The Catholic Vote helped the abortion agenda . . .

A seemingly easy question to answer is, "What is a pro-life parish?" Over the past several months, I have talked to various people who claim that their parish is exceedingly pro-life. They tell me about the programs available for mothers, adoption options, clothing drives for newborns and the many other aspects of helping pre-born babies become newborns. I was impressed until I started relating the status of our government system with saving babies. The government doesn't, for the most part, recognize any rights for the pre-born. Unborn babies are either a problem or a blessing and our world makes it possible to handle it any way the individual sees fit. Yet, I wondered, how could abortion on demand be so prevalent when there are so many pro-life, Catholic parishes?

During the last presidential election, I got a definite clue. Catholics attending Mass regularly, voted for the very people who would see that abortion would always be available. And the very people who praised God in church, went to the polls and praised the politicians who ran on a platform that condoned choice by willingly offering them their vote. The democratic process has not been very democratic to our unborn. Abortion has become wholesale slaughter. Our future children are met with a legacy of death before they even breathe their first breath of life outside their mother's womb.

Legacy, according to Webster's is something received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. The most tragic legacy is, of course, future lives that are cut down before they get a chance to live. As Catholics, we abhor this and participate in pro-life parishes. Until, however, we vote for the pro-life candidates, our pro-life efforts will not go far. A sign on the door proclaiming a church to be a pro-life zone is worth little if the majority of the congregation voted in the current government of death. Have any of these people ever considered their misplaced votes as legacies to their children and grandchildren?

The legacies that count most in life can't be sold or held in our hands. The legacies that go into our lives that count are the ones that shape us, our outlook on life, the world we live in and that which we hold in our heart. And many of the legacies influencing our lives do not come as bequests from a Will. The legacies are given to us, directly or indirectly, from the examples and actions set by parents and grandparents. Can all of us claim to be thoroughly pro-life in all we think, do and say in every facet of our life?

We all teach our children about pro-life. And being children, they will ask questions. How do we answer when they ask us how we voted? Can we look them in the eye and honestly say we voted in their best interests. It is obvious from election results that votes deprived the world of many potential people . . . Catholic votes. Pro-life will continue to be a good thing and, perhaps, if people think they are pro-life, eventually they may actually be totally pro-life.

Interesting . . .

The world is a weird and interesting place but sometimes, you just have to stand back and wonder about it all. Because they banned some aspects of the new Arizona Law this week, some factions were happy, some were angry, and some probably haven't even kept track of it all. In the wonderful, liberal City of Los Angeles, protestors chained themselves together to protest the fact that the law wasn't taken down entirely. They cause traffic congestion for five hours, disrupted business, and put a lot of police on overtime in a city with grave financial distress. According to a radio news show, about ten of the enchained protestors caused the problems yet the police had to treat them with kid gloves lest they get sued for actually doing their duty. I mean, if you break the law, shouldn't you take your chances on the treatment you get?

You have to wonder about protestors in California who are standing up against the Arizona Law when California has the same, basic law on the books. They might research a bit to discover the federal law is much the same as the state laws. Perhaps a few college courses in state and federal law should be required before you are allowed to look stupid.

Speaking of stupid, why on earth is the federal government suing Arizona who's law supports the federal one? Does the attorney general have a law degree? I always thought city, state, and federal officials were supposed to support and represent the citizens. It seems that they defend only a small part of the people in the United States and they aren't necessarily citizens.

Lots of tea parties going on yet I haven't heard of any of these groups disrupting the lives of any cities.