Author Archives: rocklandrtl

Sept. 25 — The Manhattan Declaration Returns Home

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From Sister Lucy Marie, Sisters of Life:

Only two weeks remaining to register and space is limited! Wednesday, September 25, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Cowin Center of Columbia University (525 West 120th Street in Manhattan).

Admission is free, but registration is required. Please contact the Archdiocese Respect Life Office: 646-794-3192.

Please join us for a very significant event — a forum to discuss the Manhattan Declaration, the ecumenical statement dedicated to defending life, marriage, and religious liberty http://manhattandeclaration.org/#1.

Cardinal Dolan will lead a prayer service, and the forum features extraordinary speakers, The event is co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York, Alliance Defending Freedom, DeSales Media, and the New York State Council of the Knights of Columbus.

Manhattan Dec

Remembering the Victims of Abortion

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Sept. 14 — National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children

Three national prolife groups have announced the “National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children” to take place on Saturday, September 14. It is meant to honor the unborn at the grave sites where they are buried.

The Garden of Innocence at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Haverstraw

The Garden of Innocence at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Haverstraw

While there are no such grave sites in Rockland, there are several memorials to those who have been killed by abortion.

A service will be held at one of these sites — The Garden of Innocence — which is located on the south side of St. Mary of the Assumption Church, 46 Conklin Avenue in Haverstraw. It will begin at 5 p.m. (before the 5:30 pm Mass).

There are two other memorials in North Rockland:  at the Marian Shrine in Stony Point and at the Knights of Columbus Council 581 at 56 West Broad Street in Haverstraw.

Nationally, there are over 25 locations where babies have been buried after having been killed by abortion. Many were retrieved from trash dumpsters of abortion clinics or pathology labs where the bodies of the aborted unborn were shipped. Some graves contain hundreds of bodies.

Marian Mem2

Memorial to the Unborn at the Marian Shrine in Stony Point.

Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-life Action League, stated, “It’s sobering to realize that grave markers for the unborn victims of abortion list only a date of burial. They have no birthdays because they were never allowed to be born. We can list no date of death, because those who killed them discarded their bodies like garbage. But they are not garbage to us. They are our brothers and sisters. That’s why we buried them, and that’s why we visit their graves to mourn for them and testify to their humanity.”

If you know of other memorials to the unborn in Rockland County, please take a picture of the site and send it to phone number 201-739-4413 or email it to RocklandRTL@optonline.net.

We’d like to publish all photos of these memorials on this website during Respect Life Month.

Respect Life Month — Being Prolife

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imagesThere’s no one season for being prolife. No one thing we do.

Rather, it’s a daily commitment that rises from our belief in the sacredness of life, the dignity of every human being. It leads us along a path of service toward others, especially the most vulnerable and those most in need. It causes us to become involved, to share, to pray, and to stand up and speak out when necessary.

Yet the month of October — Respect Life Month — is a special time to deepen our insight of what being prolife is all about. It’s highlighted by liturgies in our churches and observances in the public square. We gather in prayer services and protests, we join in discussions and song.

We’re drawn to events that bring us together because it’s with others that we find our strength. By sharing the sorrows, the uncertainties, the joys, and the exhilaration of the prolife mission we find the place where the courage comes from, and the hope, and the inspiration to keep on going in the year to come.

Will you join us? Here is a short list of some of the events going on in and around Rockland during Respect Life Month 2013. Please select one (or several) that seem right for you — and come! You’ll be glad you did!

More information about each event will be appearing on this site as we get closer to the date. So please check back. If your group or church is doing anything for Respect Life month, please let us know so we can post it on this site and pass the word along. Email: RocklandRTL@optonline.net.

National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children
Sept. 14 at 5 pm (before the 5:30 pm. Mass)
Garden of Innocence
South side of St. Mary of the Assumption Church
46 Conklin Ave., Haverstraw

40 Days for Life — Opening Ceremony
Sept. 25 at 3 pm
Perelman Drive, Spring Valley (on public property, near the Planned Parenthood office)

40 Days for Life 
Sept. 25 and daily for the next six weeks
9 am to 5 pm (and overnight at the Adoration Chapel of St. Gregory Barbarigo in Garnerville)
Perelman Drive, Spring Valley (on public property, near the Planned Parenthood office)

The Manhattan Declaration Returns Home
Sept. 25, 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Columbia University
525 W. 120th St., NYC
Join Timothy Cardinal Dolan for an interfaith prayer service and religious liberty forum

21st Rockland County Life Chain
Oct. 6, 2:00 to 3:30 pm
Intersection of Route 59 and Middletown Road, Nanuet

Good Counsel Communion Breakfast
Oct. 12 at 9:15 am (Mass followed by breakfast)
Marian Shrine, 147 Filor’s Lane, Stony Point
to benefit the Spring Valley Good Counsel home

New York State Right to Life Convention
Oct. 19
Holiday Inn in Oneonta, NY

Concert for Life
Nov. 21 at 7 pm (free, donation requested)
Albertus Magnus High School  [CORRECTION — not the Marian Shrine this year]
to benefit the Spring Valley Good Counsel home

What Are You Talking About?

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Sean Miller 2What Are You Talking About?
By Guest Blogger Sean Miller

A few weeks ago, I heard a disturbing story on the news. Equally disturbing was the cavalier manner in which it was reported on the radio.

It was about a woman who went into labor at a nightclub. She gave birth in the bathroom and then suffocated the baby and hid the body in the toilet tank. Afterwards, she smoked a cigarette and then returned to the bar as if nothing happened. The next morning, the baby was found by a maintenance worker.

The indifference expressed by the reporter telling the story left an unsettled feeling in my stomach. There was a callousness to her voice, which was void of compassion – and even normal emotion.

Her tone seemed to imply that if a mother finds a baby to be an inconvenience, she can simply just get rid of him. It made me wonder if the reporter understood the gravity of the situation. Continue reading →

Building a Culture of Life: From Nyack to Ghana

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http://vimeo.com/69886228

Video courtesy of StudioElevenProductions
www.StudioElevenOnline.com

“When a pregnant woman needed help, she would often turn to the parish priest (who often was traveling during the month to visit outlying missions) for help to get to a doctor or midwife. An ambulance would be a necessary part of improving maternal care in the region.”
–- Fr. Rees Doughty, St. Ann’s Church, Nyack
“The Ambulance in the Parking Lot”

On Sunday, June 23, parishioners of St. Ann’s in Nyack gathered in the church parking lot after the 11:30 mass for the blessing of an ambulance that would soon be en route to West Africa, bound for the Catholic Diocese of Sunyani in Ghana.

Its final destination will be the St. Matthew’s Medical Clinic, a project of the Giving to Ghana Foundation.

Giving to Ghana is a nonprofit organization established to help Diocese of Sunyani serve the poor of rural Ghana. It was founded years ago at St. Ann’s by parishioners, Pastor Fr. Robert Henry, and his associate, Fr. Joseph Domfeh Boateng, who is from the Sunyani Diocese.  Continue reading →

Like a Baby (Mom’s Song)

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Great new music video by the band Seven Years.

According to manager Jeff Hicks, “each and every one of us associated with Seven Years believes in the sanctity of life and we have all worked hard using our talents to help save innocent lives.”

Please help these support these prolife artists who are working with us to spread encourage young women to make the choice for Life. Please share their video with your friends and especially young members of your family via email, Facebook or Twitter.

Here’s a link if you want to copy/paste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw_y_Y5NYA4

Rockland Stands with Texas Ban on Late-Term Abortions

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Prayer for Texas

July 11 — Seminarian David Rider led the Rosary as Rockland prolifers prayed for the protection of LIFE and for the state of Texas to lead other states in banning late term abortions, 20 weeks and older when the baby in the womb can feel pain and is capable of surviving outside the womb.
The rally took place outside the Planned Parenthood office on Perelman Road in Spring Valley.

Today members of the Texas state Senate approved a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks by a 19-11 vote. The House passed their version of the bill on Wednesday. Now the bill will go to prolife Gov. Rick Perry, who will sign it into law.

After a day filled with pro-abortion threats, pro-life people hiding in secure areas of the capitol fearing for their safety, jars of feces and urine and protestors disrupting the Senate proceedings, democracy finally prevailed.

A previous attempt to pass this bill in the Texas Senate was halted by a pro-abortion filibuster by state Sen. Wendy Davis. Davis said she would not filibuster the bill a second time.

This debate had been marked by angry protests from pro-abortion demonstrators and even a death threat to prolife Gov. Rick Perry.

The bill relies on the science of fetal pain to establish a constitutional reason to ban abortions late in pregnancy.

On June 18, by  a 228-196 vote, the  U.S. House of Representatives also passed a bill that would ban all abortions starting at 20 weeks’ gestation.

Rockland’s representative in the House, Nita Lowey, voted against this bill.

Rep. Chris Smith, the head of the pro-life caucus in the House called “The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act”  a modest but necessary attempt to at least protect babies who are 20 weeks old—and pain-capable—from having to suffer and die from abortion.”

At the time, the Obama administration issued a statement indicating that President Obama would veto the bill if ever passes in the the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is unlikely.

 Screen shot 2013-07-11 at 11.58.37 PM

 

Praying for America — July 4

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1 2 3 4 5 Bruno6 7By Eileen Peterson

The 237th  birthday of America began with exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament by newly ordained hometown friend, Father Kenny Riello.

Father Kenny is such a blessing to the pro-life community and we are so grateful for his presence, especially in the sacrament of Confession.

Fifty plus people from all ethnic backgrounds and ages came to pray directly to Jesus for an America that is placed under God’s protection by obeying God’s Laws.

At 11:15 AM we began the Most Holy Rosary and there were about 100 people praying the Luminous Mysteries, the decades given by Blessed John Paul II to the Roman Catholic Church.

At 12 Noon, there were hundreds of people participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Our celebrants were Father Brendan Gormley and Father Kenny Riello (Father Nicholas Callahan was stuck in horrendous traffic but with us in prayer)

Father Brendan spoke of an America that is free and that freedom comes with choices and it is our Godly choices that truly set us free.

God is a loving and merciful God who can heal our America just as he healed the paralytic man in today’s Gospel:  Matthew 9:1-8

“When Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”

Special thanks to our lector:  Richard Bruno, founder of Our Lady of Guadalupe Rosarians.

Just before the final blessing, Father Brendan went before the statue of Mary Help of Christians and prayed the 5th Decade of the Glorious Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary- Mary is Crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth!

To Jesus through Mary we beg our America to be a country that respects and obeys the Laws of God.

Special thanks to Peggy Beirne , Monica Peterson-St. John, and Maryann and Peter Partridge.

We in PRO-LIFE Rockland County are filled with thankful hearts.

Prayer for America on Independence Day

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Adoration

People gather for Mass at the Salesian National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Stony Point.

“A Morning of Prayer for America,” organized by the Rockland County Catholic Coalition, was held today at the Marian Shrine in Stony Point.

The services began with the Exposition of Blessed Sacrament and concluded with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated by Fr. Brendan Gormley, of St. Barnabas in the Bronx.

Fr. Brendan Gormley, celebrant and homilist

Fr. Brendan Gormley, celebrant and homilist

Fr. Brendan formerly served in St. Paul’s in Congers and was very active in the prolife movement in Rockland County.

In his Independence Day homily, Fr. Brendan spoke of the two gifts of God that are also cherished American values — the right to life and the right to be free. He said that the freedom to choose and decide is truly a gift that makes us human, but that real freedom lies in choosing what we ought to do and not merely what we want to do.  Continue reading →

Is America Pro-Life?

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Sean Miller 2Is America Pro-Life?
By Guest Blogger Sean Patrick Miller

Is America Pro-Life? If you want to find out, go out into the streets and the people will tell you.

A group of dedicated pro-life pray-ers (Our Lady of Guadalupe Rosarians) faithfully get together every Saturday from 11am to 12pm to pray the rosary imploring Our Lady for her help to end the abomination of abortion.

As they do this, they display pro-life signs to remind people of the injustice that is committed daily in this country.

When I have been praying with my fellow pro-life friends, I’ve noticed that the majority of the feedback we receive from the public is overwhelmingly positive. Only rarely will somebody feel the need to be rude with a vulgar comment. When movements are grown from the “grassroots,” you really get a good sense of how the people in the nation really feel.

I believe most Americans believe in the rights of the unborn. Approximately, 4,000 babies are aborted every day as the rest of us enjoy our days in peace and freedom. If America is the land of the free, why are the unborn denied this privilege?

Deep down Americans know that abortion is wrong.  Continue reading →