40 Pro-lifers took part in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 12th.
The weather was perfect with spring-like temperatures. Those who marched wore green scarves. This has been an annual tradition going back to the leadership of the late John Stanton.
Even many of the attendees cheered on pro-lifers along Market Street.
It was a day to honor a great saint who emphasized the trinity with the shamrock and ensured the pro-life message was spread to the thousands who were in attendance
The following is from Dr. Monique Ruberu. Hours are still needed to be filled. Visit 40daysforlife.com.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
[We have] such an awesome story to share…at 777 the pro-abortion escorts often play music to drown us out as we try to speak to the moms going in. That music is often demonic, or crude…rarely tolerable and nice… So by the grace of God working through a donor, we purchased a nice speaker and mic so we could share Christian music and speak to the moms over their noise.
I knew the moms on the sidewalk could hear us, but Marlene, Pat, and I prayed that the moms could hear us inside as well… well today the officer told us that Lynn (elderly pro-abortion escort) was complaining about the loudness of our music => the officer pointed out that the only reason we have music playing is that they started playing music and he had observed the interaction for the past few months… then she said – “Yes but their music is disturbing them INSIDE”
SO PRAISE GOD!!! The moms can HEAR US INSIDE!!! – I told the officer I’d be happy to stop our music if they do t play music… I’ll just use it to talk on my mic – directly to the women inside 🙂
Guys when we show up to do this work for God it is very important that we first feed our souls in preparation for this work… please do spend time daily in mass, in prayer, in scripture, in meditation on Jesus, in adoration… in the Word of God especially …the closer you allow yourself to get to Him… the more you allow Him to fill you…the better your work will be.
THE FOLLOWING IS A RELEASE SENT BY EMAIL FROM TOM STEVENS, PRESIDENT OF THE PRO-LIFE UNION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA
In 2021 there were 3% more abortions in Pennsylvania than in the previous year. The total, 33,206, is the highest number of abortions reported in the past ten years. Half, 16,542, of those abortions occur right in our backyard, the five-county Philadelphia area.
To help understand the sheer magnitude, imagine 16,542 moms or dads pushing a baby in a stroller in a single file. It would be a line that stretches nearly sixteen miles! Imagine one of them being your grandchild or child, nephew or niece.
This is why the Pro-Life Union believes that we can’t protect the right to life as a single organization. Instead, we need to support our associate member organizations, work with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and independent churches, and anyone who will join us in the effort. Pregnancy resource centers like Hope Pregnancy and AlphaCare are part of the solution.
The Pro-Life Union and Catholic Social Services partnership at the Cenacle in Frankford serving more than one thousand vulnerable families is part of the answer. Adoption is a Loving Option, Culture Project, Students for Life, and other groups reaching out to students are a significant part of the effort. Forty Days for Life, Sidewalk Servants, and others organizing volunteers to serve in front of abortion centers are rescuing babies (and women) in another way.
Chester County Pro-Life Coalition and their March for Life and sponsorship of the name? ‘TOB for young women’ is another part of the prevention. You can meet many of these resource providers on April 1st at the Life Advocate Resource Conference. Many churches working together to provide solutions will also be present.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” — John 1:5
Happy New Year!
We tend to create a list of things to accomplish during the year. For the pro-life cause, it is no different. Here is a list of things to do in 2023.
Make 2023 a life-saving year
The following is a letter to the editor from David Morgan.
“Babies are the joy of life,” said a Philadelphia area woman.
Like an expert “umpire,” she made a good call. Infants’ silly expressions and chuckles drive their “fans” to smile! Lately though, who is really “rooting” for these “rookies” ……………when they are unborn? Expectant mothers and fathers can “step up to bat” for their unborn child in love. They can view their baby’s development, a “sprint” with an ultrasound live video. Also, they can “walk” through/scroll to “First-trimester growth and development benchmarks” on the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia website (https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/first-trimester).
There they can study the “play-by-play” of events. By 4 weeks the heart is beating like the “rhythm of the music in the stands.” By 8 weeks these young ones are well formed, displaying fingers and toes, moving around like “running the bases.” And in 12 weeks they are totally formed, just like the rest of us “players” at life, but smaller, in their own “little league.” They are such lovable “stars,” with their own unique DNA like a “special name and number” on each “jersey.” They are waiting “on deck” to be born. However, many politicians, writers, and cartoonists want lots of them “locked out of the park!” Plus Planned Parenthood throws a “big curve ball” by not offering up much parenthood at all.
Checking “stats” in their latest annual report (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/facts-figures/annual-report) 383,460 abortions were performed versus only 8,775 prenatal visits and a mere 1,940 adoption referrals. (page 27)
It is time to “take a swing” at the $633.4 million (of our hard-earned tax payments page 30) going to Planned Parenthood, and “line drive” it over to life-promoting health centers. Politicians who fund unrestricted abortion at taxpayer expense should be “thrown out when they are off base” by voters. A woman may give birth to a babe like the renowned “Babe Ruth” of baseball’s early days. The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists https://aaplog.org/ has “scouted out” the mom’s risks of abortion physically as well as emotionally, even in future pregnancies. AAPLOG also has a statement about the “team approach” to saving the lives of both mother and unborn child: Premature Delivery is Not Induced Abortion – Prolife OBGYNS – AAPLOG – American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians & Gynecologists. Delivery of a baby, like “delivery of a pitch” has a better outcome than the “balk” known as abortion. Like refreshing food at the “snack stand,” there is help for women by women in pregnancy resource centers. The phrase “loving them both” is “in play”. The needs of the total person including counseling (even for abortion grief) and personal provisions can be addressed or met in “out of the park home run” wonderful ways! Many centers “coach” and help until the child is 5 years old, with no tax dollars accepted from inflationary government spending. One of the most celebrated holidays, Christmas, began with Christ’s birth; involving traveling with effort like mounting the “stadium stairs.” It was like a “rain delay,” an inconvenient time to give birth to baby Savior, yet it brought “good news for all people.” Luke 2: 10-11 in Bible. Dedicated love is needed from the start, the “singing of the national anthem” time, leading with big effort to lullabies sung. For parents the first sight, like the start of “opening day” should be Baby’s ultrasound picture, followed by a lifetime of photos with smiles among family, in places of worship, in school and maybe on the “team!”
The first National March for Life in a Post-Roe society will take place on Friday, January 20th, 2023 in Washington, DC.
During a live press conference, the organization announced the theme and have two speakers in the lineup for the event. The theme is Next Steps: Marching Forward in A Post-Roe Society. It comes as we navigate the aftermath of the Dobbs v Jackson decision last June, which sent the abortion issue back to the states with nearly half of them banning abortion.
“There’s a lot of confusion about the inherent dignity of the unborn child,” said Jeanne Mancini, President of the March for Life Foundation. Mancini shared that the route will now be different unlike marches past. Instead of the route to the steps of the Supreme Court, it will end on the steps of the capitol building that houses the House of Representatives and Senators.
“Your testimony marching in Washington, D.C., shutting down this city every year for the largest annual human rights demonstration worldwide has borne fruit,” she said. “It’s absolutely borne fruit in the overturn of Roe.”
In addition to announcing its theme and the new march route, a band and two speakers have been confirmed for the rally on the National Mall. The speakers (so far) are Jonathan Roumie, the star of The Chosen series, and former NFL Head Coach and analyst Tony Dungy. We The Messengers will provide music during interfaith praise and worship with an 11:30 AM start.
Now is the time to begin planning to attend this annual event. It is a great way for pro-lifers to converge and renew their commitment to building a Culture of Life from womb to tomb.
Are you ready to march forward in the post-Roe society?
100 pro-lifers from near and far gathered outside of the federal building in Old City Philadelphia to stand with Mark Houck. The event featured an all-star lineup of speakers with Reverend Bill Devlin serving as the master of ceremonies of the peaceful rally.
In addition to the speaker lineup, representatives from Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising were in town to publicly demonstrate outside of the federal building calling out the hypocrisy of the Justice Department on targeting pro-lifers but not those who vandalized, firebombed, and attacked churches and pregnancy resource centers during the course of the summer of rage. No arrests were made for those crimes.
As the unlawful incident from the FBI has been two weeks, pro-lifers knew that a rally must take place to stand against the tyrannical acts of Garland and Biden’s Justice Department.
There was even a couple who came forward to show a side of Mark Houck the media has failed to cover. He saved a child from being aborted outside of the very Planned Parenthood the incident took place.
A shocking video from the raid has now been released to the public and has been obtained by LifeNews.com regarding a similar raid in Tennessee. It has yet to release a video from Mark Houck’s raid.
See photos from the rally here.
The following is from an email blast sent by Dr. Monique Ruberu
Abortion is the evilest sin of all time. Ending the life of an innocent child, harming the mother and father in the process, ending the lifeline of people that were intended to come from that child – there is no good… the only chance of good comes from repentance, compassion, the love, the courage that we respond with through the grace of God alone.
When we are out there yes we will be persecuted, yes people will say unkind things to us, yes they may try to provoke us into responding with anger. We can choose to respond with pity, with prayer, with love.
In the midst of this persecution, there are beautiful moments… like today at 777 when a young African American young man who was biking food around the city stopped and watched for a long time with tear-filled eyes… after about 30 minutes I approached him… “you’ve been standing here a long time… are you ok? I know it’s a hard place to be…” he responded with tears in his eyes, “this is truly spiritual warfare” Yes it is… but we know that God wins in the end. He got it…
Recently we have had a few incidents you may have heard about through the news or the grapevine.
STAND WITH MARK
This is the report I received from Pat: Months ago our awesome Mark Houck leader of the King’s Men was praying outside the abortion center with his child. The male escort (identified as Bruce Love) who often harasses many of us decided to pick on Mark and his child. Mark initially moved across the street and then moved back to the corner to pray. When he came back to the corner the escort started harassing Mark’s son again and Mark pushed him away. The escort dramatically fell to the ground feigned injury and called the police. Mark was at no time preventing women from entering 12th – this went on to a court proceeding which was then dropped because it was obvious that there was no intent to prevent people from entering and Bruce never appeared.
This morning swat teams showed up at Mark’s house shackled him at gunpoint and totally traumatized his family… he had a hearing and praise God on the feast of Padre Pio (yesterday) he was released by the hour of mercy. Mark has been offered representation and many public figures are speaking up on the injustice of this… please pray for him, for his and his family’s safety, and for peace in his family.
Please contribute to the give-send-go organized for Mark and his fam. He is a missionary… there will be lawyers fees to pay in the near future and his family needs to be supported to help them heal…
https://www.givesendgo.com/prolifefamily
A few days ago we had an instance where a girl stole the signs and box while two prayer warriors were present- she took everything into the planned parenthood courtyard and then she used a 6-inch military knife and started cutting up the signs. The prayer warriors called 911 and after 20 minutes they hadn’t responded so they made the right choice and left. Unfortunately, the girl continued to follow them and harass them.
Ultimately they split up and they managed to lose her.
These are probably the most aggressive instances we have had downtown… we can decide to stay at home and refuse to stand up for these innocent lives for fear of facing people like this or we can continue to stand firm for what is right. We can show up with love and with friends. We can pray and bring the strongest weapon – the rosary to defeat the devil at those gates. We can continue to offer love, prayer, and compassion to save lives.
Pat also shared this beautiful report with me…
Mom and dad came to pp last Jan and ran into pro-life warriors. They changed their minds and the little boy was born early Thursday morning. The stroller and crib were delivered and newborn diapers are on the way. This child is here because we were there.
40 days for life begins worldwide this Wednesday. Please join us out there to fill in the gaps and ensure we have a loving, peaceful, prayerful presence out there.
We definitely need help next Saturday at 12th and Locust all day from 8-1 pm
We are looking for individuals who can help with security out there as well if you have any leads please let us know.
This morning, the FBI raided the home of Mark Houck. It was terrifying as the agency continued its power-grabbing agenda to target those who stand against the Biden administration.
According to the FBI, Houck was indicted for violating the FACE Act. The FACE Act, passed in 1994, amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit: (1) intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with, or attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere, any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction because that person is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from, obtaining or providing reproductive health services. He did nothing wrong.
LET’S SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Last fall, Houck and his son were covering a shift outside of Planned Parenthood in Center City Philadelphia during the 40 Days for Life campaign when an escort, identified as Bruce Love of Norristown, was harassing Mark’s seven-year-old son. Mark intervened as Bruce faked a violent altercation between each other. His son was traumatized by Bruce’s action as they served him with a harassment complaint to the Philadelphia Police Department. The facility dismissed Bruce, yet he was allowed to volunteer at Philadelphia Women’s Center. Bruce failed to show up for court.
Today’s actions by the FBI show that it is an overreach and power grab. Even Josh Shapiro and Merrick Garland would do anything to silence pro-lifers even before President Biden’s tyrannical speech he gave in Philadelphia earlier this month. This is only the beginning as the tide has turned. There will be many more who will face the same persecution as Mark did. We must be vigilant. We must double our efforts. We must not give up or give in to the progressive mob.
We must stand together and shout from the mountaintops about our pro-life convictions. We must not be afraid to stand up for what is true, good, and beautiful. We must protect what matters the most and that is family, marriage, and children (born and unborn).
They’ve just begun. They will lose this war.
Stand firm. Soldier on. Pray without ceasing.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10
The Fall 2022 40 Days for Life Campaign begins on Wednesday, September 28th. Here’s a preview of the campaigns in the Greater Philadelphia Area
In the heart of Philadelphia, the second biggest murder mill is there. The place has been defended by disgraced State Rep. Brian Sims, who has not apologized to the girls who were doxed by him in a live video. He was never to be seen during and after the Stand Against Bullying Rally when people watched in dismay and disgust the way he harassed women who stood against Planned Parenthood. 4,000 lives have been lost at the facility on a yearly basis.
The good news is there’s a Community Women’s Center across the street that offers healthy alternatives to abortion. They have build countless relationships with moms who went from abortion minded to choosing life for their child.
Pro-Lifers in Greater Philly area can help in saving lives with their prayers and support.
The campaign will run from September 28th to Saturday November 5th. The hours are 8 AM to 5 PM Monday through Saturday. Visit here to sign up today. Bring your own materials.
Learn what to do or say when on the sidewalk here.
Remember to pray for the conversion of the following workers and volunteers:
Dr. Lee Anthony Tripp
Dr. Joel Lebed
Jonathan Lovitz
Anna Smith
Dr. Lin-Fan Wang
Alhambra Frarey
Aishat Olatunde
Angie Ortiz
Bobbie Trotenberg
Sylvia Metzler
Voices for Life 