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Dear
e-link
Subscriber,
During this Advent season, may the coming of Our Lord bring
unfathomable blessings to all in our world who suffer at the
hands of others, and may our efforts to alleviate that suffering
grow and be ever more influenced by the prompting of the Holy
Spirit. May your Advent be blessed.
Membership for e-link is hovering around 1,177 but still
growing. We welcome new members and send our greetings to those
who have been with us for some time.
As always, we remind current members and inform new members that
past e-link bulletins and this current bulletin can be viewed at
www.osmelink.org.
God Bless!
     
Thursday, December 13, 2007 OSM e-link
Bulletin #63
Table of Contents
Remarks from Kent Peters on a unique
three-phase division of life-serving ministries
Key Upcoming Culture-of-Life
Gatherings/Projects (please join us)
1. Join Bishop Salvatore Cordileone at the
Cathedral of St. Joseph for a
celebration with the International Pilgrim
Virgin Statue of Our Lady
of Fatima and for a procession
to Family Planning Associates to pray for
all unborn children and their families on Sunday,
January 20, 2008,
at 2:15 p.m.
2. Participate in the 14th Annual Posada Without
Borders at Border Field
State Park on Saturday, December 15, 2007, from 3:30
p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Bishop Salvatore Cordileone will
provide a reflection at this year's Posada
3. Rachel's Hope Healing Retreat set for
January 11-13, 2008 - open to
women of all ages seeking post-abortion healing
Short Reports on Office for Social
Ministry-Related Issues/Events
1. Life Perspective's Life Walks of 2007
are a huge success
2. Tradition repeats itself - the OSM thanks those who sent
the 14,000 blank
Christmas cards which are given to
inmates, hoping to help connect them
with their families and friends
3. The Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice gathered more
than 600
participants at its annual Voices for Justice
breakfast on November 28, 2007
Advocacy Request
- Please sign up for the new Catholic Legislative
Network that will begin
operation in January 2008
Web and
e-mail-based Resources
- We remember U.S. Representative Henry Hyde
of Illinois
Local and Regional
Events/Gatherings/Projects
1. North County prayer witness at the Carlsbad Planned
Parenthood Clinic
scheduled for every third Monday of the month from
10:00 to 10:30 a.m.
2. Prayerful witness for life at two locations in San Diego
County - every
Saturday at Sixth and Palm in San Diego and the second
Saturday of
every month at Pomerado Road in Poway
3. St. Dismas Guild sponsors two weekly hours of prayer
for the unborn in
North County
4. St. John the Evangelist Parish in Encinitas Pro-Life
Mass and Rosary held on
the first Monday of each month
5. Most Precious Blood Parish Rosary Prayer Vigils held
every Wednesday
at 8:45 a.m.
6. The ministry of prayer and sidewalk counseling at the
Clinica Medica abortion
facility in Chula Vista is seeking sidewalk counselors
for Wednesday mornings
7. Join neighbors and friends to pray in front of the new
Planned Parenthood
facility in El Cajon
8. The Goretti Group is offering a chastity prayer
gathering and a speaker
training monthly - Notice the new monthly days for each
event!
9. Friends of Fair Trade San Diego, a group dedicated to
increasing fair-trade
activity in San Diego County, will hold its monthly
meeting on Wednesday,
January 16, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. at Christ Lutheran
Church/Open Door Books,
located at 4761 Cass St.
San DiegoArticle/Statement
for December 13, 2007
- Article and photo from Catholic News Service on the death
of
U.S. Representative Henry Hyde of
Illinois - May he rest in peace
Remarks from Kent Peters
Holy Triad Works under Direction of the
Holy Trinity
How truly beautiful is the cooperation shown by those
who provide intervention and subsequent assistance to pregnant
women who have been scheduled to have their unborn children
terminated.
It starts with sidewalk counselors and their prayer supporters.
On almost a daily basis, they place themselves in harm's way on
the sidewalks and streets in front of abortion mills in San
Diego County. Gentle words of love and encouragement, along
with frank conversation about the abortion procedure and
the practices of the actual
 abortion
providers, are shared with those who move toward the doors of
the abortion chambers.
(Photo at right: volunteers spend time in prayerful
support of sidewalk counselors in front of Family Planning
Associates near Balboa Park)
Religious articles such as Rosaries and prayer cards are
routinely given to those who are comfortable taking them. And,
in miraculous fashion, women and those who accompany them
experience changes of heart. They turn back. Sometimes they do
so on the spot; sometimes they turn around following rough
treatment at the hands of abortion center staff. In every case,
the sidewalk counselors recommend that those who leave make an
appointment with Dr. Delgado at Culture of Life Family Services
(COLFS) in Hillcrest that day. With cell phones, appointments
can sometimes be made during the actual intervention. This
offer of medical assistance seems to be the most effective
antidote to "death-as-the-solution" when the precious gift of
life is experienced as a seemingly unbearable burden.
The second phase, the offering of life-affirming medical
services, begins at COLFS. It has become evident to those of us
who support these efforts, that without a competent, pro-life,
compassionate, and readily
 available
physician with a practice near the center-city area, many, many
children alive today would not be with us.
(Photo at left: Bishop Cordileone blesses the newly
remodeled COLFS medical office suite)
How often we hear in reports from sidewalk counselors, "we
encouraged the client to make an appointment with Dr. Delgado at
COLFS," and then, a day or two later, we get an e-mail from
COLFS saying, "a young woman, C., came in yesterday to see Dr.
Delgado. She needs so many things..." The practice of referring
directly to a physician, especially one who will see clients
unable to cover medical costs, is key to establishing trusting
relationships with clients.
Although COLFS will provide pre-natal care, post-natal care,
family medical care, and some material assistance, it cannot
do everything. COLFS, in turn, will often initiate phase three -
a referral to a
 pregnancy
support center in the neighborhood nearest the client. The many
centers throughout the region offer client families
literal "life support."
(Photo at right: Janet Pineault, a volunteer at Life
Choices, a pregnancy care center in Poway, spends time
straightening baby clothes in the Center's resource room)
This assistance comes in the form of companionship, prayer,
essential baby items, parenting classes, support groups,
referral to essential services, among other offerings. In fact,
it is not uncommon for women who use pregnancy care resources to
stay connected to the centers long past their time of need,
often moving from client status to serving as volunteers. How
good it is to receive help from someone who has experienced
first hand what is needed.
And thus, the triad is complete: 1) abortion facility
diversion ministry, 2) life-serving medical care, and 3)
neighborhood-based pregnancy care services.
May Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bless this
beautiful cooperation in ministry, and may each of us do all we
can to assist, through prayer and sacrifice, all those who serve
abortion-seeking families as they attempt to solve their
problems by opening death's door. May we be beacons of hope,
helping to make a decision in favor of life seem realistic. For
as we know, there are troubling circumstances surrounding too
many pregnancies of young families today. May Death's Doors be
ever padlocked! May our doors remain ever open!
Finally, may God bless all expectant mothers and bring to
them the joy due as unexpected co-creators of the miracle of
human life.
For more information on sidewalk counseling and prayer,
Culture of Life Family Services,
or the pregnancy help center in your area, please contact the
Office for Social Ministry: 858-490-8324.
Thank you and God bless! |
Key
Upcoming Culture-of-Life
Gatherings/Projects
Number 1:
This January, let us remember the
nearly 50 million unborn children whose lives have been taken
by abortion since the infamous 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court
decision that legalized
 abortion-on-demand
in all 50 States - Let us also remember the countless mothers and
fathers who have been irreparably harmed by that abortion experience
Please join the Office for Social Ministry and Bishop Salvatore
Cordileone on Sunday, January 20, 2008, at 2:15 p.m. at the
Cathedral of St. Joseph for the Exposition of the of the Blessed
Sacrament, for prayer and reflection, and for a procession with the
International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima to Family
Planning Associates (FPA - an abortion provider) on 6th Ave., across
from Balboa Park
With the group will be one of three commissioned statues of Our Lady
of Fatima. The essence of Our Lady's message at Fatima is to open
our eyes to the gravity of today's moral corruption, to explain it
in light of God's plans, and to move us to prevent a decline into
total moral and political chaos. We need the message of Fatima
today more than ever.
Program of Exposition and Procession Starting
at St. Joseph Cathedral
- 2:15 p.m. Gathering at St. Joseph Cathedral - 1535 3rd Ave.,
Downtown San Diego
- 2:30 p.m. Program starts with welcome and brief orientation
- 2:35 p.m. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
- 2:50
p.m. Procession to FPA - praying the Rosary, 1 mile walk
- 3:25 p.m. Prayer and presentation at FPA
- 3:35
p.m. Return to St. Joseph’s Cathedral - praying the Rosary, 1
mile walk
- 4:05
p.m. Meditation given by Bishop Cordileone followed by Benediction
- 4:25
p.m. Recessional followed by a reception in the parish hall
This event will provide a wonderful opportunity to learn more about
the message of Fatima and how relevant this message is in view of
the many moral and political problems we are experiencing today.
Eucharistic Exposition and Procession with
Statue of Our Lady of Fatima
Sunday, January 20, 2008
2:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
St. Joseph Cathedral
1535 Third Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
For information or questions about this event contact Kent Peters at
858-490-8324.
Number 2: The 14th Annual La Posada Without Borders
is coming to Border Field State Park on Saturday, December 15th,
2007 at 3:30 p.m. - Bishop Salvatore Cordileone to provide
reflection at the Posada
All Come bearing gifts! Todos Venimos con ofrendas!
Join
Bishop Salvatore Cordileone and scores of friends and neighbors at
this unique Posada. The 14th annual La Posada Sin Fronteras, the
posada without borders, has been scheduled from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30
p.m. on Saturday, December 15, 2007, at Border Field State Park,
adjacent to the fence separating the United States and Mexico.
Faith-based groups from both sides of the border fence sponsor the
annual event, which recalls Joseph and Mary’s search for shelter in
Bethlehem on Christmas Eve.
To download and print La
Posada flyers for friends, relatives, co-workers, and fellow
parishioners, click on the La Posada poster above or follow the link
below.
http://www.osmelink.org/messages2005/LaPosada_Flyer_2007.pdf
Bring Candles - Dress Warmly - $5 entrance fee per vehicle
For directions to
Border Field State Park...
For more information on the 14th Annual La Posada Without
Borders:
619-233-4114
usmexborder@afsc.org or
rjohnston@interfaithshelter.org
This year's Posada Without Borders is sponsored by:
American Friends Service Committee • Border Angels/Ángeles de la
Frontera • California-Pacific Annual Conference, United Methodist
Church • Catholic Office for Social Ministry, Diocese of San Diego •
Center for Justice and Reconciliation (PLNU) • Ecumenical Council of
San Diego • First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego •
Foundation for Change • Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights •
Immigration Ministry of the Pacifica Lutheran Synod • Los Niños
International • Peace Resource Center • Strength for the Journey /
Fuerza para el Camino • Episcopal Diocese of San Diego • USD Romero
Center for Faith in Action
Number 3:
Rachel's Hope, a post-abortion healing
ministry based in the Diocese of San Diego, is offering a
confidential healing retreat for women on the weekend of January 11,
12, and 13, 2008 - please contact Rachel's Hope for information and
to register for the weekend
Short
Reports on OSM Related Issues/Events
Number 1:
Life Perspectives’ Life Walk ’07: the
most successful Walk to date!
With record attendance and
sponsorship, Life Walk 2007 showed that there are literally
thousands of people in the San Diego area who are passionate about
creating a culture of life. San Diegans gathered at Kit Carson Park
in Escondido, Harry Griffen Park in La
 Mesa,
Rohr Park in Paradise Hills (St. Michael Parish, San Diego), Santee
Lakes (Guardian Angels Parish), St. Brigid, St. Didacus, and
Concordia Lutheran Church to put their feet where their hearts are.
(Photo at left: shown are several of the top fundraising
walkers at the 2007 LifeWalk)
Over 100 volunteers helped at the Kit Carson and Harry Griffen
locations. (Special thanks to St. Timothy’s Knights of Columbus,
Journey Community Church, St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, Holy Trinity’s
Youth Group, Mater Dei Catholic High School’s pro-life club, the
Interact Club from University City High School!) Prior to the Life
Walk, Life Perspectives’ speakers addressed 19 congregations around
the County during weekend services regarding Life Perspectives’
educational programs, the Abortion Changes You ™ outreach, adoption,
euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Many lives were touched.
Approximately 250 teens
participated this year! Teens from The Immaculata, Corpus Christi,
St. Francis, Holy Trinity, St. Mark, St. Michael Poway, St. Michael
San Diego, St. Elizabeth Seton, Mission San Diego, St. Anthony of
Padua, and many more walked and/or volunteered. These youth
ministries will receive 25% of their pledges to use for
life-affirming activities.
The success of Life Perspectives’
Life Walk ’07 will allow us to continue and to expand our speaking
engagements, proceed toward our goals of finishing the Whole Life
Curriculum ™ up through 12th grade, and to help men and women begin
the healing process through the Abortion Changes You™ national
outreach.
For more information on Life
Perspectives please visit LifePerspectives.com or call 619-516-1236.
Number 2:
The tradition lives on - More than
14,000 new Christmas cards were donated to inmates in San Diego and
Imperial Counties - Inmates stay in touch with family and friends
via these cards - Following is a message from Deacon Jim Walsh:
Thanks to the HUNDREDS of people who donated 14,000 Christmas cards
for inmates of the 27 detention facilities in the
 diocese!
And thanks to the 18 volunteers who helped inspect, sort, count and
pack the cards for distribution!
(Photo at left: shown are just some of the 18 volunteers
who helped to sort and package Christmas cards this year)
Here's a suggestion for the coming year. If you have space to store
a few packages of cards, purchase some boxed SPANISH-LANGUAGE cards
when they go on sale following Christmas and deliver them
next November to the Office for Social Ministry at the
Pastoral Center - 3888 Paducah Drive, San Diego.
May God extend blessings of Advent and Christmas to you,
Deacon Jim Walsh
Asst. Director, Office for Social Ministry
and Restorative Justice Coordinator
Number 3:
Voices for Justice honored by the Interfaith Committee for Worker
Justice
The fourth annual Voices for Justice Breakfast of the Interfaith
Committee for Worker
 Justice
was again a resounding success! On Wednesday, November 28, nearly
600 members of the faith and labor communities, along with business,
community and political leaders, came together to honor leaders in
the movement for economic justice.
The 2007 Voices for Justice honorees include Reverend Art Cribbs,
UCC minister and Board Member of the California Interfaith Coalition
for Immigrant Rights, Peter Zschiesche, founder of the San Diego
Employee Rights Center and San Diego Community College Board
Trustee, Marilyn Clement & Gordon Locke, long-time justice advocates
and founding members of the North County ICWJ chapter and the
workers from the 2007 ICWJ campaigns for their years of struggle for
justice in the workplace. In addition, the ICWJ made a special
recognition of participants of the New Sanctuary Movement for their
dedication to justice for immigrants.
The benefit breakfast raised more than $60,000 to continue the
ICWJ’s mission: to educate and mobilize San Diego’s religious and
faith communities to raise awareness and support campaigns that
sustain workers’ lives with dignity, improving wages, benefits,
working conditions, and a voice on the job. In the past year,
hundreds of leaders in the faith community have taken a stand by
raising the voices of their prophetic traditions to support hospital
workers, janitors and hotel housekeepers, and advocating for
comprehensive immigration reform and quality, affordable healthcare
for all Californians.
The ICWJ would like to thank the Diocesan Office for Social
Ministry staff, Bishop Cordileone, and the many other ordained,
religious and lay individuals who speak out on behalf of working
families in San Diego County.
Bet Lawrence, Organizer with the ICWJ
e-link Advocacy
REQUEST
Join the new Catholic Legislative Network that
will be launched in January of 2008
Now is
the time. Our local diocesan advocacy efforts will be
linked to the efforts of the eleven other dioceses in California.
Using Cap Wiz, an innovative online tool that provides legislative
data and methods to successfully manage interactions with key law
and policymakers, we will be able to better influence legislation
crucial to the Church's social mission. As we have for the past
four years in this e-link bulletin, the new network will concentrate
on promoting both human life and dignity.
The California Catholic Conference (CCC), the office in Sacramento
that serves the public policy agenda of the California Catholic
Bishops, will assist with the Cap Wiz program. The CCC will also
help set the California legislative agenda. The local San Diego
diocesan Office for Social Ministry (OSM) will continue to provide
coordination for any action alerts sent to participants who register
as members of our diocese. Feedback to the OSM on legislative
alerts can still be sent to
reportback@diocese-sdiego.org.
Follow the web address below the Legislative Alert Center, and once
there, select "Join Our Action Network."
http://capwiz.com/cacatholic/state/main/?state=CA
Web and
e-mail-based Resources
I had the privilege of both hearing and working with
Congressman Henry Hyde: once at a Minnesota Citizens Concerned for
Life state convention in Minnesota and another time at a
culture-of-life promotional strategy session held at Congressman
Issa's office in North County. On both occasions, I had the
distinct sense that I was not in the presence of a politician, but
that I was being graced by a true humanitarian, one who was giving
his all to bring a full measure of justice to our land. Henry Hyde
was a true public servant. He will be missed.
In the great civil rights struggle to secure the right to life for
every human being, Henry Hyde will stand out as one of if not the
most prominent political leader to have served this cause in the
United States.
We thought e-link readers might want to learn more about Henry
Hyde. The Concerned Women for America web site has a beautiful and
fitting tribute to this great man. Its web page also contains
several links to additional tributes to Congressman Hyde. Following
is a link to that tribute.
http://www.cwfa.org/henryhyde.asp
May God bring Henry Hyde swiftly into His presence, and may those of
us who have been touched by his greatness and humility grow to be
more like him.
Kent
New
Local/Regional Events and
Gatherings
If you are planning an event that falls within the mission of social
ministry, send the particulars four to five weeks in advance to the
Office for Social Ministry via e-mail,
osmelink@diocese-sdiego.org. The OSM reserves the right to
publish or not to publish any proposed event information. We hope
this will assist your local efforts to re-build a culture of life.
1.
North-County prayer witness at the Carlsbad Planned Parenthood
Clinic
North County parishioners meet the third Monday of every month
from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. to peacefully pray the rosary in front of
the Carlsbad Planned Parenthood Clinic. The clinic is located at
1820 Marron Rd. (in the shopping center just west of Plaza Camino
Real Mall). For more information contact Jahna White of St.
Margaret Parish at 760-586-6356.
2. Prayerful witness for life at two locations (Sixth and
Palm in San Diego and Pomerado Road in Poway) in San Diego County
Helpers of God’s Precious Infants weekly rosary prayer vigil from
8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. every Saturday at Family Planning Associates
2850 Sixth Ave, at Palm, across from Balboa Park. Prayer warriors
also needed as early as 7:30 a.m.
Call Sue Lopez 619/990-1341 for more information.
Second Saturday of the month: 20 decades of the Rosary are prayed
in procession past 4 clinics following the 7:30 a.m. Mass, 15546
Pomerado Road, Poway. For more information, call 858-748-2109.
3. St. Dismas Guild sponsors two weekly hours of prayer for
the unborn in North County
Join members of St. Dismas Guild for a rosary picket at Womancare,
120 S. Craven Way, San Marcos, (across from Cal State San Marcos),
Tuesdays, 9-10 a.m.
The Guild also sponsors prayer (the rosary) in front of PayLess
at Mission Avenue and Escondido Blvd. 347 W. Mission on Thursdays,
10:30-11:30 a.m. For information on these prayer vigils, call
760-751-8541.
4. St. John the Evangelist Parish in Encinitas Pro-Life Mass
and Rosary held on the first Monday of each month
The first Monday of every month is designated Pro-Life
Monday at St. John the Evangelist Church, 1001 Encinitas Blvd,
Encinitas. The 8:00 a.m. Mass will be followed by a Rosary for
Life. For more information, please call Helene McIlhon at
858-756-0622.
5. Most Precious Blood Parish Rosary Prayer Vigils held on
Wednesdays each week
The Pro-Life Prayer Group from Most Precious Blood sponsors a
Rosary Prayer Vigil in front of the Clinica Medica abortion facility
at 1550 Broadway, Chula Vista every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. For more
information, please call Shirley Henry at 619-420-7096 or Luis
Mendoza at 619-300-5563.
6. The ministry associated with the Clinica Medica
abortion facility in Chula Vista is seeking sidewalk counselors -
training will be provided
Please contact Luis Mendoza, a Missionary of The Gospel of Life
Lay Associate, at 619-300-5563, with questions or to share interest
in this ministry.
7. There is a new Planned Parenthood facility located at
1685 East Main, just off the Greenfield Drive exit in El Cajon -
join friends and neighbors in prayer
According to the PP website, chemical (RU-486) abortions
only are done at this location - not surgical abortions. They do
refer women for abortions to their surgical center on First Ave.
Join the group each Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Contact:
Debbie 619-933-7776.
8. Please Notice the New dates... The Goretti Group is
offering chastity prayer and speaker training monthly
Every First Friday of the month: Culture of Life Praise and
Prayer at Our Lady of the Rosary, Giovanni Room, 7:00 p.m. -
Praise the Lord to live music, join in praying the rosary, and hear
a witness on living the virtue of chastity!
Every Second Monday of the month: ChasteMasters Meeting at Our
Lady of the Rosary, Giovanni Room, 7:00 p.m. - Please join us in
prayer, a roundtable discussion, and providing feedback as chastity
speakers refine their talks.
For more info please visit:
www.thegorettigroup.org or
call David at: 619-733-8439 .
9. Friends of Fair Trade monthly meeting on Wednesday,
January 16, 2008
Friends of Fair Trade San Diego, a group dedicated to
increasing fair-trade activity in San Diego County, will hold its
monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. at
Christ Lutheran Church/Open Door Books, located at 4761 Cass St. -
All are welcome
Watch for OSM e-link bulletin
#64 around Tuesday, January 18, 2008
Article/Statement for December 13, 2007
Retired
U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, known for pro-life efforts, dies at 83
By Nancy Frazier O'Brien Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Henry J. Hyde, the former Republican congressman
from Illinois whose name became synonymous with efforts to limit
federal funding of abortion, died Nov. 29 at Rush University Medical
Center in Chicago.
Hyde's death was announced in Washington by House Minority Leader
John Boehner, R-Ohio, who gave no cause of death for the 83-year-old
Catholic political figure. Hyde retired from politics in 2006 after
32 years in Congress and eight years in the Illinois Legislature.
He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest
civilian honor, from President George W. Bush Nov. 5 but was unable
to attend the White House ceremony because he was recovering from
quadruple heart bypass surgery performed in July.
At the ceremony, Bush described Hyde as a "commanding presence" and
"a man of consequence," who impressed colleagues with his
"extraordinary intellect, his deep convictions and eloquent voice."
His son Bob accepted the medal, saying it "affirms the importance
and value of his stance on many things, like right to life." He was
named a Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 in
recognition of his longtime fight for life.
In 1976, as a freshman congressman, he introduced and successfully
persuaded his colleagues to pass the Hyde amendment to an
appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services.
The amendment restricted the federal government from funding
abortions. "Because of the Hyde amendment countless young children
and adults walk on this earth today and have an opportunity to
prosper because they were spared destruction when they were most at
risk," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., in a statement.
"With malice toward none, Henry Hyde often took to the House floor
to politely ask us to show compassion and respect -- even love --
for the innocent and inconvenient baby about to be annihilated," he
said.
Hyde also supported the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and was
present in 2003 when Bush signed it into law.
"Henry Hyde is revered by the pro-life movement for his tireless
efforts to protect the innocent, defenseless life in the womb," said
Joseph Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League,
in a statement. "It is a sad day for America. We have lost a truly
great statesman and patriot." |
