- Newsletters -

Dear Friends,

We are back now for 6 weeks after 9 weeks travelling in Morocco, Turkey and Italy. Thank you to all who prayed for us on our journey. One of the highlights of our journey was a visit to Meryam-Ana, (at the top of a hill above Ephesus) where St John took Our Blessed Lady to live, and from which location she was taken up into Heaven. This really was the highlight of our journey. Nadir wrote in his report of our journey:

The two tiny rooms: an entry and the main room, where were an altar, a prie-dieu and few candles on the side wall. A nun was singing the Ave Maria. The room was full with visitors slowly filing through the house. Once the crowd dissipated, Angela and I stayed there a bit longer in prayer. I don’t know how to say it, but I had the feeling that I would never want to leave that sacred place. I wanted to stay there for ever. To say that I felt happy there, is an understatement. At the moment my knees touched the floor of that little house, I felt I was at HOME, finally. Never before had I felt such strong feeling of belonging.

While in Adria, Nadir’s birthplace, we visited the graves

of his parents, Remo and Caterina (R.I.P.). While at the cemetery we prayed at the shrine of Maria Madre dei Bimbi Non Nati (Mary Mother of the Unborn Babies) pictured here. You can find other such shrines on the website of Catholics United for Life at http://cul.detmich.com/

Thank you also to those who have sent letters of support, donations and comments. It is always good to get feedback. Sometimes I am asked do I mind if you pass on or photocopy all or part of AFL News. Please feel free to distribute it. It is made to SHARE. One letter expressed “anxt” (maybe there are others who feel the same) that “some of my kids have signed up for donation of whatever”. Please see comments on Page 2.

****Day of Prayer at Urunga It was good to hear the news (thank you, Coby) that on 10th April at Urunga “We had a day of prayer for the unborn - constant rosaries from 9.30 to 6.30.” How wonderful! May many parishes take up the challenge and follow this example.

~~~~~~ Organ Donation and “Brain Death” Organ donation can be a moral good if the means used to obtain the organs is itself morally good.

In Are Organ Transplants Ever Morally Licit? A commentary on the address of Pope John Paul II to the XVIII International Congress of the Transplantation Society by Bishop Fabian Wendelin Bruskewitz, Bishop Robert F. Vasa, Walt F. Weaver, Paul A. Byrne, Richard G. Nilges, and Josef Seifert state:

On August 29, 2000, Pope John Paul II delivered an address to the XVIII International Congress of the Transplantation Society. While we are grateful for his teachings, we believe that certain points need further clarification.

Some members of the medical profession have interpreted the Holy Father’s address as a tacit unconditional approval for organ transplantation. We believe this interpretation of the Pope’s teaching is profoundly wrong. In fact, we read the Pope’s address as a strong condemnation of the inhumane procedures and violations of natural moral law that presently occur with the transplantation of certain organs. We further argue that all men of good will must properly understand and explicitly follow the applicable theological and moral laws.

These laws are:

• No unpaired vital organ can morally be removed from a living human person;

• There should be no commercial traffic in human organs;

• People—especially the young—must fully comprehend that when they agree to be organ donors, they give transplant surgeons a license to terminate their lives. http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Igpress/2001-03/essay.html

 The most we can hope to do is share what we know about “brain death” and organ donation with our friends and family. Then they will be in a better position to make a good decision.

Remember that, in Australia at present, it is necessary for the next of kin to give permission for organ donation, even if a consent sign has been signed. Also keep in mind that a person can remove his OWN name from the register. Here is the information on how to do that:

Removing Your Name from The Australian Organ Donor Register

It is quite simple to remove your name from the Australian Organ Donor Register. Phone their Free Call Number, 1800 777 203. First verify your name is on the Register then tell them to remove it. They will ask a few questions to determine your identity then say they have removed it. A reasonable request would be to ask them to advise you in writing that your name has been removed. It will be wise to phone a few weeks later to ensure they have followed your orders. http://www.geocities.com/organdonate/GettingOffDonorRegister.html

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Telephone Counselling Training

Since being home I have attended a weekend of telephone counselling training, part of a course organised by Pregnancy Help Sydney Inc. It was an inspiration to meet so many old and new friends who are so supportive of those experiencing pregnancy-related difficulties. Please pray for these men and women, both callers and counsellors.

The Helpers of God’s Precious Infants

in the Month of the Precious Blood

On various recent occasions, I have come across people with some strange prejudices about the work and method of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. This is due largely to lnflamatory media coverage which even those who want to see abortion disappear tend to believe, if only unconsciously. Of course these attacks are nothing more or less than attacks on the Body of Christ and are part of the promise of persecution which Jesus Himself made to those who would follow Him.

I know by experience of “being there” and by reading the Helper’s Newsletter, Thanksgiving, that the Helpers are the most loving and heroic pro-lifers, who care passionately not only for the baby being taken into the “clinic” to be killed, but they care for the baby’s parents, the abortionist and all those who assist and promote abortion. Theirs is a business of changing hearts through Love. This work demands great courage and fortitude and the use of spiritual weapons and armour - the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments and the Rosary, Marian devotions particularly fitting for this work, and especially devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus, shed to defeat the power of sin over us. The reason for this is that theirs is a spiritual battle against dark demonic powers.

Fr Tom Euteneuer, President of Human Life International, writes (HLI e-Newsletter, Spirit & Life, July 27, 2007):

 The spiritual dimension of this grisly “business” is its systematizing of ritual blood sacrifice to the god of child murder, Moloch, who we know of from the severe condemnations of him in the Old Testament (Lev 18:21, 20:2-5, and Zephaniah 1:5). This demon of murder appears in many forms and cultures through history (Phoenician, Carthaginian, Canaanite, Celt, Indian, Aztec and others) but is always the same bloodthirsty beast that demands the killing of children as his form of worship. This demon is not content with a single act of murder here and there. His insatiable appetite for the death of innocents seeks public endorsement to justify his gruesome deeds, and he needs a systematic expression of it to increase his worship.

The modern abortion industry offers ritual blood sacrifice to the ancient abortion demon. It is in every way a demonic religion. It has its sacred dogma (“choice”), its ruling hierarchy (Planned Parenthood), its theologians (feminist ideologues), its sacrificing priesthood (abortionists), its temples (abortion mills), altars (surgical tables), ritual victims (primarily babies and secondarily women), acolytes and sacristans (clinic workers and death-scorts), congregations (all supporters of abortion) and its own unifying principle of sacramental “grace” (money). In short, the abortion industry is a perfect demonic system which offers a perverse form of worship to the devil.

The sacrificial victim in this demonic religion is not a brute animal as was offered to the Old Testament God of Israel in a legitimate system of religious sacrifices. In abortion, the victim is an innocent human being who is made in the “image and likeness of God” and who can never defend herself. This combination of innocence, parental participation and ritualized obliteration of the visage of God in human form is the devil’s way of blaspheming the Father with the misguided participation of God’s own children. The systematic destruction of the human body which St. Paul calls “the temple of the Holy Spirit” is a blasphemous insult to God. If the abortion business is not truly demonic, nothing is.

He urges us:

In this month of the Precious Blood we must cover every abortionist, abortion mill and client of the abortion industry with Christ’s Blood in order to conquer the blood sacrifice of the devil with the greatest force of good known to man. If His Blood is properly applied over time with great love, we will see conversions from even the most devoted advocates of abortion. The Blood of Christ is a strong shield for all who pray and work for life and reminds us that our pro-life work brings us to Calvary to stand in solidarity with the unborn child who is unjustly deprived of life.

In Chapter IV of her recently published “Roadside Contemplatives” (Family Life International, PO Box 205, Broadway 2007) Wanda Skowronska explains the connection between the Helpers and the devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus. Is it “coincidence” that Mons. Philip Reilly, founder of the Helpers, is at the same time chaplain to the cloistered Sister Adorers of the Precious Blood of Jesus?

Ever Helper knows that, as they stand on the footpath, on the inside of the building precious blood is being spilt unto death. Jesus said “Whatever you do to the least of the little ones you do unto me”. Jesus’ Blood is being poured out in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, yet here we have a sacrilegious act in the spilling of the blood of the precious infants.

It is only the Blood of Jesus which can redeem us from the terrible scourge that falls upon us as a result of this terrible blasphemy. Could we recite the Litany of the Precious Blood during what is left of the month of July in spiritual support of the work of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants?

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Anne Lastman of Victims of Abortion returns to Lismore

I was delighted to read in the Helper’s Thanksgiving a request for prayers for Ann’s visit to Lismore at the invitation of Baptist Pastor, Jim Gallagher. Jim had followed up his original enthusiasm for Anne’s mission to help others who are indeed in anguish after aborting their child or children.

Anne renewed her acquaintance with some old friends that she had met on her first visit back in August 2005 as well as making new contacts. There were meetings at the Baptist Church, at St Carthage’s Cathedral, with several other ministers of religions, with school chaplains and counsellors, including state high schools.

Whenever Anne speaks there is always someone silently weeping, and these meetings were no exception. Anne was pleased to meet with several women later and to be able to spend time with them, helping them to find God’s Mercy and Peace, which is the crucial purpose of her visit.

Please pray for Anne and her apostolate of bringing healing to those suffering the terrible aftermath of abortion, as well as bringing the message about post-abortion suffering, and healing through God’s infinite Mercy to the wider community, in particular to priests and to the health and education establishments.

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Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, save us.

Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God, save us.

Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging, save us.

Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament, save us.

Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony, save us.

Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, save us.

Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, save us.

Blood of Christ, price of our salvation, save us.

Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.

Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.

Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.

Blood of Christ, victor over demons, save us.

Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs, save us.

Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors, save us.

Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins, save us.

Blood of Christ, help of those in peril, save us.

Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened, save us.

Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow, save us.

Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent, save us.

Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying, save us.

Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts, save us.

Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life, save us.

Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, save us.

Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honour, save us.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord!.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord!.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

V. You have redeemed us, O Lord, in your Blood.

R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, you have appointed your only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world, and willed to be appeased by his Blood. Grant we beg of you, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation, and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of the present life, so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

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Many people have asked us:

What is your favourite country between Morocco, Turkey & Italy?

Well, it’s quite a hard question for me to answer. Nadir has no problem – his immediate response is Turkey, because of the richness of its historical sites. We were told that Turkey has more to see in historical sites that Italy and Greece combined, and after visiting just a small portion of the country (we missed so much, eg Tarsus) I would be surprised if that’s not true. It is after all the Cradle of Christianity.

Morocco is fascinating, but hard to negotiate because its tourist “industry” is young, but that has its good points. The one thing I think of when I think back to Morocco is several very enjoyable spontaneous encounters with families. Because Moroccans are poor and their houses crowded, families (children, teenagers, parents, grandparents) spend a lot of time together outdoors, in parks, walking in the market places, much as Italians used to do fifty years ago. Before we went people asked us: Is it safe? We felt safer there than we would feel walking the streets of some Australian towns and cities.

Italy I love. We all have a picture in our mind of Italy. We think of it as a Catholic country, that it has a certain air of romance and glamour. It has beautiful churches. Most people think of it in much the same way as I now think of Morocco – as a family friendly place, with a family atmosphere. We went to places where we had friends and family, and we were welcomed warmly wherever we went. But beyond that we could see what the above table shows – Italy is in its death throes. Many churches of historical value are closed and in the hands of non- (one might even say anti-) Catholic organizations, to be turned into museums, or whatever suitable function can be made of them. When you walk in the market place, you see people carrying their dogs, which they seem to equate with - or prefer to – children. Here the Moroccans, who are plentiful on the streets, tend to avoid your eyes. It seems that they are used to being disliked. They are referred to, along with other foreigners, as “estracommunitari” (outsiders). These are the sad facts about Italy.

But mostly I think of going back to Turkey!

amartello@apostlesforlifesite.org