Pro-life movie "Bella" to be released nationwide Oct. 26

Finally, a date!!

 

God bless!

 

Pro-life movie "Bella" to be released nationwide Oct. 26

Denver, August 30 (CNA).-Roadside Attractions, an independent film distribution company, has purchased the rights to the movie, "Bella," the recent winner of the People's Choice Award at last year's Toronto International Film Festival.

"Bella" has captured the hearts of audiences all over the country.  Hollywood Reporter describes the movie as a "romantic drama [that] stars Emmy winner Tammy Blanchard as a young single waitress fired from her job right after discovering that she is pregnant. The restaurant's empathetic chef (Mexican star Eduardo Verastegui) follows her around New York for a day, developing a bond that helps each discover truths about themselves and each other."

"The film is a crowd-pleaser about humanity, family, friendship and the unique magic of New York City," Roadside co-president Eric d'Arbeloff said. " 'Bella' will win the hearts and minds of Latino and mainstream audiences alike, and we hope it finds the same success as previous Toronto People's Choice Award winners 'Life Is Beautiful,' 'Whale Rider,' 'Hotel Rwanda,' 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'American Beauty.' "

Roadside co-president Howard Cohen added, "Eduardo Verastegui gives a star-making turn that has gotten the attention of a whole new audience."

Verastegui is one of the most successful Mexican actors in Hollywood today, has become one of the strongest voices against the legalization of abortion in Mexico City. 

Since rediscovering the faith of his parents, he has no fear of public rejection for denouncing the holocaust of abortion. Verastegui has revealed his pro-life convictions to various Mexican media outlets and has created an organization in California to help those in need, especially women who are seeking abortions.

"Bella" will be released nationwide Oct. 26.

Urgent Message from Fr. Tom Euteneuer

Passing this on from John Mallon and Fr Tom Euteneuer

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Aug 30, 2007 4:10 PM

Dear Catholic Bloggers & Friends

Please spread this message as far as possible.
Thanks,
John

Babies of Mozambique Targeted for Abortion Program
http://www.hli.org/sl_2007-08-31.html

Passengers on Vatican's new airline prevented from carrying Lourdes water onboard

Ok.

 

I can understand in today's world not allowing water from outside the airport to be carried on board an airplane. BUT, a VATICAN airline that takes pilgrims to LOURDES, where they KNOW that water will be one of the things that pilgrims/visitors ALWAYS take home with them?? And they could not warn passengers before hand, or tell them to pack it into their inspected luggage? Or something?

 

And... a bottle of it in each seat for them to DRINK? Most do not take Lourdes water home to DRINK, but to give to family and friends who are ill, or who cannot go to Lourdes, etc.

 

Most do not want just a small complimentary bottle ... especially if they have PAID for special bottles to take water home for others.

 

I have a cousin who LONG ago was bleeding from hemophilia, and they could not stop it. His family had Lourdes water for him. Whether it can be considered a miracle or not, I think the fact that he is still alive today speaks loudly. Had anyone wanted to get Lourdes water for him today.... I wonder if it would be possible.

 

Sad.

 

God bless!

 

Passengers on Vatican's new airline prevented from carrying Lourdes water onboard

Lourdes, August 29 (CNA).-Amongst Catholics, water from the well known Marian apparition site of Lourdes, France is a common export. Inspectors at Tarbes-Lourdes airport, on the other hand, didn't see things the same way and prevented pilgrims traveling on the Vatican's new airline from boarding with the holy water, reported Reuters. 

The water, which is said to have miraculous healing powers, came from a sacred grotto where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858. At the grotto, one can see crutches and other signs of illness that belonged to those who have been cured.

One of the passengers, Paola Saluzzi, told Corriere della Sera newspaper she was carrying the holy water in eight small plastic bottles "in the shape of the little Madonna". But it was not allowed on board.

"If they gave preference to the water from Lourdes it would be an (irregularity) that would not guarantee the proper procedure," she acknowledged.

But the new airline had foreseen just such a situation and placed a small complimentary bottle of holy water on the seat of each pilgrim to drink on board, Saluzzi said.

The Vatican's chartered Boeing 737 aims to serve 150,000 pilgrims a year. Beyond Lourdes, destinations will range from the shrine of Fatima in Portugal to Mount Sinai in Egypt, where Moses is said to have received the 10 Commandments from God.

 

 

Marriage under Gov. Schwarzenegger's gun in California

CNA newsletter also carried this about marriage... sad. California was the first to begin 'No fault', forced, unilateral divorce under then Gov Reagan, which his son, Michael has said was Reagan's greatest regret... that was way back in 69. It is really too bad that it has taken so long for people to BEGIN to wake up to what is happening to Marriage!!

 

God bless!

 

Marriage under Gov. Schwarzenegger's gun in California  

Sacramento, August 27 (CNA).-Sacramento, The movie star turned governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, seems poised to undermine marriage in his influential state.

In legal briefs submitted to the California Supreme Court, which is considering whether to license "same-sex marriages" next year, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown both stated that a future legislature could abolish marriage and yank marriage rights from a married husband and wife.

It was revealed today that Attorney General Jerry Brown [ AG Jerry Brown's 8/17 brief] and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [ Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 8/17 brief] have stated that the terms "marry" and "marriage" have no significance in the state's constitution and can therefore be changed.

The briefs also reveal that the attorney general and the governor agree that benefits which are currently afforded to husbands and wives could be eliminated by the California Legislature.

Schwarznegger's August 17 brief states, "except for the ability to choose and declare one's life partner in a reciprocal commitment of mutual support, any of the statutory rights and obligations that are afforded to married couples in California could be abrogated or eliminated by the Legislature or the electorate for any rational legislative purpose."

Randy Thomasson of the VoteYesMarriage.com ballot initiative organization points to this as "proof positive that the VoteYesMarriage.com initiative, which will prevent marriage from being abolished and prevent marriage rights from being eliminated, is absolutely needed to protect the sacred institution of marriage from activist judges and liberal politicians." 

The ballot initiative promotes the California Marriage Amendment, which will safeguard marriage from the tampering of judges and politicians. Thomasson hopes to have the amendment appear on the 2008 ballot.

Media misinterprets "spiritual desert" of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

This was my thoughts as I heard about what the media was saying in regards to Mother Teresa's letters.... well said... May God bless!!

 

Media misinterprets "spiritual desert" of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta 

CNA STAFF, August 27 (CNA).-With headlines such as "Did Mother Teresa lose her faith?" or "Mother Teresa of Calcutta did not believe in God," the media has by and large misinterpreted the letters of Mother Teresa that have been published in a new book, outlining the difficult spiritual struggle she endured for decades.

The Associated Press, Time Magazine and a host of other news organizations, have sensationalized the new book entitled, "Mother Teresa: Come be my Light," which consists of a collection of letters the nun wrote over the years chronicling her spiritual journey.

Although the media has portrayed the book as "evidence" that Mother Teresa did not really believe in God and even considered herself a hypocrite, her spiritual darkness was no secret to the Church.

Mother Teresa had requested that her letters be burned after her death, but they were conserved by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, who was the postulator for her cause of beatification.  Father Kolodiejchuk considers the letters further proof of her sanctity because they allow people to have "a new understanding, a new window into her interior life, which in my view is the most heroic possible."

Among the passages quoted by the media include paragraphs such as: "I feel that God does not love me, that God is not God, and that He truly does not exist."  In one letter from 1958 she wrote: "My smile is a mask that hides a multitude of sorrows."

In 2002, when her beatification was announced, Father Kolodiejchuk gave an interview to Zenit in which he spoke of this phase of Mother Teresa's life.  "Before the inspiration for her work, she had already experienced darkness," he said.  "However, it is important to keep in mind that this 'night', this interior suffering, is the fruit of her union with Christ, as happened with St. Teresa of Jesus or Paul of the Cross." 

"On the one hand, there is union with Jesus and love unites.  In being united to Christ, she understood the suffering of Jesus when he shouted from the Cross: 'My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" Father Kolodiejchuk said.  The darkness experienced by Mother Teresa was also the result of the apostolate, he continued, and her love for others.  "Loving Christ, she understood as well the suffering of others, their loneliness and also their estrangement from God."

"The 'dark night' of Mother Teresa was due, therefore, to the double dimension of love that religious live out: in the first place, the 'spousal,' her love for Christ, which leads them to unite their sufferings to Him; and secondly, 'redemptive' love, which leads them to share in redemption, to proclaim to others the love of God so that they can discover salvation through prayer and sacrifice," Father Kolodiejchuk explained.

"More than a trial of faith," he continued, "it was a trial of love.  More than suffering for the experience of not feeling the love of Jesus, she suffered because of her desire for Jesus, her thirst for Jesus, her thirst for love.   The goal of the Congregation is precisely to satiate the thirst of Jesus on the cross through our love of Him and our service to souls."

"Mother shared not only the physical and material suffering of the poor, she felt the thirst, the abandonment that people experience.  In fact, the greatest poverty is to not be loved, to be rejected," he said.

The ex-director of the Holy See's press office, Joaquin Navarro Valls, also commented on the apparent controversy in an article published in the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica." In his article he points that "those moments of crisis aren't a sign of lack of faith, but they're normal and in her [Mother Theresa's] case, heroic."

Bill Maher's Absurd Take on Religion By Father Jonathan Morris

 I like Fr Morris, and having a rather orthodox priest on Fox News...and I wonder if Bill Maher will ever take Fr up on his challenge to meet with him...?  I'd love to be a fly on the wall, should it ever happen....

 

God bless!

Bill Maher's Absurd Take on Religion

Friday , August 24, 2007

By Father Jonathan Morris

Editor's Note: Father Jonathan received an overwhelming amont of viewer feedback after this article was first published on August 17. Please click here to read viewers' responses.

If Judaism or Christianity actually taught even a fraction of the absurdities Bill Maher apparently thinks they teach, I would send him my resume and petition him to bring me on as a co-producer of his upcoming documentary, "The Absurdity of Religion" (title still indefinite), as announced last night on "Larry King Live." I, too, would want to reveal the fraud.

I suspect we would make perfect business partners — a publicist's dream team. My work as an adviser on the set of Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ," my role as an analyst for the FOX News Channel and the fact my home/workplace is a stone's throw from the Vatican might partially offset Mr. Maher's reputation as being somewhat biased toward things religious. Together, we would laugh our way all the way to the box office and perhaps liberate a few paltry-minded believers along the way.

But there's one problem: Not a fraction of Bill Maher's statements about Christian and Jewish beliefs coincide with what, in fact, Christianity and Judaism say of themselves.

Unlike in Bill Maher's world of comedy (where he truly excels), in theology, truth is not optional, opportunistic or malleable. Things are, or they aren't, but they can't be both.

Because Mr. Maher has decided to step out of his field of expertise and into mine, in a genuine spirit of dialogue, I would like to clarify a few things here that he has managed to jumble. You will notice that I am assuming the best — that Mr. Maher simply doesn't know what Christianity really teaches.

• If Christianity really taught that God took out a pen, wrote a book for us, called it the Bible and dropped it from the clouds, I, too, would doubt. But Mr. Maher, Christianity doesn't teach that. As history shows, human beings wrote the Bible and, according to Christian belief, their writing was divinely inspired. Christians don't suggest they can prove such inspiration with material evidence (the only kind skeptics would accept), but they consider faith (the assent of the heart) capable of grasping some immaterial, spiritual realities — like this one. On another note, from a purely historical standpoint, I think you would agree that 2,000 years of continual belief should be given some weight. In all this time, nobody has proven the Bible is NOT inspired, and therefore, by the same standard of material evidence, we should all agree that nobody can say Christians are definitely wrong about inspiration.

• If Christianity really taught that the man in the jungle who has never heard the name of Jesus is going to be damned forever to hell, I, too, would doubt. But Mr. Maher, Christianity doesn't teach that. We are responsible to God in as much as God reveals himself to us. Christianity teaches that the saving grace of Jesus Christ is bigger than our date or place of birth. Christians believe God gives all of his children, in ways often unknowable to our little brains, the opportunity to accept or reject his love.

• If Christianity really taught that God created cancer, child abusers and earthquakes to torture his own children, I, too, would doubt. But Mr. Maher, Christianity doesn't teach that. The evil in this world is not willed by God. Christianity teaches both physical and moral evil is a result of a world that is out of wack as a result of the misuse of our own human freedom. Like a good parent, God allows us to make mistakes and to live with the consequences. And even so, he doesn't abandon us. He promises to bring forth a greater good out of every instance of evil. Ask someone with faith who has suffered great pain or loss and they will surely tell you how God has made good on his promise.

• If Christianity really taught that God sometimes commands us to kill the innocent in his name, I too would doubt. But Mr. Maher, Christianity doesn't teach that. This would go against the very nature of God as all-loving and all-just. I am equally as scandalized as you are when I see religious people, in our checkered past and present, mistake their own pride and ignorance for the voice of God and march off to holy war. As Pope John Paul II said, "War is always a failure of humanity."

• If Christianity really taught that people with homosexual tendencies are all going to hell, or that somehow they are not God's children, I, too, would doubt. But Mr. Maher, Christianity doesn't teach that.

And the explanations about what Christianity says about itself, and how this differs from Bill Maher's subjective understanding, could go on and on. I only hope that when he travels, as promised, to the Holy Land and to the Vatican with his team of investigative journalists to do "research" for his new documentary about the absurdity of religious belief (to be released, of course, in the Easter season), he stops by my place, or the place of any of the more than two billion Christians and Jews who will explain why his vision of their religion, is, well … rather absurd.

God bless, Father Jonathan

P.S. A personal note to Bill Maher: I spend quite a bit of time in New York City. In the case it doesn't work out for us to meet up at the Vatican during your travels, let me know and we can work out something on your side of the Atlantic.

God or Allah? Imam Shamsi Ali and Father Jonathan Debate

There are two videos to watch with Fr Morris and Imam Ali, as well as viewer's comments.

 

God bless!!

God or Allah? Imam Shamsi Ali and Father Jonathan Debate
By Father Jonathan Morris



Click on the URL below for the rest of this story:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293131,00.html?sPage=fnc.foxfan/blogs

 

Fwd: Urgent! reporter needs help

Please pass this on to anyone who may be among those who can help the reporter. Contact Nancy Valko at the email address she has given ASAP.

 

God bless!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: nancyvalko@sbcglobal.net Date: Aug 25, 2007 4:13 PM
Subject: Urgent! reporter needs help
 

Dear all,

   I have been contacted by a reporter from a national paper who is looking for doctors, nurses or family members who have felt pressured to donate a patient's organs and are willing to speak to this reporter. Please contact me by email ASAP if you can help with this or know someone with such a story. This is an extremely important issue.

  Thank you!

Nancy V.

email: nancyvalko@sbcglobal.net