Pro-Family Pressure Convinces Sears to Remove Pornography from Website

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The American Family Association (AFA) is reporting that Sears was so inundated with phone calls and e-mails from pro-family Americans regarding the pornography they were selling from their website, they decided to remove all offensive material from the site.

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Blessed Mother

“What a wonder is your Mother! The Lord entered her, and became a Servant; the Word entered her, and became silent within her; Thunder entered her, and His voice was still; the Shepherd of all entered her, and He became a Lamb.”
St. Ephraem the Syrian

For Reflection:
Mary is a wonder! How does she exemplify the call of the disciple as given to us in this quote?

Blessed Mother

“Mary symbolizes the Church, which, espoused to Christ as a virgin, has conceived us of the Holy Spirit, and as a virgin has also given us birth.”
St. Isidore of Seville

For Reflection:
According to the quote above, what are two ways Mary symbolizes the Church? Think of at least two more ways in which we see Mary as a symbol or archetype of the Church.

Mary

“Hail to you forever, O virgin mother of God, our unceasing joy. You are the pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom; the fate of every victim, the living altar of the bread of life. Hail, O treasure of God. Hail, O fount of the Son’s love for man.”
St. Methodius of Olympus

For Reflection:
Why do you think Mary is our “unceasing joy?” Why do you think she is the “pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom?” How is Mary “the living altar of the bread of life” and, therefore, “the fate of every victim?” Why do you think she is the “treasure of God” and the fount of the Son’s love for man?” In considering all of this, is my appreciation and love of the Virgin Mary deepened? To what extent?

Sears Gets Into the Pornography Business

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The American Family Association (AFA) is sending out an alert to its one million-member family warning them that Sears is not only selling scores of hard-core pornographic DVDs, but graphic images and descriptions of these products are easily accessible to children through their website.

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Illinois Catholic Charities Stands Firm Against State-Imposed Homosexual Adoption

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

On June 1, a new civil unions law will go into effect in the state of Illinois, and officials at Catholic Charities have already announced that they will not go against Church teaching and offer their more than 3,000 children for adoption by homosexual couples.

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All Charges Dropped Against “ND 88”

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The Thomas More Society announced late yesterday afternoon that Michael Dvorak, St. Joseph County, Indiana prosecutor, dismissed the criminal trespass charges that he has pressed over the last two years against almost all of the “ND88,” the individuals arrested for peacefully protesting the University’s honoring of President Barack Obama at the 2009 Commencement. Dvorak dropped the charges as part of an agreement between the Thomas More Society and the University.

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Blessed Mother

“Look, my child, at my heart surrounded with thorns, which ungrateful men continuously nail into me with their blasphemies and sins. You, at least, try to console me and tell everyone that those who go to confession on the first Saturday of the month for five months, receive holy communion, say the rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour – these I promise to assist at the time of their death with the necessary graces for their salvation.”
The Blessed Virgin Mary
(Fatima, August 13, 1917)

For Reflection:
To what extent am I willing to make reparation for sins against the name of Jesus?