It's Everything

People have asked me, in recent weeks, what Obama's pro-abortion stance really says about who he is. After all, I've heard, is anyone really pro-abortion?

We're dealing with legal genocide. How can anyone ask that question with sincerity? And, to the former question, I would answer: everything.

What Is And What Might Be

None of us are unaware of the fact that within 9 days, the election will be over. A number of issues will be decided, and the United States of America will have chosen one man to lead our country: McCain or Obama.

None of us are unaware of what the consequences will be, if the latter is chosen. I doubt I have to remind any of you to pray for the outcome of this election, or for the future of our nation.

There is much talk about conscience these days, not to mention faithful citizenship. It seems to be easy to loose your way, however, and many seem to have forgotten that human life is of paramount importance.

In case any of us are confused, a number of our Bishops have begun to allow their flocks to hear their voice.

"There are no ‘truly grave moral’ or ‘proportionate’ reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by legal abortion each year.

To vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion or ‘abortion rights’ when there is a morally acceptable alternative would be to cooperate in the evil – and, therefore, morally impermissible.

As Catholics, we must treat our political choices with appropriate moral gravity and in doing so, realize our continuing and unavoidable obligation to be a voice for the voiceless unborn, whose destruction by legal abortion is the preeminent intrinsic evil of our day."

So, in case you are in need of a little inspiration, remember that much more is at stake in this election, than most would have us believe.

It's time to pray, for both what is and what might be.

Prayer and Fasting for San Francisco

Saturday will mark the return of San Francisco's 25th annual "Folsom Street Fair". For those of you who aren't familiar with it, I think you should be. If anything, it will make you grateful for the ability to make reparation.

The Folsom Street Fair draws a crowd of over 350,000 annually, to the streets of San Francisco. All ages are welcome, and encouraged, to attend. It's been simply called a "Gay Pride Parade" but, it's much more than that.

The Folsom Street Fair promotes full nudity and public sex acts. If that isn't enough to convince you that something has gone terribly wrong, perhaps this will:

Is motivation behind the Folsom Street Fair, beginning to take shape? Let's solidify the image.

"In one instance that was particularly offensive to people of religious faith, during last year's festival, a female stripper was hoisted in a cage over a Roman Catholic Church during Mass."

Ridiculous. And, in case you're wondering why this type of activity isn't prohibited by the police, here is the answer: 

"One San Francisco policeman told us that the police were instructed not to make arrests for indecency on the city streets, but merely to 'contain' the activity to the street fair, which encompassed several city blocks."

Does this seem absurd to anyone else, but me? James Dobson has a few thoughts on the matter, himself:

"This event distorts and degrades sexuality, which is a gift from God. While citizens in California can’t stop private sinful and disturbed sexual practices, they can speak out against this public event.

For the police to turn a blind eye to these illegal and indecent displays of depravity, and the city's elected officials to 'celebrate' this sort of public obscenity, is unconscionable."

Since this is such a distortion of true love, life, and freedom, we thought that those of us living in the Culture of Life should take this opportunity, for a little prayer and fasting. Here's what we had in mind:

On Saturday, September 28th, we encourage the husbands and wives of Fiat and F.I.A.T. to offer reparation, for all that will be promoted and encouraged during the Folsom Street Fair. Here are a few suggestions to choose from.

Husbands:

-Take Saturday as a day to fast or abstain from meat, in reparation.

-Make a 15 minute "holy hour" in the middle of Friday night (in your home), for all those involved.

-Perform and act of Charity, on Saturday.

Wives:

-Pray a Rosary or a Chaplet of Divine Mercy on Saturday, as an act of reparation.

-Make a 15 minute "holy hour" in the middle of Friday night (in your home), for all those involved.

-Preform an act of Charity, on Saturday.

A little sacrifice, when done out of the love for Christ, can certainly go a long way. Whatever you choose to do, we encourage you all to use your marriages to sanctify our culture. For, what else are we called to image with our spouse, than the very relationship between Christ and the Church.

If you miss this opportunity on Saturday, please consider performing one of the above accts of reparation as soon as you read this post.

Catholic Vote

We must vote our conscience this November.
Visit http://www.catholicvote.com/.

Movie Reviews etc.

Hey Guys,

www.pluggedinonline.com is another good place for Christian movie reviews.  It's a good way to check before renting or seeing a movie so that you're not ingesting images that you don't want to have in your mind.

 

Next FIAT meeting is listed in the calendar in the upper right (let me know if you can't view it, but you should be able to).  Feel free to make changes to the meetings and to recommend locations and activities.

 

Also, if you want to have an email sent to you whenever there's a post then let me know and I’ll add your name to the list.

Peace,

Chris

 

Websites duscussed today

Gentlemen,

Great hike today. Let's keep F.I.A.T. going!!

Here are a couple of links to the websites we discussed today.

http://www.cogforlife.org/

-Website for information for ethically produced vaccines. Some vaccines are produced from cell lines from aborted fetuses, even some that are mandated by the state. One the left side of the page, click on Vaccine Sources and it will give you a list of vaccines form aborted fetus cells and the ethical alternative if it is available. In order to find out if your pediatrician uses these vaccines, you can ask for the insert that comes with the vaccine. Make sure to get this before the appointment when they are to adminster the vaccine so that you can research it before hand. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.


http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

-Website for rating movies. The content of movies is rated for sex & nudity, violance & gore, and profanity. Each of the three categories is thuroughly reviewed and rated from 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst. A detailed writeup is provided for each category that lists the offensive events and the number of times each occurs in the movie. They have a large database of reviews.

Chris, you mentioned another website you use to review movies. Can you post it also? Anyone have any other handy website they visit often or get good information from?

FIAT, FIAT, FIAT!!!!!

F.A.M.I.L.Y.

F.I.A.T. Men,

Next week, September 6th, we're meeting. Here's the schedule:

9:15am- Meet at OLOP for 20 minutes of adoration

9:35am- Head out to Coyote Lake for hiking and reading JPII's Letter To Families

11:30am- Head home to our families

JPII's Letter to Families, from 1994, the International Year of the Family, is an awesome commentary on the nature and role of the family, especially in today's society. Pope John Paul the Great emphasizes the fundamental importance of the family when he says in this letter: " 'God from God and Light from Light', entered into human history through the family." 

The Family, specifically the Holy Family, was the means by which the Second Person of the Holy Trinity chose to reveal Himself to us. Our own families can be the means by which we reveal Christ to others. We can read and discuss paragraphs 1-3 on Saturday, and hopefully continue through the entire document over the coming months.

God Bless,

Chris

August and September

Gentlemen,

The next official Fiat event will be on Saturday, September 6th at 9:30am. Please see the FIAT Calendar, on the right side of the blog, for details. Unless you'd like to do otherwise, I thought it would be good to have regular meetings every other Saturday morning. If another regular time works better, let's talk about it. 

The next event of interest, aside from the FIAT meeting on September 6th, is the OLOP Family Night. It begins at 6pm at OLOP, on Saturday, August 23rd. Besides the food and socialization, The CATECHIZERS will be playing. The Catechizers feature our very own Robert S. and Chris M, and it wil be a concert you won't want to miss. So I hope to see you all there.

Finally, if you have not accepted your blog invitation, please do so. This is a good way for us all to keep in touch. Please feel free to post at any time.

See you later,

Chris

Next FIAT event?

KAYAKING off the Mexican coast!!!!

E5 Tomorrow

Men,
If you're interested, E5 is tomorrow, Wednesday, August 6th, the first Wednesday of the month. It's a powerful time to fast for our wives, and the women who need it.
"Jesus meek and humble of heart, touch our hearts and make them like Your Own."
-C

Genesis of F.I.A.T.

Dudes,
You are invited to F.I.A.T., a Catholic Married Men’s group providing Fellowship In Athletics and Testosterone. This is a group for guys to get together once every couple of weeks to hang out, pray, eat meat, fast, play sports, adore the Blessed Sacrament, do cool stuff, and sacrifice for our wives. You have been invited to F.I.A.T. because your wife has already been invited to Fiat, the married women’s group, and because I think you’re cool.

Fellowship
As working, married men we all share similar joys and struggles. F.I.A.T. is a good place to be in a good wholesome environment doing manly stuff, to share our insights into how to live as better men, husbands and fathers, and to offer prayer cover for the daily spiritual battles that we face. We’ll encourage each other through difficult times, offer practical advice, be examples to each other, and pray for each other. If you’re interested, we can also study Church teaching and spirituality together in order to grow in holiness and wisdom.

Athletics
We’ll get together to do cool guy stuff, which may or may not be limited to the following: Hiking, biking, fishing, shooting, foosball, soccer, eating meat, throwing balls, challenging each other to eat gross stuff, jumping off high things, butting heads, brewing beer, making jokes, building things, etc…

Testosterone
Pope John Paul II tells us that the body speaks a language, a physical language that communicates the spiritual. Being a man means doing cool, brave, difficult physical and emotional things, but also heroic and noble spiritual things. That’s why fasting, penance, and sacrifice will be a major part of this group. So while we may gather sometime to barbeque red meat, drink beer, and eat whipped cream from the can, we also may have some meetings where we skip a meal, or only drink water. Also, this goes beyond our F.I.A.T. meetings. As Catholic men, we have the responsibility to follow Christ and carry our cross every day. So this spirit of sacrifice and atonement should pervade our lives. One way that we can live our call is through http://www.e5men.org/. You can read up on it and see if you want to join. The short of it is, as an E5 Man, you’ll fast on bread and water once a month for your wife. Several of us are already E5 Men. Note that this Wednesday, August 6th, is the first Wednesday of the month, the day on which all E5 men fast.

Let me know:
· Are you’re interested in joining?
· How frequently could you meet (it would be weekday evenings or weekends, and since it’s time away from our wives, it probably won’t be more often than once every 2 weeks)?
· What activities could we do?
· Anyone else who would fit in this group that you’d like to invite?

I propose the first official F.I.A.T. event for Saturday, August 23rd. How does that work?

In the Peace of Christ,

Chris