LIFE LINES 1.

In his address, the Pope highlighted the fact that the natural family (“an intimate communion of life and love, based on marriage between a man and a woman”) is the most important place for the “humanization” of people and of society.  In a well-functioning family, the household members experience some of the fundamental elements of PEACE, such as justice and love (shown between brothers and sisters), the role of authority (illustrated by the parents), loving concern for weaker members (perhaps because of their youth or advanced age, or illness or disability), mutual help to obtain the necessities of life, a ready acceptance of others...   -more>>>

LIFE LINES 2. 

I–“The Gospel of God's love for man, the Gospel of the dignity of the person and the Gospel of life are a single and indivisible Gospel”  (Evangelium Vitae #3)

There are endless threats to human life in the 21st century—the ancient afflictions of famine, disease, war, slavery, and natural disaster are still with us, as well as newer threats like biological warfare, nuclear holocaust, global terrorism...and the threats are increasing as more and more people demand the world-wide legalization of abortion, euthanasia (mercy killing), embryonic stem-cell research.... As Pope John Paul II said in Evangelium Vitae, “Faced with the countless grave threats to life present in the modern world, one could feel overwhelmed by sheer powerlessness: good can never be powerful enough to triumph over evil!   -more>>>

LIFE LINES 3. Secularism 

“In seeking the deepest roots of the struggle between the "culture of life" and the "culture of death"...we have to go to the heart of the tragedy being experienced by modern man: the eclipse of the sense of God and of man....”  With these words in his 1995 Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life),  Pope John Paul II began to speak about the problem of SECULARISM, which is so typical of the social and cultural climate of the Western world.

Secularism is a world-view which seeks to erase our awareness of God, and to blur our understanding of our rights and responsibilities towards one another.   -more>>>

LIFE LINES 4. “Of Human Life”

A few days ago, we celebrated our youngest daughter’s 5th birthday.  That joyful day also coincided with the 40th anniversary of a papal encyclical—and it’s actually because we were challenged by the truth in that particular encyclical that she, our sixth child, was even conceived!

    “Of Human Life,” given July 25, 1968, was destined to become a true sign of contradiction within Catholicism and indeed all of Christianity.  Its publication marked a turning point in our Church’s history, when many theologians, bishops, priests, sisters, and laity decided they were justified in becoming Cafeteria Catholics—free to pick and choose from a supposed “buffet line” of optional Church doctrines.  Evidently, they concluded that the Pope and the Magisterium were no longer certain guides to The Truth--that they themselves knew better.   -more>>>