St. Joseph's Catholic Church
11730 Old Saint Augustine Road Jacksonville, Florida 32258 (904) 268-5422
Respect-Life Update
October 2008
St. Joseph's is an amazing parish. You people continue to show up to picket on the first and second Saturday of each month, you are turning out twenty-four hours a day each of the five Mondays during the 40 Days, and almost a hundred of you showed up for the Life Chain on Sunday afternoon. Thank you for your support. I don't think I could have kept doing this for so long if it wasn't for the encouragement, dedication, and love each of you have shown. Thank you.
We are almost done with the 40 Days and we must have been doing something right - The abortionists are fighting back. They have called the police on us for parking in the shopping center's parking lot and have forced us to remove the signs along the sidewalk. The management of the shopping center has even tried to force us off of "their" sidewalk. I don't think she understood the concept of public property.
The police that we have come in contact with have
been very supportive. The officer that informed us that we had to move
our cars from the shopping center's parking lot or risk
having
them towed away was very polite and apologetic. One officer has stopped
by and prayed with us a couple of nights when his late shift ends. This
is far different than what pro-life picketers experience in some of the
cities up north where law enforcement agencies are often openly hostile
to them. We are extremely fortunate.
And this is making a difference. There have been
several stories during this event of young women
turning away from the site and going to the Women's Help Center down the
street and choosing life for their babies. Some have come up to the
picketers looking for information and wanting to know where to go for
help. The WHC is just a short walk down the street.
We will continue to have the signup sheets for the remaining Monday in the vestibule of the church. If you haven't yet been a part of this effort please stop by and sign up for just one hour. Bring some friends and make a stand for Life.
First Saturday will be November 1st; which is, appropriately enough, All Saints day. Let us keep the pressure on those who are killing God's children.
Annual Baby Shower - Every October, in an effort to help young mothers who have chosen life for their babies, we collect maternity and baby items to donate to the Women's Help Center. Tanya and Steve Wood organize this event for us and have set up a crib in the vestibule of the church for you to put your donations in. Please be generous. These mothers have taken a leap of faith in choosing life, let us all pitch in to help them succeed in providing for their families.
Fashion Show - St Gerard House is hosting the 25th Annual Fashion Show and Luncheon at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine on Saturday, December 13th at 12 noon at The World Golf Village. There will be raffle prizes, door prizes, silent auction, and a $5,000 drawing. Models will display fashions by Jones New York, Hartstrings, Michael's Formal & Bridal Wear. For ticket information please call 904-829-5516 / 904-797-9435.
St. Gerard Campus is a pregnancy crisis center and a home for teenage mothers. They provide pregnancy tests, sonograms, and counseling. The campus is an accredited high school that provides daycare for these mothers. Since 1981 St. Gerard Campus has served over 45, 000 mothers in crisis. For more information visit their website at www.stgerardcampus.org.
Life Chain - We have never been able to
fully participate in the annual Life Chain because it always fell on the
same day as our parish bazaar. With our bazaar now being held later in
the month things have changed. Over a hundred parishioners including
Father Dan Cody and Father Anthony Bonela lined the sidewalk along St.
Augustine and Loretto road waving signs and praying the Rosary. Many of
our youth showed up and with handmade signs enthusiastically expressed
their opposition to abortion.
From the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute -
"This December 10th is the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This will be a very big deal at UN headquarters in New York. The opponents of the unborn child will be out in force. We expect they will present petitions to the General Assembly asking for an EXPLICIT RIGHT TO ABORTION. Those agitating for this are the largest, richest and deadliest abortion groups in the world: International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International."
C-FAM is collecting signatures to send to the UN to oppose this pro-abortion proclamation. You can sign the petition by clicking HERE. So far in just one week they have collected over 15,000 signatures.
Florida Supreme Court - Governor Charlie Crist recently appointed two new justices to the Florida Supreme Court - Judge Rick Polston and former Rep. Charles Canady. Both picks have upset abortion advocates.
Planned Parenthood particularly dislikes Judge Polston because of his successful defense of the "Choose-Life" license plate which launched a movement across the country and has raised millions for pregnancy crisis centers. Judge Polston and his wife have been married 31 years and have four biological daughters and six adopted sons.
Judge Canady has been both a state and a U.S. Congressman. He has been a pro-life champion for his entire political career and was even the lead sponsor for the Partial-birth Abortion Ban.
These are two good picks. Below is Governor Crist's email address if you would like to thank him for his continuing support on pro-life issues and on his pick of these two judges.
mailto:Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
We should probably also thank U.S. Congressman Ander Crenshaw and State Senator Stephen Wise who have both done so much for the pro-life cause. You can contact Rep. Crenshaw from his website and Senator Wise with his address listed below.
mailto:wise.stephen.web@flsenate.gov
ELECTION 2008
I am always surprised when I find out that a practicing Catholic is supporting a pro-choice candidate. I am convinced that such a person doesn't really understand the horrible enormity of abortion. Did the economy and cheap production of cotton in the ante-bellum south offset the injustice of slavery? Putting an end to legal slavery almost destroyed our nation and cost us almost as many American lives as all other U.S. wars and police actions combined. Was it worth it? Of course it was.
Then - There was no other issue more important than ending slavery- no matter what the cost. Without doing so we could never have been "One Nation Under God"
Now - There is no issue or combination of issues more important than ending abortion. This killing of innocent life makes us a despicable and unholy people.
**** WARNING ****
The link below connects to a video that shows abortion and aborted babies. It shows life and it shows death and it is disturbing. If you do not understand what abortion is then watch this video. If you are pro-choice and you choose to not watch the video then you had better be asking yourself just what are you scared you are going to see.
VOTE FOR CANDIDATES WHO ARE PRO-LIFE.
Respect-Life Committee
St. Joseph’s Catholic
Church
Jacksonville, Florida
The Respect-Life Update is a free monthly newsletter. If you would like to subscribe contact the committee at committee@sjrl.com or call Russ and Carron Tooke at 268-3349