Man wakes from coma

Fifty-six-year-old Mike Connolly's heart stopped in late January. For four days he was comatose and his family were warned by doctors that he would never recover. Shortly before his life support was removed, he did the impossible, woke up and began communicating, even though his brain had been starved of oxygen for over thirty minutes when his heart stopped. The very same doctors who predicted he would never recover are now saying that he will make a full recovery in time. To quote one of his doctors precisely: "It's almost like a miracle."

I am the exception

Say NO to the Status Quo

Wesley Smith on Assisted Dying

Wesley Smith was in London earlier this week speaking at a parliamentary meeting organised by ALERT, a group that campaigns against the legalisation of euthanasia.

His excellent article on assisted suicide in Oregon was published in The Telegraph and argues that the 'right' to die can very quickly become the duty to die, a fact of which many of us who are involved with the pro-life campaign are all too aware. He cites the examples of two terminally ill patients in Oregon who were denied chemotherapy but promised help with assisted dying.

50 Million Red Envelopes

Readers may be interested to know about a simple but brilliant idea to draw attention to the estimated 50 million babies aborted in the United States since the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision. In a new red envelope campaign pro-lifers are sending empty red envelopes to President Obama, the idea being that each red envelope represents one lost life.

The idea is reported to be the brainchild of Christ (rhymes with mist) Otto. The idea came to him during a time of prayer. He wants to send President Obama a message of moral outrage regarding his support of abortion-on-demand throughout pregnancy. Mr. Otto says the red envelope message would be "quiet but clear"

This afternoon I was praying about a number of things, and my mind began to wander. I was deeply distressed at the symbolic actions that President Obama took as he began his presidency. Namely, that he signed executive orders releasing funds to pay for abortions, permission to fund human stem cell research, and federal funding for contraception. I have been involved in the pro-life movement for nearly 20 years, and it pained my heart to see a man and a political party committed to the shedding of innocent blood. This man, and this party lead our country, but they do not represent me or the 54% of Americans who believe that abortion is wrong and should no longer be legal.

As I was praying, I believe that God gave me an interesting idea. Out in the garage I have a box of red envelopes. Like the powerful image of the red LIFE tape, an empty red envelope will send a message to Barack Obama that there is moral outrage in this country over this issue. It will be quiet, but clear.

Here is what I would like you to do:
Get a red envelope. You can buy them at Kinkos, or at party supply stores. On the front, address it to

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington , D.C.

On the back, write the following message. This envelope represents one child who died in abortion.It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.
Put it in the mail, and send it. Then forward this email to every one of your friends who you think would send one too or post it on your FB profile. I wish we could send 50 million red envelopes, one for every child who died before having a a chance to live. Maybe it will change the heart of the president.

See also BLOG post by SPUC director John Smeaton

More about Pelosi

I have previously reported on the widely different press releases made by both the Holy See press office, on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, and that released by Nancy Pelosi. The issue continues to draw attention and some of the recent commentaries are worth noting.

Comparing the two releases, Catholic commentator and author George Weigel responded saying that the statement from the office of Pelosi makes it obvious that there is more to the story: “that Pelosi, who shamelessly trumpets her ‘ardent’ Catholicism while leading congressional Democrats in a continuing assault on what the Catholic Church regards as the inalienable human rights of the unborn, was trying to recruit Benedict XVI to Team Nancy.”

In contrast Professor Douglas Kmiec, attacked Pope Benedict. (CNA Report) Professor Kmiec, who during the US Presidential election provided a justification for allowing Catholics to vote for Barack Obama, despite the president's consistent pro-abortion track record, wrote last week on Time Magazine's website that Pope Benedict XVI's words to Nancy Pelosi were "intrusive" in legal matters, because they put the whole judicial system in an impossible moral dilemma.

Professor Kmiec according to the article, implied that the Pope exaggerated or at least did not measure the consequences of his words when he told Nancy Pelosi that "jurists," in addition to legislators, must work "in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development." According to Kmiec, such a statement “has the potential, at least theoretically, to empty the U.S. Supreme Court of all five of its Catholic jurists, and perhaps all other Catholics who sit on the bench in the lower federal and state courts.”

Needless to say Kmiec’s viewpoint is not widely shared by others. Edward Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and director of its program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture, questioned "whether Kmiec’s reading (of the Vatican statement) is actually a careful one." "For starters, Kmiec assumes that the term 'jurists' is equivalent to 'judges'," Whelan explains, when actually the terms applies to "any person who possesses a degree in law."

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver commenting on the incident said "Every Catholic, whether you're famous or anonymous ... has a responsibility to be faithful to what our Church believes about human life, and we believe human life is sacred and precious from the moment of conception," He also said he was happy that the Pope "took the occasion to remind her of something very important."

During this interview which took place on Fox News(reported by Lifesite News) Interviewer Neil Cavuto then asked Archbishop Chaput: "Would you grant her [Pelosi] Communion in your church?" Archbishop Chaput responded,

"I would like to talk to her if she were coming to a church in the Archdiocese of Denver. I would say to her what I would say to anyone: again, if you don't accept what the Church teaches, you shouldn't present yourself for Communion, because Communion means you're in agreement with what the Church teaches".

I suspect this is not the final word on the affair.