Your Help is Needed to Stop FOCA!

At the request of our Chaplain, Fr. William, we are posting this information, published by the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, so all may be aware of "the most serious threat to pro-life policies ever -- the 'Freedom of Choice Act," or FOCA. This bill would create a right to abortion the government could not limit and bring about a national abortion policy far worse than the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. For the first time, abortion would become an entitlement the government must fund and promote. Citizens would lose the freedom they now have to enact even modest regulation of the abortion industry. FOCA would:

• Eliminate regulations that protect women from unsafe clinics and unscrupulous abortionists


• Force American taxpayers to fund abortions


• Force every state to allow partial-birth abortions -- its sponsors have said a primary purpose of the bill is to ensure that killing partially born children will again be permitted nationwide


• Run roughshod over the conscience rights of physicians, nurses and hospitals that oppose abortion on religious, moral or ethical grounds


• Strip parents of their right and responsibility to be involved in their minor daughter's abortion decision

Simply put, if FOCA becomes law, it will put at risk all the widely-supported laws that for 35 years have promoted women's health, ensured informed consent, protected minors, ensured parental involvement, safe-guarded rights of conscience, and respected the desire of most citizens not to support abortion with their tax dollars.

FOCA also explicity encourages challenges in court against any law or regulation that protects unborn children and their mothers and families in the abortion context, promising a virtual cottage industry of lawsuits.

And FOCA's tentacles would reach beyond federal policies to every state and local law or regulation having to do with abortion.

FOCA is without doubt the most radical abortion legislation ever considered in the United States.

Abortion supporters have been trying to pass FOCA since 1989 -- and now we have a Congress more disposed than any in recent years to pass the bill, and a new President who has said he will sign the measure into law.

YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER! At this time of serious national challenges, Americans should unite to serve the good of all, born and unborn -- not single out the most defenseless human beings for an expanded attack on their lives.

Please urge your federal elected officials to oppose FOCA or any similar measure, and to retain laws against the federal funding and promotion of abortion.
FOCA embodies the public policy goals of pro-abortion groups. These groups will promote the bills passage directly, and advance its agenda by working to reverse pro-life laws one at a time.

?? What You Can Do ??

• Sign a postcard (these are available from Fr. William at The Oratory)
• Write a thoughtful letter (a sample letter is available by clicking here: http://www.knightsofcolumbusoratorycouncil.org/FOCA_opposition_sample_letter.pdf)
• Make a phone call
• Send an e-mail message
• Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper
• Call a radio talk show
• Speak at a public event
• Meet with your Representative and Senators
• Place an ad in a local paper. See www.usccb.org/prolife/media/docs/foca.pdf

Where to Call

• U.S. Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Ask for the offices of your Representative and two Senators (here in York County, SC that would be Sen. Jim DeMint, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Rep. John Spratt)
• The White House (202) 456-1111

Where to Write

• Fill in the appropriate names:

1. The Honorable ______________

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

2. The Honorable ______________

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

3. The President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20500

Send an Email

Email messages reinforce communications sent through postcards, letters, phone calls, and personal meetings. To send emails to Capitol Hill or the White House, please visit the special email action page at http://nchla.org/

For more information, please visit http://nchla.org/ and http://usccb.org/prolife/issues/FOCA

YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED! PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY!

SOMEONE'S LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

The Chaplain's Corner

We have a new spiritual leader for the Diocese of Charleston. He is Bishop-elect, Msgr. Robert E. Guglielmone, a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Center, NY. He was ordained a priest on April 8, 1978. Up to his appointment by Pope Benedict, he was the rector of St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Center, NY.

Before entering the seminary, he taught high school for five years. Scouting has been an important part of ministry in his priesthood. Let us praise and thank God, and pray for Robert.

Now is the time to look forward to March 25, 2009 when Msgr. Robert Guglielmone will be ordained Bishop and installed at the thirteenth ordinary of the Diocese of Charleston. The 7:00 p.m. ceremony will take place in Charleston. March 25th is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the day Jesus took on a human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We will be in the fourth week of Lent, but the feast is of a higher rank than the Lenten day.

This is a great time to talk to your children and grandchildren about how the bishop of a diocese, the ordinary, is the spiritual leader for all in the diocese, both cleric and lay. He is the chief shepherd of the flock of South Carolina as he teaches, sanctifies, and rules in the Name of Our Savior Jesus Christ under and selected by Pope Benedict.

Things that have been on hold can now get moving for the honor and glory of God and the good of the People of God.

Thank you Lord Jesus Christ!

Fr. William Pentis

Chaplain's Corner . . . an Invitation

You are invited to Oratory Prayer at its church on Charlotte Avenue from 4 to 5 PM this Sunday January 25th. It will be made up of prayer for Christian Unity and Benediction with the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Everyone is welcome.

Father William