B.V. is an alumna of Immaculate Heart of Mary School (2012) and currently the Assistant Director of Pure in Heart in America as well as the director of formation for Pure in Heart nationally. (Pure in Heart is an international community of young adults, ages 18-35, who proclaim the virtue of chastity and uphold the dignity of every human person.) Here you see B.V. speaking to the high school girls at IHM.
Thanks, B.V., your words were inspiring! Thanks for coming!
This speech was given by the St. John the Baptist Prolife League president. (M.D.)
Good Morning! Thank you all for being here today at our first Prolife assembly of the 2019-2020 school year. I consider it a great honor to be head of the St. John the Baptist Prolife League, and I am eager to continue working with the new vice president, the new treasurer and the new secretary in the future. We re off to a great start this year, with three major events which have greatly contributed to the success of our Prolife League in particular.
First, our trip in September to pray outside Planned Parenthood went very well, despite the disturbances on the sidewalk. Thank you to all those who led the decades, hymns, and prayers. I am grateful for your participation. Our Vice President and I were interviewed by the press later that day on why we were praying on the sidewalk, and we were able to give witness to the Prolife cause, which was a very good and rewarding experience. The article was later posted on Facebook and got a lot of comments, both positive and negative. That experience made me consider more deeply why I am Prolife, and I think that it is good for all of us to see whether we are sincerely committed to taking a stance for life.
At the bazaar this year the Pro-life league received a record-breaking $1100, a huge success. We got a lot of signatures to stop our tax money from going to Planned Parenthood. Thank you to everyone who helped at the Pro-life booth or who went around asking people for signatures.
Our most recent event, going down to Worcester and praying with the Bishop, was also very successful, and there were no verbal disturbances that day, although the construction company picking the same hour to work on Pleasant Street. I wonder, if it could have been more than just a coincidence. It was so good to see so many people praying there, including students from other schools in the area.
This year, I would like to ask you to participate when we have a Pro-life event, whether it be helping at the pancake breakfast or leading a decade of the rosary when we go down to Worcester. It is not always easy, but your efforts contribute in some way to the success of the Pro-life movement, which is greatly increasing, especially with the David Daleidan trail in California. For summer reading this rear we had to read a book about Catholic Street evangelization, and I greatly admired the people in the different stories for their moral courage in fighting for what is right and leading others to the truth. While we as students might not always have the opportunity to verbally contest the right to life, we can participate in small ways and prepare ourselves for when we do get challenged. We live in a society that has forgotten what true love is, and we need to show that we do care for others who do not have a chance, especially unborn babies.
This speech was given by one of the high school students at IHM.
Here is just a little update of the Pro-Life movement that is spreading throughout the world. A few days ago in Brisbane Australia, there was a billboard put up right next to an abortion clinic. This billboard was advertising the new movie ‘Terminator’. Now if people consciences were not on the guiltier side then this billboard would mean nothing to them. however since we all kno0w what goes on in these clinics this ‘Terminator’ billboard caused a bit of an uprising.
It was reported that an employee of the clinic said: “It is unfortunate and obviously inappropriate.” Why would these people care if a poster for evil killer robots was outside a “woman’s health clinic.” It only goes to show that these people know what they are doing is wrong, and that it goes against moral standards.
Another thing I would like to share is how normal people are taking a stand in there everyday life. In February of 2019, a couple from Virginia saw a sign that said New York had just legalized abortions up to birth. When they saw this they were heart broken. This couple decided to make a sign that said: “Please don’t abort, we will adopt your baby”. They posted a picture of themselves holding the sign on their Facebook page and very soon this photo went viral. One woman contacted them to adopt her baby, but do to the couple joy, the woman decided to keep the baby instead of letting the baby be adopted. Now this couple has helped many women who have contact them about adoption there baby.
Some may think that their prayers and showing up outside an abortion clinic does not do a lot. But this is wrong. there is a proven 75% no show rate when people are standing outside the clinic praying. Every time you pray to defend the unborn, you help to save lives little by little. Even if we do not see the result, it is there. If we pray for these unborn babies, God will take care of the rest.
Speech was given by Vice-President.
The Pro-Life cause is one very close to my heart and I am very excited and grateful to be Vice President this year. Some of the great things are going on in the Pro-life world right now and it is our duty to continue the fight to end abortion in our culture. it is tough but we can do it as the angel Gabriel told Our Lady: “Nothing is impossible with God”. Some of you may know about the signature drive going on right now to end taxpayer-funded abortions. Planned Parenthood is raking in the cash right now – our cash – our tax dollars – and that needs to stop. With your help, it cans top – soon!
We need to turn this tide of innocent blood by prayer and sacrifice, and lots of it. I encourage you to offer your daily rosaries or decades for the Pro-life intention. What do I mean by that? Ask God –
I’m looking forward to a great year of working together towards our goal of ending the culture of death and fostering a new culture of life in our society. Thank you! Now I would like to turn the talk over to out President.
Some of the students helped out the Pro-life booth at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Bazaar. The goal of this event was to raise money for the students trip to the march for life. Also they were trying to get money to stop tax dollars for paying for abortions in MA.
Some of the students of IHM and two sisters of the St. John the Baptist ran booth at the Johnny Apple Seed Festival. The goal was to obtain signatures to stop
All of the high school students and teachers from IHM went to the Forty Days for Life to pray out front of Planned Parenthood in Worcester, MA. The purpose of this was to pray the rosary for the souls of the unborn babies, for the parents of theses unborn babies and also for the workers for Planned Parenthood so that they will see the wrong in what they are doing.
Separation of Church and State
The idea of Church and State have been a great controversial between Catholics today. Many Catholics have the wrong idea that the Church have power over the State will lead to corruption and violence, but this is entirely wrong. In fact, it is the completely opposite of what the unity of Church and State has to offer for civilization. The Church has always been a center of morals in the past, it retained virtue and spread the faith to the hearts of many, and the importance of the role of the Church in checking the actions of the State can only be clearly seen when it is lost.
The Church and State should not be viewed as a rival for power and control, but rather two systems of governments, one material and one spiritual, that work together to maintain peace and morality in a nation. The State makes the laws and the Church verifies if the law is ethical and complies to the Ten Commandments. Laws, however, that are political and are not related to the teachings of the Church, should be separate from the Church. Such situations are for example, road policies, the bank, and postal services. In a similar way, the activities of the Church should not be interfered by the State. For example, the State cannot impede in religious education, ordinations of priests, the application of the sacraments, and any other spiritual duties of the Church. In a way, the relation between Church and State is like a leash and a dog. The dog can walk on the sidewalk, but when its trays towards the road or into the woods, the leash pulls back on the dog to prevent it from going there and harming itself. The Church will intervene the actions of the State for the good of the State and for the good of its people (“State and Church | Catholic Answers”).
In history, the partnership between Church and State have shown very evident signs of its benefits. One case of this was Spain. The Hapsburg kings and queens of Spain were great rulers not because they were powerful monarchs, but because they shared their power with the Church and respected its authority. During their conquest of the New World,Spain was especially successful in their work in the New World. Spain was able to overthrow the Aztec emperor and the demon gods through Cortez, freeing the people from a system of oppression and giving them a more humane way of life.It established a prosperous trade with the New World, instituted a mutual relationship between the native Americans, and was able to spread the faith all around through missionaries. All of this was not directly because of the Church, but by allowing the Church and religion to be the center of a nation,it meant that all the actions exercised by the Hapsburg king and queens reflected the virtue and morality in which the center, the Church, upholds. Another example is France. Although the Bourbon rulers of France were not as religious as the Hapsburgs of Spain, they still respected the authority of the Church and many of the French population were devout Catholics who practiced and up-held the Catholic faith and its traditions. On the other hand, Great Britain, who separated from the Church and had its center mainly for its own wealth did not spread the faith in the New World. Many British hated the Catholic Church. They also oppressed the indigenous people, putting them into slavery and taking their land. A State with a heart of the faith reflects charity and virtue, but a State with a heart of wealth only reflects greed and self-love (Carroll).
When the State refuses to obey the words of the Church and ignores its teachings, it loses its morality. The effects of separation from the Church can be seen clearly in history and its effects are still being felt today. Immediately after the French Revolution, was not a time of freedom, equality, and fraternity as promised, but a time of oppression,poverty, and terror. The peace and prosperity that the Hapsburg rulers established in the New World for three centuries were spoiled by the liberal revolts.After this came the rise of communism and power hungry dictators, which lead to world wars, violence, and suffering. The modern world today is no different from the Aztecs, who were looked upon as uncivilized savages for sacrificing millions of people to their demon gods, since it has sacrificed more than a billion innocent babies for its own convenience and pleasure. The once predominant voice of the infallible Church is drowned out and overcome by schisms and naturalism. Separation of the Church from the State plunges the world headlong into a deep pit of sin. Nothing good can ever come from erasing God and His teachings from daily life. (Carroll).
God is the highest authority. He is The King of all kings. Jesus said to Pilate, “Thou wouldst have no power at all over me were it not given thee from above” (John 19:11). Every government today is the same. All power is from God and it must be used for His own glory. The Church does not use its power to hinder the State, but instead to point it into a direction of the well-being of its people; both body and soul. When the voice of the Church is ignored by the State, only death and suffering will be the outcome. However, when the Church and State are united, it results in peace and prosperity because the power that is given by God to man is used for a greater good in which it was intended.
Works Cited
Carroll. Christ and the Americas. Tan Books & Pub, 1997.
The Holy Bible: Old Testament in the Douay-Challoner Text; New Testament and Psalms in the Confraternity Text. 1950.
“State and Church | Catholic Answers.” Home | Catholic Answers, www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/state-and-church.
Roe v. Wade, America’s Most Unconstitutional Law
The court case of Jane Roe vs. Henry Wade could be considered as the most unconstitutional case ever reaching the supreme court. Jane Roe, whose real name was Norma McCorvey, wanted an abortion. She claimed to have been attacked by a gang in Georgia, and she wanted to not be responsible to have the child from the attack. Years after the court case she appeared on the channel ABC for an interview. When asked if this is actually how she got pregnant, she admitted that the information for the pregnancy of “Jane Roe” was not accurate. This proves that the law allowing millions of children to die each year was brought about by lies. The estimated number for the number of children that die each day in the United States due to abortion is 3,000. That means that about1,095,000 children die each year in the United States alone. (How)
On January 22,1973, 7 out of the 9 Supreme Court justices agreed with Justice Blackmun’s decision to side with Roe. The two justices that disagreed were Justice Rehnquist and Justice White.To prove that Roe v. Wade was constitutional the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment was used. (Carroll)
Section 1. of the Fourteenth Amendment states:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States,and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (LII)
Roe v. Wade has three major flaws.It is unjust, unconstitutional, and undemocratic. It is unjust because it is the outright killing of an innocent human being. Abortion stops the heart beat of an unborn child, and the child cannot do anything about it. A University of St. Thomas law professor, Michael Stokes Paulsen said this about the court decision, “The right created by the Supreme Court in Roe, is a constitutional right of some human beings to kill other human beings.” The abortion rate in America peaked at 1.6million abortions per year in 1990. The rate has slowly decreased since then but it is still unacceptable that abortion is even legal. (Stark)
It’s also unjust because it denies the baby the title “human”. It makes it seems as though the baby is just another limb of the mother. People who are for abortion often use that argument. Another common argument is that the fetus is a parasite. The definition of a parasite is, “an organism living in, with, or on another organism in parasitism.” (Parasite) If you interpret it to mean that an unborn child living in the womb of his mother is a parasite, then you could easily interpret it as a child. A child cannot do anything for itself for years until it is old enough to get a job and provide for itself. Each unborn child has a different DNA than its mother. If something has a different DNA then you,you have absolutely no right to murder it.
Roe v.Wade is unconstitutional because it violates the Fourteenth Amendment, which abortion advocates claim prove it is. In the Fourteenth Amendment it guarantees the right to life. If you have an abortion, you are depriving the child from that right. One of the two justices that did not want the Roe v. Wade, Justice Rehnquist, said, “the Court necessarily has had to find within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment a right that was apparently completely unknown to the drafters of the Amendment. The only conclusion possible from this history is that the drafters did not intend to have the Fourteenth Amendment withdraw from the States the power to legislate with respect to this matter.”(Stark)
Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of our country said, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of a good government.” Now the government recommends the taking away of life from an innocent human being. In certain cases, where the mother seems as though she will not survive, doctors recommend an abortion. Many times, they say that there has to be one or else the mother will die. When mothers refuse abortions in these circumstances, often the children are born healthy or with minor flaws. No matter what their flaws are, human life is too precious to
Roe v.Wade and its companion case, Doe vs. Bolton, are undemocratic because they both made all the previous democratically decided abortion laws in every state in accurate and illegal to follow. After the case every state had to follow the nation wide policy. This give the states limited rights and the federal government much more. The other justice against Roe, Justice Byron White, said this: “The Constitution itself is ordained and established by the people of the United States. Decisions that find in the Constitution principles or values that cannot fairly be read into that document usurp the people’s authority, for such decisions represent choices that the people have never made, and that they cannot disavow through corrective legislation.”(Stark)
With all of the problems Roe v. Wade, its eventual collapse is evident. Nothing with so many flaws could possibly last permanently. Murder is never okay, whether it be to an unborn child, a newborn, or a toddler. Saint John the Baptist and Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
Works Cited
“15 Of the Greatest Pro-Life Quotes of All Time.” LifeNews.com, 2 Jan. 2017,www.lifenews.com/2013/09/03/15-of-the-greatest-pro-life-quotes-of-all-time/.
Carroll, Anne W. “Roe v. Wade.” Christ in the Americas, TAN Books, 1997, pp. 417–420.
“How Many Daily Abortions in the U.S.?” Love Will End Abortion,love willendabortion.com/how-many-daily-abortions-in-the-u-s/.
LII Staff.“14th Amendment.” LII / Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute, 17 May 2018, www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv.
“Parasite.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parasite.
Stark, Paul. “The Three Fundamental Problems with Roe v. Wade.” Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life | Pro-Life News and Information, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life | Pro-Life News and Information, 26 Jan. 2018, www.mccl.org/single-post/2017/01/20/The-three-fundamental-problems-with-Roe-v-Wade#.
Roe v. Wade is Unconstitutional
In the year 1969, Norma McCorvey, a woman from Texas, wanted to have an abortion. She was the daughter of an alcoholic mother and frequently got into trouble. She had already given birth twice and given up both babies for adoption. At this time abortion was legal in Texas but only for the purpose of saving the mother’s life. After unsuccessfully trying to get an illegal abortion, she was directed to two lawyers; Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, who had been looking for a case like this to challenge the laws restricting access to abortion. Norma, who was now called by the name Jane Roe in order to hide her identity, sued the District Attorney of Texas, Henry Wade in 1970 and finally went to the Supreme Court. (Summary)
On January 22, 1973, the Court declared that a woman’s right to make her own medical decisions, including the choice to have an abortion, was protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. It also concluded that the Constitution requires states to permit abortion for any reason. American people are not allowed to legally protect human beings in the womb from acts of violence that kill them, as long as the mother gives permission. Likewise, the court decided that in the first trimester of a woman’s pregnancy, the mother could decide if she wanted an abortion. In the second trimester, the government could determine abortion although it couldn’t ban it in order to protect the mother’s health. In the third trimester, the government could forbid abortion if the fetus could live unless it is to save the mother. (Stark) (Three)
The Fourteenth Amendment impart states, “ No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law;nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This means that all human beings have the right to life, or have the right to be heard of what they think. Any baby who is killed because of abortion, is denied that right. (14th)
The Supreme Court based their decision on this Amendment. But, as it is stated above, no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property; and the Court used that to make their decision. Right there is a contradiction. The Supreme Court is saying one thing while the Fourteenth Amendment, created by our Founding Fathers of this county,is saying another. As the Court ruled, one has to assume that the Fourteenth Amendment is to prevent Americans from protecting unborn children and that the Fourteenth Amendment means something different from what the American people decided on when it was written. In the 1800’s, the legislature of Ohio wanted to pass laws banning abortion. Just a few months before, during the same legislative session the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified. This proves what the Fourteenth Amendment really states. If the legislature of Ohio wanted to pass laws banning abortion right after the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, then they must have known what the Amendment was aiming at when it described that no state shall deprive any person of life. (Stark)
In conclusion, the Court’s decision of Roe v. Wade was unconstitutional because it went against the Fourteenth Amendment, which was ratified to save lives not to abolish them.Before this case, abortion was illegal, except when it was to save the mother.But this incident opened the doors to abortion, making it legal in the United States. Furthermore, abortion is wrong and it is murder, and we should think of all the unborn children today who do not have a chance to live and to work for their Creator. “ Before I formed thee in the womb of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremias 1:5 (Stark) (Three)
