South Dakota House Passes Bill to Ban Abortions

If it makes it through the process, may end up in Supreme Court.

From KELO TV:

The South Dakota House has passed a bill that would nearly ban all abortions in the state, ushering the issue to the state Senate.

Supporters are pushing the measure in hopes of drawing a legal challenge that will cause the US Supreme Court to reverse its 1973 decision legalizing abortion.

The bill banning all abortions in South Dakota was passed 47-to-22 in the House.

Amendments aimed at carving out exemptions for rape, incest and the health of women were rejected.

The bill does contain a loophole that allows abortions if women are in danger of dying. Doctors who do those abortions could not be prosecuted.

MercySong Ministries of Healing

Vinnie Flynn and his lovely family. You've seen them on EWTN singing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy:

http://mercysong.com/

St. Scholastica-Twin Sister of St. Benedict

From the Office of Readings:

Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict, had been consecrated to God from her earliest years. She was accustomed to visiting her brother once a year. He would come down to meet her at a place on the monastery property, not far outside the gate.
One day she came as usual and her saintly brother went with some of his disciples; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things. As night fell they had supper together.

Their spiritual conversation went on and the hour grew late. The holy nun said to her brother: “Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life”. “Sister”, he replied, “what are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell”.

When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray. As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. Sadly he began to complain: “May God forgive you, sister. What have you done?” “Well”, she answered, “I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery”.

Reluctant as he was to stay of his own will, he remained against his will. So it came about that they stayed awake the whole night, engrossed in their conversation about the spiritual life.

It is not surprising that she was more effective than he, since as John says, God is love, it was absolutely right that she could do more, as she loved more.

Three days later, Benedict was in his cell. Looking up to the sky, he saw his sister’s soul leave her body in the form of a dove, and fly up to the secret places of heaven. Rejoicing in her great glory, he thanked almighty God with hymns and words of praise. He then sent his brethren to bring her body to the monastery and lay it in the tomb he had prepared for himself.

Their minds had always been united in God; their bodies were to share a common grave.

She is the patron: Against rain; convulsive children; nuns; storms.

Turkey, Moslems and Catholics

I lived in Turkey for a year when I was in my early twenties. We were stationed at an outpost, about 50 km outside of Istanbul and used to travel by bus every Sunday to the Italian consulate for Mass in English said by a Salesian priest. We always sang the same three songs in English Immaculate Mary, Come Holy Ghost and Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. Besides the four Americans from the base, the rest were all workers in the American and Canadian consulates.

Two stories about Turkey in the news today:

First a Friar is threatened, this on the heals of the priest who was murdered:

A group of Turkish youths threatened to kill a Catholic friar, grabbing him by the throat and shouting "God is Greatest", just days after a Catholic priest was shot dead in Turkey, the friar said on Friday.

Martin Kmetec, a Franciscan friar from Slovenia, opened the door of his house on Thursday to find seven or eight angry men in their twenties.

"He took me by the throat and pulled me inside and said 'we're going to finish you off' ... he also said Allahu Akbar (Arabic for God is Greatest)," Kmetec told Reuters by telephone from his church in the province of Izmir.

Kmetec closed the door on the youths, who said they were nationalists and the group, after trying to break the door down, left.

Next, Pope Benedict will travel to Turkey in November:

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's formal invitation to Pope Benedict XVI was conveyed to the Vatican on Thursday. Sources said that the Pope's visit to Turkey was scheduled to take place between November 28th-December 1st, 2006.
After his election, the Pope stated that he wanted to participate in the feast day of St. Andrew in 2005 and meet Fener-Greek Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, and the Fener-Greek Patriarchate invited the Pope to Turkey.

However, following arguments on this invitation, the Vatican officials said that they expected formal invitation from Ankara. Then, President Sezer formally invited the Pope to Turkey in 2006.

First Lady Meets with Pope

"We share a lot of the same values"...aren't some of "we" Catholics?

"The American people are a religious people, of course all different religions. But we share a lot of the same values with the Catholic Church," Bush told Vatican Radio in an interview taped in Washington before her departure and broadcast Thursday.

Can's for Christ

I too witnessed what Amy had related yesterday. In our local, rather run-down convenience store is a trash can right in front of the lotto machine with a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a title "Can's for Christ." Another sheet explains that two young girls memebers of "Challenge" are raising money for the birthday of the founder of the Legionaires, Marcial.

Rather strange. The bishop of the diocese frequents this convenience store, I wonder if he has seen it yet?

Looking for a Lenten Devotional?

Last year a "Weekly Book Pick" from the National Catholic Register...

For $2.66? (That's cheaper than I can buy it!)