Editor’s Note: In the wake of the latest Planned Parenthood scandal involving selling the body parts of aborted babies (see LifeNews.com to view the videos of interviews with Planned Parenthood officials), this is an opportune time to contact not only your legislators about ending taxpayer funding of this conglomerate that kills more than 330,000 babies a year, but also to write to corporations and organizations that contribute millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood.
According to the 2nd Vote website, which tracks the flow of money from consumers to political causes, more than 25 percent of PP’s annual revenue of $1.3 billion comes from private donors and corporations. Here is a list of 35 corporations and organizations that are listed as contributors to the conglomerate:
Adobe, AT&T, Avon, Bank of America, Bath & Body Works, Ben & Jerry’s, Clorox, Converse, Deutsche Bank, Dockers, Energizer, Expedia, ExxonMobil, Fannie Mae, Groupon, Intuit, Johnson & Johnson, La Senza, Levi Strauss, Liberty Mutual, Macy’s, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Nike, Oracle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Progressive, Starbucks, Susan G. Komen, Tostitos, Unilever, United Way, Verizon, and Wells Fargo.
Q. After my mother died at age 84, she appeared to my grieving sister to reassure her. She was the same age as at her death and she looked the same, even wearing glasses. My questions are: Is she in the Purgatory state and when will she be in the glorified state in Heaven? — B.K., via e-mail.
A. While human beings cannot communicate at will with the souls of the dead, thus the prohibition against taking part in seances, there are enough reported accounts to conclude that God does permit departed souls to appear to living persons if for no other reason than to assure them that the departed is well. In his book The End of the Present World, Fr. Charles Arminjon answered the question of whether the dead do sometimes appear to the living this way:
“St. Augustine declares that such apparitions may take place, and have taken place on a number of occasions, by a special disposition of the divine will. He quotes, as proof, the souls of Moses and Samuel (1 Samuel 28); the souls of Jeremiah and the high priest Onias (2 Macc. 15), who reappeared on earth though still captives in limbo. As for apparitions of blessed souls who dwell in heaven, these are frequent in the lives of the saints. It is likely that, by virtue of the same divine disposition, the souls in purgatory sometimes appear or reveal themselves for the salvation and guidance of the living” (pp. 167-168, fn.).
We cannot know, of course, whether your mother is in Purgatory or in Heaven, but we would encourage you to continue praying and offering Masses for her. If she is already in Heaven, then God will distribute the fruits of those prayers and Masses to souls in need of them.
Q. Attached is an article from the Style section of the Washington Post entitled “Civilities: A lesbian mom asks: How do I stop our Catholic bishop from insulting my family?” How would you respond to this woman? — D.M., via e-mail.
A. According to the letter from “Fuming in the Pews,” she and her lesbian partner were raised Catholic and are “raising our two girls in the Church now. One local parish has been completely welcoming to us as lesbians, but last week the bishop made his annual visit to perform Confirmations and used the occasion for a rant against marriage equality. . . . Our daughter will be confirmed next year, and I’m already thinking about how to handle it if we get a similar speech. I said to my wife [sic.] that I would have had to walk out, but she told me the polite thing to do is just to suck it up. I understand that we’re talking about a Church, not a town hall, but really, we should sit and let our family be insulted? What message does it send to the kids that nobody objects? And don’t you think our friends should have said something to the bishop?”
But does “Fuming” really understand that “we’re talking about a Church, not a town hall”? We would say no. For if she really understood that the Catholic Church was founded by the Son of God to communicate the truth to the world, the same Son of God who said that marriage is the fruitful union of one man and one woman for life, and that bishops are the successors of the twelve apostles with the mandate to speak the truth in the name of Jesus, then she would not expect a bishop to contradict Christ’s teaching on marriage. Who does she think she is, demanding that the Church conform to her point of view, instead of the other way around?
Is it possible that some of those in attendance at the Confirmation were involved in abortion, adultery, contraception, fornication, and perhaps even sexual abuse? Would it have been “insulting” for the bishop to speak against those evils? Should he always be silent about serious sin so as not to upset any serious sinners in the crowd? Should he have neglected his responsibility as the chief teacher of the faith in his diocese, or should he have followed the example of Jesus in calling people to holiness?
It is one thing to be welcoming to persons with same-sex inclinations, since they are made in the image and likeness of God and are deserving of “respect, compassion, and sensitivity” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2358); it is quite another to endorse what the Catechism calls “acts of grave depravity” (n. 2357). In other words, we are called to love the sinner without ever approving the sin. The Catechism says that “homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection” (n. 2359).
The Church that Jesus founded is never going to approve “marriage” between two persons of the same sex, so why does “Fuming” stay in the Catholic Church, and why is she having her daughter prepared for the Sacrament of Confirmation? Will she be “insulted” if her child’s Confirmation instructor presents the Church’s teaching on marriage, or is the instructor supposed to keep that kind of information away from the teenagers in the class, lest any of them be offended?
As a Confirmation teacher of teenagers and adults for more than 25 years, we have always tried to present God’s teaching on human sexuality and marriage in a factual but tactful way, realizing that many of our students come from families impacted by divorce, contraception, abortion, and same-sex situations. It is not pleasant to discuss these topics, but if the students don’t hear the truth from us, where will they hear it? Not in school, not in the media, not in their poorly catechized families, and perhaps not even from the pulpit.
So bravo to one bishop who took the opportunity of a Confirmation, probably attended by many Catholics in name only, to state clearly (not “rant,” we are sure) what God intended from the beginning: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body” (Gen. 2:24). And bravo also to Fr. George Rutler of St. Michael’s Parish in New York City, who warned in a recent bulletin column:
“The Supreme Court’s abuse of its authority in the decision redefining marriage as an institution based on feelings rather than fact and sanctioning deviancy as a civil right was expected, but the surprise was its sentimental substitution of nihilistic narcissism for jurisprudence, expressed in an amorphous substitute for English diction. This passed a death sentence on Christian culture, just as Roe v. Wade sanctioned the deaths of millions of infants.
“As Christ rose from the dead, so can our nation, but only the cynic and the naif will deny that the next steps will be attacks on Christ Himself in His Church, schools, and charitable institutions. . . . Now is the time of trial predicted by Christ. Not all will be brave enough to endure the persecutions predicted by Christ, though great will be the reward for those who bring their white robes of Christian dignity ‘unstained into the everlasting life of Heaven.’
“Pope Francis has said, ‘Same-sex marriage is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God’s plan. It is a move of the “father of lies” who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God’.”
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