Pope Francis is Time’s man of the year. Like Father Raymond de Souza’s take on this:

The 20th century posed three enormous challenges, not only to the Church, but to all of Western civilization. The first was from “above,” the totalitarian state seeking to crush all social institutions, including marriage, family and the church. The second was from “below,” the sexual revolution and its attendant social changes, which undermined marriage, family and the church. The third was in the entire intellectual environment, in which the possibility of knowing the truth at all, especially moral truth, was radically questioned.

It is possible to understand John Paul II and Benedict XVI as two parts of an epic, world-changing, 35-year pontificate, which went into battle on all three fronts. Call it “police work” or manning the barricades or clambering aboard the ark in rough waters — it was necessary. If Francis now is able to return to what the Church usually does in times of relative tranquility, it is because of what went before. Does the Church appear to be more attractive under Francis? Time is right about that, for she is attempting to be more of who she properly is.

Many pro-lifers are concerned that Pope Francis was telling them their work was not important. But I did not hear this in his message, personally. And more to the point, I am unwilling to trust a radically anti-Catholic media’s interpretation of the Pope.

I do think the pro-life message is itself an act of charity, and that the “telling the truth” element of it is heard best when accompanied by old-fashioned charity. (As a side tangent note, which I’ve made so often before, pro-lifers are very often denied the opportunity to be hands-on charitable, so quick does our cultural outlook nurture a trip to the abortion clinic. Because this is the case, countless pro-lifers spend their time serving those who are born. It is the mark of someone who knows nothing at all about pro-lifers who says otherwise.)

Read about this here:

McKenzie’s daughter Marit, a freshman at the University of Calgary, died after suffering four heart attacks, a pulmonary embolism, and bleeding in the brain in late January after less than a year of taking Diane-35, manufactured by Bayer.

Diane-35 is a controversial hormone pill intended to treat acne and excessive hairiness in women but is often prescribed by doctors as an off-label contraceptive.

I remember Diane 35 from my uni days. I didn’t distinguish between it treating acne and being a contraceptive and I don’t think anyone else did either.

Ah, The Pill. I will never forget this dude “a friend” dated in first year university. He took her aside, sitting on the front steps of her dorm, just across from Toronto’s ROM and in loving care and concern asked her if she didn’t want to get on The Pill because…wait for it… it would help her cycle. Ah yes. It is *so good* (sarcasm alert) to be cared for in that way. Imagine. No greater love hath man than this, than to ask his girlfriend to get on the Pill, pronto.

My sincere condolences go out to the family who lost their daughter on this drug and I wish them every success in their lawsuit.

It works.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMyExi2q-ZI]

More often than you might think, I hear about a woman who, through my direct group of friends/acquaintances is considering abortion. Has it scheduled. Sometimes I hear the reasons. Sometimes I don’t. I always offer the help I believe is most appropriate. In matters of life or death, this is not a time to be “Canadian.” I don’t aim to be obnoxious, either. I just aim to speak my mind, hopefully, with compassion.

This time all I could do was offer a simple encouragement to my friend who is friends with the woman scheduled for an abortion. I strongly encouraged her to speak her mind with this woman; to raise some hopeful options. (This is a woman who is saying she will get an abortion, but also desperately wanted a child.)

These moments always highlight a couple of things for me:

1. That in a very concrete way there is a baby right now who may not be by the end of the week

2. That we have created spaces and we fund them and therefore sanction them where women can arrive pregnant and leave not pregnant but the fact remains that they are, before and after, mothers

3. That behind the masses and statistics of abortion there are always individual people

4. That my first concern is always for the born mother, and secondarily for the unborn child. That was my response last night when I heard of this case and it came naturally to me, not as some PR spin as pro-choicers want you to believe. Aborting her very much wanted child does damage to women–damage no one but the most ideological contest

5. That turning away or saying “it’s her choice” is just about the most terrible response anyone could possibly have. Why do we think of this as respectful?

There are few things so tragic as loss of life, however that happens. But what is worse is when we sanction the loss of life and then tell everyone to shut up about their grief. In the current circumstance, I don’t know the woman. Therefore, I can’t reach out to her. I’m told I shouldn’t care. Call me crazy, and many do, but when someone is signing for the death of their own child, I care about it and it weighs on me. I wish I could do more. That’s all.

Someone sent me this. It’s old, so I’m not sure why/how the blogosphere called this up just now.

Have a watch. It’s Hillary Clinton responding to a pro-lifers question about whether “reproductive rights” include abortion abroad.

Here’s what I see in her reply:

She starts with personal anecdotes. I would do that too. My stories would be different, but they are no less gut wrenching. I’ll spare you the details here, but suffice to say, I know post-abortive women who have cried on the floor in the fetal position because they feel the loss of their child so acutely. It’s not exactly the picture of empowerment.

She moves into some very contested territory. The facts: Good medical care reduces maternal mortality, regardless of whether abortion is legal or not. But what she says is that good medical care and access to abortion decrease abortion rates. Which is false in her country and ours too. Abortion rates went up upon legalizing. They’ve remained incredibly high ever since. We might see some fiddling at the edges. By that, I mean a slight decline or a slight rise. At this point we don’t know here in Canada because we stopped keeping accurate abortion statistics. But the legal environment both here and in the United States has kept abortion anything but rare.

That’s the falsehood of her assertion (a more reasonable position than many) that abortion be safe, legal and rare. It is not safe in her country: Women die in abortions. It is legal. It is not at all rare.

So. Spare me the pain of saying that this is some bold statement in favour of women’s rights.

As a final note, I will thank Hillary Clinton for being reasonable, since she at very least pretends to want abortion to be rare, which is not what a lot of her sisters in the movement would say. I’ll never forget a woman at a pro-choice conference at University of Toronto law school asking why on earth a woman couldn’t ask for a third trimester abortion for social reasons. The people on the podium appeared uncomfortable… but hey–those are their supporters. Some of their people absorbed the message of “my body, my choice” and are willing to apply it to any point of pregnancy for any reason. It’s consistent, and pro-choicers must be held accountable for that.

When attachment comes up, generally people have some mixed ideas around what that means, and how it ought to be applied. Parents–you decide whether you want to co-sleep with your kids! I won’t offer advice. (In case you are wondering, I wouldn’t, but really, who cares? I don’t have kids.)

In a basic way, every human being needs to be attached to others, and this is something we miss in bigger picture discussions of the topic. My workplace did an interview with Vancouver-based developmental psychologist Dr. Gordon Neufeld, in which he explains the concept, and why it matters, why it is that kids are harder to parent these days in the absence of an attachment-friendly culture. All the YouTube clips can be found at the link above. Here’s one:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TSukxwzY7E]

I just got such a kick out of Run With Life’s Youtube clip making fun of Premier Wynne’s YouTube clip. Please do watch both. You should watch Premier Wynne’s clip first.

Pat Maloney of Run With Life is trying achieve transparency in government on abortion records. Fortunately, Premier Wynne says she wants the same thing. Maybe they can walk together some day. Or, if Premier Wynne insists on running–well, good news. I like running too!! And I too, often set hard goals for myself.

It’s so good to all be on the same page.

If you have no idea why Pat is concerned, it has to do with abortion statistics being unavailable in Ontario. Read this for background.

Enjoy!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2PXySGHbnk]

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yki13hV95aY]

This little clip is heartwarming. Don’t expect it to have to do with abortion. Perhaps you, in moments, also feel that the relationships around you, the marriages, they are either splitting, very difficult, divorced and/or lacklustre? So I was so happy to see this true story about a beautiful love story. “She lights up my life when she asks me in the evening ‘wouldn’t you like a little ice cream?'” Simple.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNfvuJr9164#t=341]

I share Barbara Kay’s concerns about the lack of informed consent on abortion. I bought the book she mentions in her article, called Complications. I think it’s excellent. And I don’t think it is pro-life or pro-choice to share this information widely with women who will consider abortion.

Soul-searching days lie ahead for ideologues invested in the notion that abortion is a minor, virtually risk-free procedure, without medical or psychological residue. For many “progressives,” the right to unfettered abortion is the quintessential symbol of women’s liberation from the patriarchy. Any constraint at all, even on a woman’s confidence in aborting — whether or not it constitutes rational consideration of her own best interests — represents a defeat in the battle for gender equality. But this absolutism was adopted in simpler scientific times, before DNA, ultrasounds and longitudinal epidemiological studies. These scientific advances have altered the perceptions of many ordinary Canadians who had previously given little thought to the “blob of tissue” being extracted from women, but who now rightly regard abortion (especially sex selection abortion) as a complex, morally freighted issue.

Soul-searching, is one way to put it, yes.

Emily’s House is a new children’s palliative care facility in Toronto. I have been tracking with Emily and her mom through their blog for a long time. Emily has a rare, fatal neuro-degenerative disease called MLD. She has lived long past expectations in no small part due to the courageous, loving, nurturing care of her mother, Lindsey. In any event, as I have read Emily and Lindsey’s blog, I have become better acquainted with the concept of peace and oddly, even joy, in suffering.

This piece in the National Post continues on that theme.

Among other services, Emily’s House in Toronto provides 24/7 nursing care, “play therapy,” a place for family members to sleep and the services of a chaplain. Family or staff have even brought in cakes for baby Stephanie, lit candles and marked milestones that may never be. “We celebrate her birthday every month, because for us it’s a miracle that she’s still alive,” said Cherry, her mother. “It’s a great experience that we are here. It’s amazing.”

Once I get beyond the terrible grief and sadness it must be for parents to hold a baby who is palliative, I do stand in awe of these tiny, resilient souls.

It’s the Christmas season. This means that if you are experiencing any grief or sadness, the blaring of “It’s the most wonderful time…of the year!” in the grocery store is going to be all the more annoying.

But joy is to be found even in darkness and that is why I liked this article.