Ever since 1973, the year of Roe v. Wade, I’ve followed the histrionic ravings of NARAL, NOW and other professional abortion supporters. as they attempt to frighten enlighten the public.

I’ve read their websites, watched their vulgar marches, perused their op/eds and letters-to-the editor, all the while shaking my head.  Why do these people go about pleading their cause in such self-defeating ways?

As a matter of fact, four years ago I wrote an op/ed published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Tips for Pro-Choice Advocates. Yes, I was so annoyed by their ineptitude, I wrote an article giving them advice.

(If you’re interested in background to that article, and curious to see whether or not my tactic was risky, go to the Issues, Etc. archive for an audio  interview.)

I mention this because a very recent, brief Barack Obama abortion ad  Barack Obama abortion ad is in the works. After a “nurse-practitioner” intro, an announcer concludes, “As…

So much ink has been spilled over Sarah Palin in the last couple of days — 64 links alone in today’s Morning Edition we sent to Catholic leaders — one could be forgiven for imagining Democrats Obama, Biden and Pelosi heaving a sigh of relief that the reporters are shining the abortion pro-life spotlight on someone else for once.

We now know Sarah Palin is a member of Feminists for Life  and thanks to Mollie over at GetReligion we learn that the Barracuda is a Believer.

Mollie also has complaints — surprise — about reporters being quick to attack Ms. Palin and getting their stories wrong.

And also getting it wrong, lefty bloggers are going after Palin’s daughter….

Ever the gentleman, Joe Biden reacts to his V.P. counterpart by making a sexist remark…. Biden reminds me once again that perhaps the reason leftist women think men are sexists is that the only ones they…

My heart is heavy this morning because of a collision of many factors. I wonder what exactly is the heart of religion? What is the point? What does God want from us?

I received an email from a faithful Catholic that began, “In my life one of the greatest sources of grief and sadness has been to watch friends and family members fall away from the practice of the Catholic faith.” I wish I had his life. I sometimes wish I did not know the things I know about the world.

I have traveled around the world, helping missionaries in developing nations help the people they serve stave off starvation and try to get out of the abject poverty that grinds them into the dust. (The photo to the right is one I took recently in a clinic in Haiti.) I read in the paper this morning two news articles.…

Nancy Pelosi has gotten into hot water for misrepresenting Catholic Church teaching against abortion. Appearing on Meet the Press last Sunday, she said:

“I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time,” she said.

“And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition.

And Senator - St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know,” she said…..

In a release issued Monday night, Washington, D.C.,  Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl said Pelosi’s comments on “Meet the Press” on Sunday “were incorrect.”

“We respect the right of elected officials such as Speaker Pelosi to address matters of public policy that are before them, but the interpretation of Catholic faith has rightfully been entrusted to the Catholic bishops. Given this responsibility to teach, it is important to make this correction for…

While most eyes were on the Democratic convention getting into full swing Monday evening, the uninvited Denver archbishop joined a large group of peaceful protesters witnessing outside a local abortion clinic.

According to Christianity Today, 2,000+ accompanied Archbishop Chaput and Martin Luther King niece Alveda King at Denver’s Planned Parenthood facility:

Alveda King, a niece of the late Martin Luther King Jr., and Archbishop of Denver Charles Chaput spoke to the crowd before they lit candles and circled the gated clinic.

Alveda King’s mother conceived her daughter when she was a freshman in college. She had wanted to get an abortion, but Martin Luther King Sr. told her mother she could not abort her baby.
“This little baby human girl was allowed to live,” she said to the cheering crowd.

King later aborted two of her children.

“People say, ‘Aren’t you embarrassed and ashamed to stand up and say you had…

This week the Democratic party made clear its total support of abortion on demand.

Gone is the “safe, legal and rare” rhetoric of the past few years and in is this:

“The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”

The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, clearly ultra liberal on the abortion issue — look at his Senate record — is surely pleased.

Less clear is whether the conflicted electorate will be.

And now, as of three days ago, we have new charges from the National Right to Life organization about candidate Obama’s  abortion obfuscation as well as his well known abortion extremism.

NRL accuses Barack Obama of being a whole lot less than truthful when he defends his opposition — three times as…

(1) The Olympics:The Wall Street Journal reports on China and religious repression:

Religious repression rears its ugly head again:

President Bush attended church in Beijing on Sunday, worshipping with Chinese Christians and singing “Amazing Grace.”

But what happened outside the church says more about the state of religion in China.

Earlier that morning, Hua Huiqi, the pastor of an illegal underground Christian church, was detained by police as he was biking to the service that Mr. Bush was to attend. His whereabouts are still unknown. Mr. Hua’s brother, who was briefly detained, said Mr. Hua only wanted to worship at the church where he was baptized.

China’s constitution allows freedom of religion, but in practice religion is tolerated only insofar as it is controlled by the state.

The only legal churches are those run by the State Administration of Religious Affairs.

Those who choose to attend “house” churches — roughly half of China’s…

Archbishop Raymond Burke dedicated the pilgrimage site - the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe - he founded in his home diocese of La Crosse, Wis. yesterday.

Joe Orso, religion reporter and columnist at our Lee Enterprises sister paper, the La Crosse Tribune, wrote a great story about yesterday’s dedication. And the paper has a terrific, interactive multimedia page for anyone who wants to take a closer look at the shrine.

The shrine’s own website has some interesting features, including a schedule of events that Burke took part in during this dedication week. And a Catholic New Agency story has a good description of some of the shrine’s features.

And Duncan Stroik, one of the shrine’s architects, describes the shrine on his website.

(1)  CWNews: The new English Translation of the Order of Mass for the United States was approved by the Vatican July 28:

The United States Bishops Conference announced that it received the go ahead from the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to the first section of the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal.

It includes most of the texts used in every celebration of the Mass, and involves new translations of the penitential rite, Gloria, creed, Eucharistic prayers, Eucharistic acclamations and Our Father.

Amanda Shaw, blogging at FIRST THINGS, is enthusiastic about the changes, to put it mildly:

Some of the oddities and abominations of the English translation of the liturgy are about to go extinct, reported the Congregation for Divine Worship last week……

Go here to see  some of the changes.

(2) The Knights of Peter Claver, a black Catholic fraternal organization, held its…