LITTLE NOTES
2006 LITTLE NOTES
November/December
September/October
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January
ARTICLES
Letters
Confessions
Talk About Movies
Roamin' Catholic
Follow Me
Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
LITTLE NOTES
April 2006
"AMONG GIRLS 15 AND YOUNGER WHO BECOME PREGANT, between 60 and 80 percent of them are impregnated by adult men." So states a well-documented study produced by Life Dynamics, Inc. (available at childpredators.com) The report also notes that "police departments nationwide are now saying that child molesters trolling the internet for underage girls is a major problem, and they don't have the budgets or manpower to keep up."
A significant factor preventing law enforcement crackdown on pedophiles is the fact that abortion clinic workers consistently fail to report cases of suspected sexual abuse of underage minors to the authorities. All 50 states have laws mandating that healthcare workers who have reason to suspect that an underage girl is being sexually abused must report that information to a law enforcement or child protective services agency.
In California, the following situations must be reported: a girl under 14 having sex, unless her partner is also under 14; a girl under 16 having sex with someone 21 years old or older; and any sexual activity with a minor that is non-consensual or constitutes incest. A clinic is not required to report a girl 13 and under having sex with someone 13 and under; a girl 14 or 15 having sex with an adult between 18 and 21 years of age; or a girl 16 or older having sex with someone of any age.
Despite such legal requirements, abortion clinics defiantly refuse to comply, leaving young teens at risk of further abuse by sexual predators. The United States Justice Foundation, a California non-profit legal organization, will provide free legal representation to anyone who has been damaged as a result of an abortion clinic's failure to report a minor girl's suspected statutory rape situation to the proper author ities. For more information, contact the United States Justice Foundation, 932 D Street, Suite 2, Ramona, CA 92065, phone 760-788-6624, fax 760-788-6414, e-mail: usjf@usjf.net.
It should be noted that pro-life pregnancy help centers are also bound by the reporting requirements. The National Institute of Family & Life Advocates (www.nifla.org) exists to assist pregnancy help centers with all kinds of legal issues. Pro-life centers seeking further information about the underage-minor reporting requirements can contact the institute's general counsel, Anne O'Connor.
SAN DIEGO PRO-LIFERS RECEIVED A HUGE MORALE BOOST from Father Giacomo Capoverdi, of Priests for Life. He visited the San Diego diocese from January 31 to February 6. Father Capoverdi, of the diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, is currently working full-time with Priests for Life at the organization's New York office. "My mission is to go out into the whole United States and preach about the evils of abortion," he explained. "I'm representing Christ, representing the Church, and representing Father [Frank] Pavone [the Priests for Life director].
"I came out here because I know that San Diego has a lot going on, in the way of pro-life work," Father Capoverdi said. The San Diego diocese contacted Priests for Life and urged them "to send someone out here because they felt like Priests for Life needed to have a presence here in this diocese." Joseph Horejs, the new administrative assistant in the diocesan Social Ministry Office, arranged his schedule here.
On February 1, Father Capoverdi assisted at morning Mass at Most Precious Blood Church in Chula Vista and afterward accompanied 16 parishioners on their Wednesday morning prayer vigil at the Clinica Medica abortion mill. "The doctor had just left, so there wasn't a lot of business," parish pro-life coordinator Shirley Henry reported. "Father Giacomo gave us a beautiful little homily after the rosary and words of encouragement and support. It was such an uplifting hour and a half that we felt really buoyed by the whole situation and we're very grateful."
On February 2, the Feast of the Presentation, he said morning Mass at Saint Rose of Lima in Chula Vista. In his homily, he portrayed the situation in the U.S. since abortion's legalization as being analogous to C.S. Lewis's mythical land of Narnia's seemingly perpetual winter without Christmas, caused by the evil white witch's spell. "Six men [on the Supreme Court] caused it to be winter time in the U.S. since 1973, and a spell was cast over our country since Roe v. Wade was considered constitutional.... As a result 46 million babies have died due to this sin. But the prophecy of Narnia was that the spell would be broken when sons and daughters of Adam and Eve came into Narnia. As they came in, the snow and ice started to melt.... That's what it's like in the pro-life movement right now."
Afterward he accompanied a group of about 10 parishioners to My Choice Women's Medical Clinic, another Chula Vista abortion mill, on their regular Thursday morning prayer vigil there. As the prayer vigil ended, he offered prayers for the conversion of the clinic staff and directly appealed to them to stop their involvement in abortion. Then he gave encouragement to the pro-lifers. As has been typical there during the last few months, no clinic personnel were seen outside nor was there any evidence of abortions occurring during the prayer vigil.
On Saturday morning, February 4, Father Capoverdi joined Catholics and Evangelicals who regularly pray and sidewalk counsel at the Family Planning Associates abortion mill in downtown San Diego, across from Balboa Park. Pro-lifer Sue Lopez reported that 37 people showed up, because "knowing that this priest was coming drew triple the number of Catholics who regularly come."
Lopez recalled Father Capoverdi's reaction to the shout of "Go Home!" yelled from a passing car. "He said, 'We Christians, we are home here. Jesus tells us in the Gospel to love our neighbor. He gives the example of the good Samaritan who rescued a man from death. That is what we are doing at the abortion clinic.' It was so uplifting and inspiring for all present to hear this young priest speak."
Speaking to a News Notes reporter, Father Capoverdi said he was inspired to become involved in Priests for Life by "the horrific nature of this sin in our country." He continued: "I felt God's calling say to me, 'I'm happy you're a priest because I called you to be a priest, but now I want you, for a while, to discern leaving the parish and working full-time to help babies that are unborn.' I feel like, if I can save one baby's life in this work, then I've accomplished what I wanted to do."
Having been born in 1965, technically Father Capoverdi is not a survivor of the post-1973 legalized abortion holocaust, but says he nonetheless feels like one. His mother was facing difficult circumstances during her pregnancy and was offered assistance in arranging and paying for an abortion, but she was horrified by the idea. Father Capoverdi said that now, the person who offered her the abortion "comes up to me and pinches my cheeks and says what a tremendous priest I am and ... she wants me to celebrate her funeral Mass ... and I think to myself as she says this, 'If my mother had followed your advice, I wouldn't be here.' And I wonder, 'How many future priests have we aborted?'"
Father Capoverdi discussed the reluctance of some priests to preach about life issues from the pulpit. "I think sometimes priests are afraid that if they say something that's going to offend somebody, it's going to bring their budgets down and it's going to bring participation in Mass down. I say to them what Christ said to Peter, when many of the disciples that were following Christ formerly no longer were because His teachings [about the Eucharist] were too hard for them to understand. Jesus didn't change His message to make it easier for them. He preached boldly and with authority. And so we follow in the footsteps of Christ. Our parishes may be smaller; our finances may be lessened; our lifestyles as priests may need to diminish a little if we're not getting enough money. But nothing should stop us from preaching the truth."
He added, "We have a message that is sensitive to women who have had an abortion ... about God's mercy. In my homily I always say to women who are post-abortive that often women who have had an abortion feel like they didn't have a choice.... They need to know that they can go to confession; they can receive God's mercy ... we're all in need of God's mercy, love and forgiveness. I tell men and women who are post-abortive about Rachel's Vineyard [ministry to women who've had abortions], which is under the umbrella of Priests for Life. They can go on a retreat and receive God's healing and forgiveness."
For more information on Priests for Life, visit priestsforlife.org, call 888-PFL-3448 or 718-980-4400, e-mail: mail@priestsforlife.org, or write to Priests for Life, P.O. Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314.
"'WE'RE NOT GOING TO DO IT. WE'VE CHANGED OUR MINDS' These are the joyful words spoken by a young couple as they walked out of the Planned Parenthood abortion mill today," wrote local Catholic pro-life warrior, Sue Lopez. Her March 8 report from the front lines continued, "They had been inside at least an hour and a half, having gone in before we arrived at the clinic. The young woman explained that she had a five-month-old baby and a seven-year-old at home and didn't think she could handle two babies at once. Her husband kept saying he didn't want her to do it, his mother told him last night that they couldn't abort the baby, and they, the couple, had been arguing about it all morning. I gave them a list of agencies that would help them if they needed it, a rosary with prayer instructions, and I told them that by praying it God would give them all the help they needed. I also told the woman that I had twins and it is hard, but I would gladly have twins again because of all the joy two babies at once brought us. Her eyes started to tear, and then she composed herself and continued expressing her joy about having this baby and we were so grateful that they were so generous to share it with us!"
WITH PAPAL FLAGS WAVING and balloons flying overhead, the activist group Catholic Crusaders greeted the University of San Diego Board of Trustees as they arrived at the campus for a February 24 meeting. One protestor held a sign which read "Gay Agenda fuels Catholic Exodus". Other signs alerted trustees that the freshman class of 2005 has 68 fewer Catholics than the 2004 class. The Crusaders, who have protested outside the university's main gate many times over the past three years, usually direct their messages to parents. The February 24 event was their first protest aimed particularly at the board of trustees.
During the protest, seven student reporters from the school newspaper, The Vista, approached the Crusaders to question them and take pictures. The following afternoon, a second contingent of Crusaders assembled at the school's main entrance to protest a "Pride" alumni event and fundraiser held at the campus alumni center. PRIDE, an organization of homosexual students and faculty advisors, celebrated its tenth anniversary at USD along with two other gay activist groups on campus, "Pride-Law" and "Rainbow Educators."
During this second protest, two PRIDE supporters came from the party to offer a counterprotest to the Crusaders' presence. Campus police monitored both protest and counterprotest closely. Outside of students yelling (and gesturing) obscenities from cars passing in and out of the gates, there were no ugly incidents.
The Vista reported on the Catholic Crusaders in its March 2 edition. Curiously, the newspaper report focused exclusively on the Crusaders protest against the PRIDE event and made no mention of the Friday morning protest directed at the board of trustees.
Crusader Katie Drexel was surprised. "The student reporters who talked with us on Friday seemed very interested in the protest directed at the board of trustees. Yet that part of the protest was censored out of their story."
A week later, The Vista ran an opinion piece by staff writer Stephen Britt titled "Protesters miss the point of inclusion at USD." Britt asked, "What are these people so afraid of? Do they think that if homosexuals are allowed to be open on a college campus that it will spread like a wildfire? Do they believe that if I am allowed to see an openly gay person it will cause me to breakup with my girlfriend and turn to a sinful life of homosexuality?"