Referendum on so called same sex marriage in Ireland.

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The Irish Government has been campaigning strongly for a ‘Yes’ vote in the upcoming referendum on marriage which has been given the misleading title of ‘Marriage Equality ‘. The referendum however is not about equality and the government focus on equality distorts the reality. This is about the creation of new rights and if it is passed will have very grave consequences for our nation.

Many people are confused about marriage and think it is merely for the public recognition of committed relationships for the benefit of adults.

That is not what marriage is, but what it will actually become under the law if it is redefined.

Marriage in reality is much more than a committed relationship. Marriage not only unites a man and a woman with each other, but with any children born from their union. That expresses the fullness of what marriage is. It is a community of life and love.  This is a fact that can only be recognized and never changed. It already presumes procreation, complementarity, motherhood and fatherhood.

The three requirements for marriage are that it is unitive, procreative and indissoluble. This factual description expresses irreplaceability, and permanence, Not every married man and woman has children, but every child has a mother and father. With insertion of the word “any” even the possibility of the heartbreak of infertility is accounted for. It is the only true definition of marriage

Justice and Equality Minister Frances Fitzgerald in her statement announcing the referendum said: “People will be asked to decide whether the following new wording should be added to the Constitution: ‘Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex'.”

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Charles Flanagan told the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March that ‘it is one of the greatest shames of the modern world that States continue to deny individuals their human rights because of who they are or whom they love.’

Minister Flanagan the shame is on you and your colleagues for your blatant rejection of the truth and beauty of human sexuality expressed through the committed love of  men and women for one another.  Your actions will undermine the family, attack the rights of parents in the moral education of their children, and attack freedom of religion, as has happenned in other countries where same sex marriage has been introduced. Take for example the Court ruling in Lexington Massachusetts, which ruled that schools are permitted teach about homosexuality without parents consent or even a right to remove their children from the class. In the lead up to the case one parent was arrested because he objected to the indoctrination of his son.

The major push is to indoctrinate the next generation and the way it will be done is through so-called comprehensive sexuality education.

Our children are precious and we need to protect them from early sexualisation.

  

We as Christians are all called to love one another but that does not mean that we uncritically accept the actions of others without comment. Real love resides in expressing the truth in all situations because it is the truth that sets us free. In truth marriage is between one man and one woman and cannot be extended to others, anything else is a sham.

Marriage is the foundation stone of the family and is recognised in the Irish Constitution in Article 41 which declares that: the State recognises the family as the natural, primary and fundamental unit group of society and as and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law. It also says that: The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State. 

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights is also very explicit and article 16 tells us: Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.

Article 16 also tells us that: ‘The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.’

The Irish Constitution was enacted, ‘In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred.’ Has it not occurred to our political leaders, Taoiseach Enda Kenny together with Ministers Flanagan, Fitzgerald and Labour leader Joan Burton that what is proposed is directly flouting God’s law and it is adding insult to injury by proposing the inclusion of such an abomination in the text of our Constitution dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity.  

Taoiseach, when future generations evaluate your words and actions the lasting shame will be on you and your colleagues for your blatant rejection of God’s Commandments and for kow-towing to so called political correctness at the expense of genuine marriage and the family.

It is to be hoped that the Irish electorate will have more sense than you do and will not approve this outrage.

UN pro-abortion and sexual rights agenda defeated at major conference

The 48th UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD) ended on Friday April 18th with a firm rejection of the anti life and family policies the UN is attempting to impose globally. 

The 48th session of the Commission, was themed, ‘Integrating population issues into sustainable development, including in the post-2015 development agenda’. This was the last Commission before the upcoming negotiations on a new 15 year programme to be known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and was regarded by UNFPA the UN population fund and their anti life allies, such as International Planned Parenthood (IPPF), as their best opportunity to influence the outcome of the SDG’s by forcing the acceptance of controversial language on sexual and reproductive rights and comprehensive sexuality education.

In recent years the negotiating strategy adopted by Western governments has been to insert controversial issues into documents during the negotiating period and rely on the chair to issue a compromise text which inevitably retains some of those issues.

In this case negotiations on the outcome document over a period of 10 days were similarly loaded up with controversial language and by Thursday evening (April 16th) had become completely unacceptable. Negotiations continued on Friday when a so called compromise text was produced by the chair Ms. Bénédicte Frankinet from Belgium.  The Chair had removed a reference ‘sexual rights’ from the text but it still contained a number of unacceptable references.

Ms. Frankinet made it clear that her so called compromise text was final and demanded that the text be accepted without alteration as a consensus document. The Nigerian Ambassador Usman Sarki speaking on behalf of the African Group informed the meeting that the text needed further work and that in his opinion agreement could be reached in 10-15 minutes given the political will to do so. The chair was  unwilling to accommodate the concerns of the African countries regarding terminology such as ‘comprehensive sexuality education’ (CSE) and reproductive rights. Rather than qualify or delete the controversial terms the Chair withdrew the document.

The decision by the chair to withdraw the document was greeted with a shocked silence by the anti-life and family brigade, when the realisation sunk in that there would not now be any outcome document and that there was no agreement on how to integrate population policies in the post-2015 development agenda, the actual purpose of this year’s commission.

Ambassador Sarki, who had diplomatically tried to persuade the Chair to be more accommodating when he sought time to discuss proposed changes spoke very forcibly following the withdrawal of the document. “We came to the meeting with an open mind,” he said, adding that from the outset they had to deal with drafts “replete with controversial issues that have in the past not only proved difficult to deal with but are also extremely divisive in nature.” He put down a marker for future negotiations saying that member state delegations and UN officials “should refrain from putting language in drafts on which there is no consensus”.  He also said that lack of an outcome document should not be seen as a failure. “Member states”, he said, “have resisted the imposition of unhelpful ideas and concepts on all the membership.”

Mr.Babatunde Osotimehin, head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) told the meeting, in an obviously crestfallen manner, that he “regretted” that an agreement could not be reached and then went on to criticise countries for not being “tolerant,” because of their resistance to the UNFPA agenda.

The delegate from Nauru, Rennier Gadabe, complained about UNFPA harrassment of his Government during the negotiations “Does UNFPA he said, think they can do this because Nauru is the smallest member state?” UNFPA had pressured the Nauru Government to change its position on reproductive rights and CSE and was critical of the position taken by the Nauru UN delegation. The delegate angrily told the meeting that such tactics were “unacceptable.”

UNFPA has over the last few years spent hundreds of thousands of dollars arranging conferences throughout the world, in places like, Accra, Kuala Lumpur, Ocho Rios, Montevideo and other venues, with the sole purpose of firstly influencing the outcome of this session of the Commission and ultimately the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Mass in Knock for the protection of the sanctity of marriage, family and life and for Ireland

Mass for Ireland - The Lamb Will Conquer - in Knock Basilica, Sat 25th April at 3 pm for protection of the sanctity of marriage, family and life and for Ireland.

Stations and rosaries from 2 pm. Celebrant Fr John Mockler with fellow priests. Prayer groups and banners welcome. Please come and unite in prayer for Ireland at this crucial time. If you are coming to the mass on Sat, please stay over / come back for day of Eucharistic Adoration on Sunday. 

Notice is short, however, this was the only date available.

So far buses are running from the Dioceses of: 

Cashel and Emly, 

Cork and Ross, 

Clogher, 

Cloyne (overnight bus), 

Down and Connor, 

Galway (free bus) 

Kerry, 

Limerick.

Please consider attending and uniting with others in prayer to The Holy Family for Ireland.

Please share this information with your friends and prayer groups. 

More information together with posters or flyers is available from: 

N Orla 07545452362,  

S Mary 0876325406  

E Catherine 0874199249 

W Bernie 085-1661754.

Cynical pro-abortion campaign targeted babies with life limiting conditions

The private members bill introduced by Clare Daly, in an attempt to expand availability of abortion in Ireland to include babies with life limiting conditions, was defeated on Tuesday by 104 votes to 20.  It would be foolish to take comfort from the result on the basis that the government could not vote in favour of a bill they had been advised was unconstitutional.

This was a cynical move by pro-abortion forces and a compliant media in manipulating public opinion. Clare Daly knew perfectly well that her private members bill was unconstitutional and could not be accepted by the Government in the absence of a referendum. The bill was designed to take aim at 40.3.3 of the Irish constitution with a view to putting pressure the Irish Government to hold a referendum.

There is no doubt that Daly mounted an effective campaign judging by the fact that many of those who voted against it expressed sympathy with its objectives, including the Minister for Health Leo Varadkar.  Three members of the Fianna Fail party also voted for it, including the health and justice spokesmen.

There is growing pressure from the pro-abortion side to remove Article 40.3.3 from the Irish Constitution which would inevitably lead to abortion on demand. Taoiseach Enda Kenny however says he is not prepared to have another divisive abortion referendum at the present time. It is likely however to be an issue in the next election and afterwards.

Daly argued the bill on compassionate grounds but everyone knows she supports abortion on demand up to birth and will do everything possible to further her deadly agenda.

Daly’s approach ignores the hundreds of women who decide to give life a chance and allow their babies to live as long as they possibly can.  It is also very hurtful to such women when Daly and her colleagues describe their babies as ‘non-viable’ and ‘incompatible with life’.

Sadly the unfortunate women who had been encouraged to terminate the lives of unborn babies suffering from life limiting conditions were used in the process.

One sided media comment on fatal fetal abnormality

The pro abortion forces in Ireland not content with the fact that Ireland has introduced abortion in certain circumstances have moved to demanding that abortion be made available in the case of fetal abnormality. Needless to say their ultimate goal is abortion on demand.

Pro-abortion TD Deputy Clare Daly recently tabled her latest draft bill demanding the availability of abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality. Daly’s bill is due for second stage debate on Friday February 6^th.

Daly argues the bill on compassionate grounds but everyone knows she supports abortion on demand up to birth and will do everything possible to further her deadly agenda. Daly’s approach ignores the hundreds of women who decide to give life a chance and allow their babies to live as long as they possibly can.  It is also very hurtful to such women when Daly and her colleagues describe their babies as ‘non-viable’ and ‘incompatible with life’.

Neither can there be any doubt that the liberal media is anti-life and anti-family judging by the almost blanket acceptance of this new and discraceful pro-abortion campaign which is using the grief of unfortunate women who having been diagnosed as carrying so called ‘non viable’ babies were encouraged to terminate them, whilst at the same time ignoring grief and the beautiful witness of those women in the same situation who lovingly opted to give their babies the opportunity of living as long as they possibly could.

There has been little if any reportage on the need for peri-natal hospice care in these circumstances. Parents of babies with life-limiting conditions are surely entitled to hear about the positive benefits of such care. So much for media balance!