Great Opportunities to Save Unborn Babies, Parental Rights and our Soul!

Happy Advent All, The end of the year is fast approaching and there is a way you can help save unborn babies and parental rights in Oregon. Believe it or not, one out of every four abortions are paid for with your tax dollars. Now, you can actually use some of your taxes to help prevent abortion rather than pay for them. You can do this by using the "Political Tax Credit". This allows a married couple to give up to $100 to a qualified political committee (singles can give up to $50) AND receive EVERY PENNY BACK when your tax return is filed. The deadline is December 31st, the same amount will simply go to the state government, if you don't act. I would suggest that a wonderful place to guarantee the best results for the Culture of Life is to Help the OREGON RIGHT TO LIFE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE. They are one of the most effective political groups in the state and they only work for candidates who are pro-life. In addition, ORTL-PAC is sponsoring a statewide Parental Notification ballot measure for the November 2006 election. Your political tax credit is an excellent way to help this ballot measure. IT'S EASY - Just mail a check for $100 or $50 to Oregon Right to Life PAC before Dec. 31st. You can add your occupation or when they get your check they'll just contact you. (The Secretary of State is asking for this). Mail it to ORTL 4335 River Road N., Salem OR 97303. You'll have a great New Year supporting a great organization who loves LIFE. Now about saving our Souls. There's still time to wash them clean! Pope authorizes plenary indulgences marking Vatican II anniversary VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To mark the 40th anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council, Catholics can receive a plenary indulgence for taking part in any public or private devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Benedict XVI authorized the special Dec. 8 indulgences to encourage the faithful to carry out the council's teachings on peace, justice and charity, said U.S. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing with indulgences and matters of conscience. The pope expressed his hopes that all the church would be united with him and their "common mother," Mary, on Dec. 8, so that the faithful "may be strengthened in their faith, follow Christ with greater dedication, and love their brothers and sisters with more ardent charity," said the cardinal. The Vatican published the cardinal's statement announcing the indulgences and outlining the requirements for receiving them Nov. 29. Dec. 8 is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due for sins committed. "A plenary indulgence is the full remission of all temporal punishment (time spent in purgatory) due to sin in one's entire lifetime up to that point. It may be applied to oneself or to the dead by way of suffrage." http://www.nationalshrine.com The gift of plenary indulgence may be obtained under the usual conditions: sacramental confession Eucharistic Communion prayer in keeping with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work; it is, however, fitting that Communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff be said on the same day the work is performed. The soul must be completely removed from attachment to any form of sin, on the forthcoming solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, by the faithful if they participate in a sacred function in honor of the Virgin, or at least offer open testimony of Marian devotion before an image of Mary Immaculate exposed for public veneration, adding the recitation of the Our Father and of the Creed, and some invocation to the Virgin." The document concludes by recalling that faithful who "through illness or other just cause" are unable to participate in a public ceremony or to venerate an image of the Virgin, "may obtain a plenary indulgence in their own homes, or wherever they may be, if, with the soul completely removed from any form of sin, and with the intention of observing the aforesaid conditions as soon as possible, they unite themselves in spirit and in desire to the Supreme Pontiff's intentions in prayer to Mary Immaculate, and recite the Our Father and the Creed." It's been interesting to look up ways to receive this wonderful grace. Here's one site that might be of interest. http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/indulge/plenary.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POPE BENEDICT XVI - INTENTIONS FOR DECEMBER 2005 Missionary - For people all over the world searching for God and truth: may they encounter the Lord Jesus. General - For all men and women: may they come to an ever deeper understanding of their dignity, granted them by the Creator in his plan. God Bless and Happy Gaudete (Gaw-day-tay) Sunday (Latin pronunciation for the word that means Rejoice!) The Lord is Coming! Carolyn " Stop entertaining those vain fears. Remember it is not feeling which constitutes guilt but the consent to such feelings. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the Tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only NO fault but there is VIRTUE." Padre Pio (Saint Pio of Pietrelcina) VOCAL Voice of Catholics Advocating Life PO Box 458 Sublimity, OR 97385 Member of Catholic Media Coalition - "Inline with the Church, online with the world"

Oregon Catholic Money Being Used Unjustly

Everyone, This Sunday, the Solemnity of Christ the King, Oregon Catholics will be asked to give money to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

 The recipients of this campaign usually don't have any religious affiliation, but there do seem to be radical leftist affiliations that continue to receive funds year after year. Many of these groups are part of the INDUSTIAL AREAS FOUNDATION (IAF) whose founder, Saul Alisky, dedicated his 1940's Rules for Radicals with this inscription: "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins -- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer." (Not to point out this information would be a sin of omission and a rejection of the Kingdom that Christ died so we could share it with Him.) 

In the beginning Saul Alinsky envisioned an "organization of organizations," comprised of all sectors of the community - youth committees, small businesses, labor unions and, most influential of all, the Catholic Church......The event was revolutionary in American history because it was the first time an entire community was organized. The union, the community and the Church became one and the same.

 In 1940, institutionalizing the concepts he had learned from John Lewis (Chicago), Alinsky formed the Industrial Areas Foundation - the IAF - an umbrella organization out of which new campaigns would be run. In 1940, Alinsky elicited a generous grant from liberal millionaire Marshall Field III, who provided funds to establish the Industrial Areas Foundation, which has remained Alinsky's primary base of operation.

 By the late Sixties, Alinsky was leaving most of the field work to his aides and concentrating on training community organizers through the Industrial Areas Foundation Training Institute, which he calls a "school for professional radicals." Funded principally by a foundation grant from Midas Muffler, the school aims at turning out 25 skilled organizers annually to work in black and white communities across the nation. "Just think of all the hell we've kicked up around the country with only four or five full-time organizers," Alinsky told newsmen at the school's opening session. "Things will really move now."

Beyond the IAF, dozens of community organizing networks are actively practicing Alinsky's techniques. Among the most prominent are Pacific Institute for Community Organizing (Oakland, CA), the Catholic Church's Campaign for Human Development (Washington, D.C.), Citizen Action (Chicago, IL), Organizing Training Center (San Francisco), National Training Institute for Community Organizing (Chicago, IL), Direct Action and Research Training Center (Miami, FL), The Gamaliel Foundation (Chicago, IL) and National Organizers Alliance (Washington, D.C.)

 A conservative church journal wrote that "it is impossible to follow both Jesus Christ and Saul Alinsky."

Barron's, the business weekly, took that odd logic a step further and charged that Alinsky "has a record of affiliation with Communist fronts and causes." And a top Office of Economic Opportunity official, Hyman Bookbinder, characterized Alinsky's attacks on the antipoverty program (for "welfare colonialism") as "outrageously false, ignorant, intemperate headline-seeking." "The leaders and organizers of the Industrial Areas Foundation build organizations whose primary purpose is power - the ability to act - and whose chief product is equitable social change.

The IAF is non-ideological and strictly non-partisan, but proudly, publicly, and persistently political. Through local affiliates, the IAF builds a political base among voluntary institutions that includes religious congregations, labor locals, homeowner groups, recovery groups, parents associations, non-profits, immigrant societies, schools, seminaries, orders of men and women religious, and others. Our leaders use that base to compete at times, to confront at times, and to cooperate at times with leaders in the government and market sectors. The heart of IAF's work is its commitment to identify, recruit, train, and develop leaders in every corner of every community where the IAF works. The IAF affiliates are radical ("root") organizations because we have a radical belief in the potential of the vast majority of people to grow and develop as leaders, to become full members of the body politic, to speak and act with others on their own behalf. And IAF affiliates do indeed use a radical practice: the face-to-face, one-to-one individual meeting whose purpose is to initiate a public relationship and to re-knit our frayed social fabric.

Industrial Areas Foundation Northwest "

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Because of the Church scandal, we have to be even more careful of our stewardship. Giving to the "good" part of an organization or charity can make sure that there is money freed up for less honorable activities, this is called "fungible funding" and many groups rely on this. Many radical groups are gearing up for the elections in 2006 and most importantly 2008. Since more about the IAF is being revealed to Catholics in the pews, and their displeasure is becoming more apparent, the names are changing.

In Oregon the new IAF Northwest organization is Metropolitan Alliance for the Common Ground (MACG). http://www.iafnw.macg.org/ becomes www.macg.org The members have a large Catholic presence. The Catholic Churches are CATHOLIC CAUCUS Christ the King Parish (Milwaukie, OR) Immaculate Heart Parish (Portland, OR) St. Alexander Parish (Cornelius, OR) St. Andrew Parish (Portland, OR) St. Charles Parish (Portland, OR) St. Clare Parish (Portland, OR) St. Francis of Assisi Parish (Portland, OR) St. Philip Neri Parish (Portland, OR) Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus & Mary (Marylhurst, OR) COMMUNITY-BASED INDEPENDENT CAUCUS Central City Concern (Portland, OR) Centro Cultural (Cornelius, OR) PHOENIX RISING Transitions (Gresham, OR) Recovery Association Project (Portland, OR) Rose Community Development Corporation (Portland, OR) FAITH BASED INDEPENDENT CAUCUS First Unitarian Church (Portland, OR) Havurah Shalom (Portland, OR) Kol Shalom Community for Humanistic Judaism LABOR CAUCUS Carpenters Local 247 (Portland, OR) Carpenters Local 2154 (Portland, OR) Cement Masons, Local 555 (Portland, OR) Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Council (Portland, OR) East Multnomah County Uniserv Council, OEA (Gresham, OR) Operating Engineers Local 701 (Gladstone, OR) LUTHERAN CAUCUS Bethel Lutheran Church (Portland, OR) King of Kings Church (Portland, OR) Redeemer Lutheran/Vernon Presbyterian/Enterbeing (Portland, OR) UNITED METHODIST CAUCUS First United Methodist Church (Portland, OR) Lake Oswego United Methodist Church (Lake Oswego, OR) Metanoia Peace Community United Methodist Church (Portland, OR) {Ventures: A Publication of the Sisters of the Holy Names Oct. 22nd MACG Caucus meeting, St. Clare's, Portland Oct. 22-23rd Marylhurst Univeristy Alumni Days Nov. 17th Metropolitan Alliance for the Common Good (MACG) Annual Assembly 7pm}

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 The CCHD committee chooses the organziations to be helped. Like the secular United Way, Catholics give campaign money to be distributed, but unlike the United Way, who the money goes to is known before hand so people can decide if they want to give their funds. CCHD promotional literature states, "We believe the poor themselves know best how to change their circumstances." This seems to be a hopeful statement, but not a just one. "Self -reliance, self-sufficiency, and self-determination" is a goal for recipients, however, faith formation is not. CCHD encourages Catholics to work for justice, through prayer, but not one mention of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to help these folks, their they can do it by them "self". Sadly, the name of Jesus is not even mentioned in the promotional piece. It also says that the "CCHD provides support where other charities and philanthropic organizations will not." The Public Welfare Foundation founded in 1951. This foundation is extremely supportive of many leftwing organizations, among which are groups advocating for radical environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, abortion rights, Third World immigrants' rights, prisoners' rights, illegal aliens' rights, welfare rights, anti-gun policies, and anti-nuclear agendas. Funds groups that promote leftwing visions of radical environmentalism; feminism; gay rights; taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; illegal immigrants' rights; welfare rights; and anti-gun and anti-nuclear advocacy Assets: $412,834,102 (2003) Grants Awarded: $17,992,990 (2003) Has granted monies to ACORN, VOZ (CCHD recipients) Director Peter Edelman's son, Jonah Edelman has founded "Stand for Children" out of Portland and during the Interfaith Advocacy Day 2005 stood up for Same Sex marriage. Peter Edelman's wife, Miriam Wright Edelman is the Director of the Children's Defense Fund, an organization that also received monies from this group. I was told by David Carrier, Director of Justice and Peace that groups given money were checked out to make sure they did not go against Church teachings. Here are the recipients for 2005 CCHD Archdiocese of Portland announces the 2005 Catholic Campaign for Human Development Grants The Archdiocese of Portland has announced the awarding of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) grants for 2005. A total of $196,000 in national and local grants was awarded to local community-based projects that seek to end the root causes of poverty. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is the domestic anti-poverty program sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. CCHD is the largest private funder of anti-poverty program initiated and led by poor people in the United States. Founded in 1970, the CCHD is supported by an annual collection taken in Catholic parishes. The criteria for funding include: * At least 50% of those benefiting from the project must be from the low-income community. * Members of the poverty group must have a dominant voice in the project. * Projects must work to bring about institutional change by attacking the basic social, economical and political causes of poverty and powerlessness. * Projects may have a focus on community-based ecologically sustainable economic development with business efforts that ensure family wages, meaningful work and participatory respect in the work place. * Projects should empower low-income people to gain access to community decision-making structures. Projects awarded national CCHD grants for 2005 were: Project: Full Inclusion Organization: Lane Independent Living Alliance Contact: Carole Patterson Location: Lane County Funding award: 2005 $30,000; 2004 $40,000; 2003 $25,000 National Grants - 2002 $4,600 Local Grant LILA's mission is to increase access, voter participation, and protect the civil rights for people with disabilities in Lane County. Project Full Inclusion increases the involvement of people with disabilities on local boards and commissions so that they are "at the table" in local decision-making processes. People with disabilities have an important role to play in identifying issues of concern and actively participating in community life to resolve those concerns, including assisting with drafting of new legislation. Project: Predatory Lending Education and Reform Organization: Oregon ACORN Contact: Andrew Maxim Ginsberg Location: Portland area Funding award: 2005 $25,000; 2004 $25,000; 2003 $30,000; 2002 $27,500; 2001 $30,000 National Grants ACORN (The Association of Community Organization for Reform Now) is a grassroots association that creates progressive social change by promoting policy reforms that improve the lives of low-income and minority families. Member-chosen issues include ending community apathy, securing fair and affordable housing, community control of urban renewal funds, equal urban infrastructure (road paving, increased lighting, more traffic controls, etc.), and equal community policing and credit and loan policies. The Predatory Lending Education project focuses on improving banking CRA statistics and ending the predatory practices of certain lenders. Project: Tenant Organizing Project Organization: Community Alliance of Tenants Contact: Ian Slingerland Location: Portland area Funding award: 2005 $30,000; 2004 $25,000; 2002 $30,000 National Grants Community Alliance of Tenants is a tenant-controlled membership organization that educates and empowers lower-income tenants to organize and develop leaders who can advocate for better housing policies and practices. Through tenant organizing and collective negotiation with landlords, policy makers, and government officials, the organization seeks to improve the quality of affordable housing, change rental housing standards, and make low-income housing more widely available. Organization: Clackamas Community Land Trust Project: Low Income Homeownership Contact: Nancy Yuill Location: Clackamas area Funding award: 2005 $35,000 Clackamas Community Land Trust (CCLT) is a member-based organization that provides permanently affordable homeownership opportunities to low and moderate income people for generations to come. A CLT removes land from the speculative market and holds it in trust for the benefit of the community. The CLT holds title to the land and the homeowner leases the land from the CLT through a long-term renewable lease. CLTs balance the needs of individuals to build wealth through homeownership with the needs of communities to steward their investment in the land. Organization: Hacienda Community Development Corporation Project: Hacienda Native Plant Nursery Contact Person: Alan Hipolito Funding award: 2005 $35,000 The Mission of Hacienda CDC is to improve the quality of life for low-income Latino families by developing a permanent resource of affordable housing, education, economic development, and related activities that benefit low-income Latinos. Hacienda CDC acquired and rehabilitated several apartment complexes and now manages 321units of affordable housing. Hacienda CDC’s economic development program engages Latinos in new business development that provides economic opportunity for residents. The Native Plant Nursery will be a worker-owned cooperative that provides nursery stock and landscaping services throughout the Portland area. Project: Latino Caucus Organization: Portland Schools Alliance Contact: Barbara Willer Location: Portland Funding award: 2005 $20,000; 2004 $20,000 National Grants/ 2003 $5,000 - 2002 $2,750 Local Grants The Latino Caucus focuses on training and organizing Latino parents to be leaders in the school community and their children's education. Parents and educators build partnerships and political voice to advocate for concrete changes in school policies and practices that will improve the quality of education for Latino children. Projects awarded local CCHD grants for 2005 were: Project: PhotoVoice Project Organization: Sisters of the Road Location: Portland area Funding award: 2005 $5,000 Local Grant Sisters of the Road Café supports community-led solutions to homelessness and poverty by serving low cost nutritious meals that can be purchased with cash or in exchange for work. The PhotoVoice Project provides cameras to people experienced with homelessness to document their day-to-day lives. Through displays of the photographs and Sisters’ speakers’ series, the project provides a means to educate people about conditions faced by the homeless. The project could also become a source of income for the photographers through sales of photographs. Project: Community Cottage Industry Organization: Pioneer House Shelter Location: Astoria Funding award: 2005 $5,000 Local Grant Pioneer House Shelter assists the working poor and homeless by helping to meet basic needs like housing, food, and advocacy. To promote economic self-sufficiency, low income people will be empowered to recycle donated clothing into swatches. Buckles, zippers, and buttons will be retrieved and later re-fabricated into boutique-style clothing. Participants are from a partnering state agency which reimburses $6.25 of the $7.25/hr. minimum wage for participants. Other community partners will assist with space, marketing, and business skills. Project: Thick Chick Fashion Organization: Casa de Belen Location: Roseburg Funding award: 2005 $5,000 Local Grant Casa de Belen is a transitional home and community for homeless families and teens. Thick Chick plans to recycle used clothing into plus sizes comparable to popular styles and fashions. The goal is to provide a sense of positive self-image for plus size women who have difficulty finding fashionable designs at a reasonable price. The Project started with a group of women who wanted to learn business skills and to prepare a business plan. Community volunteers are working with the team to teach marketing, business management, and the craft of transforming donated clothing into wearable art. Project: Disabled United in Direct Empowerment Organization: Organizational Consolidation Location: Medford Funding award: 2005 $3,000; 2004 $3,000 Local Grants DUDEs is an organization of disabled people and their families and caregivers who assist with counseling, advice, and advocacy for disabled people whose rights to adequate health care are being denied. They engage in political action, help draft legislation, and educate legislators regarding the conditions of the disabled, and raise public awareness about the needs and problems faced by the disabled community. Project: Immigrants Rights Workshops Organization: VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project Location: Portland area Funding award: 2005 $3,000; 2004 $5,000; 2003 $5,000; and 2002 $5,000 Local Grants - 2002 $25,000 National Grant- special grant to support immigrant rights work. VOZ is a worker-led organization of day laborers that develops leadership and empowers members to build constructive relationships with employers and authorities. VOZ members gain control over their lives and working conditions and improve relations with businesses and the community by conducting educational workshops and dispelling stereotypes about day laborers. VOZ established a living wage of $9/hour, recovered over $80,000 in unpaid wages, and trained workers in computer use and the English language. Catholic Campaign for Human Development Grants are awarded on the basis of need and not religious affiliation. (FYI : Attached is the Justice and Peace Newsletter for November).

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Catholic monies should at least be used for organizations that are not anti-Catholic: that is true justice. More Catholics are speaking out about these abuses throghout the United States. When the Pro-Life ministry of Oregon Catholics has less than $5,000 to save the lives of unborn children, we have truly failed to see the poorest of the poor. May God Bless and Give Us Courage.

Bishop Vasa's Curriculum for The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality from Rome

“The purpose of this program is to offer assistance to

parents based on the science of child development to form healthy and secure relationships with their children. The secure attachment relationship assures that children will develop with empathy, self-control, and harmonious personalities. The most important protection children have against developing aggressive and violent behaviors, including sexual abuse, is the empathic and nurturing secure attachment to their parents beginning in the first year of life. In turn, this same relationship protects children from becoming victims of abuse.”

- The Most Reverend Robert F. Vasa

In the quest to honor children and their parents and Our Lord.  There has been created "Healthy Families - Safer Children..  http://securechild.org/

Table of Contents

 Program I. Changing the Culture

Section One: The Crisis of Culture
Section Two: The Development of the Child
Section Three: Proactive Parenting for Safe and Moral Children

Program II. Child Development

Section One: Secure Attachment
Section Two: Insecure Attachments and Healing
Section Three: Adult Attachment Relationships

Program III. Authoritative Parenting

Section One: Discipline and Emotions
Section Two: Styles of Parenting
Section Three: The Marriage-Centered Family

Program IV. Moral Development

Section One: Moral Formation in Early Childhood
Section Two: Moral Emotions
Section Three: The Adolescent and Morality

Program V. The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality

Section One: Educating for Love and Chastity
Section Two: Sacred Parental Responsibilities
Section Three: Subsidiarity and Parents’ Rights

Program VI. Healing the Family, the Community, and Culture

Section One: Healing the Broken
Section Two: Healing the Parish and the Home

Section Three: Healing the Children

The way the Church teaches about love and intimacy is tangibly felt by reading the curriculum that our Archdiocese has chosen and the currculum of dignity in Healthy Families - Safer Children the Power of Relationships.  Catholic families can share a wholistic approach to teaching children .

Please read at least a little of this writing by Pope John Paul II. 

The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality

"Sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centers chosen and controlled by them. In this regard, the Church reaffirms the law of subsidiarity, which the school is bound to observe when it cooperates in sex education, by entering into the same spirit that animates the parents.

Bishop Vasa: Bastian of Common Sense & Good bye to Laurie Miller/Calendar Additions

Dear All, Continuing the effort to protect children and uphold the rights of parents. Here is Bishop Vasa's latest column. You can make sure are always informed by him weekly, just go to the websites and request this. Web: http://www.sentinel.org/ecolumn/ Email: vasa-ecolumn@sentinel.org ************************ E-Column by Bishop Robert Vasa ************************ REVISING STATUTES, SEX ABUSE CONCERNS AND PROMOTING VOCATIONS BEND -- The work at the Annual Presbyteral Assembly centered on the revision of the diocesan statutes and guidelines. I found the discussion to be animated and lively, interesting and interested. It seemed to me that the priests took the work we were engaged in very seriously and recognized that it was important not only for them personally but for the diocese as a whole. I found myself wonderfully energized by and grateful for their conscientiousness in tending to details that at times were nothing but tedious. Having heard the comments and suggestions of the priests and continuing to hear the comments and suggestions of the laity, I am now in a much better position to script the next revised draft. My hope is that the next draft can be ready in the next few months and that it can be reviewed once more at the deanery level and then put into final form for official adoption prior to the end of 2006. There are several sections that require further very serious review and at least one, relating to clergy health care benefits and retirement, that still needs some rather major work. I am most hopeful, at this time, that the document ultimately produced can serve the Church of Eastern and Central Oregon at least as well as its predecessors have served the diocese in the past. Pray that it is so. That used up a significant portion of the week. Another thing that occupied a lot of time was trying to respond to all the folks across the nation who wrote and mostly emailed with expressions of concern about "safe environment" programs for children. My public expression of my own concerns and questions seems to have created a kind of locus to which a significant number of concerned parents have gravitated. I am not ready at this time to pursue publicly the questions I raised in a past column, but I do want to engage in as thorough a study of this issue as necessary to allay, if possible, my own fears and concerns. A number of people have sent links to articles and websites as well as their own questions and concerns, and I appreciate the level of interest in this topic. It shows me that there are many folks out there who share my fears and concerns and whose concerns are so grave that they have withdrawn their children from such programs, refused to offer these programs to the children of others and objected to participation in them themselves. It seems to me that this is a very serious issue that needs to be weighed and considered most assiduously from a Catholic perspective to try to determine if the fears presented and questions asked have any validity. Proceeding to mandate programs of questionable value or origin under the guise that we hope they will be an effective means of keeping children safe in the future just does not sound right. At the very least, I have an obligation to assure myself, after some kind of due diligence, that these programs do not violate basic Catholic principles, unduly usurp parental rights or contradict basic common sense. It seems to me that the questions are serious enough to receive serious consideration, and a knee-jerk reaction that this is simply a group of "radical right organizations . . . working feverishly to keep our children in the dark about their sexuality and their right to make determinations about their own lives" is simply too dismissive. Many of the same objections which are raised about the highly questionable sex-education programs offered or mandated in schools for children of all ages may be applied legitimately to "safe environment" programs. I certainly do not want to confuse the two issues, for they are different, but some of the principles are certainly the same. I hope to continue to pursue this issue with the hope of coming to some fuller understanding of the dynamics involved. The study of these dynamics needs especially to extend to the children themselves. In 1995 Focus on the Family published a report on an organization known as SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States), which has, among other even more disturbing citations, these two. The first by an original SIECUS board member: "Incest between adults and younger children can prove to be a satisfying and enriching experience." The second by a SIECUS co-founder: "The major effects of [child sexual molestation] are caused not by the event itself but by outraged, angry, fearful, and shocked reactions of the adults who learn of it." Unfortunately, this same organization, and others like it, actually endorse some of the programs supported and promoted and mandated for our Catholic children under the guise of keeping them safe. One such program was actually designed by the purveyors of such tripe. Ever hear of a wolf in sheep's clothing? This is an area where parents have a most serious personal obligation to ensure that their children are not inadvertently exposed to principles and values that may be contradictory to those held by the parents or at a time not of the parents' choosing. At the same time I want to reiterate that I endorse the safe-environment programs sponsored for adults and those in positions of responsibility for children in our parishes and schools. I encourage all parents to take the valuable time to view the available materials so that you can be better instructed in the very real risks that face your children and from which, I am convinced, only you can protect them. My weekend travels took me a short piece up the road to Grass Valley and Wasco where I celebrated a Confirmation Mass. The three youngsters could not hide in the crowd as I questioned them, and I suspect there was this sweet and sour mix of both loving and hating the rather personalized attention focused on them. They did extremely well. The three topics that I have committed myself to promote worked their way into the Confirmation sermon, namely, vocations to the priesthood and Religious life, evangelization and adult religious education. In keeping with the promotion of vocations theme, one young man told his pastor that he had thoughts of being a priest. I subsequently sent an encouraging card, to which the young man reportedly reacted negatively. His response, "Dad, I was just being nice; I did not really mean it." I suspect that even "just being nice" may be a sign of a future vocation to the priesthood. Pray it is so. ****************************************************************************************************** To have a child die seems so "out of order". It doesn't seem fair somehow. May Laurie's short and sweet life make us thankful for our years and do our best to glorify our Creator and work for His Kingdom with the time He has given us. Rest in His Perfect Peace, dear Laurie. Laurie N. Miller March 2, 1994 - October 15, 2005 Laurie N. Miller, 11, of Turner died Oct. 15 after a two-year battle with cancer. She was born in Salem to Thomas and Christy (Rose) Miller. She lived near Salem for a short time before moving with her family to the Turner area. She was a sixth-grade student at St. Mary Catholic School in Stayton. She designed a Nike tennis shoe that was sold to raise money for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. She was the honorary hostess for the “Walk with Laurie” that was held in August in Stayton to raise funds for Doernbecher and the Livestrong Foundation. She enjoyed playing soccer and softball as well as doing arts and crafts. She also enjoyed spending time with her family. She was preceded in death by two great-grandfathers and uncles, Rob Miller and Ernie Kuenzi. Survivors include her parents; siblings, Lee, Clayton, Michael, Maria, Karen, Melissa and Dorathy, all of Turner; grandparents, Valentine and Dolores Miller of Brooks and Eugene and Karen Rose of Turner; and great-grandparents, Irene Rose of Albany and Dora Gilbert of Burns. Remembrances: St. Mary Catholic School, Stayton, or Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Portland. Side Note: To help the family in a more tangible way, Laurie's god-mother, Mary Belleque, would be happy to receive any donations to help the family with necessities she observes. Her address is 3405 Deerpark NE., Salem 97305 or call 503-390-6921. ******************************************************************************************************** Thursday, Friday, Saturday - October 20-22 - 74th Annual Catholic Medical Assn. Conference, PDX "The Biological and Spiritual Development of the Child" This promises to be an excellent conference at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Portland. All clergy, educators, parents as well as doctors, nurses, etc., are invited. Dr. Lynne Bissonnette-Pitre, local Portland Physician, is coordinator. Total information about the conference can be obtained at www.cathmed.org Tuesday, October 25th - Vicarate Celebration, Church of the Ressurection, Tualatin Quarterly vicariate celebration of the chaplet of Divine Mercy for Life at the Church of the Resurrection in Tualatin from 5:30 to 7 p.m. . It will be a mass with a Litany for Life, part of the vicariate observance of prayer, remembrance and fasting for life. Friday, Saturday, Sunday - October 28-30, Mother/Daughter Retreat, "Falling in Love, Mary and the Eucharist, Mt. Angel Abbey Sister Therese Improgo, O.S.F. - Retreat Facilitator Sister Therese Improgo is currently on staff at Our Lady of Peace Retreat Center in Beaverton, OR as a spiritual director and private retreat director. In past years, she has been principal, vice principal and teacher in the Catholic School Systems of Oregon and California. She holds a Masters Degree in Theology from the University of San Francisco, enjoys reading, hiking, singing and has traveled to Europe, the Holy Land, Southeast Asia and the Far East. "In today¹s society much of our time is spent in 'hurry-up-and-wait' situations. How do we make this precious time an adventure with God? Come and See!" For reservations contact Mount Angel Abbey Retreat House St. Benedict, OR 97373 /503-845-3025 Retreat begins with registration on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and ends on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. $180.00 for Mother/Daughter sharing a room; $200.00 for Mother/Daughter in separate rooms; $60.00 for each additional Daughter Fee includes meals, lodging, use of facilities and retreat program $35.00 DEPOSIT REQUIRED ********************************************************************************************************** If you have a daughter, maybe it's time to make this retreat. Life and time is too precious to waste. God Bless you all until the end of time, Carolyn The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:6 VOCAL Voice of Catholics Advocating Life PO Box 458 Sublimity, OR 97385 Member of Catholic Media Coalition "Inline with the Church, online with the world"

"Abusing God's Children" part two

EXAMPLE LESSONS

During the introductory meetings at which "Talking about Touching" was presented in Norwood, the parents were given examples of lessons that would be presented to students.
In a 3rd grade class, the students would be given the following story:
This is Kerry. She is worried about something that happened to her last week when she spent the night with one of her friends. Her friend's older brother came into the bedroom, put his hand under the covers of the bed Kerry was sleeping in, and touched her vagina (private parts). She said, "Stop that!" in an assertive voice. He stopped, but then he told her to keep it a secret. Kerry is wondering what she should do. Question: How do you think Kerry felt when her friend's brother touched her vagina...

In the 1st grade, children would receive this instruction:
Cole and Mai are playing at the beach. When they go to the beach, they wear bathing suits. Their bathing suits cover up the private parts of their bodies. On boys, the bathing suit covers his penis in front and buttocks or bottom in the back. Those are his private body parts. The girl's bathing suit covers her vulva, vagina, and breasts in front, and buttocks or bottom in the back. These are her private body parts.

A 2nd grade class would be presented with this example:
This is Alex. He was visiting his aunt and uncle. Alex and his uncle were watching television and eating popcorn. His uncle told Alex that he had a special game he could play. He called it the "touching game." He said, "Let's take off our clothes and touch each other's private body parts." Alex knew this game wasn't safe, so in a strong voice he said, No, I don't want to do that." Then he got off the couch and left the room. When he got home he told his mom and dad what had happened. Alex's parents were glad that he said "No" to his uncle. They were also glad that Alex had told them what his uncle said to him.

The objection might be raised that the last scenario itself imparts a false lesson. The situation may or may not be "safe," but it is unquestionably wrong. Most children would feel a natural revulsion toward the uncle's actions, but rather than affirm that revulsion and engage in moral discourse, the children are instead presented with the vague secular idea of "wellness."

The "Talking about Touching" material could also frighten young students, parents suggested, because the case studies could encourage them to see familiar adults as threats to their innocence. In several of the scenarios presented in the curriculum, the perpetrators of attempted abuse are a mother's boyfriend or foster parents. "Their minds don't need that," said Pauline Irwin, mother of three girls at the school. "You start putting these things into kids' heads."

When several parents questioned the program's emphasis on the use of explicit terms for reproductive organs, they were advised that this terminology was necessary so that the children could be "good witnesses" for prosecutors if abuse did occur. That answer provoked two objections.

First, it seemed grossly unrealistic to suggest that a prosecutor could not make use of testimony in which a child referred to his "private parts." Second, and far more important, the children were being trained as witnesses in abuse cases, a seeming admission that such cases are inevitable at the expense of their own innocence. In other words, the "Talking about Touching" campaign was pushing the children into an unwanted position as the first line of defense against abusers, putting children at risk in the name of protecting children!

THE COMMITTEE FOR CHILDREN
The genesis of the "Talking about Touching" curriculum provides a fascinating case study in how secular forces - and highly questionable forces at that come into play within a Catholic-school curriculum.
The curriculum was funded by the State of Washington and produced by the Seattle-based Committee for Children. This committee is a non-profit organization that grew out of 1970s group called Judicial Advocates for Women, which itself originally grew out of Seattle COYOTE, and whose initial mission was to "educate the public about the realities of prostitution." In fact, COYOTE is an acronym for "Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics;" the group was founded in 1973 "to work for the repeal of the prostitution laws and an end to the stigma associated with sexual work." As of 1997, Seattle COYOTE's executive director was Catherine LaCroix, who billed herself as a "Dianic Wiccan priestess" and a "Shameless Sacred Whore."

The curriculum itself consists of lesson plans for children from pre-kindergarten to 5th grade and will cost each parish about $2,500 for the complete set. Sales of this program as well as other child-safety curricula netted the Committee for Children more than $8 million in revenue in 2001, according to its filings with the Internal Revenue Service.

"Talking about Touching," while recommended by numerous groups including SIECUS, an organization known for promoting the breaking down of taboos against adult-child sex, was proposed for use by the Archdiocese of Boston by the blue-ribbon Commission for the Protection of Children. The commission set up by Cardinal Bernard Law in 2002 amid the firestorm of criticism against the cardinal and the archdiocese for the mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against priests over several decades. Its overall mission was to recommend policies for the prevention of child abuse.

The commission's members included a dozen business leaders, mental health professionals, and educators, but no theologians, official representatives of the archdiocese, or even Catholic parents. As one Norwood parent observed, it seemed odd that the cardinal, who had excused the shuffling of predator priests from parish to parish by saying that the Church relied on psychiatrists and doctors, would turn to the same secular "experts" to come up with a program to prevent child abuse.

THE LIABILITY ISSUE
One of the primary reasons for implementing a curriculum that was available immediately, rather than developing an original program that could take Catholic moral principles into account, may have been the requirements of the archdiocese's insurers to decrease legal liability. In fact, "Talking about Touching" was accepted by the commission on the recommendation of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group (NCRRG), an insurance group formed in 1988 by the US bishops, which has also developed a companion program for training of adult parish leaders, called "Protecting God's Children." That group's primary mission is "financing and managing the liability risks of the Catholic Church" through "cost-effective excess liability programs."

In the end the Archdiocese of Boston has made it clear that the "Talking about Touching" curriculum will be implemented in schools and parish religious education with or without parents' support - although Father Coyne, the archdiocesan spokesman, has conceded that the mandatory requirement of the program for all parochial school children will be reconsidered.

Still, many of the concerned parents in the Boston archdiocese are unwilling to wait and see whether their children will have to endure these lessons in their schools during the next academic year. "We will be homeschooling my daughter next year," William Germino said, adding that he knows of at least one other parent who has already pulled his child out of the school. John Bettinelli added, if nothing changes in relation to the program, "We will have to homeschool. We'll have no option at that point." And the controversy shows no sign of abating, as parents with children in other Boston-area Catholic schools are joining the Shared Concerns of School Parents group at an increasing pace, and national media attention is being focused on what could be a model program for other US dioceses.


Even if they do choose to homeschool their children, the parents may be faced with another crisis in a few years, when those children are ready to receive the sacraments. If the parents cannot in good conscience send their children to parish religious-education programs that include the "Talking about Touching" curriculum, will the children be able to receive First Communion, or to be confirmed? At this point none of the parents in Norwood can answer that question. They only know that today, they may have no other options.
Author, Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. is the Managing Editor of CWR (Catholic World Report).
The Shared Concerns of School Parents web site is at (www.germino.biz/scsparents/).