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Apostles for Life is a group of Catholics who meet at least monthly, to pray together that the Gospel of Life will be lived to the full, and to do whatever is needed so that all may share in the Good News of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our spirituality is Eucharistic and Marian. It is our intention to:

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

• Pray for an end to abortion, for the conversion of abortionists, and to stop the abuse and exploitation of women.

• Pray for the healing of the victims of abortion, whether mother, father, sibling, grandparent or surviving aborted child.

• Share with young people that sex is a sacred gift from the Creator, for the expression of love between spouses and the creation of new life.

• Support married couples in their commitment to each other and to their children,

• To assist pregnant women and girls who are threatened by the possibility of abortion.

• Nurture an appreciation for the virtue of Chastity among all people, whether single or married, heterosexual or homosexual.

• Raise the awareness of the public of the attacks, by anti-life forces, on the poor, especially in the developing nations, through forced contraception, abortion and sterilization, as a condition of aid and trade.

• Encourage the elderly, infirm, sick and disabled to become involved through their prayer and the redemptive power of their suffering.

• Inform and train for pro-life activity as necessary.

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

I invite every reader to consider seriously what you can do to promote the Gospel of Life wherever you find yourself. Every one of us can do just that little bit more, make that little extra sacrifice, take that stand and speak out to protect God’s precious ones.

Come away to a Quiet Place

Thirteen people from five parishes – Kempsey, Dorrigo, Sawtell, Lismore and Bellingen - attended our retreat on September 27-28. It was the first opportunity for friends in the southern half of the diocese to be part of Apostles for Life meetings. New friendships were formed, plans made, life stories shared; there were wonderful opportunities to share spiritually, praying together and learning from each other, in a peaceful and serene setting.

On both Saturday and Sunday, we attended Holy Mass at Bellingen Catholic Church, prayed together the Divine Office, and the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants Rosary.

On Saturday, Dr. Deirdre Little gave a talk entitled “Humanae Vitae 35 Years On” which will be published in the next issue of this newsletter.

On Sunday a talk by Angela Martello entitled “Educating for Chastity” elicited a lot of fruitful discussion, focused on the need for education programs that are in keeping with the guidelines of the Church on the education of children especially in the delicate subject of sexuality. It was decided that we should make a study to weigh up the benefits and shortcomings of possible programs, so that we may be able to make recommendations to the relevant authorities. Below is a copy of Angela’s talk.

Deirdre was to be part of the talk but had to go off to deliver a baby! We were able to support with prayer, and the news is that a little girl came into the world later that evening. It was quite a productive weekend in more ways that we expected.

Warmest expressions of gratitude are extended to our hostess, Coby Bleys - who made us welcome and fed us so well – and Walter Bachman – without whose generosity the meeting would not have been possible. We hope to meet again in eight months time (June 2004).

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EDUCATING FOR CHASTITY

Recently I found this statement that I would like you to reflect on. It is from a paper circulated to priests of the Melbourne Archdiocese by a Father W J Hayes in 1969 called “On the Dangers of Unsound Doctrine”:

“Our schools are pregnant with the next generation of Australian Catholics and we must be aware lest insufficiently tested spiritual stimulants turn out to be spiritual Thalidomide”

Bishop John Cullinane, Melbourne Vicar General for Education

I want first to say that I would prefer it if some better-qualified person were given this talk. I have very limited knowledge of Scripture, Church teachings and the writings of the Church Fathers. I want to say that I am a lay person with few credentials other than the grace of the sacraments, the faith imparted to me by my own parents, and the experience of life both as a single woman, and later as a wife and mother of three children, and through observing the state of the world and of the Church, and reading on this subject for the last maybe 7 years.

And yet I am aware of the grave urgency to take some action, because it seems to me that the situation is a very grave one, partly because many people in positions of trust and responsibility have failed to act on injustices perpetrated against the family which is the basis of a wholesome society.

So I ask you to bear with me while I do my best to share with you what is on my heart. Let us establish on what premise we are working:

1. We are Catholic

2. We take our direction from what the Church teaches.

3. We want the best for our children

I will approach the subject in the following way:

a. I want to say a little about what we are up against in the post-Christian era.

b. I want to look at what the Church has to say on Education.

c. I want to have a look at what most people today think of as an anachronism, i,e. chastity

Know your enemy It is not my intention to draw to your attention all the negative aspects of the education systems and of society – I think we all have our own store of knowledge on that. Nor is it my intention today to promote any particular program.

I do want to say though that sex education has been a dismal failure, if the intention was to prepare children for a satisfying and happy life. Anyone who knows the history of the sex education movement knows this is not the intention. It is important to have a historical perspective of the sex education movement to understand it and come to grips with it. (see Timeline of Sex Education)

Which brings us to the questions:

 What do we hope to achieve?

 How do we go about achieving what is best for our children?

You will notice that the title of our discussion is – Educating for Chastity. We are not talking about Training for Abstinence, for reasons that may become clear to you as we progress.

Education This is a basic human right, following on from the right to life and all we need to sustain it, such as food, shelter. Just how is this right and need to be met and by whom?

In On Christian Education (Encyclical of Pope Pius XI promulgated in 1929) we read:

27. It is evident that both by right and in fact the mission to educate belongs pre-eminently to the Church, and that no one free from prejudice can have a reasonable motive for opposing or impeding the Church in this her work, of which the world today enjoys the precious advantages.

30. In the first place the Church's mission of education is in wonderful agreement with that of the family, for both proceed from God, and in a remarkably similar manner. God directly communicates to the family, in the natural order, fecundity, which is the principle of life, and hence also the principle of education to life, together with authority, the principle of order.

31. The Angelic Doctor (St Thomas Aquinas) says: "The father according to the flesh has in a particular way a share in that principle which in a manner universal is found in God.... The father is the principle of generation, of education and discipline and of everything that bears upon the perfecting of human life." [Summa Theologica 2-2]

32. The family therefore holds directly from the Creator the mission and hence the right to educate the offspring, a right inalienable because inseparably joined to the strict obligation, a right anterior to any right whatever of civil society and of the State, and therefore inviolable on the part of any power on earth.

33 St. Thomas Aquinas again………"Nature intends not merely the generation of the offspring, but also its development and advance to the perfection of man considered as man, that is, to the state of virtue" [Suppl. S. Th. 3].

34. The wisdom of the Church is expressed with precision and clearness in the Codex of Canon Law, can. 1113: "Parents are under a grave obligation to see to the religious and moral education of their children, as well as to their physical and civic training, as far as they can, and moreover to provide for their temporal well-being."

A few points :

• I would like to warn against confusing (in no. 27) the Church with the catholic school. A school is Catholic if it operates within the principles spelt out clearly by the Magisterium, and it is tragic that few do on the issue of “educating for Chastity”.

• The role, obligation and privilege of education belong to parents.

• Christian education is education for Eternity: children’s first and foremost need is to know, love and serve God, what St. Thomas calls “the perfecting of human life”.

The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality   In response to repeated requests from parents concerned that their rights and responsibilities as first educators of their children were being usurped, and that their children were being damaged by school-based sex-education, the Pontifical Council for the Family issued in 1995 The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality

Anyone who wishes to be an effective promoter of the Gospel of Life needs to acquaint him/herself with this document, as the question of education for Chastity, with which this document deals, is crucial to the success or failure (God forbid) of our work. I would like to give a very brief outline from this directive and ask you to consider how far from what the Church teaches is the present approach adopted by the catholic school. It will give us a chance to reflect on what we can do to remedy the present situation, which presently puts our children at a variety of risks.

The quotes give a summary of some important passages from The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality. I really recommend that you should have your own copy and read it for yourself.

These treat such questions as:

 Whose responsibility is it?

 What should children learn and how and when?

 What if the parent is not confident?

 What are the rights and duties of the school?

Chastity To deal with issue of chastity we must go back to the very beginning - right back to Paradise. We can never exhaust the riches of this inexhaustible treasure house that is the story of Creation.

When I use the word “story” I am aware that there are basically two categories of “story” - fiction and non-fiction. Most of us would be aware that in our post-Christian era many Christians believe that creation is a fiction, that it is not meant to be taken literally. Herein lies a large part of our problem today.

We find that in the first description of creation:

• everything that God made is “good”, 1:25

• man is made “in our own likeness, in the image of ourselves” 1:26

• man is to “be masters” of all the animals 1:26

• man is to “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it.” 1:28

• after man came into existence “indeed it was very good” 1:31

• Heaven and earth were completed with all their array. 2:1

In the second version we have described

• the relationship between God and man,

• the relationship between man and creation,

• the relationship between Man and Woman

• the first Marriage

All is good until through the Adversary’s lies come

• man’s fall from grace – original sin and

• the terrible consequences – shame, fear, blame, enmity, disharmony, pain,   futility, and death and banishment.

• The suffering of woman as wife and mother

• Man’s suffering as breadwinner

Yet even in the devastation of that terrible moment, we have an inkling that the Adversary will not prevail; that through the woman and her seed there is hope. 3:15

There is hope also of a better life for a child when he or she can come to the acceptance and realization that all this is ‘for real’. Until they are taught what is the purpose of life, what is God’s plan for each of them. They need to know Who put them here and why, and where they are going. This I believe is the starting place in Educating for Chastity. There is none better.

Several years ago I attended in Brisbane a two-day workshop organised by Human Life International called “God’s Plan for Love and Life”, devised and taught by Barbara McGuigan. The first day took the form of a training day and the second day was an actual teaching session at a school but on a Saturday, which meant that the students had made a choice to attend and were therefore well disposed and open to the message. I had a big impact on me, and I am sure I can say the same for the young people who attended.

As I said earlier, it is important to Educate for Chastity, rather than to train for abstinence. As Catholics we have so much to offer youth: all the beauty, richness and tradition of the Church down through the ages – Scripture, Church Fathers, example of and our relationship with Our Blessed Mother Mary and all the saints, the sacraments and sacramentals, the Sacrifice of the Mass, and most importantly, the Catholic understanding of all these handed down to us in tradition.

How can we go wrong, if we put our trust in God’s Way and use all the riches that we have available to us through His Church? Our children have been deprived and mal-nourished for too long.

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Please note: The excerpts from Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality were published in a previous newsletter and won’t be repeated here, but if you wish to buy a copy of the book send $7.60 including postage to the address on the front page. ======================================================

Raymond de Souza Visit

By the time you are reading, this Raymond will be back with his family in Perth, having given – in this Diocese alone – nine public lectures in five parishes, as well as small home meetings. It was great to have him. His faith, knowledge, energy, and encouragement provided a great boost to many of us. Today I received in the mail information on

The League of St. Gabriel

Newly formed in the Perth Archdiocese. The aim of the League is the re-evangelisation of the baptized, especially to share with young people the Truths of the Faith.

Aware of the drift away from the Church of many Catholics, especially the young, the League offers a great opportunity to learn how to defend our faith in an ever more pagan society.

They offer you

 Every month one installment of the Apologetics by Mail course solid Catholic teaching in lesson form by email (or if you don’t have email by post)

 Every quarter a audiotape or CD on important topics of Christian Faith, Morals and Culture

 A subscription to Legionary St Gabriel’s Communications newsletter

Spiritual benefit include  Monthly Mass offered for your intentions,  The prayers of the Carmelite Sisters here and elsewhere,

 Religious medals, prayercards and inspirational booklets.

You can become a member by offering a monthly donation of a minimum of $10

This will go towards

 Producing and distributing solid orthodox religious literature

 Providing low-cost audiotapes, CDs, DVDs and booklets on Apologetics

 Sponsoring seminars and speaking tours in Parishes and schools and lay groups

 Producing radio broadcasts on Catholic teaching

For more information:

E-mail Admin@ SaintGabriel.com.au

Write St Gabriel Communications, PO Box 111 Forrestfield WA 6058

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Holly Patterson, 18 years old, died of toxic shock three days after taking the abortifacient RU 486 in September. Her family did not know that she was pregnant until after her death, and of course the death of her little baby. Holly was supplied RU 486 by her local women’s “reproductive” health center, which continues to dispense this poison to minors. Please pray for Holly and her family.

Terri Schiavo is a woman who lives in constant danger. 39 year-old Terri has brain damage, which would not be so bad if her guardian – her husband - had her best interest at heart. Unfortunately, he wants her dead. Her parents Bob and Mary Schindler want her alive. Terri has been at the center of a battle of Good against evil, Life against death. On 15 October, by court order, Terri was deprived of food and fluids in order that she could be dehydrated to death. Six days later, another court order mandated that she should be fed again. Please pray for Terri and her family and that her guardianship will be put into the hands of the ones who love her – her parents.

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The History of Sex Education

This time line shows a synthesis of anti-life philosophies along with some important events in the life of the Church:

1798 Rev Thomas Malthus: Essay on the Principal of Population

1871 Darwin influenced by Malthus, wrote The Descent of Man

1883 Francis Galton (Darwin’s cousin) in Inquiries into Human Faculty first used the word ‘eugenics’ to describe the theory of improving the human race by controlling heredity factors.

1900 International Neo-Malthusian League formed (Paris)

1908 Eugenics Society founded under Galton

1912 Term Sex Education first used by International Congress of Hygiene National Education Association pushes for training in sex education & sex hygiene for teachers.

1921 Marie Stopes sets up first Birth Control Clinic in England, First International Congress for Sex Reform in Berlin

1922 Margaret Sanger establishes Birth Control League in New York.

1929 Pius XI’s Encyclical Christian Education of Youth condemns naturalistic and public sex education programs.

1930 At Lambeth Conference Anglicans accept contraception in hard cases. Pius XI’s Casti Connubii upholds traditional Catholic sexual morality, condemns birth control

1931 Health Committee of League of Nations recognizes “child spacing” as a ‘health problem’.

1938 Kinsey begins sexology studies

1939 New York City Board of Education runs 15 week sex education training for public school teachers.

1942 Birth Control Federation of America becomes Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

1945 Sex Education compulsory in all schools in Sweden After the war the term “sex education” was abandoned for “Family Life Education” to make it more acceptable. (an example of verbal manipulation as a tool of social engineering)

1948 Dr Brock Chisholm, first director of the WHO, committed to world government, believed the idea of right and wrong should be eradicated, children had to be freed from the prejudices forced on them by parents and religious authorities. Kinsey publishes Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male

1952 JD RockefellerIII establishes Population Council; Margaret Sanger founds International Planned Parenthood Federation.

1953 Kinsey publishes Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female 1958 Anglican Lambeth Conference endorses contraception as a positive good. American Law Institute pushes for legal abortion.

1959 American Medical Association adopts liberalized abortion guidelines.

1964 UNESCO sponsors International Symposium on Health Education: Sex Education & Education for Home & Family Living. SIECUS (Sex Information and Education Council of US) formed by Planned Parenthood leadership. Aim: to merge or reverse the sexes or sex roles, liberate children from their parents, abolish the family as we know it.

1965 Griswald v Connecticut legalizes contraception.

1966 US announces vigorous support for birth control programs.

1967 US Catholic Conference reverses policies condemning government birth control and sex education programs.

1968 Interfaith statement (US Catholic Conference – National Council of Churches – Synagogue Council of America) promoting universal sex education. Paul VI publishes Humanae Vitae – controversy over Church stand. Human Life International established.

1971 White House Conference on Youth endorses universal sex education mandate for elementary & secondary schools.

1972 Eisenstadt v Baird - right of the unmarried to birth control. 1973 Roe v Wade – right to abortion on demand. Humanist Manifesto II

1974 Kissinger Report targets Brazil and 12 other key countries (not including China) for eradication of human beings using contraceptive imperialism “by force if necessary”.