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Tuesday 21 October 2014

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Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Report on SPUC support for the pro-life movement in Slovenia

Slovenia 201410
Leonora, Margaret, Rhoslyn
Rhoslyn Thomas, SPUC’s youth & education officer, has kindly sent me the following report of SPUC's visit to the pro-life movement in Slovenia:
From 2-6 October, Leonora Blackhall, SPUC Scotland’s education officer, Margaret Byars of ARCH (Abortion Recovery Care and Helpline) and Rhoslyn Thomas, SPUC’s youth & education officer, travelled to Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia. The aim of the trip was to support a local, newly-established pro-life group named Božji otroci (God’s Children), in their demonstration against the International Federation of Professional Abortion and Contraception Associates (acronym FIAPAC).

FIAPC were holding their bi-annual conference in Ljubljana. SPUC supporters may remember that SPUC Scotland protested against FIAPC's presence in Edinburgh in 2012.

Valentina Pikelj (left) leads the march
Valentina Pikelj is the founder and head of God’s Children. She became pro-life when she quit her job as a civil engineer to train as a nurse. During her training, she met nurses who felt forced to distribute abortion pills to mothers and had to witness the death of babies who had been delivered at 20 weeks and left to die. On one occasion, Valentina came into contact with a mother who decided to give up her baby for adoption. Valentina heard the other nurses asking why this mother hadn’t just aborted the child instead.

Valentina felt useless in the fight against the culture of abortion that she had witnessed, but after participating in a campaign to oppose a law which would have allowed same-sex couples to adopt children, she came to the conclusion that something had to be done about abortion in Slovenia.

18 months ago, Valentina founded God’s Children, which enjoys a central location in Ljubljana, thanks to a supporter who allows use of the office. Božji otroci provide counselling services to mothers considering abortion and, through a small network of supporters, also provide material support such as baby clothes, cots and prams.

God’s Children’s is still in its infancy as a group, but it nevertheless managed to organise a day of praise and worship in the square opposite their office the weekend before the FIAPAC conference which, by their own estimate, attracted some 1,000 people. The day was advertised as Christian event rather than an explicitly pro-life event, but nonetheless included testimonies on abortion throughout the day.

God’s Children then organised a march the following weekend which processed through the city centre to the cultural centre where FIAPAC’s conference was being held. Outside the centre, participants prayed the Rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet together, whilst a separate un-affiliated pro-life group, led by Todd Hunnicutt, a minister for the International Church of Ljubljana (an independent church) stood closer to the entrance, holding pictures of aborted babies.

The representatives from SPUC returned to the conference centre the following day to pray and witness outside the centre once more, where they were passed by the FIAPAC conference delegates leaving for lunch. Some of them, it was noted with sadness, were clearly delegates from Ireland.

Titles of talks at the FIAPAC conference (the conference programme can be foundhere) were many and varied, including one delivered by Ann Furedi, Director of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), entitled ‘Safe abortion – a moral obligation: why is it so difficult to follow the evidence?’ and another by a representative of Marie Stopes International, ‘Marie Stopes International UK Abortion Study: The association between choice of method of abortion, postabortion contraception and the risk of having another unintended pregnancy’.

Furedi also co-chaired a workshop with a representative of Catholics for Choice entitled, ‘The value of our values in reproductive choice’.

It is believed that the conference had around 100 attendees and had numerous sponsors, including the World Health Organisation, IPAS and BPAS. More surprisingly, Cambridge University Press was also a sponsor.

Though the pro-life movement is very young in Slovenia, God’s Children know of at least four babies and mothers who have been saved from abortion through their efforts. They are very hopeful that with their prayers, many more happy ‘saves’ will occur in the future.
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk 

Father Z Reminds Us of A Stunning Place

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2014/05/rome-day-12-the-spiffy-new-australia-house/

Gremlins in The Keyboard And Blesseds on Board

With a new mouse and off and on Internet, I have made some really dumb typos in the past few hours and days. Excuse me while I blush.

However, sooner or later I discover these. Yes, I am caught up on my sleep and, yes, I am eating just fine.

I have to schedule my blogging a bit better as I have other "jobs" (non-paying chores) to do right now.


I am, for example, trying to sort out my immigration status via several ways. Please make that a priority in your prayers for me.

To be able to live on the same continent as my son is my goal.

Keep praying to these saints for this cause:





Blessed Alvero del Portillo

Blessed Karl of Austria


Blessed Jacinta of Fatima



Our Lord Freed Us from This

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11174663/Paris-Opera-cast-refuse-to-perform-for-veiled-woman.html

Women wearing a face veil in public may be fined up to €150 (£120) and compelled to attend citizenship classes. Anyone forcing others to cover their faces may be fined up to €30,000 (£23,750), or double that amount if the woman is under 18.
Most women who have breached the ban have simply been warned and few have been prosecuted.
Last year, a veiled woman stopped by police for an identity check was arrested after her husband allegedly attacked an officer. The incident sparked clashes between youths and police in two Paris suburbs.
If Muslims honor Mary, as some say they do. they must realize she appears all the time with her face showing. She is our example of freedom in God. Women were created to bring beauty into the world.
More countries should follow France.

Old article from Britain...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10402995/Most-Britons-want-full-face-veils-banned-in-all-public-places.html

I see men here in shorts and t-shirts and their ladies completely covered up in 80 degree weather. 

Prayers Needed for These Dioceses

Arundel and Brighton Diocese, Malta and Gibraltar all need new bishops.

Please pray for holy, orthodox and Latin Mass loving to be appointed. Please.

Pray to St. Nicholas, who suffered in times of chaos for his straight, clear, Catholic thinking.

Hello to Readers in Italy!


From SPUC-the arrogance of evil

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Amnesty's attack on Northern Ireland abortion law is 'arrogant' says pro-life group SPUC

Criticism by Amnesty International of Northern Ireland’s legal protection for unborn children has been described as arrogant and anti-democratic by SPUC.

SPUC was responding to an opinion poll, commissioned by Amnesty International, which claims that over 70 percent of people in Britain believed Northern Ireland should change its abortion laws to fit in with the rest of the UK.

Liam Gibson, SPUC's development officer in Northern Ireland, told the media this morning:
"A public consultation on proposed changes in the law here will run until January 2015. We will see then just how accurate or not is Amnesty's opinion poll. I expect that the majority of those who respond will oppose the abortion of disabled babies, which is a lethal form of discrimination.

"The number of women from Northern Ireland seeking abortions in Britain continues to decline. Official figures show that it was just 802 in 2013, a  fall of nearly 50 percent from 2001.

"The elected representatives of the people of Northern Ireland have repeatedly rejected all attempts to introduce Britain's Abortion Act 1967 to the Province.

"The claim that there should only be one abortion law for the whole of the UK fails to recognise the movement toward even greater devolution of powers following the Scottish referendum.

"It is scandalous that a group like Amnesty International, which claims to promote human rights, should seek to strip unborn children of their right to life. For Amnesty to imply that Northern Ireland is somehow backward because we protect our children from abortion is extremely insulting. There is no right to abortion recognised in international law."
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk 

Bill Gates, Google and Big Brother

https://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/a/25293925/nine-real-technologies-that-will-soon-be-inside-you/

Just one of the nine in this article....so you do not believe in BB?

Implantables hammer against social norms.
They raise privacy issues and even point to a larger potential dystopia.
This technology could be used to ID every single human being, for example.
Already, the US military has serious programs afoot to equip soldiers with implanted RFID chips, so keeping track of troops becomes automatic and worldwide.
Many social critics believe the expansion of this kind of ID is inevitable.
Some see it as a positive: improved crime fighting, universal secure elections, a positive revolution in medical information and response, and never a lost child again.
Others see the perfect Orwellian society: a Big Brother who, knowing all and seeing all, can control all.
And some see the first big, fatal step toward the Singularity, that moment when humanity turns its future over to software.

Pray for These Men, Please


 ...a diocese of 100,000 Catholics!