Feeling beat down by the pharisees

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hasikelee

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It has been a very trying week on top of the pro-life march. I feel like all has broke loose! It is very strange. I cannot go into details as that would be inappropriate because things have been filed and some people involved have hired attorneys.

Let me just say that the “pharisees” of the pro-life group are really getting me down lately. They do so much harm to the fight for life and peace in the womb. It is horrible. For example the woman I know who is highly, highly respected and awarded in our community, yet her actions at the clinic include beating on cars and screaming “you will go to hell.”

Why are people like this venerated in the pro-life movement? We need strong, solid commitment with no compromises or excuses, yes, but not hatred, not violence, not the disgusting things I have seen and heard.

I can’t stand these people who are rude and mean and use the pro-life movement as a justification for the harm they do, even to their own families. Then they turn around and quote form the Bible. And go to the TLM because the pope isn’t good enough to change back vatican II.

It’s all so bizarre! I wish I wasn’t under their shadow. For example the girl at work who now is aware that I went on the march is afraid of talking to me because she thinks I secretly hate her. She is afraid I will act like the protestors she has met before. There goes any post-abortive counseling…:rolleyes:

sigh Just ranting.
 
hasikelee said:
For example the woman I know who is highly, highly respected and awarded in our community, yet her actions at the clinic include beating on cars and screaming “you will go to hell.”
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I share your sorrow. Why can’t people learn that tactics like that will never, ever work? They may cause fear (and the need for stealthy avoidance), but they have zero percent chance of effecting a true change of heart. 😦
 
This is why I disengaged with the pro-life movement years ago. I still support pro-life, but am no longer actively involved.😦
 
“the woman I know who is highly, highly respected and awarded in our community, yet her actions at the clinic include beating on cars and screaming “you will go to hell.””

It’s important to distance ourselves from these people.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
“the woman I know who is highly, highly respected and awarded in our community, yet her actions at the clinic include beating on cars and screaming “you will go to hell.””

It’s important to distance ourselves from these people.
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This is unfortunately advice too late. I was raised in the same homeschool community as her children and our lives became pretty intertwined.

Through the years I have created neutral space and moved on with my life. I made the mistake of remaining her daughter’s friend.

Now I am dragged back into violence and drama over little things that have been turned into illegal behavior which I must take steps against. But now because I am not hiding it or lying about it, I am cast as the bad one.

It is just a pain in the neck all around, too.
 
absolutely it is common, at least in my generation
feminist in college, did research on history of attitudes and laws on abortion, that research turned me 180 from pro “choice” to pro-life, and was also instrumental in my return to living (rather than lukewarmly professing) the Catholic faith.

left feminist movement when it abandoned concepts of sisterhood and equal pay for equal work and caved to the pro-aborts, and maneaters.

Joined Right to Life National, as well as a local pro-life group, influenced by other young moms in college day care. Left after 3 yrs because of IMHO stupid political tactics and strategy on the national and state level, and downright criminal activity on the local level. Supported and worked for Birthright for years–providing direct assistance to pregnant mothers who need it to support pro-life choice.

The only pro-life organization I will be a registered member of is Priests for Life, because I had the chance to get to know Fr. Pavone and his people personally. I will not lend my name to any political organization that perverts its own cause and allows itself to be overrun by folks with a personal agenda.

IMHO the pro-life movement in general has been its own worst enemy as we are STILL debating whether to support incremental improvements in the law vs. insisting on overnight draconian measures. The movement also failed to do what many in national leadership advised in the 70s, immediate court challenges based on the 13-14-15th amendments, and pursue the issue of RvW for what it was, a constitutional breech.

My area of grad research on this topic focused on the strategy and efficacy of social and political activism on the abortion and related issues, and I wish everyone in leadership in the movement had the benefit of such study. Again, IMHO, the national movement has been woefully, nay, criminally naive, self-serving, and ignorant in its activities and methods.
 
Well put, PuzzleAnnie! Your experience sounds similar to that of my own.
 
I use to go to the local clinic weekly to pray and try to talk to the women and men going into the clinic. The disturbing thing I found is that many who were there with me were more concerned for the baby (understandably so) than for the soul of the mother and father.

A pro-life woman once said it was selfish of a teenager to have an abortion so that she could graduate on stage in her high school (Catholic high school wouldn’t allow a pregnant girl to recieve her diploma on stage). While it may seem selfish, she was ignoring the fact that this girl needed moral and emotional support to make the right decision and everyone in her life, including the pro-life stranger, was telling her how bad she is.

I know that I have recieved criticism for sharing my story because of the circumstances of how I became pregnant out of wedlock and many wonder why I would be so open about such a horrible sin I commited. These women who are in crisis pregnancy situations need COMPASSION, especially from the pro-life movement, because more likely than not, they’re not recieving it from anyone else in their lives, including those who should be giving it the most, their parents (the unborn baby’s grandparents).
 
This is startling and discouraging, though not news to most of us. I am sorry to learn of the angst you are being put through. This radicalism is one of the reasons I have been hesitant to be directly and publicly involved in pro-life activity–sometimes even the suggestion of involvement leads to some unsavory assumptions being made about activists.
 
I haven’t the ability to go protest at abortion clinics. I have work and raising children etc… but I do find time to fight the good fight. In the last year I have come to the realization that the only difference between those killed in the womb and those we raise are their size. I have buried two unborn children this year and can absolutely tell you that I am those two children’s Mother. I gave birth to their little bodies. I see now that through my life’s experiences, I can give witness to the culture of life. I believe marches are important, but it is how we witness to live daily that will bring about the change in our culture.

Let me show you:

I have had a miscarriage and a stillbirth. I am Mother to three children.

My daughter Theresa was born dead 31 weeks after conception on Mother’s Day. My Son Joseph was born 14 weeks after conception on Nov. 6th. I am Mother to five children. Three of them I am honored to be raising and two of them I am honored to have in heaven praying for me.

Both statements are about the same event, but they do not give the same meaning.

I believe we are called to be more creative in this fight for life. I would challenge you to find new ways to witness to life. I then ask use all to sacrifice in some way to end the culture of death.
 
puzzleannie said:
Supported and worked for Birthright for years–providing direct assistance to pregnant mothers who need it to support pro-life choice.

The only pro-life organization I will be a registered member of is Priests for Life, because I had the chance to get to know Fr. Pavone and his people personally. I will not lend my name to any political organization that perverts its own cause and allows itself to be overrun by folks with a personal agenda.

IMHO the pro-life movement in general has been its own worst enemy as we are STILL debating whether to support incremental improvements in the law vs. insisting on overnight draconian measures. The movement also failed to do what many in national leadership advised in the 70s, immediate court challenges based on the 13-14-15th amendments, and pursue the issue of RvW for what it was, a constitutional breech.

My area of grad research on this topic focused on the strategy and efficacy of social and political activism on the abortion and related issues, and I wish everyone in leadership in the movement had the benefit of such study. Again, IMHO, the national movement has been woefully, nay, criminally naive, self-serving, and ignorant in its activities and methods.
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Fascinating. Is birthrite something you recommend? I hear so much that ‘Christians don’t care about the child as long as there’s not abortion’. From a philosophical point of view, I like the idea of providing care - nice to be able to refute such lies.
 
I would be careful with Birthright. Some of them are their for prolife reasons and some are there to help the poor and are not really addressing the infant’s right to life. I know of a Birthright that contracted with a hospital that performed abortions. While at the Birthright center the ladies were never consulted to abort, but they were refered for free services to clinics and hospitals that would support and offer help in providing abortion. The Birthright center had the option to use a prolife hospital but chose to go with the prochoice hospital. At that point the director left the Birthright center. Be educated!
 
WenckebachCath said:
Well put, PuzzleAnnie! Your experience sounds similar to that of my own.
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My experience has been very different. Rather than “sidewalk counsel” I got involved at the local CPC. There you get to help women though their crisis. I have a lot of respect for those on the front lines-most of whom stand in silent prayer rather than beat on cars but I can assure you working at a CPC is one of the more rewarding ministries one will ever get oinvolved in
 
estesbob said:
My experience has been very different. Rather than “sidewalk counsel” I got involved at the local CPC. There you get to help women though their crisis. I have a lot of respect for those on the front lines-most of whom stand in silent prayer rather than beat on cars but I can assure you working at a CPC is one of the more rewarding ministries one will ever get oinvolved in
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Maybe once I have my kids raised I’ll have time for that. Thanks for the tip. That sounds more like my cup of tea.
 
WenckebachCath said:
Maybe once I have my kids raised I’ll have time for that. Thanks for the tip. That sounds more like my cup of tea.
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My Girls loved it when they were in High School and was counseling. I counseld on Tuesday nights and they would wait until I got home after that shift to tell me of any trouble they might have gotten into. They knew after what i had just heard anything they told me would seem minor in comparison.
 
Consider volunteering at a prolife crisis center instead. The people who work there are amazing. You could even become a mentor for one of the pregnant women who go there.

The rewards are out of this world, because by becoming actively involved, you see the fruits of your labor…a baby being born.

There are other avenues for you in your prolife effort outside of staying the shadows of those who are shooting the effort in the foot with their outbursts.

Check with your diocese for those places. I know in our area there is The Women’s Center…in other places…Courage…or other places Care Net…check with your diocese’s prolife office, I am sure they can direct you to an alternative place.
Never stop praying! All things are possible with God.
 
Today, I received a regular email from the Priests for Life, the organization led by

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

On February 22, 1987 - that is, twenty years ago - the Catholic Church gave our society a tremendous gift, and it’s time to open it again. It was a clear trumpet blast of truth and compassion, a ray of Gospel light on problems that continue to be some of the most vexing of our time.

The gift was a document called “Donum Vitae” (Latin words that mean “The Gift of Life”). Issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the document’s fuller title is “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation: Replies to Certain Questions of the Day.”

The document is not long; it can easily be read in a single sitting. It talks about the tiniest human beings: who they are and how they come to be. It talks about how we treat zygotes and embryos - two categories to which each of us reading this article once belonged. It emphasizes the fact that each person has both a right to life, and a right to come into life in the proper way - not as the result of a scientific project in the lab, but as a result of the union of two people lovingly united in body and soul.

Among the questions the document tackles are the following: What is the relationship between science and ethics? Must the embryo be treated as a person? Is every human being a human person? Is pre-natal diagnosis morally acceptable? Is experimentation on human embryos and fetuses morally acceptable? What is the Church’s objection to in-vitro fertilization and surrogate motherhood? May embryos be frozen? How does the Church look upon infertile couples? In what way may medical science assist the act of procreation? What is the responsibility of lawmakers toward the human embryo?

The document does not simply lay down “dos and don’ts,” and it is not a condemnation. Rather, it places these teachings in the context of our personal relationship with God, who loves us. Donum Vitae says, “It is out of goodness – in order to indicate the path of life – that God gives human beings His commandments and the grace to observe them: and it is likewise out of goodness – in order to help them persevere along the same path – that God always offers to everyone His forgiveness. Christ has compassion on our weaknesses: He is our Creator and Redeemer.”

The document reminds us that every human being, from fertilization, must be treated as a person both inside and outside the womb. “How could a human individual not be a human person?” the document asks. Even “human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings and subjects with rights.” And in regard to the Church’s absolute prohibition on procured abortion, Donum Vitae declares, “This teaching has not been changed and is unchangeable.”

In short, children are a gift, and therefore can neither be discarded nor demanded. They are persons, not products. Let’s learn anew the message of Donum Vitae
 
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