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TheCall: Can a Nation be Changed in One Day?
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An amazing thing is happening. Three (so far) national pro-life organizations are joining forces to prepare for a huge event that could be a major turning point for the pro-life movement. On a recent web/phone conference, David Bereit, of 40 Days for Life, Lou Engle of TheCall, and Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life joined together to announce plans for a day of prayer and fasting to be held later this summer. It is expected to draw over 100,000 people. At the event a unified call will go out to all attendees, challenging them to go home and launch 40 Days for Life efforts — praying, fasting, and taking action for 40 days leading up to the national elections.
The place: WASHINGTON, D.C.
The date: SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008
The time: 10 AM to 10 PM
The Chester County Pro-Life Coalition is planning on sponsoring a bus (or more) to this event. If you are interested and would like to receive details as they develop (the actual times, location, fee, etc.) please call the office at 610-692-4463). |
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About TheCall
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(taken from their website www.TheCall.com)
TheCall is a divinely initiated, multi-racial, multi-generational, and cross-denominational gathering to corporate prayer and fasting. We believe that our nation is in desperate need of the mercy of God and a great Spiritual Awakening. TheCall is committed to mobilizing people from all across America to gather together to petition God for His undeserved mercy for our nation in 12-hour solemn assemblies
In the midst of an "entertainment" driven society, TheCall does not seek to entertain, but to encounter God. Unlike other mass gatherings which attract people through the rhythms of loud music, the glamour of flashing lights, or through the appeal of charismatic personalities, TheCall is a gathering centered around the affections of a loving God. There will be no advertised bands and no promoted speakers, as our purpose is
not to promote any man or ministry..
TheCall is a FAST not a festival. TheCall is a SOLEMN ASSEMBLY not a conference. Whereas conferences focus primarily on training and discipleship, the 12 hours of TheCall are spent primarily before the Lord in the place of prayer and worship.
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Lou Engle-Founder, TheCall
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Lou Engle is the visionary and co-founder of TheCall solemn assemblies, a movement of prayer gathering young adults to pray and fast for breakthrough and revival. TheCall began in Washington, DC in 2000 gathering over 400,000 people to pray and fast for the United States.
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Lou Engle
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Since 2000, The Call has gathered hundreds of thousands people to pray both nationally and internationally. After a few years of dormancy, TheCall has been revived beginning in Nashville on 07.07.07 and is on the march again to DC for TheCall DC on August 16, 2008.
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Summer Evening Prayer Vigil
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The annual summer prayer vigil will be held Friday, August 22nd in front of abortion mills across the Delaware Valley. Chester County pro-lifers are called to gather in front of Planned Parenthood, W. Market & S. Wayne Sts, West Chester from 9 pm - 11 pm. All are welcome to attend a Mass preceding the prayer vigil at 8 pm in St. Agnes Chapel, (under the main church) 231 W. Gay St., West Chester.
Join us as we pray for an end to abortion, for babies in danger of death, for their mothers, and for the conversion of all those involved in the abortion industry.
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Abortion-Alternative Resource Booklet
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2008 Edition Now Available
This booklet first developed by Rev. Paul Crikelair in 1994 has been updated and edited by the St. Peter Parish Respect Life Committee. Over 100 Pro-Life Agencies located in 12 counties in southeastern Pennsylvania are listed in this 40-page booklet. It includes the names, addresses, phone numbers, websites and services offered for each agency.
Copies will be mailed to each agency as well as churches, schools and doctors. Anyone wishing to receive a free copy can call Eileen Christian at 610-384-6029.
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Thank You, Pastor Paul
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Rev. Paul Crikelair served as Pastor of Goodwill Methodist Church in Elverson for 19 years. For at least 17 of those years, he has been involved in the pro-life movement in Chester County. Rev. Crikelair preaches the pro-life message regularly to his congregants. He organized the first Life Chain in Morgantown in 1991 and has continued as its Captain each year since. He has been a familiar face at numerous pro-life events whether he had a particular part in the program or not. As a result he was often "in the house" to call on to fill in if a scheduled clergy member was not able to be there.
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Rev. Paul Crikelair
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The Crikelair family, which includes his wife, Janet and seven children, are moving on to another church assignment in Stroudsburg, PA. We wish them the best in their new home and church. We pray also for the recovery of their daughter, Emily, who was struck by lightening on June 10th. The extent of her injuries is still unknown.
We're not saying "good-bye", however. Pastor Paul has indicated he will be back on occasion to join us and is already looking forward to being here during our 40 Days for Life Campaign in the fall.
We have presented him with a carved cherry wood plaque inscribed with the words "Great is Thy Faithfulness". We intended these words, taken from Lamentations 3:23 to not only reflect Our Heavenly Father's faithfulness, but to recognize Pastor Paul's faithfulness to the pro-life movement and the sanctity of all human life.
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PRO-LIFE CALENDAR
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| July 15 - Aug 19 |
6 more Tuesday nights as
"Theology of the Body for Teens" continues
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| July 19 - 25 |
Humanae Vitae Vigils & Events (see
below) |
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| July 24 |
Life Chain at Court House (see
Regularly Scheduled Activities - Note new directions) |
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| Aug 2 |
Helpers of God's Precious Infants (see
Regularly Scheduled Activities) |
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| Aug 16 |
"TheCall" Day of Prayer in Wash. DC (see
left column) |
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| Aug 22 |
Summer Evening Prayer Vigil (see
left column) |
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| Aug 28 |
Life Chain at Court House (see
Regularly Scheduled Activities) |
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| Mark your calendars: 40 Days for Life Fall 2008 Campaign begins Wednesday, September 24 |
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The 40th Anniversary of "Humanae Vitae"
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The Teaching on Artificial Contraception & Sterilization
July 25th marks the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's historic encyclical, Humanae Vitae. He issued this letter to the church as the use of artificial contraception and sterilization was becoming widespread. After a discussion on the nature and purpose of marriage, Humanae Vitae states, "it follows that they are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life, as if it were wholly up to them to decide what is the right course to follow. On the contrary, they are bound to ensure that what they do corresponds to the will of God the Creator."
In acknowledging that not everyone would easily accept this teaching, the Pope wrote, "It comes as no surprise to the Church that she, no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a "sign of contradiction." She does not, because of this, evade the duty imposed on her of proclaiming humbly but firmly the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical. Since the Church did not make either of these laws, she cannot be their arbiter - only their guardian an interpreter. It could never be right for her to declare lawful what is in fact unlawful. . ."
Indeed until 1930, all Christian denominations rejected contraception and Protestant leaders such as Luther. Wesley and Calvin, all spoke against the evils of contraception. In 1968, Paul VI reaffirms this constant teaching in Humanae Vitae. The marital act is the free, total, faithful and fruitful expression of the spouses' love for each other, and children are the physical manifestation of that love and the love of God for his people.
In what many now see as prophetic, a section of the document dealt with the consequences of contraceptive use. Pope Paul VI predicted that the results would include increased infidelity, the general lowering of morality and men increasingly disrespecting and using women. His predictions have come true.
Four out of ten children are born into single parent homes, divorce is rampant, violent crimes against women have increased as has the acceptance of pornography, and 47 million babies have been aborted. Many think contraception prevents abortion, but studies show that over half (some studies show 70%) of women having abortions say they were using a contraceptive in the month they became pregnant. As contraception has increased, so has abortion, as it became the back-up for failed contraception.
Humanae Vitae also discussed the valid use of Natural Family Planning when well grounded reasons for spacing births exist. By using the natural cycle of fertile and infertile periods, the married couple rightly uses a faculty provided them by nature. With the use of contraceptives, they obstruct the natural development of the generative process.
Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, has stated, "One should note that the encyclical's message is broader than the rejection of birth control. It is a declaration of the dominion of God over human life, and of the full beauty of human sexuality. The problem of our age is not that it is obsessed with sex, but that it is afraid of it--afraid of the full dimensions of its claim on human commitment, self-sacrifice, and generosity--afraid of the fact that authentic sex does not let us get lost in ourselves and our pleasures, but demands that we give of ourselves for the good of the other, including the children God may give us."
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Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae
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July 19 - 25: Prayer Vigil from 9 AM - 9 PM each day
outside Planned Parenthood, 12th & Locust Sts, Phila., the site where hundreds of thousands of contraceptives have been distributed.
(Chester County has chosen Wed., July 23rd, to fill the hours. If you can help or would like to carpool,
call Pat & Jack at 610-692-2122.)
July 25 (Friday) - Celebrate the Anniversary with Peter Kreeft from 7 PM - 9 PM at the Catholic Philopatrian Literary Institute, 1923 Walnut St. Phila. Kreeft, a professor of philosophy at Boston College and King's College in New York, will give a talk about the relevance of Humanae Vitae today. He will provide an insightful and original look at the issues surrounding contraception. For more information or to reserve a seat, call Generation Life at 215-885-4231.
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Contraceptives A.K.A. Abortifacients
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By Karen DeFabio
While most people understand the concept of why a contraceptive is used - to deter a pregnancy - few people understand that chemical contraceptives in all forms can function as abortifacients. For those uninformed many who think they have outwitted the "problem" of an "un-timed "or "never timed" pregnancy they need to know the truth. Their chemical contraceptive could cause a chemically induced abortion. Women given the truth about what truly happens in their womb while consuming these chemicals, will see that while they may not be contemplating abortion they are creating the exact environment within their womb's chemistry for an abortion to occur. It is not comforting to realize that even some doctors prescribing these contraceptives do not completely understand the link between birth control pills and abortifacients.
Here is what is supposed to happen when a woman consumes birth control pills or other contraceptives.
- Attempts to block an egg from being released from the ovary.
- May thicken a woman's vaginal secretions, making it difficult for sperm to travel up the reproductive tract.
- Changes the lining of the uterus so that if breakthrough ovulation and fertilization (conception) do occur, the embryo cannot attach to the uterine lining for nourishment because the glycogen production of the endometrial glands is diminished by the birth control pill and therefore the baby dies. This is an early abortion.
Data determined by Dr. Kuhar, author of his paper, Infant Homicides Through Contraception (1993) discovered the average rate of breakthrough ovulation is between 2% and 10% per cycle. There is a 25% overall contraceptive rate for normally fertile couples per cycle with an estimated 13.9 million users at the time of the research. The chart below indicates the percentage rate of breakthrough ovulations, and the amount of chemically induced abortions caused by the use of contraceptives.
| Contraceptive Used |
Percentage |
Number of abortions per year |
| Oral Pill |
2%
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834,000
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10%
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4,171,000 million
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| Depo- Provera |
40% - 60%
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1.2 - 1.8 million
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| Norplant |
50% - 60%
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2.250 - 2.295 million
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Depo-Provera injections last three months. Norplant , a sub dermal implant of six tiny rods containing progestin, acts up to five years as an abortifacient. The latest abortifacients, RU-486 (Mifepriston), methotrexate, and the intra-uterine device (IUD) always prevent the fertilized embryo's implantation, not conception. RU-486 and methtrexate vaccines make a woman's immune system attack and destroy her own baby.
Does the average woman truly know these ramifications of the chemicals prescribed to her? Would most women continue to take birth control pills or injections knowing they could potentially be aborting their children while thinking they are preventing a pregnancy from occurring? Women I speak with outside Planned Parenthood seem perfectly at ease taking birth control pills because it is their understanding that this pill will prevent them from becoming pregnant. What they do not know is that breakthrough ovulation occurs more frequently today because of the lowered dosage of hormones used to create the form of birth control, making them more susceptible to the breakthrough ovulation condition and fertilization to occur.
You can help by disseminating this information to women who use contraceptives to make them fully aware of the potential abortion of their own children because of the chemically induced abortifacient environment that artificial contraceptives create.
(Natural family planning will be discussed in our next newsletter. Or go to The Couple to Couple League at www.ccli.org or
Family of the Americas Foundation at www.familyplanning.net
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