Barabbas
The Lord encounters us ever anew, through the eyes of the men and women who reflect his presence.
- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas est.
In last month’s newsletter, I wrote to you about our low turnaround rate while sidewalk counselling in downtown Montreal. Most women and couples who come to the abortion facilities either dismiss our intercession or are unaware of it and carry through with their abortion.
Since this publication of that newsletter, I have received many heartening responses - by phone, email, or snail mail. Thank you to all those who called and wrote consoling and supportive words.
In addition to these, Our Lord has consoled me in yet another way.
Shortly after the publication of that newsletter, I came across an article by the Italian actor Pietro Sarubbi, who portrayed Barabbas in Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ”. ("He played Barabbas to Jim Caviezel's Christ and the encounter changed his life")
Sarubbi’s message is timely as it illustrates how God uses eye contact to touch souls.
Writing about the scene in which he, in the role of Barabbas, briefly meets Jesus’ eyes just before descending the stairs after being released by Pilate, he shares:
While I was playing Barabbas, the Holy Spirit used one man to look at another man. Now it’s clear to me; it was perturbing and unsettling then... Later on, I read (Pope Emeritus) Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est, in which there’s a phrase that expressed very clearly what had also happened to me: "The Lord encounters us ever anew, through the eyes of the men and women who reflect his presence."
The Italian actor and teacher then adds:
This is precisely God’s method: to look at people through the eyes of other people. This explained what was inexplicable to me; I could not imagine that a simple actor playing Jesus could look at me in a way that turned my soul upside-down. From that moment on there was a change in my personal, human, and professional life, because when you’re captivated, you’re captivated in every way.
Sarubbi's experience encourages me to become docile to Our Lord and so allow the women and couples I meet to be captivated by Him and be transformed.
And transformed to what? Sarubbi continues:
And from that moment on an entirely human challenge begins, because there’s no magic wand that transforms you; you remain exactly who you were, but you fall in love with Christ, and your life becomes an attempt to live up to that love. You remain with your sin and your smallness, but you’re enriched by the hope that through prayer you can walk without fear in a new direction.
Allowing the women and couples through me to encounter Christ and so bring love into their lives in hope and in a new direction.
Lord, may we be ever humble to allow you to increase in us so this he transformative love fosters a culture of life.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Brian Jenkins
Outreach Coordinator
Quebec Life Coalition
p.s. We are entirely dependent on your financial support for our projects such as the daily downtown vigil. Please, consider becoming a making a contribution or becoming a monthly donor. Thank you.
Succeeding
Dear Friends of Life,
I trust you and your loved ones are doing well.
I need to make a candid admission.
I’m pretty unsuccessful at what I am doing.
I am referring here to the sidewalk work of convincing women and couples to forego their appointment to abort their child.
My mentor, Msgr. Philip Reilly, founder of Helpers’ of God’s Precious Infants, in Brooklyn, NY, was able to convince between 6 and 7 women out of every ten he met to keep their child!
On the other hand, I average between one and two… per year!
Given that I am present daily outside two abortion facilities, year-round, my stats are anemic, to be kind.
The following incident is typical. While praying with a partner, I noticed a young couple, early to mid-twenties, walking along St-Catherine Street eastward, approaching us, on the opposite side of the street, the side the court injunction prevents us from crossing onto. A handsome couple – the man bearded, tall and broad shouldered and she, smaller, petite.
My intuition alerted me correctly as subsequently the couple ended their walk outside the building in which the Morgentaler facility is located. There, they stopped, hugged one another, went their separate ways – she inside and he, continuing his walk down Berri Street towards René-Lévesque Blvd.
I am getting ahead of myself. As the couple was walking eastward along St-Catherine street towards the intersection with Berri Street and were not quite level with us, I greeted them with a wave of my hand and then in their direction flashed the sign strung around my neck and resting on my chest, the one promoting the pregnancy help service.
The couple noticed. First the gentleman and then the young woman looked at me and then the sign, exchanged a few words between themselves. That was about all.
No passion. Had there been some passion, some outburst of indignation at my presence, at my gall to “interfere” in their private lives, then I would have felt some hope for saving the life of the unborn child.
No passion, only indifference. Their hearts had turned to stone.
Invoking God
Having done the humanly possible and failing, I knelt, calling upon God to spare this couple from the grief and regret over a choice they can never reverse, and to preserve the life of the innocent unborn child.
The traffic light changed, the couple crossed the street and continued their way towards the abortion facility. During the rest of their walk, one then the other looked back in my direction, she more so than him.
Variations of this scenario happen daily.
An idea
I need your help in two ways:
- Pray that God blesses these encounters with special graces to soften hearts and
- Send me your prayer needs.
Concerning the latter, I believe that by bringing these your spiritual needs to modern day Calvary, grace will flow in ways that are both mysterious and miraculous. What do you think?
My personal email address is noted below and I will keep these confidential.
We form part of a mystical body. Let us support one another in prayer during this earthly pilgrimage.
Yours in Christ Jesus
Outreach Coordinator
p.s. Your financial support helps us continue this ministry. Thank you.
Celebrating Music
I trust this newsletter finds you and your loved ones doing well… hopefully faring better than our beloved Canadian democratic system.
For a democracy to be healthy, its citizens need to be represented in its legislative assembly.
Sadly, this is not the case in Canada. Though five parties sit in the House of Commons – the Liberals, the Conservatives, the Bloc, the New Democrats, and the Greens, none speak for pro-life Canadians.
The platforms of four of these parties are overtly hostile to life issues, advocating for abortion, euthanasia, etc.
The fifth, the Conservative Party, has traditionally been the voice for the unborn, but over the past decades it has grown weak in its support for the most vulnerable and innocent of our society.
Yes, in recent years, members of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) have submitted legislative proposals defending unborn life. But its recent leaders, including former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and current and outgoing party leader Andrew Scheer, have not endorsed these proposals, resulting in no further protection for the unborn.
What is even more troublesome to Canada’s democracy and the fate of the unborn child is that no improvement is in sight as the two front-runners in the current CPC leadership race are openly antagonistic to unborn life.
In contrast, the two other candidates in this leadership race – Dr. Leslyn Lewis and Mr. Derek Sloan, are deserving of our support as they are outspoken and unambiguous in their defense of unborn life.
Derek Sloan has come out with a 12-point pro-life plan, believing that it is Parliament’s duty to discuss and debate these crucial issues.
Three of these points are:
- “Unborn victims of violence” takes aim at protecting an unborn child against a criminal act. Currently it is not an offense to injure or kill an unborn child during an assault on a pregnant woman.
- End the funding of abortion and of pro-abortion special interest groups abroad under the banner of foreign aid.
- Support the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which would provide medical care and treatment to infants born at any stage of development.
Another important measure in this 12-point plan directly impacts the day-to-day operations of the Quebec Life Coalition. As we are currently unable to express ourselves freely around abortion facilities, a provision in Mr. Sloan’s program would lift the ban constraining us.
Dr. Leslyn Lewis has adopted a four-pillar policy for successful governments. These pillars are:
- Upholding family as the cornerstone of society – parents have the right to raise their children according to their beliefs.
- Protecting our fundamental freedoms - freedom of expression, conscience, & religion must be protected.
- Pursuing compassion towards the vulnerable – protecting our seniors, veterans, disabled and indigenous peoples.
- Standing for fiscal responsibility – no excessive taxation, or burdening future generations with our debt.
Ballot Choices
The Quebec Life Coalition encourages all CPC members to vote for these two candidates in either order in the preference balloting system the CPC has established.
No other candidate should be considered for ranking on the ballot.
Sincerely Yours,
Brian Jenkins
Hush
Vigil 365 Update - Great News! A Turn-around! This past week, while praying near two local abortion facilities, we met and spoke with a couple scheduled to abort their child. After our exchange, they decided otherwise. Today their child lives. Awesome! Please, keep this couple in your prayers.
Did you happen to notice a few weeks ago a huge sigh of relief?
I cannot be certain, but I believe it came from Montrealers responding to Premier François Legault’s announcement that the confinement measures were being relaxed.
The timing could not have been better coinciding with the warming weather and our desire to go outdoors to enjoy the wonders of spring in good conscience: longer daylight hours, blossoming tulips and lilacs, the verdant landscape, and … rainbows. We were blessed.
This reprieve is that much sweeter as it contrasts with not only with the harsh sanitary measures we have just lived through, but also the tragedy befallen our elderly.
The 70+ crowd suffered much these past few months in nursing homes. Understaffed wards, undernourished and dehydrated, poor hygienic care, solitary confinement are among the litanies of sorrows they underwent. Many of them died.
Though controversy surrounds the numbers of those who perished due to Covid19, none exist about the suffering and deaths experienced by our elderly. Righteous anger has been expressed by both the public and the media and our governments are only beginning to redress these wrongs.
Those of us trying to establish a culture of life are encouraged by the calls to help these vulnerable people. Yet, at the same time, we cannot help but wonder why another vulnerable group is subject to indifference and injustice.
Women who are either post-abortive or wrongly thinking of aborting their child are being denied important truths about abortion.
Will a society that awakens to its neglect of its elderly continue to neglect the harm that abortion does to women?
Abortion does harm women. Researchers are steadily producing new studies showing the adverse complications that abortion has on women.
Why are the media not producing these findings? Why are our governments not legislating against abortion?
Women are exploited when they are not told the truth when they go into an abortion facility.
Women are exploited when society, the media, social services, and our political leaders – deny or are unwilling to deal with the science of abortion.
The documentary Hush illustrates these points.
Producer Punam Kumar Gill sought to sort out for herself the conflicting claims she heard about the impact of abortion on women.
Ms. Gill who describes herself as pro-information, focuses on three critical health issues for women – breast cancer, premature births, and psychological damage.
This past January, while in Washington, D.C., I saw a twenty-minute segment and was impressed by its professional quality. Computer generated images illustrated the growth of the lactic cells during pregnancy and the dangers of an artificial interruption due to abortion. It explained how immature lactic cells could then mutate into cancerous cells.
The documentary provides scientific information, permitting women to reflect on the consequences of abortion. A preview as well as the full film may be seen here.
I intend to purchase several copies to offer to those of you who wish to buy a copy. Also, I would like to arrange a community screening; please contact me using the return coupon and self-address return envelop in either case.
This way, as in the situation with our elderly, we can work to bring to light an important injustice.
JMJ
Brian Jenkins
p.s. If you can, please consider supporting our work with a one-time gift, a regular monthly gift, or a planned gift. Thank you.
Commemorating Mothers and Life
I trust you and your loved ones are having a blessed Easter season.
And quite an Easter season, it has been… and continues to be.
Constraints have been placed on our movements. We all need to stand two meters apart from one another; many have lost jobs; and most are restrained by stay-at-home orders.
Yet our most important movement goes unhindered - our walk with Our Redeemer and his Blessed Mother.
This movement takes on an additional significance in the month of May as we honour our earthly mothers as well as our Heavenly Mother.
Pope Francis has shown us the way by introducing two prayers for this purpose, asking that we add these in combination with our recitation of the Holy Rosary. Also, the bishops’ conferences in both Canada and the U.S. have likewise honoured the Mother of Our Lord by inviting all bishops of both countries to reconsecrate their dioceses to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
Deservingly she is our mother. Selflessly she gave of herself from the moment she accepted to take on the role of being His mother, enduring many sorrows along the way – Simeon’s prophesy, the flight into Egypt, the three-day separation, His passion and death on the cross, the pieta, and His entombment.
Today our prayers are very much needed for all mothers to be similarly disposed to their children and to their families, a disposition that is direly needed as the following illustrates.
“The Anxiety about aborting alone in these pandemic times.”
The above headline appeared in a web story covering the experience of three women bemoaning their fate of not being permitted to abort their children with the reassuring presence of someone dear to them.
Background: The current social conditions' emphasis on hygiene have led abortion facilities to limit access solely to those using their services.
“I have an appointment tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Going in alone and having to do the surgery alone is quite worrisome. I’m very anxious, I’m unable to sleep at night. It plays in my head, wondering how it will turn out,” said one woman.
Another woman, having experienced a previous abortion while being accompanied, immediately picked up on the different atmosphere in the waiting room. “There was some sadness. Having an abortion is an emotional experience, we experience trauma every time. It certainly helps having someone there with you.”
Finally, a third shared that “it’s not fun to go there alone. My partner, he has to wait in the car. He can’t go into the clinic. I don’t know what to expect. It’s the unknown. I have a lot of anxiety.”
Dissonance
These candid statements are quite disturbing. It shows a shunted sensitivity, excluding the tragic fate of their unborn child.
Why this dissonance in these women and in our society?
The story concludes in pretty much the way it began, misplacing the real tragedy of their experience. “We started talking among ourselves. There was a kind of solidarity that came out that, to be all women together. In the recovery room we also helped each other, we said to ourselves: “it’s normal for you to feel like that.” It’s reassuring to connect with each other.”
Two portraits of motherhood.
We have two portraits of motherhood: the blessed mother who with her fiat at the annunciation accompanies her son in His journey of redemption, embracing moments of joy and suffering and then these women whose superficial path and sense of malaise covers their sensitivity to the real tragedy and the real roots of their turmoil - the destruction of their unborn child.
May the culture of abundant life established by Our Lord find root in them.
Sincerely Yours,
Brian Jenkins
Outreach Coordinator
p.s.
Regular participant at the National March for Life in Ottawa, Montreal's Archbishop His Grace Christian Lépine is commemorating the National March for Life in two ways. In addition to celebrating a mass for the dignity of human life this Thursday morning on Salt & Light at 8 a.m., he has issued a three-minute bilingual video on the topic. For further information regarding the mass clic here or to view the video, clic here.
Vigil survives virus
Blessed Easter and Easter season greetings to one and all.
For good or ill, the COVID-19 pandemic is certainly shaping our lives.
First, it influenced our Lenten passage. It compelled all of us to deepen the appreciation of our faith – from the cessation of faith services and access to the sacraments, to the closing of churches entirely, and finally to the interruption of all public assemblies including faith-based gatherings.
Fortunately for the Quebec Life Coalition, our biannual 40 day prayer vigil for the end of abortion was in line with the government March 24, 2020, decree on restrictions as it reaches out to a vulnerable group - i.e., prenatal and postnatal women.
We at QLC believe that prayer outside an abortion facility is a vital service. We persevered in this observance, being present daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. We welcomed over a hundred different people over the span of the forty days, totaling over 450 separate visits of volunteers to pray and bring the pro-life message at the corner of St. Catherine and Berri Streets.
The pandemic will also shape our Easter passage.
In Quebec, our civic and religious authorities have imposed bans on public gatherings until the day after Easter, Sunday, April 12, 2020. And, earlier in the week, I learned that the ban has been extended for three additional weeks.
Faithful to these constraints, the faithful are persevering in their walk with Our Lord. For instance, I received three separate invitations to pray. First, a friend invited me to participate in a Jericho – a seven day prayer vigil wherein a certain prayer is recited daily, except the last day when it said seven times. Next, I was reminded of the Divine Mercy novena set to begin on Good Friday, April 10, 2020. Lastly, yet another a friend has asked me to recite the year-long Fifteen Prayers of Saint Bridget of Sweden.
Is the Isolation restriction necessary?
I raise the question for two reasons. First, a media news service, l’Agence Science-Presse (ASP), has ranked the severity of the coronavirus between that of the seasonal common cold and the Spanish flu of 1918.
Citing a South Korean study, the press release states that of the 140,000 Koreans tested for COVID-19, 6088 were confirmed carrying the virus and 6048 had recovered. Number crunching these figures shows a 99.4% recovery rate (or a 0.6 % morbidity rate).
The ASP then observes that the death rate from the common cold annually experienced by Americans is about 0.1%.
The same figures for the Spanish Flu (aka the 1918 flu pandemic) varied greatly from country to country with certain countries like Ireland experiencing a rate of 10%.
How severe the virus is in Quebec remains unknown for lack of figures. We do not know the number of people tested for the virus; the number infected; and the number who have died "from" the virus (versus having died "with" the virus).
Secondly, there is the advice of Dr. Dave Price, medical doctor at the Weill-Cornell Hospital in Manhattan. This 1400 bed hospital has turned its entire attention over these past weeks over to caring for people infected with COVID-19.
According to Dr. Price, respecting the following four rules will protect 99 % of the people from contracting the virus:
- Be aware of where you place your hands and use hand sanitizers liberally;
- Avoid hand to face contact;
- Medical masks are useful only if it helps in accomplishing the rule 3; and
- Distant yourselves from one another.
Interesting, Dr. Price does not advocate social isolation as our local leaders do.
Why is that? Should we not favour the experience of a doctor who works daily on the front lines or our leaders, the same leaders who have advocate a redefinition of marriage, who classify abortion as an essential service, who are increasing the criteria permitting our fellow citizens to end their lives through Medical Aid in Dying?
We pray that Our Lord, the chief advocates of a culture of life, awaken our leaders to a change of heart about the importance of life.
Sincerely Yours,
Brian Jenkins
Three Signs
Montreal’s 23rd prayer vigil for the end of abortion is underway.
At its outset, Our Lord has given three signs urging us onward.
First, at the opening mass, held at the cathedral, the Gospel reading from the evangelist Mark has Our Lord asking us to welcome his little ones.
They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ They said nothing because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ He then took a little child, set him in front of them, put his arms round him, and said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’ (Mark 9:32-36).
And who are these little ones? Children, yes, but not only. Rather all those whom society rejects - the unborn child, the elderly, the demented, the many marginalized.
Joining us at the corner of St. Catherine and Berri Streets to stand and pray in solidarity with Christ’s little ones, from Ash Wednesday, February 26, 2020 to Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020, (the the Berri-UQAM metro station), daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. is a visible sign of caring. For additional information, call either (514) 344-2686 or (438) 930-8643.
Public witness is important.
Yes, praying individually or among peers, in a church or in a private home, is a worthy discipline during Lent as well as at other periods of the year.
AND public witness, at a busy thoroughfare, is another worthy discipline affirming life to persons unaware or in denial about God and unborn life. Our presence, our being seen plants seeds in the minds of our fellow citizens about the importance of life.
We need you, the unborn need you to be at the vigil location!
There is another important reason to show up - we save more lives than we realize. Abortion industry figures reveal that 75% of abortion appointments are cancelled when persons are praying outside an abortion facility.
The prayer vigil runs daily through Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 505 Saint-Catherine Street East, metro Berri-UQAM.
The second of Our Lord’s three signs urging us onward came on the very first day of the vigil.
While awaiting the arrival of the metro, a young man angrily gestured towards me and the five-foot cross I was carrying and, further, as we exited the train at the same stop, he approached me and slapped the signs I was carrying out of my hand.
Doing Our Lord’s work, in this case defending the defenseless, entails engaging in the spiritual battle. We need to be prepared and armed as the apostle Paul emphasizes in his letter to Ephesians, chapter 6.
At times speaking gently to an angry person is our tool while at other times, responding with patience.
Again on the first day one of the prayer volunteers showed great patience. A young man either intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics or both, became belligerent when refused to be given an alms. His ire was provoked when he received the words that “Jesus loves him.” He became aggressive and remained so until police officers arrived to restore order.
The final of the three signs were the couples seen leaving the abortion facilities.
As we vigilate, I see the pedestrian traffic approaching the two abortion facilities located nearby. I notice couples and women entering and leaving the buildings several hours apart and wonder whether they have undergone abortions.
The Lenten season is upon us. Our faith tradition encourages us to pray, fast, and give alms.
Unborn life needs the support of your time.
Brian Jenkins
Outreach Coordinator
Quebec Life Coalition
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Four Days and Three Nights
Along with Quebec Life Coalition President Mr. Georges Buscemi, I attended this year’s National March for Life and related events January 23-26, 2020, in Washington, D.C., and am blessed by the experience.
The U.S. National March for Life began in 1974, the year after the American Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in the Roe vs. Wade decision.
The four days and three nights in the American capital permitted us to visit with many people working diligently in the American pro-life movement, learning from their efforts and catching their enthousiasm.
An example of the latter occurred at the National Pro-Life Summit.
The National Pro-Life Summit, which takes place the day after the National March for Life, exists to equip and mobilize pro-lifers of all ages to engage in their communities to make abortion unthinkable and illegal.
Attendees heard many active in the pro-life movement describe their work in presentations fifteen to twenty minutes in length. Presenters included David Daleiden, from the Centre for Medical Progress; former Planned Parenthood Director Abby Johnson; Charlotte Pence, daughter of U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence; and many more.
Two themes ran through these talks – the conviction that Roe v Wade will be overturned, and the importance of being compassionate when helping women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.
This optimism and enthusiasm were in part due to the presence of American President Donald Trump the day of the march, the first President to attend. He gave the inaugural speech to a larger than customary crowd of marchers.
Back to Reality - Despite the unbridled hope, the visit to D.C. also reminded Georges and me of the current reality that needs to be traversed.
Prior to attending the Pro-Life Summit, we accompanied our host to the local Planned Parenthood abortion facility where twice a week she volunteers as a sidewalk counsellor.
Sidewalk counseling refers to the practice of standing on the sidewalk outside an abortion facility in order to bring the message of life and hope and to speak of alternatives to abortion minded women and couples going inside. Some sidewalk counselors also do post-abortion counselling.
Unlike here in Quebec, where the law prevents us from getting within 50 meters of the abortion facility, in D.C. no such distance exists, pro-lifers can stand on the doorstep. Georges and I saw women and couples file in and out, a sign of the killing of the innocent that continues in our societies.
Lenten Observance
Our four days and three nights in the U.S. capitol were a tremendous blessing. We attended an exposition with upwards of seventy groups active in the pro-life ministry, stayed with a faith-based lay community, prayed with well over 5000 others at the Basilica National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception the morning of the march, marched with well over 300 000 people through the streets of D.C., heard testimonies of regret from women having had an abortion, prayed outside an abortion facility, and attended a Youth Conference.
As the start of Lent season is almost upon us (Ash Wednesday falls on February 26, 2020), why not add to your Lenten observance prayers of reparation for the crime of abortion.
Our prayer vigil for the end of abortion – 40 Days for Life, will begin on this same day.
With Our Lord at side and in union with the saints and angels, let us rout by the dark forces in this spiritual battle for life.
Brian Jenkins
Outreach Coordinator
p.s. Your prayerful and financial gifts are always a welcomed sign of your support and an encouraging gesture to us.
The Year Ahead
What are we going to do in 2020 to counter the ideologies that pervert our societies, making them hostile to our message of faith, family and life?
The Quebec Life Coalition pledges to undertake the new year in the way that Christ has asked us, by focusing on Him above all. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be given to you in addition.” To this end, in 2019 we have added two important objectives to our mission, not to dilute the latter but to conform our actions more to the will of God.
Our Mission: Building a Christian society that defends faith, family and the human person, from conception to natural death.
The defense of the family and human life, from conception to natural death, will always be at the heart of the mission of the Quebec Life Coalition. While continuing to offer help to pregnant women in difficulty through our “Pregnant? Worried?” service (1-855-871-4442), the Quebec Life Coalition is committed to organize events in favor of life and against abortion. Among these are: The 40 Days for Life prayer vigil for the end of abortion, Vigils for Life, the Life Chain, Pro-Life Pilgrimages, the National March for Life, and demonstrating against pornography.
Also as the unborn child grows in a mother's womb; as the mother is part of a family; as a family thrives in a nation; and as a nation is supported by the state, to defend the family and life, laws protecting families and children must be passed. To this end, in 2020 we pledge to work at the different political levels: the federal Conservative Party of Canada leadership race; in local politics – at the municipal and school board levels (if the latter still exist in Quebec in 2020); at the United Nations; in the judiciary by challenging the legislated 50-meter prohibition on pro-life work around abortion facilities.
Next, as networking with other pro-life and pro-family groups in order to share our experiences and strengths is important, in 2020 we plan to undertake:
Our annual meeting in Rome with members of "Voice of the Family", an association bringing together 25 pro-life and pro-family organizations for the defense of the Christian and Catholic teaching on life and the family; and our regular meetings with the other members of the pro-life movement in Canada and the United States.
Continuing, is Christ's command to "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" meant to be practiced individually or also collectively? Surely both. Yet as contemporary society permits 1) murder by abortion and euthanasia, 2) false marriage, and 3) female genital mutilation called "sex reassignment surgery", we see the sour fruit of having severed the Christian tradition from the state.
To address this mistake, we are adding a new objective to complement our mission statement:
To promote among representatives of social bodies and the state, the recognition of the need for Christianity as the only true religion permitting a full realization of the common good.
For our society to respect family and life, from conception to natural death, it must first respect the Creator of life and the family. Our society must then understand that the goal of life is eternal beatitude with God, not "freedom" or anything else, however important it may be. The Quebec Life Coalition will therefore promote a properly structured society which recognizes Jesus Christ as its guiding principle.
Finally, for our society to once again embrace the truth about God, that is to say, Christianity (“Seek first the Kingdom of God…”), and thus be able to reap its fruits (peace, justice for unborn children, etc.) we will do everything to defend historical, scientific, philosophical truths about God and his Church and so making this truth credible to the greatest number. To this end, we have adopted a second objective:
Promote recognition of the fact that the Christian faith is reasonable, and that reason supports Christian faith and morals.
Activities in 2020 we pledge to undertake to fulfill this latter objective include:
An apologetic course featuring the two books "If You Knew" and "The Last Superstition" as well as a lecture series on Family and School Action; a seminar series in the Ville-Marie Cultural Center; weekly YouTube broadcasts (“Culture of Life”); continued development of our internet and social media news sites; a redesigned QLC website; and an annual colloquium.
For these projects to be other than but "echoing bronze, or the clash of cymbals” (1 Cor 8:1), charity is necessary both on the part of those who undertake them and those who finance them. So, we are asking you, at the outset of this new year, for a very special gift, which will allow us to begin the new year on solid foundations!
Wishing you and your loved ones the best in 2020,
Brian Jenkins
Outreach Coordinator, the Quebec Life Coalition team
The Year in Review
I think you may find the following two web stories as interesting as I did.
Their headlines are:
- Atheists sound the alarm: Decline of Christianity is seriously hurting society; and
- Europe can only be saved by returning to Christianity.
As people of faith witnessing the diminishing importance accorded to Christianity by many individuals, families, governments and society at large - together with the growing influence of secular ways - we can take heart in both stories.
The New Atheists
In the first we read that atheists are back peddling. No, they have not become theists, but rather are in any case acknowledging the virtue of Christianity.
For one, atheist Richard Dawkins (pictured above) believes that secular society is void of a moral foundation for good and evil. Douglas Murray, another new atheist, states that without Christianity, it is up to individuals to determine what is right and wrong. And he argues that this has proven to have had strongly negative repercussions, particularly in the twentieth century. Other new atheists, such as Sam Harris, Bill Maher, and Avaan Hirsi Ali, begrudgingly admit that perhaps Christianity was more necessary that they had originally thought.
Dawkins comments in a Times of London story published October 5, 2019, that if religion were abolished it would “give people a licence to do really bad things.”
Further on we read that Dawkins pointed out that security camera surveillance of customers in shops did appear to deter shoplifting, while adding that people might feel free to do wrong without a "divine spy camera in the sky reading their every thought."
Hungarian PM
The other story, dated November 26, 2019, concerns remarks made by the Hungarian Prime Minister at a conference treating persecuted Christians.
PM Viktor Orban gave a talk in which he stated that Europe can only be saved if it “returns to the source of its real values: its Christian identity.”
He further added that “those we are helping now can give us the greatest help in saving Europe,” as well as that “we are giving persecuted Christians what they need: homes, hospitals, and schools, and we in return (receive) what Europe needs most: Christian faith, love, and perseverance.”
(The PM’s words recall the Christian precept that “it is in giving that we receive; ...”)
Both articles offer encouragement for different reasons. The first because it comes from an academic. Today, much of our intellectual elite housed in universities are hostile to Christian beliefs, indoctrinating the youth with these same beliefs. During our 40-day prayer vigils for the end of abortion held across the street from the Université de Québec à Montréal, it was not uncommon for me to exchange with students who set aside evidence-based reasoning in favour of an ideology founded on opinion or feeling.
The second story is significant because it concerns a politician. Much like the academics, many among the political class also promote anti-Christian principles. Gladly, the Hungarian Prime Minister differs.
At this time of year, both stories are faith-filled omens. Both augur well the arrival of the innocent and vulnerable newborn child that not only renews us spiritually but also fosters peace and goodwill among mankind.
Let us gather in prayer, calling on Our Lord that the leaders of our world humble themselves to the Prince of Peace, Our Lord Jesus Christ, rather than to idols of division and strife.
Wishing you and your loved ones a Blessed Christmas,
Brian Jenkins
Outreach Coordinator
Quebec Life Coalition
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