A man appears before St. Peter at the pearly gates.
“Have you ever done anything of particular merit?” St. Peter asks.
“Well, I can think of one thing,” the man offers.
“On a trip to the Black Hills, out in South Dakota, I came upon a gang of macho bikers who were threatening a young woman.
I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn’t listen.
So I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker I smacked him on the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring and threw it on the ground, and told him, ‘Leave her alone now or you’ll answer to me.'”
St. Peter was impressed. “When did this happen?”
“Just a couple minutes ago.”
***
• Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be in the presence of such courageous, zealous and distinguished pro-life advocates! It is truly a great time to be a pro-lifer!
• As Big Abortion’s hysteria mounts, as they scream for taxpayer-funded abortion for the full nine months of a pregnancy, as they demand that Catholic hospitals, doctors, and nurses perform abortions in the name of ‘women’s reproductive healthcare, Pulse Life Advocates calls for courage & calm.
• The country is gripped by fear.
• How in the heck did we get to where we’re at today?
• Screw Tape Letter quote: “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,…Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
• Contraception —> Abortion —> No Fault Divorce —> So-called same-sex marriage —> Transgenderism —> The destruction of the family unit.
• Satan uses fear and cowardice to suppress virtue. That’s why we need courage more than ever.
“Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. ”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
• The Blessed Mother of God told the visionaries at Fatima the following:
• The final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about Marriage and the Family.’ Don’t be afraid, she added, because whoever works for the sanctity of Marriage and the Family will always be fought against and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. Then she concluded: ‘nevertheless, Our Lady has already crushed his head’.”
• Pulse Life Advocates is fearless in the face of a Woke religion that wants us to bow down to their craven images.
• Two thrusts: legislative and cultural.
• The Holy Family Project:
√ Humanae Vitae/Bishop William Joensen
√ Fruitful Mothers/Theology of the Body Institute/Bill Donaghy
√ Fearless Children/Dr. Ray Guarendi/Iowa Catholic Radio
√ Faithful Fathers/Joe Stopulos/Iowa Catholic Radio
==> Show Holy Family video clip with cinematic music <==
- We have a goal to raise $100,000. How to give: open the large manilla envelope in the middle of the table; complete the pledge card; put it in the small envelope; and then place that envelope into the manilla envelope.
- Maggie said if we don’t hit our goal, that I’m going to have drive up to the Black Hills and try to raise the money from the biker gang I talked about earlier.
By MAGGIE DeWITTE
Thanks to priests, deacons, legislators, dinner committee, IFL board and staff, the wonderful and talented musicians, Tom & Karen Quiner with Breakthrough Marketing, and all of you here this evening. We have a big goal tonight. We need to raise $100,000. I know it’s a lot, but I am praying that what you hear tonight will give you the confidence to invest in us.
Every year I worry about what to say to you all; this is our 11th banquet, and it doesn’t get any easier. I even put on my favorite Padre Pio tee shirt that says Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry in hopes that would help. C’mon St. Pio help a gal out, would ya?
I guess sometimes the enormity of this issue is so overwhelming that I wonder how I can say just the right words to help you understand how important the work that Iowans for LIFE does.
But as I wrote these words in preparation for tonight, I know that it isn’t about me. At. All. Its about what Christ is wanting to say through me, if I can just shut up for a minute- which isn’t an easy task and let Him say a few words.
Come Holy Spirit Come … that was my prayer and my plea. So this is what came to me. If you don’t like it, blame the Holy Spirit!
Our lives are a gift. All we are doing here on Earth is preparing for our time in eternity with Christ. There are jobs we all need to do; and sometimes it isn’t easy, but it’s the only way that will lead us to true happiness and freedom.
One job of mine has been to spread the message of life. Sometimes I do it well and other times I falter. And so it is with each one of you and what God has put in your heart to do for him here on Earth. And I know that you wouldn’t be here tonight if God had not put this message of life on your heart as well.
Iowans for life has been in the midst of this spiritual battle for life for 49 years; 49 years; and we are just as motivated now as we were in 1972 to build a culture of life.
Everything we do, and we do a lot, begins with prayer and discernment: is this what will help us win this battle? Will this change hearts and minds? Will this make a difference? I can tell you, we are never idle; we push, we challenge, we engage. And, in fact, you won’t find a harder working organization than Iowans for LIFE, you just won’t!
While we have our tried and true annual events, like this dinner, the March for Life in Washington DC, our booth at the Iowa State Fair, 40 Days for Life, and the Life Chain, you will always see new and fresh initiatives every year. Here are just a few that we have done in the last three years:
- Billboard campaign to combat PP’s egregious billboards around the state.
- Women’s Reproductive Health Resource Book- to educate on the problems of contraception
- A Clash of Creeds – a play production using St. Mother Teresa/ GK Chesterton, Ayn Rand and Margaret Sanger in their own words
- Apologetic’s Tool Kit- the most common abortion arguments and concise responses
- Respect Life Curriculum for Churches and Schools- we must start with our youth
- Weekly blogs & daily social media presence
- Pregnancy Resource Center Pamphlet
- Launching of our new Natural Family Planning website page
- Legislative Advocacy- Protect Life Amendment- In 2018 unelected judges in the Iowa Supreme Court legislated from the bench and created a made-up fundamental right to abortion in our Iowa Constitution. Since that time, IFL along with our partners in the Coalition of Pro-Life Leaders have been working tirelessly to pass The Protect Life Amendment. And guess what – finally this last session we got it done! Now we still have work to do, as to pass a constitutional amendment in Iowa, it must go through another legislative session and then a vote of the people, but we were more than proud to get that first hurdle passed. This amendment is vitally important, because as you know, we have some cases before the US Supreme Court that could actually overturn Roe v. Wade (the court decision that legalized abortion in our country). When that happens abortion law goes back to the state. We must be ready here in Iowa! As the spokesman for the coalition, I can tell you that there is not a more dedicated group of individuals and organizations that are ready to take on this fight and will fight until the bitter end.
One project that we built off our apologetics tool kit, is our apologetic Social Media Videos. I would like to show a couple of them to you right now. (Show video clips now).
This is the kind of work that you are going to see from IFL. Cutting edge video content that will educate and change hearts and minds.
And our latest project, The Holy Family Video Series which you will hear more about tonight is going to be spectacular.
Seriously – we have so many projects and events that I can’t even keep up. I had to look at our own website just to remember everything that we are doing.
This last year has been challenging, and we’ve all been through a lot. In my own life, I experienced almost losing my husband of 25 years to a heart attack last July. Tragedy brings perspective.
And while we are all dealing with our own personal issues, one issue is still ever present. And that is the issue of LIFE. We can’t live in our own bubble and not act. While this last year has been tough, we are going on 48 years of tough for our unborn brothers and sisters. A tragedy of a 61 million proportion. And every single one of those 48 years, Iowans for LIFE has been the driving force for change; for dignity; for value of all human life.
I recently read this passage from Servant of God Fr. Walter Cheesic Ciszek; he was an American Jesuit priest falsely convicted of being a spy in WWII; he spent 23 years in Soviet prisons 15 of those in solitary confinement. He writes:
“God cares for each of us individually, watches over us, provides for us. Every moment of our life has a purpose, every action of ours, no matter how dull or routine has a dignity and a worth beyond human understanding. No man’s life is insignificant in God’s sight, nor are his works insignificant. Yet what a terrible responsibility is here. For it means that no moment can be wasted, no opportunity missed, since each has a purpose in man’s life, each has a purpose in God’s plan. Think of your day, think of the work you did, the people you met, moment by moment. What did it mean to you and what might it have meant for God? No one can know greater peace in his life than the man who believes in this truth of the faith and strives daily to put it into practice. For what can trouble the soul that accepts every moment of every day as a gift from the hands of God and strives always to do his will? This is the ultimate question of faith, and each must answer it for himself in the quiet of his heart and the depths of his soul.”
And so I end how I began, our lives are a gift. Don’t waste a single second of it. We need everyone of you to help protect all life from fertilization to natural death. We. Need. You. It’s literally a battle for life and death. We will work, rest assured, and we won’t stop; but now I invite you in the quiet of your heart and the depth of your soul to stand with us for LIFE. God Bless.
[Pulse Life Advocates, formerly Iowans for LIFE, needs your support to spread a culture of life. Donate today.]
On Wednesday, Dec. 1, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. In Dobbs, we are asking the Court to return decisions about abortion policymaking to the states, where people like you can work with your elected legislators to protect the vital interests of life, women, and the integrity of the medical profession.
There will be a big presence outside of the Supreme Court on Dec. 1 to Empower Women and Promote Life. We are glad you are taking part in this historic day where you live by gathering with family and friends at your home, church or school for a watch party.
Pulse Life Advocates and Iowa Right to Life invite you to join from the convenience of your own home or location, and “Watch” the event as you also pray. On November 29, we will post a link to:
1) A link to livestream the Empower Women, Promote Life Rally outside the Supreme Court, beginning at 8:45 a.m. Eastern/7:45 a.m. Central. (This rally is expected to conclude at 12 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Central.)
2) A link to the live audio stream of the oral arguments as they take place in the U.S. Supreme Court, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern/9 a.m. Central. (The oral arguments are expected to conclude at 11:10 a.m. Eastern/10:10 a.m. Central.)
In solidarity and prayer, we will support those who are in our nation’s capital, fighting for those who have no voice! Let’s change history!
Want to learn more about the Dobbs case? Visit About – Attorney General Lynn Fitch (state.ms.us)
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Fresh new name. Same great cause.
After several decades as Iowans for Life, we determined that a brand refresh was long overdue. What was once considered modern and compelling can lose its power over time. Working with Flying Hippo Branding + Digital we embarked on a brand overhaul including name, identity, website, key messaging, and marketing strategy.
Why change the name?
Although our mission is similar in many respects to the other pro-life groups in the state, Iowans for Life has some unique distinctions. We felt a name change would better convey those distinctions. Another primary goal of the rebrand was to attract a younger demographic. Plus, while our primary audience is Iowans, we plan on extending our reach beyond our borders and felt having ‘Iowa’ in the name was limiting.
Our new name, Pulse, conveys a first pulse or heartbeat of life and the idea that we’re an organization on the pulse of what’s happening with the pro-life movement. The modifier, “Life Advocates” provides further explanation of what Pulse stands for. Additionally, we surveyed a group of people in our younger demographic and the new Pulse name and logo was overwhelmingly viewed as much more appealing than our previous Iowans For Life name and mark.
By Mary Beth Beacom
The circle of every single adoption story includes many voices. St Augustin parish is offering a panel discussion on adoption on Sunday, November 14, at 5:00 p.m.
The panel includes:
• An adoptive mom of two children born in Russia and one teenager from domestic foster care.
• An adoptive father of an infant (now adult) in an open adoption
• An adult adoptee in a closed adoption
• A birth mom of a now adult child
• The adoption coordinator of a local social services agency
The event will be followed by a soup supper.
St Augustin parish is located at the corner of 42nd and Grand Ave in Des Moines. Parking and entrance to the parish hall are to the rear of the church off of Grand Ave.
The event is sponsored by the St. Augustin Parish Pro-Life Committee.
Fewer couples are choosing marriage these days, opting for cohabitation or single parenting when children arrive on the scene. Marriage rates are at an all-time low at 6.5 marriages per 1000 people, compared to 17 following WWII (see chart below). And yet there is such power and beauty to be experienced if you choose to form a Holy Family.
Holy families are built on a foundation of faith with God at its center. The commitment of a sacramental marriage is its bricks and mortar, leading to more fulfilling long term family-life than the other options mentioned above. By any metric, whether financial, health, or child-rearing, the holy family model produces dramatically better outcomes.
Why would anyone choose anything else?
A competing model has emerged, which is called the ‘soul-mate’ model, which looks better to some couples than a ‘family-first’ model.
W. Bradford Wilcox, a senior fellow for the Institute of Family Studies, explained in a piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal:
“The soul mate model—trumpeted in books like Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love,” not to mention countless songs and rom-coms—is the idea that marriage is primarily about an intense emotional and romantic connection between two people and should last only so long as that connection remains happy and fulfilling for both parties. This self-centered model gained in popularity for many Americans starting in the 1970s, the “Me Decade.”
But feelings are a fragile foundation for marriage. A recent YouGov survey indicates that married people in California who hold this view of marriage are about 60% more likely to think their marriage might end in divorce, compared with those who have a more family-first model of marriage, believing that “Marriage is about romance but also the kids, money, raising a family together.”
The Good News About Marriage
Shaunti Feldhaun wrote an entire book, The Good News About Marriage, on why marriages built on authentic Christian faith weather the storms of life better than the ‘soul-mate’ model:
“One of the reasons for this is that those whose first commitment is to the lordship of Jesus put fewer expectations upon their spouses to meet emotional needs that only God can meet. The lessening of unrealistic expectations gives marriages a stronger foundation upon which to withstand difficult times.
Although 1 Peter 2:7 is speaking of the church in general, the words also echo the truths revealed in the statistics on Christian marriages: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” When Jesus is the cornerstone of our homes and marriages, we can weather the storms (see Matthew 7:24).”
Pulse Life Advocates has launched an entire project on THE HOLY FAMILY, because abortion is less likely to occur among married couples than non-married. According to the National Abortion Federation (no friend to holy families or the unborn), 83% of women who have abortions in the U.S. are unmarried.
The link between illegitimacy and income
The power of a holy family is dramatic on many fronts. For example, race issues are in the news with a lot of focus on inequality between the races. Asian-Americans earn more money, on average, than Caucasian Americans who earn more than Hispanic Americans who earn more than African-Americans.
Why?
The chart below gives a glimpse into one reason this might be the case: family structure:
Weihnachtsbaum im Wald
You can see the inverse relationship between out-of-wedlock births and income. The teamwork and commitment of marriage unleashes the economic potential of a family compared to cohabitation and single parenthood. Black Americans are more than five times as likely to have out-of-wedlock children as their Asian-American counterparts. As at least a partial consequence, their median income is less than half as much. Other factors come into play, for sure, but family structure is surely a leading cause.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains why marriage and holy families go together:
“There are two inseparable ends of marriage: the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children. The education of children in faith, love, and wisdom is a vital task of married parental love (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2249; Gaudium et Spes, 50).
This essay affirms the power and beauty of the holy family without disparaging the efforts of single parents to raise healthy, holy children. We agree with these words from the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops:
“[W]e support and applaud the often heroic efforts of single-parent families. We also emphasize the value of parents staying together and sacrificing to raise children. Children generally do best when they have the love and support – personal and material – of both their parents” (“Putting Children and Families First: A Challenge for Our Church, Nation, and World,” 1991).
[The Holy Family free webinar series launches Sunday, March 6th at 7PM. Three more episodes follow on successive weeks. Register now to be sent a link to view episode one on March 6th.]
Crisis pregnancy centers are in the news.
In Virginia, a pro-abortion candidate for House of Delegates blasted his pro-life opponent for volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center.
Alex Askew put out a mailer (below) that stated that Karen Greenhalgh “wants to restrict a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions.”
Ms. Greenhalgh fired right back:
“Alex Askew has started a shameful line of attack against me. There is a good reason that I became involved working at crisis pregnancy centers.
When I was only fifteen years old I was a rape victim. I know how truly terrifying it can be to have nowhere to turn. My attacker told me he knew where I lived with my family and not to say a word. I had nowhere to go, no one to talk to, no options. I felt like my life had no value.
I had no choice except to live with the fear, the shame and guilt.
Years later I made a choice for myself, I chose to help other victims. My work at the crisis pregnancy center focused on helping women in similar circumstances and providing them with the resources I wish I had when I was 15.
It’s shameful and disgusting that a male politician like Alex Askew is discrediting my support for women in crisis, many who were rape victims like me with no where to go, no one to talk to. I will not allow him to weaponize an issue he knows nothing about, just to try and save his seat.
The truth is Alex Askew knows he is in trouble and would rather attack me than talk about his record of putting families at risk by pushing to defund the police, covering up the parole board scandal, releasing violent criminals and rapists early, and even opposing a measure to crack down on sexual assault in our schools.
Despicable policies like these create even more victims, and none of his lies will distract the residents of HD-85 from Alex Askew’s failed agenda.
Askew’s choice was to release violent criminals. My choice was and is to help their victims.
Shame on you Alex.”
Iowans for LIFE Executive Director, Maggie DeWitte, called crisis pregnancy centers the “lifeblood of the pro-life movement:”
IFL Executive Director, Maggie DeWitte
“One of the biggest myths is that pro-lifers only care about the baby and they don’t do anything for the mothers. If anyone who believes that would take one step into a pregnancy resource center, they would realize how wrong they are. They are on the front line, day in and day out counseling woman who feel that they have no choice but to end the life of their unborn child. They are walking along side them, giving them hope, education, counseling, spiritual direction. They are empowering women to realize they can make a life giving decision for their unborn child and that they are not alone. The help that CPCs provide doesn’t stop when the baby arrives; they are helping those women and families every step of the way. They are helping to send the message that women don’t need abortion; abortion is not healthcare and pregnancy is not a disease. Abortion hurts women, and the CPC’s reflect the true mission behind the pro-life movement; love them both!”
Crisis Pregnancy Centers rely on volunteers for much for much of their outreach. By contrast, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers make big bucks on the backs of the babies they abort.
Shame on them.
by Bob Vander Plaats
Bob Vander Plaats
The abortion debate in America has changed. And it’s suddenly way more radical than you may realize.
Last Friday, Nancy Pelosi and the U.S. House passed a bill (cosponsored by Iowa’s Rep. Cindy Axne) that would legalize any and every abortion – even gruesome, late-term abortions up to the day of a baby’s birth – in every state in the nation.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have similarly, when senators, co-sponsored bills that specifically allow abortion “at any time” in pregnancy, so long as the abortionist agrees it is for the mother’s “health” (a term so vague, it offers little protection for the baby whose “health” is being terminated).
And in 2018 the Iowa Supreme Court handed down a radical ruling that paves the way for late-term abortions to begin in Iowa and forcing us, the taxpayers, to pay for it.
It’s no mere talking point, no scare tactic, no longer anything but obvious. They’ve said it and their votes are on record: America’s leading leftists want every abortion legal, even those that snuff out a baby’s life seconds before she takes her first breath.
It’s a radical position. To most Americans, it’s a horrifying position.
And last Saturday, the Des Moines Register released a poll that revealed how strongly Iowans oppose such extremes. Even most pro-choice Iowans, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in the Register poll, disagree with Pelosi, Axne, Biden, and our state’s Supreme Court.
If you add in the pro-lifers, according to the Register poll, a whopping 80 percent of Iowans disagree with this direction.
And Iowa is no outlier: A national Marist poll taken in January revealed that even pro-choice and Democrat respondents disagreed with this radical new direction at a nearly 3-to-1 clip. Our leaders are wildly out of step, not only with Iowa values, but even with members of their own party.
We are way past Roe v. Wade now. Biden, Pelosi, Axne, and a radical ruling of the Iowa Supreme Court have taken a position so extreme it asserts that no unborn life is worth protecting.
Here’s the reality: Even among those who feel abortion is a woman’s private decision, the vast majority of us know that at some point, that growing life in a mother’s womb is more than just a fingernail to be casually clipped. Maybe that point is when a growing child in the womb can first feel pain. Maybe it’s when she’s sucking her thumb and kicking her mother’s belly. Maybe it’s when her heart starts beating. I believe that life begins at conception and that the science confirms it. But at some point – though we may disagree when, at some point – that little one is a baby.
And our leaders – in all three branches of government – are perfectly OK with killing her, baby or no.
Are you? Really?
No, at some point, a baby is a baby and no longer just a “choice.” Even the judges who wrote Roe v. Wade recognized at some point a baby’s right to life should be taken into account – they just couldn’t figure out when.
But we are way past Roe v. Wade now. Biden, Pelosi, Axne, and a radical ruling of the Iowa Supreme Court have taken a position so extreme it asserts that no unborn life is worth protecting.
Look at an ultrasound – look at the images taken the day she’s scheduled to be born – do you agree? Is no life in the womb worth protecting? Ever?
This is why Iowa needs the Protect Life Amendment. The Amendment doesn’t say when a baby’s life is worth protecting – it leaves that debate to future Iowans. Instead, the Amendment simply affirms that at some point, life is worth protecting, and it was wrong of the unelected judges of Iowa’s Supreme Court to assert that any and every baby in the womb can be killed for any reason.
Iowans do not support Pelosi and Axne’s new brand of radical abortion extremism. We do not support this horrifying disregard for what’s obvious on the ultrasound.
Please join me instead in supporting the commonsense assertion that at some point, that baby deserves to be protected. Join me in supporting the Protect Life Amendment to the Iowa Constitution.
[Bob Vander Plaats is president and CEO of The FAMiLY Leader, an Iowa-based Christian ministry working at the intersection of faith and government. Iowans for LIFE thanks him for permission to publish his essay.]
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Here’s an imaginary interview with Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta using her actual words to answer the pro-life community’s questions about abortion:
Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta
***
What did Roe v Wade do to America?
“America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men.”
How did it affect human relationships?
“It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts ~ a child ~ as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners.”
Are human rights inalienable, as proclaimed by America’s Founders, or are they contingent, as proclaimed by today’s liberal elite?
“Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.”
***
Mother Teresa’s comments above should make “pro choice” Catholics think.
The late Mother shares the revealed Truth of the Church. This is the Truth embraced by the elite 33 Doctors of the Catholic Church. And yet, pro abortion Catholics reject Mother Teresa’s wisdom.
They reject the wisdom of St. Augustin and St. Thomas Aquinas.
They reject the wisdom of St. Theresa of Avila and St. Theresa of Lisieux.
They reject the distilled wisdom of the greatest hearts and minds the Church has ever known, all of whom embrace a sacred principle of the Church, that man was made in the image of God, that our life is a gift from God, that life is not contingent on the whims of man.
So-called pro choice Catholics deem their wisdom superior to these Doctors of the Church.
The deadliest of the seven deadly sins is pride.
We’ve posted the complete list of the Doctors of the Church below for this reason: Catholics who believe that abortion is a right categorically agree that these men and women are wrong:
WESTERN ROMAN CHURCH DOCTORS
1 St Ambrose, 340-397 (Pastoral Doctor)
2 St Jerome, 345-420 (Doctor of Biblical Science)
3 St Augustine, 354-430 (Doctor of Grace)
4 St Gregory the Great, 540-604 (Doctor of Hymnology)
EASTERN CHURCH DOCTORS
5 St Athanasius, 295-373 (Doctor of Orthodoxy)
6 St Basil the Great, 330-379 (Doctor of Monasticism)
7 St Gregory Nazianzus, 330-390 (Doctor of Theologians)
8 St John Chrysostom, 345-407 (Doctor of Preachers)
EARLY CHURCH DOCTORS
9 St Ephraem, 306-373 (Doctor of Deacons and Poets)
10 St Hilary, 315-368 (Doctor of Christ’s Divinity)
11 St Cyril of Jerusalem, 315-387 (Doctor of Faith and against Heresy)
12 St Cyril of Alexandria, 376-444 (Doctor of the Incarnation)
13 St Leo the Great, 390-461 (Doctor of Doctrine)
14 St Peter Chrysologus, 400-450 (Doctor of Homilies)
15 St Isidore, 560-636 (Doctor of Education)
16 St Bede, the Venerable, 673-735 (Doctor of English History)
17 St John Damascene, 676-749 (The Icon or Image Doctor)
18 Gregory of Narek, 951-1003
19 St Peter Damian, 1007-1072 (Doctor of Reform and Renewal)
MIDDLE AGE CHURCH DOCTORS
20 St Anselm, 1033-1109 (Doctor of Scholasticism)
21 Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179
22 St Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153 (Devotional and Eloquent Doctor)
23 St Anthony of Padua, 1195-1231 (Evangelical Doctor)
24 St Albert the Great, 1200-1280 (Doctor of Science)
25 St Bonaventure, 1217-1274 (Seraphic Doctor)
26 St Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274 (Angelic Doctor)
27 St Catherine of Siena, 1347-1379 (Doctor of Unity)
COUNTER REFORMATION CHURCH DOCTORS
28 John of Avila, 1500-1569
29 St Teresa of Avila 1515-1582 (Doctor of Prayer)
30 St Peter Canisius, 1521-1597 (Doctor of Catechetical Studies)
31 St John of the Cross, 1542-1591 (Mystical Doctor)
32 St Robert Bellarmine, 1542-1621 (Doctor of Church State Relations)
33 St Lawrence of Brindisi, 1559-1622 (Doctor of Conversions and Missions)
34 St Francis de Sales, 1567-1622 (Doctor of Authors and the Press)
MODERN ERA CHURCH DOCTORS
35 St Alphonsus Liguori, 1696-1787 (Morality and Marian Doctor)
36 St Therese of Lisieux, 1873-1897 (Doctor of Confidence and Missionaries)
[Get your tickets NOW for Iowans for LIFE’s November 20th Christmas Gala, The Holy Family.]
You never know who you’ll see at the Life Chain!
Abortion zealots are loud and profane. You have an opportunity to diffuse their invective with quiet prayer at the Life Chain 2021. Mark these details in your calendar today:
Details
DATE: October 3, 2021
TIME: 2 to 3:3o PM
PLACE: St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, corner of Merle Hay and University to pick up your sign (in their West parking lot). People can spread out all along Merle Hay all the way to Douglas.
The Life Chain 2021 provides you with a prayerful opportunity to stand up for society’s most vulnerable people, the unborn, in the public square.
You can no longer afford to stay on the sidelines. The party of Big Abortion wants to gut the Hyde Amendment and pass the misnamed Women’s Health Protection Act and/or Medicare for All. Either piece of legislation would usher in an era of unfettered taxpayer-funded abortions for the full nine months of a pregnancy, accompanied by an end to conscience protections for principled doctors and nurses who oppose human abortion.
Iowa is at the crossroads
At the state level, Iowa is at the crossroads. We need to continue the push for the Protect Life Amendment. It has passed one legislative session; it needs to pass another before it can go to the people for a vote. The Life Chain lets other pro-lifers driving by realize that they’re not alone. Even more, it is an encouragement to those not fully on board with our pro-life positions, but who nonetheless oppose their party’s push for 2nd and 3rd trimester abortion at taxpayer expense.
If Roe v Wade was actually struck down next year, Iowa would be unaffected. The Protect Life Amendment simple makes the Iowa Constitution abortion-neutral, allowing you, via your elected legislators, the power to regulate human abortion.
All of this leads us back to the Life Chain 2021. Change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Our movement depends on prayerful people standing tall in the public square on behalf of our unborn brothers and sisters. Nothing demonstrates pro-life solidarity and courage better than the Life Chain.
Mark your calendar. Bring friends and neighbors. You’ll make new friends. Make a difference. Don’t worry if you can’t stay for the duration. Give the Life Chain whatever time works for your schedule.
Thank-you. God will bless you for your prayerful support.
[Tickets now on sale for our pro-life Christmas Gala, The Holy Family.]