Catholic Fire

Br. Joseph Ryan takes you on a brief tour of St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, KS. For more information, see their website: http://www.kansasmonks.org

BY JUDY L. THOMAS The wheels started turning in Kathryn Brown’s head on a long bus ride home from the nation’s capital last year.          Returning to Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., after participating in the annual March for Life, Brown listened as students chatted about how awesome it would be if their group was chosen someday to lead the event. And now, that’s become a reality. On Wednesday, Benedictine students will lead the expected hundreds of thousands of abortion opponents. One-quarter of the student body –– more than 400 students –– set out in eight buses Monday for the 24-hour trek to Washington, D.C. “We have a combination of monks, faculty, alumni and mostly students who are participating,” said Brown, a junior from Lake Winnebago majoring in English who is coordinating the trip for Ravens Respect Life. “We’ll be carrying the banner at the front of over half a million pro-lifers from across the country, which we’re so honored a...

Former "Kansas" lead singer and producer John Elefante is using his newest single "This Time," to share the story of his adopted daughter's birth, and in the process, bring some attention to Online for Life (OFL), an educational non-profit working to rescue babies from abortion so they can live to make their mark on the world. "I can't imagine life without my daughter, Sami, and it just breaks my heart that pregnant young women much like her birth mother, instead of choosing life for their babies, are denying them the chance to be born," Elefante said. "If our song can in any way bring attention to this issue and encourage those who are considering abortion to choose life through options such as adoption, then we couldn't be happier." H/T: National Right to Life News

April 22, 2013 --Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed legislation creating a new center at the state's medical school for researching potential cures using adult stem cells. The bill signed into law Monday by Brownback prohibits the new center at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City from using money or resources on research with embryonic stem cells. Instead, the aim is to make Kansas a leader in research with adult stem cells and stem cells from babies' umbilical cord blood. Excerpted from  KAKE News. Image Source

Sen. Julia Lynn, Rep. Steve Brunk, Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, KFL Legislative Dir. Kathy Ostrowski, KFL Lobbyist Jeanne Gawdun, KS Catholic Conference Dir. Michael Schuttloffel; KS Catholic Conference Lobbyist, Edward Larson look on as Governor Sam Brownback signs the Pro-life Protections Act into law. Hip Hip Hooray! Another victory for life in Kansas! I just received this exciting news today from Kansans for Life: This morning, Governor Sam Brownback signed HB 2253, the Pro-life Protections Act, into law.  HB 2253 codifies abortion informed consent materials authorized by the state health department, and removes all tax streams that pay for abortion and give tax advantages to abortion businesses. The informed consent section has an added mandate for the state health department to facilitate medical information access and community support for families facing pre-birth and post-birth diagnoses of Down Syndrome and other conditions. HB 2253 assures taxpayers are not direct...

The Unborn Civil Rights bill (SB 142) passed the House tonight by a vote of 89-33. This bill bans 'wrongful birth and wrongful life' lawsuits that claim a disabled child should have been aborted. The Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center (SB 199) also passed the House, by a vote of 90-32 . This unique center will increase treatments of patients in Kansas and the region using non-embryonic (adult and umbilical cord) sources, process and multiply stem cells for wider use in clinical trials, create collaboration between Kansas University and Via Christi Hospitals in these endeavors, and become a global educational clearinghouse for stem cell clinical trials and research. Also,  a resolution commending pregnancy assistance centers in Kansas and the nation, HCR 1606, passed the House 122-0. Three pro-life measures may yet see action next week, after the Easter recess: the Pro-Life Protections Act, the sex selection abortion ban, and the grand jury improvement bill. More to co...

The Kansas House of Representatives joins Arkansas and North Dakota in passing comprehensive pro-life legislation. As with Arkansas and North Dakota, Liberty Counsel will defend this pro-life law pro bono. No rights are more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant. HR 2253, passed by the Kansas House of Representatives with a vote of 92 to 31, declares that life begins at fertilization. In addition, HR2253 excludes abortionists from receiving tax breaks, prohibits state medical school residents from performing abortions on state time, prohibits organizations that perform abortions from teaching sex education classes in public school, and requires abortionists to notify women of the risks of an abortion. Please pray for HR 2253 as it makes its way through the Kansas Senate, and continue to pray for Liberty Counsel as we work to defend the sanctity of life. Read the press release  here.

For information about the 40 Days for Life campaign that will take place outside abortion clinics in Overland Park and Wichita, and the annual Life Chain that will take place in MANY Kansas towns, go to the Kansans for Life web site at www.kfl.org . Click on the "Calendar of Events" tab in the menu list on the left side of the home page, and then select either 40 Days for Life or Life Chain for information on these events. 40 Days for Life is 40 consecutive days of prayer outside Planned Parenthood in Overland Park and George Tiller's abortion clinic in Wichita. The dates are Wednesday, Sept. 24th through Sunday, Nov. 2nd, and consist of standing outside those clinics in prayer. For more information on how to sign up to participate, see the website as directed above. Life Chain, on the other hand, consists of one hour of silent prayer/witness on heavily traveled thoroughfares while holding one of five pre-printed signs. It will take place in MANY Kansas cities/towns on e...

From the Newton Kansan : Topeka — Phill Kline gained national attention and the loyalty of many abortion foes by investigating clinics, but his reputation will cost him his job as the district attorney in Kansas’ most populous county. Kline lost the Republican primary Tuesday in Johnson County to Steve Howe, a former assistant district attorney. Howe won 60 percent of the vote and will face Democrat Rick Guinn, another former assistant DA who now is working in the attorney general’s office. Howe’s main pitch to voters was that the district attorney’s office needs a professional prosecutor, not a politician — a less-than-subtle reference to Kline’s reputation as a passionate anti-abortion Republican. “I think that truly has hit home to the people of Johnson County,” Howe said of his message. “I think that the thing people were troubled with was: Were decisions being made because of special interests or were decisions made based on the law and the evidence?” From the Lawrence Journal Wor...

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius said suggestions that she could be Barack Obama's running mate are "flattering and a little surreal.'' But she isn't saying whether she would accept. Sebelius is one of several people whose names have been floated as possible vice presidential candidates for Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Former Sens. John Edwards and Sam Nunn have also been mentioned. Sebelius, co-chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention, made her comments Thursday on a visit to Denver, where the convention will be held Aug. 25-28. Via Kake News. Related Posts: Governor Sebelius Fabricates Story to Cover for Tiller Party Governor Sebelius' Response to Secret Tiller Party Called Laughable by OR Corruption in KS under Governor Kathleen Sebelius Revealed at Last! Kansas City's Archbishop Naumann on Governor Kathleen Sebelius Governor Sebelius continues to protect Tiller by vetoing CARA Late - Term Abortionist George Tiller's Governor:...

Abortion foes take battle beyond Roe Makeup of high court is political focal point, but activists cutting access with ruling intact By James Oliphant, Tribune correspondent June 10, 2008 WICHITA, Kan. - Troy Newman appears to be just about the happiest person who ever set foot in an abortion clinic. "We're winning," Newman says excitedly. "We're winning the youth. We're winning the hearts and minds of the people." Except for his prematurely gray hair, Newman, the head of Operation Rescue, perhaps the most aggressive anti-abortion group in the nation, seems boyish and eager. "I just want to be the best pro-lifer I can be," he said. The organization has just moved into its new offices in Wichita, a shuttered abortion clinic that Newman helped hassle out of business. "Nothing warms my heart more than a closed abortion clinic," he said. He keeps souvenirs in his office of some of the clinics he has claimed credit for helping shut down. Ne...

It’s on the lips and in the thoughts of most Kansans these days. Our parish adult education guest speaker Catholic Dave Gittrich , the President of Kansans for Life, gave us a basic introduction on stem cell research this past week, which I will briefly summarize in simple terms here, with the help of my notes from that talk, along with some of American Life League’s definitions, and excerpts from A Pastoral Letter from the Bishops of Kansas . The Basics What is a stem cell? Stem cells are unspecialized cells. One of the fundamental properties of a stem cell is that it does not have any tissue-specific structures that allow it to perform specialized functions. For example, a stem cell cannot work with its neighbors to pump blood through the body like a heart cell. Stem cells are very simple, primitive human cells. However, when stem cells divide, they can form a variety of more specialized cells. When unspecialized stem cells give rise to specialized cells, the process is called diff...

A complaint has been filed with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, (KSBHA), asking that Kansas City abortionist Sherman Zaremski be disciplined for failing to report the rape of an 11-year old girl that resulted in a pregnancy. Confirmation has been received that the case has been assigned to an investigator. Operation Rescue investigations discovered that it was Zaremski that gave an abortion to the young girl in Wichita at the now closed Central Women's Services, then returned her to the care of her step-father, Robert Estrada, who continued to use her and her sister as virtual sex slaves over several years, resulting in a total of 4 pregnancies, including the birth of twins on one of the girl's 12th birthday. "Zaremski could have stopped the abuse by reporting her pregnancy to the authorities, but he did not," said OR spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger, who filed the complaint in her capacity as a private citizen. "Because of his refusal to obey the Kansas chi...

Multimedia Pro-Life News has an excellent and very revealing video interview with Phil Kline - the former Attorney General in KS (now District Attorney of Johnson County) who went after late - term abortionist "Tiller the Killer" who was charged (but not convicted) with violating KS law. Make sure you watch and listen to the whole interview. Excerpt from the interview: "...as often happens with the issue of abortion, the true is not told. You know that issue starts with a lie, as all evil does, and to perpetuate itself, it layers lie upon lie upon lie upon lie, until it ends in destruction. What we have witnessed in Kansas is, really the permeation of Roe into Judicial thinking, such that, as we stand here, there is a case in Kansas filed against me when I was attorney general, arguing that it is unconstitutional for abortion clinics to be required to report child rape, because it invades the privacy of the child...even though all of us know that the child’s privac...