ask that you do all possible to rescind the ‘Preventive Service Mandate’ as an unprecedented federal interference in the right of Catholics to serve their community without violating their fundamental moral beliefs.”
This mandate can be changed by Congressional pressure. The only way that action will happen is if you and I take action.
Let them know that you and I will not allow ourselves to be pushed around (or worse yet) be dismissed because of our Catholic faith.
Let them know that you and I will not allow our religious freedom to be compromised.
Let them know that you and I will not allow our religious liberty to be rescinded.
Nobody, not even the president of the United States or anyone who represents him, has the right to say to you and to me as U.S. citizens, as Catholics, or as both: “To Hell with You.”
The president and our elected leaders need to hear from you and me and to listen to us NOW.
And if NOT now, HOW can we get the president to listen to us???
There was little mention of the March for Life from main stream media and if reported at all, the numbers were inaccurately described as in the “thousands. There were no counter protesters, although reported as such, but only joyful, prayerful, massive pro-life crowds!
I pondered these things in my heart as I participated in the annual March for Life on Monday. It was the 39th sad memorial of the passage of Roe V. Wade. Since that date over 53 million babies have been lost, mothers have been scarred for life and families devastated.
Determined to make a difference, walking shoulder-to-shoulder, umbrella-to-umbrella the massive March for Life crowd was jubilant, hopeful…and YOUNG. Those who had attended in prior years returned in 
solidarity and renewed vigor; those who were attending for the first time were in awe and uplifted.
We marched as Women of Grace in full knowledge that “for such a time as this” we were created for a specific purpose and to impact the culture. We marched with the director of our local Christian pregnancy resource center, who was overcome with emotion and thanksgiving for the presence of God she was witnessing. We marched with a young Polish priest, in our country for just 5 months, who was amazed by the hundreds of thousands of peaceful, prayerful, joyful people he encountered.
As we approached the Supreme Court building our young priest searched for the precise words to express the moment. “I am full, and I struggle to control my emotions. This (legalized abortion) is Satanic!”
“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.” –2 Timothy 4:3-4
My dear sisters in Christ please continue to be heartfelt, determined Women of Grace, nurturing life to the full. Pray for God’s grace and mercy to be manifest in our country. Ask Our Mother to guide you and give you her heart to transform our culture.
I pray that it would be unnecessary to March in 2013. Perhaps, however, we should consider marching together next year as Women of Grace full of joy, hope and grace?
Your thoughts?
Peggy Pritchard is a Women of Grace® facilitator and Regional Coordinator. She and Vicki Crispo conduct studies in York, PA and will be hosting the Women of Grace Healing the Wounds of the Heart Retreat and are both lay associates of the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life.
