Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Friday, December 14, 2007

Road of Bittersweet

Amy Welborn posted this beautiful link today.

She writes:
The little boy featured in this video with his loving family died 11 minutes after he was born, last week. The parents had received a diagnosis of anencephaly earlier in the pregnancy, were advised to abort, but made the decision to accept the “counsel and wisdom of the Church and bring him to full term” (from a letter accompanying the video). This video was played at his funeral. Beautiful and profoundly life-affirming.

Be Not Afraid is a website dedicated to supporting, in life-affirming ways, parents and families who receive a poor or difficult prenatal diagnosis for their child. Take a look and keep it in mind - someone you know might need it someday.



Wednesday, December 5, 2007

A step in the wrong direction

On Tuesday, December 4, 2007, I picked up a copy of The Observer, ND's student newpaper, as I was walking out of Flanner Hall following my college seminar, "Perfect God, Imperfect World: The Problem of Evil," and I was stopped dead in my tracks by a head line that I never thought I would read: Contraceptives Available for Medical Needs. I was in utter and complete shock at reading this, mind-blown really, how did this happen?!
Yes, the article did say that Health Services will be only administering contraceptive prescriptions for patients with irregular or painful menstrual cycles, no menstrual cycle or abdominal pain. However, I do not think that even extreme situations such as these necessitate that Health Services have contraceptives readily available to the double-X student population. Why? Well, my reasons are multi-fold and i would be more than happy to tell you.
[1] Although contraception may offer the best or easiest treatment for these medical conditions, there are other, good quality treatments available that Health Services can offer to student-patients. These could be offered as a "first try," and if these don't work, well then Health Services can refer students off-campus.
[2] The medical resources in South Bend are of high quality and quanitity. If a young, ND female student is needing treatment, then she should have no problem in traveling a whole mile and a half off campus to a medical facility for consultation. And I would have no problem with Health Services having medical referrances available for these students.
[3] With contraception being so closely tied with the abortion industry, which is wrought with dishonesty and deceit, I do not find it much a stretch to believe that those doctors and patients respectively prescribing and being prescribed contraception will have no problem faining an excuse for "medically-necessary" contraception. I know that this sounds a little like conspiracy theory, but I find it hard to believe that doctors wouldn't have any qualms about prescribing contraception for contraceptive purposes, with the claim of it being for legitimate health needs.
[4] Notre Dame, as a prestigious institute in the world of academia, should stand as a beacon of Catholicism in a world where most prestigious universities have succumbed to most pressures and demands of secular society. We should not sacrifice or undermine our Catholic Identity and Character when society can only benefit from our remaining strong in the face of adversity.

Notre Dame has so much potential and its students have exponential potential as well, but we must make sure that we [Notre Dame] take every mean possible to make sure that this potential is realized only through means that benefit the student bodily, spiritually, intellectually, and ethically.

http://media.www.ndsmcobserver.com/media/storage/paper660/news/2007/12/04/News/Contraceptives.Available.For.Medical.Needs-3130689.shtml