Making the Right Choice

LifeCanada / Darby's Story from Transposition Films on Vimeo.

The best moment for any filmmaker is being there for a subject's authentic, vulnerable emotional moment. When they speak what they know & their information or opinion carries weight because the full force of their experience and heart is in it, we know we have found what we are looking for.

We were able to experience that while creating this piece for LifeCanada.

Filmed at our studio on a Sony FS-100 & Red Scarlet camera using Canon glass.
For more, visit http://www.lifecanada.org

Pro-life mum faces threat of jail

The Catholic Leader
Published: 15 May 2011
By: Paul Dobbyn

Anne Rampa protests at an abortion clinic

A CATHOLIC mother of seven, who recently received an eight-month suspended jail sentence for taking part in a protest vigil outside a Brisbane abortion clinic, has asked for prayers as she considers her future.

Anne Rampa, of Dayboro, north-west of Brisbane, was arrested with Annerley father of six Graham Preston, outside a Greenslopes abortion clinic on February 18.

Once charged, Ms Rampa accepted bail on condition of not returning to the abortion clinic until after her court case had been heard.

Mr Preston refused to accept the condition and had already served 70 days in jail on remand when he appeared in court.

Ms Rampa and Mr Preston represented themselves in Brisbane Magistrates Court on April 28.

Both belong to the group Protect Life and have often protested outside abortion clinics since the group's formation in 2002.

Continue reading at The Catholic Leader

A victory for truth: the life of Bernard Nathanson

An unlikely hero of human dignity died this week, a doctor who once performed thousands of abortions.

Carolyn Moynihan | Thursday, 24 February 2011. MercatorNet.com

During four decades of the abortion wars in the United States there has been much traffic across the battle lines. Many who should have been on the pro-life side positioned themselves in the opposite ranks -- the deceptively named Catholics for a Free Choice is the prime example. This was the easy path, a case of going with the cultural flow under the influence of leading institutions in the media and political life.

Defections from the pro-abortion side, however, have been much more significant, not to mention heroic. Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” plaintiff of the 1973 Supreme Court case which issued in the legalising of abortion throughout the US, became a high profile opponent of abortion and eventually petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn its Roe v Wade decision. Many others have followed her in the public renunciation of the killing of unborn children, most recently Abby Johnson, a young Planned Parenthood clinic operator from Texas, whose story was published last month.

But no convert to the pro-life cause comes near in prominence or influence to Dr Bernard Nathanson, one of the original abortion rights campaigners, who died on Monday at the age of 84. Dr Nathanson, did as much as anyone to launch abortion as a regular means of birth control, but for that very reason he also did more to discredit it once he faced the truth about this “procedure” and began to write and speak against it.

Continue reading A victory for truth: the life of Bernard Nathanson at MercatorNet.com

Art depicting Jesus receiving head from another man destroyed

VILE JESUS ARTWORK SMASHED

 Catholic League, October 7, 2010

A Montana truck driver, Kathleen Folden, took a crowbar to the Plexiglass case housing artwork at Colorado's Loveland Museum which depicted a man performing oral sex on Jesus. Folden was arrested after she ripped the artwork to pieces. Commenting is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

Had the art depicted a man performing fellatio on Muhammad, the museum may have been blown up by now. So it is lucky that Ms. Folden is a Christian.

It is striking to read the responses of those who defended the obscene art. "I am appalled by the violence," says Loveland's director of Cultural Services Susan Ison. But she is not appalled by the portrayal of Jesus having a man perform oral sex on him. Indeed, she justified this obscenity by calling it "very complex." Had the artwork showed her performing oral sex on her father, it's a sure bet it would lose its complexity.

Continue reading at Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

ABC’s religious department twisting the truth again.

Priest denies making claims about Mary MacKillop's excommunication

Clare Rawlinson and James Madden  The Australian October 07, 2010

THE priest who spent 25 years lobbying for Mary MacKillop's canonisation has angrily dismissed recent media reports.

The reports said the soon-to-be saint was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for exposing acts of child sex abuse by a South Australian clergyman.

Paul Gardiner, chaplain of the Mary MacKillop Penola Centre, said the claims, published on ABC Online and in Fairfax newspapers last month, were false, and he feared the misleading coverage was an attempt to take a swipe at the church and distract the public in the lead-up to MacKillop's canonisation on October 17.

ABC Online and Fairfax both reported that MacKillop's ousting from the church in 1871 was prompted by her exposure of a Kapunda priest's abuse of local children. The claims were based on remarks made by Father Gardiner in a documentary made for ABC TV's Compass program.

But both Father Gardiner and the program's executive producer deny ever making such an inference. "Early in 1870, the scandal occurred and the Sisters of Saint Joseph reported it to Father Tenison Woods, but Mary was in Queensland and no one was worried about her," Father Gardiner told The Australian.

Father Gardiner, considered the nation's foremost authority on the history of MacKillop, said his words had been twisted to suit the "ill will" of media outlets.

Continue reading Priest denies making claims about MacKillop's excommunication | The Australian

Primacy of Truth over Power. St. Thomas More, Man for This [and All] Seasons

By Deacon Keith Fournier 22nd July 2010 Catholic Online (http://www.catholic.org/)
The England of the sixteenth century was in the midst of a serious crisis of politics, culture and faith, not unlike the times in which we now live
Thomas More showed heroic courage in the face of a State which had lost its soul. He Never wavered in his fidelity to the Truth. He would not betray the truth or compromise it on the altar of public opinion for political opportunism. Thomas More was brought to trial for his fidelity to the Truth. As is often the case with persecution against Christians, it was framed as a charge against the "positive law".
Continue reading at Catholic Online

Also from EWTN Live:
Sir Thomas More - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. with Dr. Samuel Gregg

Local Hero - Pro-life advocate facing jail term

Published: 25 July 2010 Catholic Leader
By: Paul Dobbyn

LONG-time Brisbane pro-life activist Graham Preston [who is not a Catholic], expects the police to knock on his door at any moment and take him to jail for unpaid fines relating to his sit-ins in front of abortion clinics.
The father of seven said he could be spending at least seven months in jail for unpaid fines totalling about $7500.
This is despite the remission of more than $4500 of fines by the previous Governor of Queensland after a successful court challenge against police actions moving him on from abortion clinics.
Mr Preston said, having spent more than a total of eight months in custody on four different occasions since he started the protest actions in 2002, "jail is no longer an unknown quantity for me".
Continue reading at the Catholic Leader. Pro-life advocate facing jail term.

Of course "Pro-Choicers" have their heroes too, but they tend to kill the unwanted.

Fr. Barron comments on Mother Teresa and her Sisters

Fr Barron's Word on Fire

Catholic faithful to celebrate witness of 120 Chinese Martyrs :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

CNA STAFF, Jul 4, 2010 / 05:03 am (CNA).

On Friday, July 9, the Church will celebrate the feast of the 120 Martyrs of China. Religious persecution has a long history in China, especially persecution of Christians, thousands of whom have died for their faith in the last millennium.
On October 1, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized 120 men, women, and children who gave their lives for the faith in China between the years 1648 and 1930. The martyrs include 87 native Chinese and 33 foreign missionaries. The majority were killed during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

Continue reading at Catholic News Agency