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Apostles for Life News July-August 2001

 Visit Of Human Life International To Lismore And Murwillumbah

 Our Objectives

 Application to Lismore City Council for “adult shop”

 Time Of Crisis: What can we do?

 UN’s Population Control Success Is Sri Lanka’s Demise

Warm greetings during these wintry months. August will see the Apostles for Life into our third year. We know that God has been answering our first two years of prayer and we have much to be thankful for:

The visit of Gail Instance and Paul Hanrahan of Human Life International to Lismore and Murwillumbah has been a catalyst for the first prayer vigil In Tweed Heeds of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, on 16th June outside one of the two abortion clinics in Tweed, with ten pray-ers in attendance. A start has been made in the fight against the evil of abortion in our diocese. Helpers do more then fight against the evil of abortion. Their main task is to bring the message of mercy, forgiveness and salvation to desperate souls in their greatest hour of need.

Many friendships have been made, and people, who could have thrown up their hands and sighed ‘but what can we do?’ have seen great possibilities opened up, simply by offering ourselves each day, offering God the grace to be used by Him, to bring about His Kingdom on earth. As Mother Angelica says in the introduction to her TV show: “We’re all called to be great saints! Don’t miss the opportunity.”

We are aware of how much is yet to be done. Alone we could become overwhelmed. ‘That is why it is good to come together to share, encourage and help each other, and we hope in addition to our regular monthly prayer meeting at the Cathedral, to meet socially once a month to share our thoughts and activities, and cooperate with each other where possible to achieve our objectives (outlined below). The first of such meetings was a bring-a-plate lunch at Martello’s on Tuesday 26th June. We hope to make this a regular event, when we will have a scriptural study/meditation, followed by a (bring a plate to share) lunch. Please arrive for an 11am start on the First Tuesday of each month. Mark your diary/calendar Tuesday 7th August

Till then, may He hold you in the palm of His Hand.

Objectives

It is our desire to:

 Share the Good News of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus, through the graces available to us through our Holy Mother Church, and in union with our blessed Mother, Mary and all the saints.

 Promote the truth and beauty of Church teaching, especially the Gospel of Life, and so to create a society where human life is valued and loved.

 Uphold the sanctity of marriage and the value of family life, supporting married couples, in their commitment to each other and to their children.

 Share with young people that sex is a sacred gift from the Creator for the twofold purpose of the expression of love between husband and wife and the procreation of children, and must always remain open to the creation of new life.

 Assist pregnant women and girls who are threatened by the possibility of abortion.

 Make reparation for the sins of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and all attacks on human life.

 Pray for an end to abortion, for the conversion of abortionists and their staff, for the healing of the victims of abortion, whether mother, father, sibling or grandparent or the surviving aborted children.

 Raise awareness of the general public of the attacks of the anti-life forces on the poor, especially in the third world, through forced contraception, abortion and sterilisation, as a condition of aid and trade.

 Encourage the elderly infirm, sick and disabled to become involved through their prayer and suffering, which is an essential part of our apostolate

 Inform and train for pro-life activity as required.

THANK YOU

to Councillor Frank Swientek and Crs. King, Crowther, Baxter, Gallen, Chant and Suffolk, who voted on 12th June, to refuse the application to Lismore City Council for a so-called “adult shop” to be located in the CBD above a pet shop. Crs. Ros Irwin, Diana Roberts and David Tomlinson voted against Cr. Swientek’s motion to refuse the application.

Thank you also to Pastor Frank Lee of the Minister’s Fellowship, for his action and prayers on behalf of Lismore families to protect them from the threats of pornography, which has been shown to lead to increased criminal activity, wherever sexually oriented businesses operate. Please pray that this decision will not be appealed in the Land and Environment Court. Individual letters of thanks to the Council would be in order.

Time of Crisis: Stuart Roberts of Mullumbimby writes:

 We are entering a time when the very foundations our society, founded on divine order, are being consistently questioned and redefined. This phenomenon has occurred relatively recently, particularly since the early 1960’s. Increasingly we are living in a secular society where indifference to, and denial of God, and disobedience to His Law, has become an increasing cause of a society in crisis. If we read the daily papers we see the descent into increasing disorder, and the symptoms of a community suffering from that disorder.

The push to legislate homosexual “marriages”, indifference to the abortion rates, increasing levels of dysfunctional families, access to pornography; the “right” to IVF for single and lesbian women, the promotion of drug injecting rooms and the push to legalize drugs, are just some of the frontiers that our society is determined to move into. One calls to mind the words of Isaiah 5:20: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darknes for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

In addition to these “normal evils”, we have a whole new age of technology to contend with. With the future impacts of artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, human cloning, nanotechnology, as well as increasingly insidious digital technology, it is no wonder that John Paul II has recently said that “what is happening is that changes in technology, and work relationships are moving too quickly for nations to respond.” (Pontifical Academy of Social Science, April 25-28, 2001.

However, God is in control! He may appear to be asleep at the stern of an increasingly turbulent ship but He is with us. What can Christians do it the face of this increasing madness?

1. Do not be anxious but to cast our burdens upon the Lord (Psalm 55:22), the Lord is with us.

2. Recommit ourselves to God, commit our “house” to Him: as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)

3. Seek forgiveness from the Lord, be truly repentant, be holy and pray increasingly for guidance - it be given. (James 1:5)

4. Continue to speak our and act against evil wherever you find it even in the face of opposition for those who want to live a Godly life are certain to be persecuted. (2 Tim 3:12)

5. Get politically involved, form groups (the church that meets in your home - Romans 16:5), pray together, lobby your politicians on the above matters, be a nuisance, act and reflect and refer it all back to God, for He is the vine and apart from Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5)

It is important to be vigilant in these times because, if we sleep in the face of these continuing onslaughts (Let’s face it we have been sleeping - Editor) we will one day find that the cuture has changed so much that we are forced into an increasingly difficult situation. One has only to recall Adolf Hitler and his slow, gradual and incremental rise to power from 1919 onwards, via a democracy, via “relatively” free elections. One only needs to recall that, as we read these words, scientists are playing God with life, experimenting and discarding embryos - human beings - at their will.

NOW is the time to wake up and act; any later could well be too late!

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UN’S POPULATION CONTROL SUCCESS IS SRI LANKA’S DEMISE

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 21.6.01 (CWNews) - Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake has lamented the UN funded and promoted population control schemes which have deprived his county of sufficient manpower to defend themselves and staff their religious temples.

Wickremanayake is now proposing a scheme to boost the country’s population of young people by providing baby bonuses for families with more than two children in direct contrast to the UN population-control rhetoric which was trumpeted by the island government since the 1970s.

According to reports in the BBC and AFP, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) regards Sri Lanka as a success with its intervention leading to the country’s birth rate plummeting to 1.4 percent (far below the 2.1 replacement rate and even lower than Australia’s 1.7 - Editor) in 1999. An UNFPA information page on Sri Lanka boasts of having been active in promoting population reduction in the country since 1969. It also reveals that another US$7.6 million was pumped into population control promotion in Sri Lanka for 1997-2000, leading critics to wonder at the UN’s motives behind depleting the population despite the country’s abysmal birth rate.

A local newspaper quotes Wickremanayake as saying that his campaign to enlist 10,000 soldiers to the army arid another 2,000 to the Buddhist clergy failed because people opted for small families. (Sounds familiar? Editor) On Sunday the P.M. encouraged his citizens to “concentrate on producing more children” in a launch of his “bigger is better” campaign. AFP remarks that the new direction comes in sharp contrast to the government’s “small is beautiful” family planning drive more than two decades ago.

This newsletter is published bi-monthly by Apostles for Life, a Catholic Pro-life group in the Lismore Diocese, to share inspire and encourage pro-life prayer, education and action. It is a means of communication between those who attend our regular meetings and those who are unable to attend, for whatever reason. There is no cost to the receiver, but donations, both literary and monetary, will be gratefully received.