63,000 Signed Petitions Protecting Children from Sexual Predators

Dear Friends of Life and Family,

The Body of Christ was visible to hundreds of Protestants and Catholics bringing in over 63,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office yesterday. Everyone did what they could to let Oregonians vote on two issues, "same-sex" marriage and "sexual orientation, behavior and expression" as a protected minority that Governor Kulongoski refers to as "transformational". We will vote in November!!!! If we have enough valid signatures we will vote and if we don't make have enough signatures we will file a two new initiatives!!!

Protecting marriage and family became everyone's priority and it was amazing to have people send petition sheets by Express Mail, driving hundreds of miles, use the Greyhound bus and spend up to twelve hours a day getting signatures. The sacrifices were in lost wages, little sleep and donating their God-given talents to do something that cost other campaigns hundreds of thousands of dollars to accomplish. This Ecumenical movement didn't take millions from collection plate money to hire others to show people how to become what we already are: The Body of Christ.

Unum corpus et unus spiritus sicut vocati estis in una spe vocationis vestrae

One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling. Ephesians 4:4

Immediate Action for Family Life/Justice in Pieces "virtual workshop" coming soon...

Dear Friends of Catholic Family Life, Time is short for the two referenda on family life. They will be handed into the Secretary of State's office on September 26th. Please collect the last of your signatures by September 20th and either send them or deliver them to chief petitioner Janice Bentson - 6495 Windsor Island Road N., Keizer OR 97303. Please read the definitions again of these bills that will be passed into law unless we have enough signatures to be able to LET OREGON VOTE www.letoregonvote in November 2008. This is about the vote of the people, not the legislature guiding our state without us. Green Sheets - Petition #303 is for Enrolled HB 2007 - relating to same-sex relationships. http://www.leg.state.or.us/07reg/measpdf/hb2000.dir/hb2007.en.pdf Blue Sheets - Petition #304 is for Enrolled SB 2 - relating to sexual orientations including affirmative action. http://www.leg.state.or.us/07reg/measpdf/sb001.dir/sb0002.en.pdf Pope Benedict says traditional family must be defended, helped By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service 2007 VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI turned his attention to the family in early June, encouraging church members to help couples in crisis and reaffirming church teaching that marriage between a man and a woman is the only legitimate basis for family life. Because human beings were created in the image of God, and because God is love, "the vocation to love is that which makes the person an authentic image of God: One becomes similar to God to the degree that one becomes one who loves," the pope said June 6. The pope's speech to the Diocese of Rome's annual convention at the Basilica of St. John Lateran was the most extensive of his three interventions on the family in three days. Pope Benedict told the diocesan convention that contrary to what many people think today marriage is not a "casual sociological construction," but a reflection of the truth about the human person, the meaning of life and the relationship of human beings with the God who created them out of love and for love. A lifelong pledge of fidelity between a man and a woman and the openness to having children also are a reflection of the identity of the human person as an "indissoluble" unity of body and spirit. "Man is a soul which expresses itself in the body and a body that is given life by an immortal spirit," he said. "The body of man and of woman has, then, a theological character that is not simply corporeal, and that which is biological in the human person is not simply biological, but is an expression and fulfillment of our humanity," Pope Benedict said. "Human sexuality is not something that exists alongside our being a person, but belongs to it," he said. When a man and a woman say "yes" to each other, they are pledging their entire being to one another: body and soul, he said. Saying "yes" implies using one's freedom to make a choice and a commitment, he said. "The greatest expression of freedom is not the search for pleasure without ever making a true decision; rather, it is the ability to make a decision about a definitive gift in which freedom, freely given, finds its fullest expression," he said. "The various modern forms of the dissolution of marriage -- like free unions, 'trial marriages' and the pseudomarriage between persons of the same sex -- are expressions of an anarchic freedom," he said. What many people today think of as freedom is a way of acting based on the idea that each person should do whatever he or she wants, whenever he or she wants, paying no attention to what it means to have been created male and female and called to love completely and responsibly, the pope said. Just as understanding the full meaning of human sexuality requires an acknowledgment of the human vocation to love, so the true meaning of parenthood can be grasped only when seen in the light of love, Pope Benedict said. The pope said it is "contrary to human love, to the profound vocation of man and of woman, to systematically close their union to the gift of life and, even worse, to suppress or tamper with the life about to be born." Pope Benedict said the church's obligation to help build strong families must not stop with defending marriage, preparing engaged couples and helping married couples in crisis. The fundamental role of parents to educate their children in the faith, in morality and in good citizenship also is under attack today, he said. "A particularly insidious obstacle to education today," he said, "is the massive presence in our society and culture of that relativism, which recognizes nothing as definitive, leaving as the ultimate standard only the individual and his or her desires." The pope said that without guidance a person's individuality and desires end up "being a prison," rather than freedom. Meeting at the Vatican June 4 with pilgrims from the Diocese of Verona, Italy, Pope Benedict said it was right that concern for the family was at the center of their diocese's recently concluded synod. "In your diocese, as is the case elsewhere, the number of divorces and irregular unions has increased, and this is an urgent call to Christians to proclaim and witness to the Gospel of life and of the family in its entirety," the pope said. Pope Benedict said that, despite the problems all couples face and the "social and cultural conditioning" that currently seems to encourage couples to split, "Christian spouses have not stopped being a sign of the faithful love of God." Also June 4, Pope Benedict confirmed the convocation of the Fifth World Meeting of Families in July 2006 in Valencia, Spain. Pope John Paul II had convoked the gathering. Confirming the meeting in a letter to Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Pope Benedict said the value of the family founded on marriage is "central for the church and society." "The church cannot forsake announcing that, in accordance with the plans of God, marriage and the family are irreplaceable and do not allow for other alternatives," he said. The "Justice in Pieces" workshops were informative and necessary for all people of faith to experience. A "virtual workshop" is being prepared. Stewardship of our collection plates and where the money goes is our responsiblibity. Building up the Culture of Life is our mission. Please pray for the success of the signature collecting and all involved. God Bless you and yours, Carolyn "You should rather humble yourself before God than be distressed if He reserves for you the sufferings of his Son, and makes you experience your weakness. You should offer up to Him the prayer of resignation and hope, even when you fail through frailty, and thank Him for all the benefits with which He continually enriches you." Padre Pio VOCAL Voice of Catholics Advocating Life PO Box 458 Sublimity OR 97385 www.vocalnews.org Member of Catholic Media Coalition "In-line with the Church, on-line with the world"