Starfish Story / Children +++ He would have died for even one.

Dear Friends,

When does pro-life become pro-abortion? That was the subject line of my last letter. The comparision was to point out that, in some cases, being scrupulous could be a matter of life and death. It's like the starfish story.

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It needed to be pointed out that Mary Starrett, no matter how well meaning and pro-life she is, testified against good pro-life bills with pro-choice arguments. The pro-aborts don't want any movement away from their "no compromise, no excuses" view on abortion either. BOTH KEEP THE STATUE QUO in Oregon and still more unborn children will die.

It also needed to be pointed out that Ron Saxton does have pro-life values and is being misrepresented by the opposition. I'm sure that politics did play a part of him looking into our world. He changed his heart and mind not just with talk, but with action. To say he is being untruthful is an unfair judgement call.


When I was grappling with the question if I could vote someone not 100% pro-life, I asked Bishop Robert Vasa. He suggested reading #8 of Father Pavone's new booklet "Ten Steps to Voting with A Clear Conscience." It reads in part: "In this context, the question also arises as to whether one is required to vote for a third candidate who does not have a strong base of support but does have the right position. The answer is, no, you are not required to vote for this candidate. The reason is that your vote is not a canonization of a candidate. It is a transfer of power. You have to look concretely at where the power is really going to be transferred, and use your vote not to make a statement but to help bring about the most acceptable results under the circumstances."

The entire booklet can be downloaded or you can order copies (see attachment) http://www.priestsforlife.org/vote/votingwithclearconscience.htm#choosing copy or cut and paste.

Voting for a candidate is a prudential judgment and as Catholics we make our decisions with an informed conscience. I would only ask those who feel that by voting for a third party candidate it would send a message to a political party, etc. To THINK again. Think of the babies lives they are gambling with.

Christ is coming back. Will we stand before Him and say, "well, I thought it would work". Will we see the faces of the children whose lives were lost because of the gamble of our vote or not voting at all?

By the Grace of God, abortion rates are dropping in Oregon. Hearts and minds are softening and lives are being saved. It will many years to get back to the point where "Catholic" was synonymous with "pro-life". (That's what I thought when we joined the Church in 1984) But, to paraphrase a wise Bishop, "Incrementally evil was added in and incrementally it is being removed." In our Church and State.
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The Starfish Story
The old man awoke just before sunrise, as he often did, to walk by the ocean's
edge and greet the new day. As he moved through the morning dawn, he focused on a faint, far away motion.

He saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin. As he approached, he realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea.


He asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back into the sea."

As the youth explained, the old man surveyed the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions beyond eyesight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear and the old man countered, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference."
The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to the old man, he said,
"I made a difference to that one."

God Bless you and yours

"He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name" (Psa. 147:4)
"and even the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matt. 10:30)