Remarkable Church Bulletin Inserts!

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Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly

(This is a MUST READ FOR ALL TEENAGERS!!!)
Imagine this…

You’re driving home from work next Monday after a long day. You tune in your radio. You hear a blurb about a little village in India where some villagers have died suddenly, strangely, of a flu that has never been seen before. It’s not influenza, but three or four people are dead, and it’s kind of interesting, and they are sending some doctors over there to investigate it. You don’t think much about it, but coming home from church on Sunday you hear another radio spot. Only they say it’s, not three villagers, it’s 30,000 villagers in the back hills of this particular area of India, and it’s on TV that night. CNN runs a little blurb: people are heading there from the disease center in Atlanta because this disease strain has never been seen before.

By Monday morning when you get up, it’s the lead story. It’s not just India; it’s Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and before you know it, you’re hearing this story everywhere, and they have now coined it as “the mystery flu.” The President has made some comment that he and his family are praying and hoping that all will go well over there. But everyone is wondering, “How are we going to contain it?”

That’s when the President of France makes an announcement that shocks Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights from India, Pakistan, or any of the countries where this thing has been seen. And that’s why that night you are watching a little bit of CNN before going to bed. Your jaw hits your chest when a weeping woman is translated in English from a French news program. There’s a man lying in a hospital in Paris, dying of the mystery flu. It has come to Europe.

Panic strikes. As best they can tell, after contracting the disease, you have it for a week before you even know it. Then you have four days of unbelievable symptoms. And then you die. Britain closes its borders, but it’s too late. South Hampton, Liverpool, North Hampton, and it’s Tuesday morning when the President of the United States makes the following announcement: “Due to a national-security risk, all flights to and from Europe and Asia have been canceled. If your loved ones are overseas, I’m sorry. They cannot come back until we find a cure for this thing.”

Within four days, our nation has been plunged into an unbelievable fear. People are wondering, “What if it comes to this country?” And preachers on Tuesday are saying it’s the scourge of God. It’s Wednesday night, and you are at a church prayer meeting when somebody runs in from the parking lot and yells, “Turn on a radio, turn on a radio!” And while everyone in church listens to a little transistor radio with a microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made. Two women are lying, in a Long Island hospital, dying from the mystery flu. Within hours it seems, the disease envelopes the country.

People are working around the clock, trying to find an antidote. Nothing is working. California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts. It’s as though it’s just sweeping in from the borders.

And then all of a sudden the news comes out. The code has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be made. It’s going to take the blood of somebody who hasn’t been infected, and so, sure enough, all through the Midwest, through all those channels of emergency broadcasting, everyone is asked to do one simple thing: Go to your downtown hospital and have your blood analyzed. That’s all we ask of you. When you hear the sirens go off’ in your neighborhood, please make your way quickly, quietly, and safely to the hospitals.

Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on that Friday night, there is a long line, and they’ve got nurses and doctors coming out and pricking fingers and taking blood and putting labels on it. Your spouse and your kids are out there, and they take your blood and say, “Wait here in the parking lot, and if we call your name, you can be dismissed and go home.” You stand around, scared, with your neighbors, wondering what on earth is going on, and if this is the end of the world.
 
continued…

Suddenly, a young man comes running out of the hospital screaming. He’s yelling a name and waving a clipboard. What? He yells it again! And your son tugs on your jacket and says, “Daddy, that’s me.” Before you know it, they have grabbed your boy. “Wait a minute. Hold on!” And they say, “It’s okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure. We want to make sure he doesn’t have the disease. We think he has the right blood type.”

Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses crying and hugging one another-some are even laughing. It’s the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a week, and an old doctor walks up to you and says, “Thank you, sir. Your son’s blood is perfect. It’s clean, it is pure, and we can make the vaccine.”

As the word begins to spread all across that parking lot full of folks, people are screaming and praying and laughing and crying. But then the gray-haired doctor pulls you and your wife aside and says, “May we see you for a moment? We didn’t realize that the donor would be a minor and we…we need you to sign a consent form.”

You begin to sign, and then you see that the box for the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty. “H-h-h-how many pints?” And that is when the old doctor’s smile fades, and he says, “We had no idea it would be a little child. We weren’t prepared. We need it all! … But…but…I don’t understand. He’s my only son! … We are talking about the whole world here. Please sign. We…we…need to hurry!”

“But can’t you give him a transfusion? If we had clean blood we would. Please, will you please sign?” In numb silence you do. Then they say, “Would you like to have a moment with him before we begin?”

Could you walk back? Could you walk back to that room where he sits on a table saying, “Daddy? Mommy? What’s going on?” Could you take his hands and say, “Son, your mommy and I love you, and we would never, ever let anything happen to you that didn’t just have to be! Do you understand that?” And when that old doctor comes back in and says, “I’m sorry, we’ve got to get started. People all over the world are dying,” could you leave? Could you walk out while he is saying, “Dad? Mom? Dad? Why…why have you abandoned me?”

And then next week, when they have the ceremony to honor your son, and some folks sleep through it, and some folks don’t even bother to come because they have better things to do, and some folks come with a pretentious smile and just pretend to care, would you want to jump up and say, “EXCUSE ME! MY SON DIED FOR YOU! DON’T YOU EVEN CARE? DOES IT MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?”

I wonder, is that what God wants to say? “MY SON DIED FOR YOU! DOES IT MEAN NOTHING? DON’T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CARE?”
This story is an excerpt from Matthew Kelly’s book, Rediscovering Catholicism.

Although we may participate in Sunday Mass, we are all human beings and, at times, a reminder is important in order to help us understand the reason why. The reason why is not because of the wonderful or not so wonderful priest. The reason is not even because of what we get out of it or even what we put into it. The reason is what we have already been given and will be given again and again when we receive Christ, the only Son of God, in the Holy Eucharist and thank him for making our blood pure through the giving of his blood on the cross.

Please invite your neighbors and those Catholic you know are not coming to Church to return. Share this story with them.

http://www.matthewkelly.com/books/about_rediscover.html
 
How Old Is Your Church?

If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex- monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.

If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.

If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.

If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.

If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.

If you are a Methodist, your religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.

If you are a Unitarian, Theophilus Lindley founded your church in London in 1774.

If you are a Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, N.Y., in 1829.

If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605.

If you are of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your religion in New York in 1628.

If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865.

If you are a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.

If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as 'Church of the Nazarene," “Pentecostal Gospel.” “Holiness Church,” “Pilgrim Holiness Church,” “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past century.

If you are Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ the Son of God, and it is still the same Church.

ewtn.com/faith/teachings/churb4.htm
 
http://www.repentamerica.com/images/909sl_b.jpgSING A LITTLE LOUDER

After a speech, Pro-Life activist Penny Lea was approached by an old man. Weeping, he told her the following story:

"I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. I attended church since I was a small boy. We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people today in this country, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place. What could anyone do to stop it?

A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from a distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track. We became disturbed when one Sunday we noticed cries coming from the train as it passed by. We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews. They were like cattle in those cars!

Week after week that train whistle would blow. We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin to cry out to us as they passed our church. It was so terribly disturbing! We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people, yet their screams tormented us. We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns. By the time that train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we’d just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more. Years have passed and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. I can still hear them crying out for help. God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene.

“Their screams tormented us . . . If some of their screams reached our ears we’d just sing a little louder.”

Now, so many years later, I see it happening all over again in America. God forgive you as Americans for you have blocked out the screams of millions of your own children. The holocaust is here. The response is the same as it was in my country - SILENCE!"

Have you ever wondered HOW people could have stood by and let the holocaust just happen? Do you wonder why the Christians in this story chose to just sing their praise to God a little louder to drown out the victim’s cries?

The old man’s story is in the past. The past cannot be changed. It is easy to think we would act differently now. But the old man’s last words are haunting “It’s happening all over again in America with abortion. The Holocaust is here.”

As American Christians, we have become so comfortable in our lovely buildings and padded pews. We have beautiful fellowship halls for our many banquets. We have the latest sound equipment for our praise and worship. We have computers to keep our records. We gather together each week and shut ourselves inside our buildings. We raise our voices as loud as we can, all in the name of God.

And yet, in the heavenly realm, our voices raised in praise are drowned out by screams of agony from millions of babies who are being executed before they are born. We can’t see them. We can’t hear them. But it is happening right now!

Babies are being aborted UP UNTIL THE DAY OF BIRTH in this country. Their organs and brains are “harvested” for use in medical experimentation. In Wichita, Kansas, the smoke stack from the furnace of Dr. Tiller’s abortion clinic belches out black smoke and the sickening smell of burning flesh. These are the bodies of 7th, 8th and 9th month old babies being “disposed of”.

If the Christians in the old man’s church had done something, they would have probably been killed. That is not the case with us. We don’t even have that as an excuse for our silence.

Years from now will you be like that old man trying to explain your apathy as millions were led away to slaughter in abortion clinics? Or will you raise your voice and cry out in protest for those who have no voice! The choice is YOURS!

repentamerica.com/singalittlelouder.html
 
Those were put inside church bulletins? I liked the first one a lot. Very good comparison. I haven’t got time now to read the next two. I will later.

Eamon
 
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turboEDvo:
Those were put inside church bulletins? I liked the first one a lot. Very good comparison. I haven’t got time now to read the next two. I will later.

Eamon
Click to expand...
Yes, these were placed in our church bulletins. Read the next two when you get the chance. I think you will like these also.

Does anyone else have any interesting church bulletin inserts?
 
continued…

priestsforlife.org/brochures/deathindeliveryroom.htm

Death in the Delivery Room

*The Testimony of Jill Stanek, R.N.

**

*I had been working for a year at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, as a registered nurse in the Labor and Delivery Department, when I heard in report that we were aborting a second-trimester baby with Down’s syndrome. I was completely shocked. In fact, I had specifically chosen to work at Christ Hospital because it was a Christian hospital and not involved, so I thought, in abortion. It hurt so much that the very place these abortions were being committed was at a hospital named after my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I was further grieved to learn that the hospital’s religious affiliates, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the United Church of Christ, were pro-abortion. I had no idea that any Christian denomination could be pro-abortion!

But what became most distressing was to learn of the method Christ Hospital uses to abort, called induced labor abortion, now also known as “live birth abortion.” For this particular abortion procedure doctors do not attempt to kill the baby in the uterus. The goal is simply to prematurely deliver a baby who dies during the birth process or soon afterward.

To commit induced labor abortion, a doctor or resident inserts a medication into the mother’s birth canal close to the cervix. The cervix is the opening at the bottom of the uterus that normally stays closed until a mother is about 40 weeks pregnant and ready to deliver. This medication irritates the cervix and stimulates it to open early. When this occurs, the small second or third trimester pre-term, fully formed baby falls out of the uterus, sometimes alive. By law, if an aborted baby is born alive, both birth and death certificates must be issued. Ironically, at Christ Hospital the cause of death often listed for live aborted babies is “extreme prematurity,” an acknowledgement by doctors that they have caused this death.

It is not uncommon for a live aborted baby to linger for an hour or two or even longer. At Christ Hospital one of these babies lived for almost an entire eight-hour shift. Some of the babies aborted are healthy, because Christ Hospital will also abort for life or “health” of the mother, and also for rape or incest.

In the event that an aborted baby is born alive, she or he receives “comfort care,” defined as keeping the baby warm in a blanket until she dies. Parents may hold the baby if they wish. If the parents do not want to hold their dying aborted baby, a staff member cares for the baby until she dies. If staff does not have the time or desire to hold the baby, she is taken to Christ Hospital’s new Comfort Room, which is complete with a First Foto machine if parents want professional pictures of their aborted baby, baptismal supplies, gowns, and certificates, foot printing equipment and baby bracelets for mementos, and a rocking chair. Before the Comfort Room was established, babies were taken to the Soiled Utility Room to die.

One night, a nursing co-worker was taking a Down’s syndrome baby who was aborted alive to our Soiled Utility Room because his parents did not want to hold him, and she did not have time to hold him. I could not bear the thought of this suffering child dying alone in a Soiled Utility Room, so I cradled and rocked him for the 45 minutes that he lived. He was between 21 and 22 weeks old, weighed about 1/2 pound, and was about 10 inches long. He was too weak to move very much, expending any energy he had trying to breathe. Toward the end he was so quiet that I could not tell if he was still alive. I held him up to the light to see through his chest wall whether his heart was still beating. After he was pronounced dead, we folded his little arms across his chest, wrapped him in a tiny shroud, and carried him to the hospital morgue where all of our dead patients are taken.
 
continued…

After I held that baby, the weight of what I knew became too much for me to bear. I had two choices. One choice was to leave the hospital and go work at a hospital that didn’t commit abortions. The other was to attempt to change Christ Hospital’s abortion practice. Then, I read a Scripture that spoke directly to me and my situation. Proverbs 24:11-12 says, “Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die. Don’t try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn’t know about it. For God, who knows all hearts, knows yours, and he knows you knew! And he will reward everyone according to his deeds.” I decided that to quit at that point would be irresponsible and disobedient to God. Sure, I might be more comfortable if I left the hospital, but babies would continue to die.

The journey God has taken me on since I first stepped out in obedience to fight abortion at a hospital named after His Son has been overwhelming! I travel around the country now, describing what I or other staff have witnessed. I have testified four times before National and Illinois Congressional Subcommittees. Bills are being introduced to stop this form of abortion that results in infanticide. The subject of Christ Hospital and live birth abortion has garnered much public attention. Descriptions of “live birth abortions” have now been told on national television, on radio, in print, and by local and national legislators. Among hundreds of examples are
  • Father Frank Pavone’s radio show and EWTN television program, Defending Life
  • Fox Cable News programs O’Reilly Factor and *Hannity and Colmes *
  • Chuck Colson’s radio program, *Breakpoint *
  • Dr. Laura’s television program
  • Dr. Jerry Falwell’s television program, *Listen America *
  • Articles and editorials in U. S. News and World Report, World Magazine, The Washington Times, The New York Times, Newsweek, Christianity Today, and Focus on the Family Citizen Magazine, to name a few.
Another nurse from Christ Hospital also testified with me in Washington. Allison described walking into the Soiled Utility Room on two separate occasions to find live aborted babies left naked on a scale and the metal counter. I testified about a staff worker who accidentally threw a live aborted baby in the garbage. The baby had been left on the counter of the Soiled Utility Room wrapped in a disposable towel. When my coworker realized what she had done, she started going through the trash to find the baby, and the baby fell out of the towel and onto the floor.

Other hospitals have now admitted that they commit live birth abortion. It apparently is not a rare form of abortion. But Christ Hospital was the first hospital in the United States to be publicly exposed for committing this form of abortion.

On August 31, 2001, after a 2-1/2 year battle with the hospital, I was fired. I am free now to openly discuss the horrors of abortion after having seen its horror with my own eyes. I can personally testify to the fact that One + God = the majority. Each one of us has a voice that we must use to stop the atrocity of abortion.

***Priests for Life would like to thank Jill Stanek for her courageous witness. You can do your part to spread her testimony by having her speak in your community. Contact our Speakers’ Bureau at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314; Tel: 888-PFL-3448 ext. 258; Fax: 603-908-3075; email: travels@priestsforlife.org*.

You may also order this brochure in quantity by contacting our Orders Department at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314, 888-PFL-3448 ext. 237; Fax: 718-980-3900; email: orders@priestsforlife.org.

**
 
Christopher West - The Theology of the Body

Church Bulletin CD Insert christopherwest.com/store.asp
Website christopherwest.com/

Free Downloadable Files christopherwest.com/hearnow.asp

Free Newsletter christopherwest.com/list.asp

Next Speaking Engagements christopherwest.com/speaking.asp
ewtn.com/rock/files/past1.asp

ewtn.com/rock/files/images/coffeecup.jpg
Life on the Rock #432
**Fr. Francis Mary w/ Christopher West **
Originally aired: 10/6/2005
Theme: Real Catholics Know Their Theology of The Body!
Listen to Christopher West on Catholic Answers Live (1-14-05)

catholic.com/radio/calive.asp?date=1/1/2005

Theology of the Body
Christopher West
[Listen] - [Download]
**Have You Heard CHRISTOPHER WEST Speak on THE THEOLOGY OF THE BODY? **

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=1078553#post1078553
 
Fr. Frank Pavone - This Is My Body

Church Bulletin Brochure
priestsforlife.org/products/dvdthisismybody.htm

Did you ever realize that the same four words that were used by the Lord Jesus to save the world are also used by some to promote abortion? “This is my body.” The same simple words are spoken from opposite ends of the universe, with meanings that are directly contrary to each other.

Scripture tells us that on the night before He died to save all people, the Lord Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “This is My Body, which is given up for you.” He was pointing to what would happen the next day, when He would give that same Body on the cross. He sacrifices Himself so that we may live. He gives up His Body so that He can destroy the power of sin and death. As a result, He welcomes us into His life, into His Kingdom. He makes us members of His Body!

On the other hand, abortion supporters say, “This is my body. So don’t interfere with it! It’s mine, so I can do what I want, even to the point of killing the life within it. All is secondary to my dominion over my body.” In fact one abortion supporter has written, “I say their (pro-lifers’) God is worth nothing compared to my body” (Michelle Goldberg, “Rant for Choice,” in University of Buffalo student newspaper, 1995).

“This is my body.” Same words, different results.

MORE priestsforlife.org/brochures/thisismy.html

 
these are all so great! your church bulletin must be so awesome! I’ve sent some of these stories to my friends, and they all love them too! Thanks for sharing!
Kristin
 
Stem Cell Research - What the Church Teaches

What is the controversy all about?

Embryonic stem cell research is much in the news these days. There has been a great debate about the government’s role in such research. President George W. Bush has supported the use of federal funds under limited circumstances: using only stem cells that have already been obtained from the destruction of human embryos, but not allowing the killing of any future embryos.

Those who support research say that if it may help people suffering from serious diseases, it should be allowed.

But Catholics know that there are important principles involved, and that we ignore these preinciples at our peril. The Church teaches that all human life *from the moment of conception *must be protected. If human embryos are killed to obtain a certain type of stem cell, this is morally unacceptable.

The Church also makes clear that it does not oppose all stem cell research, only that research involving the destruction of human embryos. This pamphlet explains in simple, clear language what this controversy is all about, what the Church teaches, and why. The Church has been called the conscience of society, and indeed, in this debate it is critical that Catholics understand that their Church is resolute in its defense of the weakest among us. For human life is only as sacred as the life of its most defenseless member.

MORE visitationbvm.org/RespectLife/stemcell.html

osv.com/whatthechurchteaches/stemcellresearch/
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osv.com/images/StemCell100.gif
 
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