Margaret Sanger

4 Degrees

Margaret Sanger's life's work is at odds with that of Jesus Christ.  But I think it only fair that Ms Sanger be allowed to speak for herself.  Here is an interview with Mike Wallace from the early 1960s.

Take a moment now to jot down the reasons why you believe abortion should be legal.  Even if you are a Catholic in step with The Church, go ahead, write them down.  Fewer poor people, fewer people born into instability, economic power for women might be among your reasons.

I think that abortion is still legal because Christians have not really put their heart into the issue.  Some distinctly annoying and distasteful Christians scream and yell on sidewalks and put gruesome pictures of baby pieces on their front lawn.  Some Christians hold long discourse with pro-choice friends over glasses of Merlot and agree to disagree.  Most just leave the fight to someone else, their view on the topic an ambivalent mix of understanding and revulsion.

In this Freakanomics piece, we see how the explosion of abortion in the 1970s made for far fewer criminals in the 1990s.  
Back to Ms Sanger.  Did you know she was the darling of the KKK lecture circuit?




Guess who drank Ms Sanger's cool-aide?

Second degree Barack Obama is carrying on the Aryan crusade of Margaret Sanger.  I don't believe that President Obama is ultimately comfortable with his public support of abortion.  Father Robert Barron thinks so too.

So think about it, is racism, classism, or a dislike of children keeping you from actively opposing abortion?  What about guilt for having an abortion or fathering an aborted baby?  Statistics from Planned Parenthood and The National Organization for Women say that between 30-40% of American women have an abortion in her lifetime.  Sure, shame comes from sin and abortion is a sin, but there's a cure for that, CONFESSION! Just go to confession and get on with it.  Quit wasting your time sitting on the fence.

If you need help recovering emotionally and/or spiritually from abortion, contact Project Rachel.

Steven Tyler

The quickest way to connect Steven Tyler to Pope John Paul II is via first degree, Bono.

Tyler and Bono

But this is the month of fathers, so let's connect Steven Tyler through fatherhood.

Steven Tyler in the 1970s with his teenage girlfriend.  He refers to her as "Diane" in his autobiography.  I'll
use that name here too.  She was 14 years old when her parents gave Tyler guardianship of Diane.  She had
several abortions, it is not clear if Tyler was the father of all the aborted babies.  There was one abortion that Steve mentions in his books.  

“It was a big crisis. It’s a major thing when you’re growing something with a woman, but they convinced us that it would never work out and would ruin our lives. . . . You go to the doctor and they put the needle in her belly and they squeeze the stuff in and you watch. And it comes out dead. I was pretty devastated. In my mind, I’m going, Jesus, what have I done?”

Actually, this is a misquote.  The part about Diane was,

 "It's a major thing when you’re growing something with a woman, but they convinced us Diana was too young and it would never work out and would ruin our lives." 

Weather you abide by the pro-choice Salon.com article or the pro-life National Review article, it is clear that this abortion was disturbing to Tyler and a deep injustice to the teenage Diane.  She never should have been sexually active at that age.  She should not have been given to Tyler as a sexual plaything by her own parents. She should not have been used by Tyler (an adult) because she was a child.

Sex with underage children has been romanticized in our culture.  Here is an example that I grew up with.

At the time that "Big" came out, I didn't think much of it.  Now, as an adult and a mother, I'm appalled by the "love scene" with Tom Hanks (a 14 year old in a 25 year old body) and Elizabeth Perkins (a professional 20-something woman.)  This movie wasn't controversial when it came out in 1988.  The moral of keeping one's innocence to become the best adult version of yourself was universally accepted.  Did the character of Susan become pregnant after her encounter with the character Josh?  Did she greet him around Christmas time with the news that he'd be a father when he turned 14?  Did the character of Josh discover he had contracted a disease from Susan?  What a way to begin High School.

Here is another example of romanticizing sex with underage children, Lolita with Jeremy Irons.  Note how the girl is shown as the aggressor and the adult man is doing what he does against his better judgement.  We don't know if this 13 year old Lolita conceived.  I would imagine that she would within a few months of this relationship beginning.  What of that?  What of her heart?  What about her body?  What about her soul?

One source said that after Tyler broke up with Diane, Diane was suicidal.  In any event, he took up with a model after Diane and fathered fourth degree, Liv Tyler with a new girlfriend.

Liv Tyler was Arwen in The Lord of the Rings, a film adaptation
of the epic by J.R.R. Tolkein

Third Degree, J.R.R. Tolkein was a colleague and admirer of G.K. Chesterton.  We met Mr. Chesterton in the Charles Dickens post.  Dr. Alison Milbank wrote the book, "Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians."  In it she analyses both men's works and their intellectual, literary relationship with one another.  Here is an excerpt from an interview with Dr. Milbank.  

Tolkien refers several times to Chesterton’s essays in On Fairy-stories, and I argue that these references show he knew a posthumous compilation of Chesterton’s writings, The Coloured Lands, edited by Maisie Ward in 1938, just before Tolkien’s lecture on which the fairy-story essay was based. Maisie Ward actually introduces the idea of sub-creation that is so important an aspect of Tolkien’s understanding of his literary project. It’s interesting that Tolkien is anxious to state that his view of the role of fantasy goes beyond that of Chesterton – this shows to me how closely influenced he feels himself to be. So Tolkien says that Chestertonian fantasy shows you the actual world from a new angle but thoroughgoing fantasy is like opening a box that allows out new things and releases them from our ownership of them. This is a really philosophical statement. The Enlightenment philosopher Kant said we have no access to things in themselves, and all we have is our own perception of the world. This leads to an alienated form of knowledge. Tolkien, following Chesterton, is a realist in a philosophical sense, because he thinks that we can be aware of a world beyond our own perceptions. Paradoxically, fiction – creating your own fantasy world – is not a way ofowning your own private reality but setting the things in that world free – like Tom Bombadil putting the contents of the barrow-wights’ hoard out on the hillside.

As mentioned in the Dickens post, Pope Pius XII sent condolences to G.K. Chesterton's family upon his death.

Hell, Purgatory, and The Body
According to Salon.com, Tyler was guilty and remorseful about his relationship with Diane and the abortion that resulted.

"It affected me later when I tried to get my real wife pregnant. I was afraid. I thought we'd give birth to a six-headed cow because of what I'd done with other women. The real life guilt was very traumatic for me."

Tyler did not sire a "six-headed cow".  All of his children, who were allowed to be born, were healthy.  God doesn't punish people with deaths and diseases any more than He rewards people with good health and riches.  God loves all of us, sinners and saints.

Pope John Paul in peaceful conversation with the
man who shot him

So what happens to someone like Mr. Tyler at death.  Is he forgiven?  Well, if he wants to be forgiven, he is.  It appears as though he does want that forgiveness.  Being right with God does not mean that all consequences for sin are forgiven here on earth.  People who are sorry for rape, murder, theft, etc. can still be prosecuted and punished through the legal system.  Even when sentences are served, victims can still suffer ongoing damage from the sin.  A good example of this is the subject of this blog, Blessed John Paul II.  He was shot in 1981.  The Pope forgave the man who attacked him but, like Jesus, his body bore the scars for the rest of his life.

Let us imagine a person who was NOT repentant.  Perhaps someone who is an adult and is currently sexually involved with a minor.  This could be part of a plural marriage, a family molestation, or a consensual student/teacher relationship.  In any event, under common sense and the laws of most countries, it is wrong.  More importantly, it is wrong in the eyes of God.  As Catholics see it, children cannot give consent to a lifelong sexual union and therefore cannot have lawful sexual relationships under natural Christian law.  If a person has given his (or her) sexuality and genitals to sin, he (or she) has disallowed God to be part of that aspect their human life.

Nothing sinful or imperfect can be in heaven.  If part of a person's body has been whole-heartedly given over to sin, how can it be resurrected in the second coming?  If the soul intends to use the body's members for sin, how can God allow that soul to enter Heaven?  How can God burn off the sinfulness and keep the good of a person if they've given over whole parts of themselves to sin WITHOUT RESERVE.

We cannot forget that death is not the end of the journey.  We are soul/body beings.  We will be reunited with our bodies which will be glorified.  If a fundamental part of our bodies cannot be resurrected, how can we be resurrected?  Giving one's alimentary canal over to sin via alcoholism, gluttony, popping pills, etc. means that, unless we are sorry for what we've done with our bodies, that system must die forever.  Christ ate with his apostles after his resurrection.  Our glorified bodies might have all the systems of our current ones.  The same would be true for giving one's brain over to substances and evil thoughts, our likeness over to vanity and self-worship, and our words and senses over to evil, we cannot bring those things to heaven and to the life to come.

A spiritual Father can help you get to Heaven

The fact is, we do not know how God could save someone with this kind of Swiss cheese soul and body.  I think the best that we can determine is that, with unrepentance comes the very real possibility of damnation.  We have to realize that not repenting can result in our inability to be saved because we refuse salvation.

Both the Orthodox East and Catholic West believe in a purification for souls after death.  We Catholics pray for the repose of the souls of the dead.  Only when circumstances make clear that a particular soul is definitely in the company of Jesus Christ do we venerate the dead as saints.  We NEVER imagine or determine who is not saved.

Confession in the Russian tradition

What to do?  Only speculate about the repose of your own soul.  Get to confession often.  Pray a little more every year.  Work with one confessor and try to find your spiritual father.  Examine your life, your body, your soul, and determine how you can begin to make yourself better.  Notice when you are tempted to judge others.  Use judgement and discernment in your choice of friends, colleagues, and influences.  Learn the difference between good judgement and judgementalism.  This difference is as subtle as the difference between evangelism and proselytism.  

Gianna Beretta Molla

She gave her life for her child

First Degree, Gianna Beretta Molla is a patron saint of problem pregnancies.  She gave up her life to carry her child to term.  She was beatified in 1994 by Pope John Paul II.

Pam Tebow faced a choice when she was pregnant with her son, Tim.  Doctors urged her to abort her fetus because she was on medications that "would have damaged" her baby.  She refused and Tim was born.  This pro-life superbowl ad was highly controversial.  For the pro-choice view of Pam Tebow's story, click here.

Archbishop Dolan holds a baby in the Gianna Center, named for Saint Gianna

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony

Men - Their rights and nothing more

Women - Their rights and nothing less

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her
daughter

- Susan B. Anthony

I grew up with this woman's profile on my dollar coins.  I knew that she was a feminist, but I am just now learning what Susan B. Anthony brought to my world.  A Quaker, Mrs. Anthony was dedicated to all people living with dignity.  While not quite as enlightened as her good friend, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony fought for the downtrodden, especially women.  Both women were married.  Both women became mothers.  Both women were champions for women's suffrage.  And both women were staunchly pro-life. 

As we teach our sons and daughters about the founding mothers of feminism, let us teach how they fought for the dignity of women's bodies, and their natural ability to bear children. 

  

"When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."  - Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Letter to Julia Ward Howe, October 16, 1873, recorded in Howe's diary at Harvard University Library

"Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive (for abortion), love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!" 

- Susan B. Anthony

11 Degrees 

Let's link the founding mothers of American feminism to Pope John Paul II via degrees of good works!  I realize that 11 is more than usual, but they are wonderful degrees and I learned a lot while writing them.  Enjoy!

(11th Degree,) Susan B. Anthony and (10th Degree,)  Elizabeth Cady Stanton
late in the 19th Century

Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked closely with
(9th Degree,) Frederick Douglass
to end slavery and promote the rights of all Americans

Frederick Douglass escaped slavery in Maryland via ship.  He came to New Bedford, Massachusetts
by way of New York.  He then connected to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, becoming a public speaker.  He had a close association with a Quaker and fellow abolishionist,...

William Lloyd Garrison.  (8th Degree,) Mr. Garrison
published a book by the former slave woman, 

Sojourner Truth.  (7th Degree,) Ms Truth is shown here in a portrait with (6th Degree,)
Abraham Lincoln.
We linked President Lincoln to Pope John Paul II
by 6 and 7 degrees in February.  Here is that post.

Where did your Christ come from?

"Ain't I a woman?"  - Sojourner Truth
and
The Theotokos!

Simone Veil

Simone Veil

Simone Annie Liline Jacob

Simone Veil, born Simone Annie Liline Jacob, was born to an educated Jewish family in southern France in 1927.  In 1944 her family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau then Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.  Only she and her sister survived to be liberated in 1945 by British soldiers.

Here is a British radio broadcast of the Bergen-Belsen liberation.  Here is a link to a tribute film to the liberation.

After her liberation from Bergen-Belsen, Simone met and married her husband, Antoine Veil.  She was educated as a scientist and lawyer and became Minister of Health for the Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Jacques Chirac, both of whom met Pope John Paul II.

Giscard d'Estaing and Pope John Paul II

President Jacques Chirac and Pope John Paul II in Lourdes, France in 2004

The accomplishments of Simone Veil

I just couldn't stomach posting pictures of
aborted fetuses.  They are out there and horrific
like the pictures of the concentration camps.  

Simone Veil did many wonderful things during her lifetime.  She had a family and fostered loving relationships with them, she was President of the European Parliament, she was president of Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, and she worked tirelessly for women's rights.  What she is most known for is her fight to legalize birth control pills and abortion in France.  Was that an accomplishment?  

Birth rates across Western Europe are very low.  Abortion is rampant, not as much in Europe as in the United States, but even so, the numbers of those killed via abortion since 1974 dwarf those killed in the Shoah by a factor of 10.  Women have become more objectified and families have been weakened.  I doubt that Simone Veil would support such a culture of death if she realized that was her legacy.  I hope that, in her golden years, she has a change of heart.