Love Alive

Ultrasounds save lives

Written on July 3, 2008 – 7:54 pm | by sisterpilar

  Anna attempted abortion two times on her baby.  The first time, she took abortifacient pills.  When her tummy continued to grow, she went to an abortion clinic for a D and C.  Still the baby in her womb developed so she decided to go on with the pregnancy. One of her turning points in her decision to go on with her pregnancy was when she went for check-up after the D and C in order to see if the baby was still there. Lo and behold, the technician had her look into the monitor to take a peek at her three month old baby tumbling and moving around!

 

            A couple of weeks ago, Anna was admitted to the Mother and Baby Unit in a hospital that Filipino nurse Fanny Forteza was assigned to.  Anna humbly admitted her abortion attempts and awe that the pregnancy reached full term until birth. But with deep regret and joyful gratitude, she praised God that her attempts to abort did not succeed. She proudly embraced and breastfed her baby.

 

            Fanny, who is director of the Pro-life Counseling Center in Capiz, is in the USA (she has a US Citizen visa), working as a nurse  in order to raise funds to continue the counseling center she began in Capiz.  She says that she has encountered a lot of women who have changed their mind regarding abortion once they saw their unborn baby kicking around in the womb.

 

Ultrasounds save life!  The youth should be shown the films on the development of the baby to educate them on the miracle of life.  AND every pregnant woman deserves to see the first pictures of her baby, even before he/she is born!

 

Pro-life Philippines Crisis Counseling Centers report around 150 calls from pregnant girls and women every month.  Some get to know of our hotline telephone numbers through the PLDT Directory, where we have been given a full page in the white pages year after year for the past 15 years by DPC, the publishers of the phone book.  Others get to know of our services through our TV or radio interviews, and many become aware of help available through friends who have attended our pro-life seminars

 

Many of the women just need someone to talk to and to encourage them to go on with their pregnancy, after exploring with them their own resources.  Others need to be referred to Maternity Homes, while a few need to be invited to come for face to face counseling since the situation they are in are quite complicated – rape, incest, involved with a married man, or totally rejected by her family.  

 

When a woman seems to insist on abortion even after intensive counseling, we surrender her to the Lord as she walks out of our center and start the Prayer Brigade.  Very often, she calls up a few days after, informing us that she has decided to go on with her pregnancy!  That usually calls for a celebration as we relate the good news to our other counselors.

 

For those who want to volunteer to be pregnancy crisis counselors or who want to set up their own women’s desks, call our Pro-life office at 911-2911 or Sr. Pilar at 0920-945-5494.

 

                                                           

 

 

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Sexuality for teens

Written on June 24, 2008 – 7:44 pm | by sisterpilar

Learning to Live and Love Begins  Home

 

            What is one of the worst nightmares that parents entertain when their children reach teen years? Arriving home one day and the daughter reveals she is pregnant or the son admits he has gotten his girl pregnant. Parents then turn to blaming themselves, blaming the school environment, society and media, or even God for the difficulty they are in.

            While more and more families today are open and supportive of their children by seeking the help of pro-life groups or the Church so that the girl can go through the remaining months of her pregnancy with the necessary medical, financial, emotional and spiritual support she needs, the shock and anger are inevitable.

            Many parents, having grown up in a different decade from this generation, find it hard to accept that their very own children are into premarital sex, their children do not need any talking to either.

            The problem is, there was no TV (or shall we say MTV, internet, cell phones and noontime TV programs with bikini clad girls) during the 50’s or 60’s. If parents do not talk to their children about decency, self control, chastity, virtues and morality, the kids think the other values are valid. Worse, if parents themselves do not live by good example or are absent most of the hours that the kids are at home.

            Kids don’t learn moral behavior just form their parents’ words – they “catch it” by watching their parent’s actions. And for the children to really “get” the sexual purity message they need to hear it and see it form several sources – from parents first and foremost, but also from the church, friends and their immediate cultural influences.

            Families should be challenged to make their homes places where purity is the standard.

            While it is true that there are more and more students who do not have parents that are involved in their spiritual lives, an adult mentor (school teacher or relative) can step into provide that influence on them. Churches or parish youth organizations could be the bridge to “lost parents”.

            That cooperative model, grounded in the home, is what Pro-life Philippines wants to emphasize in its Teen Sexuality Programs. Training workshop-seminars are conducted for parents; teachers and guidance counselors to assist them use the appropriate language and age-specific concepts to those in their care.

            The Christian abstinence-based teen sexuality programs is a very different from the contraception “safe sex” oriented sex education programs being promoted by the government and population control groups. Their message – “Kids, sex is OK; just make sure you do not get pregnant or get AIDS”.

            “Learning to Live and Love”, a manual on Teaching the Meaning of Christian Sexuality is available at the Pro-life office. It contains lesson plans, teachers and students reading materials, and is a good guide for parents, teachers and parish workers.

(source: Abstinence Update, Feb.2003 Issue)

 

 

 

Pro-Life Magazine

Life is For Everyone

From the National Coordinator

July-August, 2003

p.3

Learning to Live and Love Begins at Home

Sr. Mary Pilar Verzosa, RGS

 

            What is one of the worst nightmares that parents entertain when their children reach teen years? Arriving home one day and the daughter reveals she is pregnant or the son admits he has gotten his girl pregnant. Parents then turn to blaming themselves, blaming the school environment, society and media, or even God for the difficulty they are in.

            While more and more families today are open and supportive of their children by seeking the help of pro-life groups or the Church so that the girl can go through the remaining months of her pregnancy with the necessary medical, financial, emotional and spiritual support she needs, the shock and anger are inevitable.

            Many parents, having grown up in a different decade from this generation, find it hard to accept that their very own children are into premarital sex, their children do not need any talking to either.

            The problem is, there was no TV (or shall we say MTV, internet, cell phones and noontime TV programs with bikini clad girls) during the 50’s or 60’s. If parents do not talk to their children about decency, self control, chastity, virtues and morality, the kids think the other values are valid. Worse, if parents themselves do not live by good example or are absent most of the hours that the kids are at home.

            Kids don’t learn moral behavior just form their parents’ words – they “catch it” by watching their parent’s actions. And for the children to really “get” the sexual purity message they need to hear it and see it form several sources – from parents first and foremost, but also from the church, friends and their immediate cultural influences.

            Families should be challenged to make their homes places where purity is the standard.

            While it is true that there are more and more students who do not have parents that are involved in their spiritual lives, an adult mentor (school teacher or relative) can step into provide that influence on them. Churches or parish youth organizations could be the bridge to “lost parents”.

            That cooperative model, grounded in the home, is what Pro-life Philippines wants to emphasize in its Teen Sexuality Programs. Training workshop-seminars are conducted for parents; teachers and guidance counselors to assist them use the appropriate language and age-specific concepts to those in their care.

            The Christian abstinence-based teen sexuality programs is a very different from the contraception “safe sex” oriented sex education programs being promoted by the government and population control groups. Their message – “Kids, sex is OK; just make sure you do not get pregnant or get AIDS”.

            “Learning to Live and Love”, a manual on Teaching the Meaning of Christian Sexuality is available at the Pro-life office. It contains lesson plans, teachers and students reading materials, and is a good guide for parents, teachers and parish workers..

Call Pro-life office at 911-2911

 

 

 

Pro-Life Magazine

Life is For Everyone

From the National Coordinator

July-August, 2003

p.3

 

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Forum on Homosexuality

Written on June 14, 2008 – 3:26 pm | by sisterpilar

Pro-Life Philippines to Conduct Forum on Same-Sex Attraction

 

 

            Pro-Life Philippines Foundation, Inc. is happy to announce that its Pro-Life Saturday Forum for the month of June will tackle the issue on Homosexuality. Anchored on the theme “Journey Towards Holiness,” it seeks to respond to the question of how it is possible for a person with same-sex attraction to live a chaste and holy life in accordance to the teachings of the Catholic Church. It will also give participants practical tips on how to create and support an environment of change for persons with same-sex attraction.

 

            Designed for teachers, counselors/life coaches, catechists, lay leaders, parents and others who are concerned with the issue on homosexuality, the Forum will be held on June 21, 2008 from 8am to 12nn (Registration starts at 7am), at the Bahay Ugnayan, Good Shepherd Convent Compound, 1043 Aurora Blvd., Quezon City.

 

            Our Guest Speaker/Resource Person will be Mr Rolando de los Reyes II, who is an officer and a counselor of Courage Philippines, an organization that offers a spiritual support system designed to assist men and women struggling with same-sex attraction live chaste lives in prayer, fellowship, truth, and love in obedience to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

 

            The seminar is open to the public for a seminar fee of P150.00 only. Those interested may contact Pro-Life at telephone numbers 911-2911/ 422-8877/4336368; or fax number 421-7147; or email at life@prolife.org.ph.

 

            Pro-Life Philippines Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit, non-stock non-government organization dedicated to promoting respect and care for human life from conception to natural death. Aside from Education and Training, its programs and services include Counseling, Advocacy, and Public Awareness. It also maintains a Library and Resource Center at their office located inside the Good Shepherd Convent Compound, 1043 Aurora Blvd, Quezon City. It is open to the public during office hours. 

 

 

 

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Try these!

Written on June 4, 2008 – 1:24 pm | by sisterpilar

Tongue twisters

 

 

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.

 

 

A tutor who tooted a toot

Tried to teach two young tooters to toot

Said the two to the tutor

Is it harder to toot

Or to teach two young tooters to toot?

 

 

A flea and a fly in a flue

Were imprisoned so what could they do

Said the flea let us fly

Said the fly let us flee

So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

 

 

A canner exceedingly canny

One morning replied to his granny

A canner can can

Anything that he can

But a canner can’t can a can, can he?

 

 

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.

A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,

Where’s the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper Picked?

 

 

 

 

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True Love Waits

Written on May 29, 2008 – 7:55 pm | by sisterpilar

     

 

“Girl, I can’t stand it any longer! Ten minutes na and he has not texted back! Ano ba

 yan?…luv pa ba nya me?”…Daniel is the second bf of Abbie this year. She is 15 years old. He is 16, really good looking, a basketball player and malambing. Abbie is hoping that her relationship with Daniel will stay longer than her three months with Joshua. She does not even know now why she even agreed to be on with Joshua!

 

Abbie is just one among the many teens who easily get in and out of romantic relationships with the opposite sex. The cell phone makes it so quick for relationships to deepen and even become intimately physical – ending in love-making, pregnancy, abortion or sexually transmitted diseases. They are thrown into roller coaster emotions of passion, jealousy, anger and impatience, day dreaming and illusions, inspiration or frustration. One minute he or she is the one and only. The next minute, they cannot stand each others’ demanding attention and time. “Nasasakal na yata ako…”

 

Very often I get invited to high schools tospeak on Love, Sex and teenagers. Open Forum questions reveal how much the youth want to speak with someone who will understand their needs, feelings, dreams, and problems. They admit they are sometimes confused if it is now love and will sex make them closer because of conflicting messages they get from their parents , media, school and friends. They want answers and guidelines in order to avoid the horrible stories they hear about people committing suicide, getting abused and molested, fooled into relationships and getting date raped, getting pregnant or some disease.

 

            We have lots of laughter and serious moments when they, both boys and girls, ask me how they can help their friends in complicated situations. I really feel their love and caring for one another. This is when I distribute the “I am a Responsible Boy” and the “I am a Responsible Girl” bookmarks. Before I end of the presentation, I challenge them to join the “True love Waits” Campaign. Millions of teens have already signed the cards. This is a serious commitment not to engage in premarital sex and a prayer to God to strengthen them to avoid temptations during courtship.

 

            Be a pro-life advocate. Who knows how many souls you will be able to save!

 

If you are interested to join us, contact our Pro-life office at 911-2911. We can go to your school to promote this campaign. For questions and advices, text me at 0919-2030-637.

 

 

 

 

For crossroads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Stepping out of Homosexuality

Written on May 20, 2008 – 10:44 am | by sisterpilar

      “Are you ready for a changed life?”  These are the words of John Zulueta addressed to those who want to get out of the homosexual lifestyle.  John, Director of Bagong Pag-asa, a support group for men and women who want to step out of homosexuality and who is himself an ex-gay, knows the difficult transition that they have to undergo. It is important that we who work in the Family and Life Ministry strive to truly understand what homosexuality is all about and the struggles the homosexual people go through. Allow me to quote lengthily from his article published in their newsletter because it is only when we hear them speak of their own experience that we can rejoice with them.  

            “We often ask God to change us.  But when change seems remote, we either grumble or build a case against Him, particularly when we experience the same temptations again and again.  I remember Jesus asking the invalid at the pool in Bethesda: ‘Do you want to get well?’ Seemingly, Christ asked a silly question since the man has been there for 38 years hoping that one day he’ll get the change to get into the pool first when it gets stirred for healing.  Why then would Christ ask such a question?  Could it be that the man has been used to lying down on the pool side having his food served to him and living the life of a crippled man?  Could Christ be asking: ‘Are you ready for a changed life?  If I heal you, your life will never be the same again.  You will have to work for your food; it will not be served to you anymore.  You will have to move away from the pool side where you have comfortably lived the past 38 years of your life.’

            The following message is not only applicable to those in the homosexual life but to many of us involved in some form of addiction. John writes:

“Have we asked ourselves what is involved in being healed/changed? It means life will not be the same.  You can’t be doing the things you used to do.  You can’t be going where you used to go. You need to live life differently. Are you changing patterns and habits – sleeping, fun and recreation habits, texting habits like texting “sweet nothings” which can actually be seductive scheming in disguise? Are you willing to change your choice of clothes, fashion style, relational patterns and whatever you have been comfortable with yet you know is identified with the homosexual lifestyle?

Are you willing to embrace your cross?  Embracing something requires you to bring it close to your body.  Imagine carrying a load of books with outstretched arms.  How would that feel compared to carrying the same load by embracing it?  Truth is, when we embrace our burdens they become lighter and more bearable than when we try to do away with it.  In the same manner, identify your cross and embrace it.  Could it be loneliness? Sexual torment? Neediness? Do not deny  your cross.  To follow Christ is to suffer and be like Him. Only when we die to ourselves will we experience resurrection – a new life.

Lastly, a changed life involves giving.  Healing and change usually happens in the context of community.  God changes us not just for ourselves but to impact our community, our society, our nation and the world.  The sooner you give of yourself in order to change your community, the easier it will be for you to maintain that change.

Remember, you do not manufacture time.  You spend it.  You do not create a blessing, you receive it.  You were not endowed with talents so you will be above the rest; they are meant to serve others.  One’s healing should reflect the character of Christ, the Healer, to the world at large.” 

           

            The members of Bagong Pag-asa, a Christian Charitable Foundation,  and Courage, a Catholic support group for ex-gays, can be contacted through Pro-life office – 911-2911.  www.prolife.org.ph. They are available to give talks, seminars, and counseling.

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Questioning the HPV vaccine

Written on May 13, 2008 – 3:51 pm | by sisterpilar

Questioning the aggressive promotion of

HPV vaccine

FOREIGN-OWNED pharmaceuticals are once again promoting aggressively their products. Cervarix, a vaccine against the sexually-transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) developed by GlaxoSmithkline, was recently launched in Manila following the launch last year of Gardasil, another HPV vaccine developed and marketed by Merck. Cervarix and Gardasil, which are being marketed with a lot of media hype, are touted to be 100% effective against certain strains of HPV, believed to be responsible for some 70% of cervical cancers.

In the United States, Merck is pushing to have the FDA-approved Gardasil mandatory for all children as young as nine who attend public schools. “Pre-teens have very robust immune responses to vaccines,” argues a Merck’s spokesperson. So far, Virginia and Texas have signed bills making Gardasil mandatory. Cervarix, on the other hand, has still to be approved in the U.S and EU.

Merks’s PR blitz comes as no surprise considering that Gardasil has a peak revenue potential of $2b to $4B, assuming that the States will make it mandatory.

But inoculating pre-adolescent girls for a sexually-transmitted virus has raised many concerns for parents, patient advocates, and Christian groups. For example, a survey of 1,600 mothers and fathers published in the journal Pediatrics found that 35 percent are against having their child inoculated. Rightly so, their protests rest on fundamental issues of necessity, safety, ethics and morality.

For one thing, these drugs work against 4 out of 100 HPV strains, and only 2 out of these 4 strains affected by this drug have been related to cervical cancer. These are drugs that affect a small subset of viruses that are transmitted through sexual contact. Thus if a young girl is not going to have sex, there is no reason for her to be given the drug. In addition, Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center questions the need for a mandatory HPV vaccine when a regular pap smears on women could catch the HPV early before it develops into cancer.

In the last six months of 2006, Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS) received 385 cases on adverse effects of Gardasil requiring additional medical attention, a third of which were children 16 years and younger. VAERS is a programme co-sponsored by the FDA and the Center for Disease Control. In a worst case scenario, the Washington-based Judicial Watch reported the deaths of three young women, the youngest only 12 years old, tied up to the use of the vaccine.

Ms. Fisher’s further statement on the safety of vaccines is likewise disturbing. She observes that American kids’ vaccine doses against various diseases have doubled since the 1980’s, and during that time, there has been an increase in the number of autism, attention deficit and hyperactive disorder, learning disabilities, asthma, and diabetes in which vaccines could be a contributing factor.

In the meantime, the Texas Catholic Bishops has asked the Texan governor to rescind his executive order making the Gardasil mandatory. Their statement cites parental concern about their daughters’ innocence, the possibility of encouraging promiscuity, and giving young girls of a false sense of security regarding sexually transmitted disease prevention. Echoing Ms. Fisher, they suggest that it is not the only avenue for disease prevention. Indeed, as the bishops contracting the virus is to abstain from sexual relations before marriage and to remain faithful with the marriage. And together with the Concerned Women of America, they maintain that the choice to have a child immunized against HPV must ultimately rest with the parent.

And yet, through all the public debate on this very important issue, the Philippine Bureau of Food and Drug, having approved, post-haste, the marketing of Cervarix, making the Philippines the only one so far among the Asian countries to do so.

Before we allow these big pharmaceuticals to foist these drugs upon us, it is perhaps wise and prudent for us to first look into the hidden truth behind the media hype so we can address the issues raised by those who, like the United States, have learned some lessons from past experience.

For truly, is HPV vaccine good for our children? Or, as Ms. Fisher so aptly puts it, is it this just “profit-making on the backs of nine-year-old girls?”

CBCP Monitor

Love Life

September, 2007

Posted in Health | 1 Comment »

Just laugh

Written on May 13, 2008 – 3:51 pm | by sisterpilar

Just laugh

 

         FEMALE EQUALITY

 

      Barbara Walters of 20/20 (USA) did a story on gender roles in Kabul several years before the Afghan conflict.  She noted that women customarily walked about five paces behind their husbands.

      She returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands, but now seem to walk even further back and are happy with the old custom.

Ms Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked, “Why do you now seem happy with the old custom that you used to try and change?”

  “Land mines,” said the woman

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Just asking

Written on May 13, 2008 – 3:50 pm | by sisterpilar

Just Asking

 

-         why is it that doctors call what they do “practice”?

-         why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called “rush hour”?

-         why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injection?”

-         if flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?”

-         why is ‘abbreviated such a long word?”

-         if “con” is the opposite of “pro” is congress the opposite of progress?”

 

source: COSE newsletter

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Healing of Life and Family

Written on May 6, 2008 – 8:06 am | by sisterpilar

HEALING OF LIFE AND FAMILY

The family is the cradle of life. But a culture of death is fast sweeping into our country that many families are unable to give and sustain life. New philosophies and lifestyles have changed the way parents see the child as a gift of God, not only to themselves but to humankind. The propaganda that a small family is better than a large family instills a contraceptive mentality that allows sex whenever one wants it, but not the baby –a responsibility. The overpopulation scare has identified the baby as a burden, another mouth to feed, and the cause of poverty, environmental destruction, and a host of other social problems.

The truth is not explained enough – that poverty is caused by unequal distribution, graft and corruption, and foreign debt. According to Mahatma Gandhi, “There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but there will never be enough for one person’s greed.”

This anti-baby mentality has brought in many new problems. The easy availability of contraceptives has ushered in sexual irresponsibility, even among the unmarried.

Contraceptives are not 100% successful so unwanted pregnancies end in abortion. If the child survives, he has a gut feeling that he is unwanted, a reject for life. Scientific researches reveal that the fetus has strong feelings even in the womb.

Abortion-survivors refer not only to those who did not die in an attempted abortion. These include those who survived the pills and injectables and IUDs that their moms were using since these so-called contraceptives in fact have abortifacient effects.

Abortion-survivors are also the bothers and sisters of the aborted. Many of them have an anxiety about life – why was I born and not my brother or sister? What does the world expect of me? Will I be able to measure up? A child should not be bothered with these questions. He should enjoy his childhood because he knows he has a right to this life and his needs attended to. But our schools are overrun with children who carry this burden in their hearts and therefore go into the extremes of rebelling or isolating themselves, instead of participating normally in the activities.

Contraception has also destroyed the real meaning of the sexual or marital act. Men look at women as objects of pleasure. When he cannot get what he wants, he batters her. Feminists have joined those clamoring for the legalization of absolute divorce. But is this the answer? Will allowing them another marriage automatically make them more mature and successful the second time, or the third time? (The Bill on Divorce does not say a limit for the number of remarriages allowed!)

Since the sexual revolution that started in the 60s, pornography has escalated, as well as prostitution, premarital sex, adultery, and homosexuality. Contraception is proposed as the solution to avoiding the side-effects of these sexual immoralities. Contraception, according to the promoters, promises no pregnancy, no AIDS, and a blissful time together. A frog that is dropped into boiling water will struggle and jump put. But if the frog is placed in a pot of cold water first and the heat turned on, the frog will not even know that it is already boiling. Just like frogs, many of us did not even know that the family was already being threatened from all sides.

As children grow up knowing that their parents have decided who should be born and born, euthanasia is just around the corner. The children now decide when and how their parents should die as they are now the burden. Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “Abortion is the greatest destroyer of peace in the world today. If a mother is allowed to kill her child, what will stop us from killing one another?”

This culture of death has seeped into our society that there are now bills in congress precisely to legalize DEATH: Divorce, Euthanasia, Abortion, Total fertility control, and Homosexual unions or marriages.

The challenge to each one of us is LIFE: Learning to love and live a life of dignity and respect for all person, no matter what age, color, sex, social status, or religion. Information dissemination, using all means to promote a culture of life wherever we are – in the schoolroom, in your home, in your Church, or in the street. Be critical of media and use it to promote our God-given beliefs in preserving the family. Fidelity to your Church Teachings, to thruth, honesty and generosity and courage. Extend help to those in need – the woman in pregnancy crisis, the couples needing our timely advice or referral to marriage counselors, to each and every child that God sends to us. Let us continue to emphasize Natural Family Planning in our programs as the answer to our couples’ need for achieving, limiting or spacing.

Natural Family Planning, if taught properly and with values, enhances marriage and family life while helping the spouses become more mature, generous and responsible. You may reefer girls and women with problems to the Good Shepherd Sisters at Welcome House (telephone no. 563-6363). I commend all the organizations and programs of the Church that help in the healing of families. We now have a directory where anyone with a specific concern can be referred to. You may call up our Pro-life office for a copy, or call our hotline number at 422-8877 and you will be referred to the agency that will attend to the problem. There are also more and more groups offering training in crisis counseling. Each of us can, in our own way, reach out to the immediate need of our brothers and sisters by our attentiveness and alertness to their needs. No one should be turned away by our Church just because we do not have a program in place. It will mean extra time and effort and even financial help on our part but if there are many of us, then the burden will be lighter. “I have come that you may have life – life in abundance” (John 3:16)

Let us claim this birthright and say “Mabuhay sa ating lahat!”

Crossroads

June – July, 2005

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