Only 45% filled on Wednesday - An abortion day

"Kevin had worked in a medical lab at a Catholic hospital, examining organs removed during surgery.  He looked for particular things, depending on where the organ had come from and what its intended use would be now.

One day, due to a mix-up, the Catholic hospital received a package intended for another hospital. Kevin opened the package, expecting to find an organ of some type, and instead found a Ziploc bag containing the remains of a baby girl who had been in the mother's womb for twelve weeks when she was killed by a saline abortion.

It was a horrific experience, his hands began to shake so badly that he almost dropped the bag.  But even worse than seeing the body of that poor girl, Kevin said - and he wept even harder as he said it - was how the bag was labeled.  Stunned at seeing the body, he turned the bag to see what the official label said.  Bags containing human medical waste or by-products all have to be labeled in precise medical terms.  His heart fell when, on the side of the bag, he read, "product of conception (POC)."

Kevin had grown up Catholic, but had fallen away and had been away for a number of years at the time of this experience.  But afterward, shaken by that painful experience into a re-evaluation of his whole life, he returned to his faith and vowed to see everyone as a child of God - not as a "product of conception". ...

Kevin's life had changed.  Not because of an argument about abortion or a political debate on TV.  That would have been easier and cleaner and probably less painful. Instead, he had seen the result of abortion right before his eyes - a dehumanized and discarded "product"'.

Every abortion ends with the same "product".

Our lives were not made for Ziploc bags.  They have eternal worth and are destined for heaven."

(Excerpt from 40 Days for Life - Discover what God has done...Imagine what He can do by: David Bereit & Shawn Carney with Cindy Lambert pp. 134-135)

Come to the sidewalk and witness to the beauty and eternal value of human life this week!

OPEN HOURS

Tuesday, 2/17 - 94% filled - 1 needed at 3p.

Wednesday, 2/18 - Only 45% filled on this abortion day - 2 needed at 10a; 2 needed at 11a; 1 needed at 1p; 2 needed at 2p; 1 needed at 3p; 1 needed at 4p and 2 needed at 5p.

Thursday, 2/19 - Just 67% filled on this busy day at Planned Parenthood - 1 needed at 9a; 1 needed at 10a; 1 needed at 11a; 1 needed at 12p; 1 needed at 3p and 1 needed at 5p.

To sign up for hours go to: vigilforlife.org/calendar/monthview or call Gwen at (608)393-8545.

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Prayer for the Dignity of Human Life

Lord and giver of all life, help us to value each person, created in love by you.
In your mercy, guide and assist our efforts to promote the dignity and value of all human life, born and unborn. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Only 20% filled on Wednesday - an abortion day

"If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it!"  1 Corinthians 9: 16

As baptized members of the Body of Christ, we have all been commissioned to preach the gospel.  Come and fulfill your obligation and preach the Gospel of Life this week by adding your peaceful, prayerful witness to the sidewalk.

OPEN HOURS

Tuesday, 2/10 - Only 50% filled on this Abortion Day - 1 needed at 12p; 1 needed at 1p; 2 needed at 3p and 2 needed at 4p.

Wednesday, 2/11 - Just 20% filled on this Abortion Day - 1 needed at 9a; 2 needed at 10a; 2 needed at 11a; 2 needed at 1p; 2 needed at 2p; 2 needed at 3p; 1 needed at 4p and 1 needed at 5p.

Thursday, 2/12 - Only 39% filled on this busy day at Planned Parenthood - 2 needed at 9a; 2 needed at 10a; 1 needed at 11a; 2 needed at 12p; 1 needed at 3p; 1 needed at 4p and 2 needed at 5p.

Friday, 2/13 - 75% filled - 1 needed at 2p.

To sign up for hours go to: vigilforlife.org/calendar/monthview or e-mail info@vigilforlife.org or call Gwen Finnegan at (608)393-8545.

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 VIGIL CAPTAIN needed for 2nd week of each month during 365 for Life campaign.  Vigil Captain is responsible for ensuring that vigil hours are filled for assigned week.  If interested in volunteering your services for this essential position, please call Gwen Finnegan at (608)393-8545.

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Jennifer Dunnet's 2015 March for Life Experience

Arriving in Washington D.C. with Pro-life Wisconsin for the 42nd March for Life, I was happy that our first stop was the Planned Parenthood on 16th St NW in D.C. I have prayed and counseled outside this abortion center many times while attending the March for Life. This time my happiness was due to the fact that the Servants of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the group for which I volunteer, was able to bring the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the site for the first time during a March for Life. This Image has been touched to the actual tilma in Mexico. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Unborn and she was definitely there interceding for the women inside.  While we were there praying a woman came out of the abortion center and said she was keeping her baby. What a wonderful way to start our time in D.C.

Later that evening we attended the opening Mass for the March for Life at the Basilica of Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.  This Mass is packed with pilgrims who arrive early to get a good seat. It was the same this year only I feel there were more attendees there than ever. The procession of cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, and seminarians took at least 30 minutes. It was a beautiful Mass and a wonderful homily by Cardinal O'Malley.  Some of the things he said was, “Indifference is our biggest enemy. We must learn to look on people with love. Not judgmental. To change people’s hearts we must love them. Mother Teresa is the model of the pro-life movement."

The day of the March, on the anniversary of Roe v.Wade, the weather was perfect for marching. You could sense the crowd was big.  The pre-march speakers were motivating the crowd from the stage set up in the library mall. Those of us marching with Pro-life Wisconsin were ready to go! Soon we were on our way with the St Ambrose Academy group marching with us for a time.  After we were on our way Peggy Hamill, Will Goodman, and Dan Miller led the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet until we were almost finished marching.  As we moved further up the hill, I looked back and saw thousands and thousands of people young and old marching for the end of abortion. I have heard there were at least 600,000.  As we reached the Supreme Court building where the March ends we could hear the women and men from Silent No More giving their testimonies on how abortion has affected them.  Next to them was the biggest banner I have ever seen that said “Personhood for All”.  The March for Life is always a whirlwind of days and events but I definitely left the March that day feeling full of hope that we will one day see the end of abortion.  If you haven't attended the March for Life, I recommend attending. It is one of the most moving and powerful events you will participate in.

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Discipleship Prayer


Loving God,

I thank you for choosing me to be your disciple

and for the gift of your Son, Jesus.

Help me proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel

by word and by deed today and every day.

Open my heart to the outcast, the forgotten,

the lonely, the sick and the poor.

Grant me the courage to think, to choose and to live as a Christian,

joyfully obedient to God.

Amen.

Euthanasia bill introduced in Wisconsin Assembly

Euthanasia bill introduced in Wisconsin Assembly

Vigil for Life, Madison, urges you to contact your state assembly person and state senator to OPPOSE physician-assisted suicide (euthanasia) legislation (LRB-0888/1) that is being circulated by Representative Pope and Senator Risser.  Following is a memo released to all state assembly persons and state senators by Pro-Life Wisconsin on this bill's introduction:

TO: Members, Wisconsin State Legislature
FROM: Matt Sande, Director of Legislation
RE: Opposition to Physician-Assisted Suicide Legislation: LRB-0888/1

Pro-Life Wisconsin urges you to OPPOSE physician-assisted suicide legislation (LRB 0888/1) now being circulated by Representative Pope and Senator Risser. The legislation would overturn current Wisconsin law specifically prohibiting assisted suicide.

Assisted suicide is decidedly unethical; it offers death as a final solution to elderly, disabled, depressed or terminally ill people, and thwarts the very meaning of care. Killing is not caring, and the Wisconsin Legislature should not permit it.

There is no dignity in death by suicide. Assisted suicide, no matter how compassionate it may seem on the surface, is nothing more than a cruel lie.  To the terminally ill, it tells them that there is no meaning to their life and that when they become a “burden” to themselves and others suicide is the easiest answer for everyone. It also robs them of something integral to the human spirit – hope. Real compassion takes time and commitment. It means standing by someone and bearing their burden.

LRB 0888/1 would permit an individual to “request and obtain a prescription for medication so as to end his or her life.” It would legalize assisted suicide for people over the age of 18 who have a “terminal disease” and who make an oral and written request to their attending physician for medication to kill themselves.  A physician who refuses to participate in the assisted suicide must make a good faith attempt to transfer the patient to another physician whom he or she knows will help kill the patient.  If the physician does not make an attempt to transfer, he or she may be charged with “unprofessional conduct.” In a stark denial of reality, the bill states that requesting and taking prescribed medication to end your life does not constitute “suicide.”

In an age of soaring healthcare costs and cutbacks, we must conscientiously fight the temptation to turn the healing art of medicine into a calculated cost/benefit analysis.  If this idea of physician assisted suicide should take hold in Wisconsin, how much longer until the “right to die” becomes the “duty to die?”  How much longer until those considered a “burden” on society are systematically denied healthcare and life-saving measures in order to cut costs?  Whose interest is really being served under physician assisted suicide – the patient’s or the provider’s?

So-called “death with dignity” forces routinely speak of patients dying in intractable pain. They call killing oneself a “basic human right” that should be constitutionally protected. Yet medical studies show that virtually all pain can be alleviated at the end of life. The World Health Organization has found that 95 to 100 percent of the pain experienced by people at the end of life can be adequately controlled. Instead of killing the pain, “death with dignity” activists focus on killing the patient. Few of them seem enthusiastic about educating healthcare professionals about the amazing advances in palliative care.

Prominent national disability groups, including Not Dead Yet, and medical groups, including the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, oppose physician-assisted suicide. “Published medical studies reveal that Dutch doctors administer lethal injections to roughly a thousand patients a year who never consent to their deaths. That's autonomy for doctors – not for patients," commented Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the Christian Medical Association, on the slippery slope of assisted suicide to active euthanasia. "The answer to patients suffering at the end of life is not to kill them, but to provide aggressive and appropriate relief from pain, compassionate counsel and unconditional love."  Christian Post Reporter

The message of Wisconsin’s pro-life community to you, our elected representatives in the state legislature, is simple: Have courage! Don’t take the low and hopeless road offered by assisted suicide. Be true to your call to protect Wisconsin’s most vulnerable citizens. Show true compassion to the disabled, elderly, depressed and marginalized. The great state of Wisconsin can do better than assisted suicide.

Thank you for your consideration. If you have any questions, please call Matt Sande at our State Office: (262) 796-1111 X13.

Should you have any questions on how to contact your state assembly person or state senator, please do not hesitate to send an e-mail to info@vigilforlife.org or to call (608)393-8545.

Many thanks and many blessings,

The Vigil for Life Team

Giving the gift of your time this week

Are you hesitant to give the gift of your time? Do you feel that you are too busy and have no time to give? Or - are you hesitant to give your time because you feel it won't be appreciated or that it won't make a difference?

As reported in a recent article in Psychology Today, research shows that people who give their time actually feel like they have more time. People who give their time instead of doing something for themselves also end up feeling better about themselves. As St. Francis of Assisi wrote, "For it is in giving that we receive."

We have many open hours this week and would most certainly appreciate your gift of time spent in peaceful, prayerful vigil on the sidewalk! Any hour you stand in witness to life and to Christ always makes a difference even if you are not made aware of it immediately!

OPEN HOURS

Monday, Feb. 2nd - 75% filled - 1 needed at 9a.

Tuesday, Feb. 3rd - 81% filled on this Abortion Day - 1 needed at 2p; 1 needed at 3p; 1 needed at 4p.

Wednesday, Feb. 4th - Only 35% filled on this Abortion Day - 1 needed at 9a; 1 needed at 10a; 1 needed at 11a; 1 needed at 12p; 2 needed at 1p; 2 needed at 2p; 2 needed at 3p; 1 needed at 4p; 2 needed at 5p.

Thursday, Feb. 5th - Just 61% filled on this busy day at Planned Parenthood - 2 needed at 9a; 2 needed at 10a; 2 needed at 12p and 1 needed at 3p.

To sign up for hours go to: vigilforlife.org/calendar/monthview or e-mail info@vigilforlife.org or call (608)393-8545.

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Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.