Growing Up With Brothers With Down Syndrome And Learning Love...Pro-life Message on American Idol.

J.M.J.+

Dear Fellow Helpers,
I am emailing in regards to our next peaceful prayer vigil which will take place on Saturday, January 16th outside Planned Parenthood (345 Whitney Avenue New Haven) from 8am until 12 pm noon, the hours which the babies are scheduled to be killed by abortion. Please join us to take an hour of prayer. Abortions also take place on Wednesday from 11-3pm as well as Friday from 8 am-12 pm noon.
Below is an article on how the pro-life message is reaching millions through secular Television. Thanks be to God!

May God bless you,
Mike and Kerry

UPDATED - American Idol: 9th Child of 12, Daughter of Pro-Life Blogger Advances to Next Round

By Patrick B. Craine
BOSTON, Massachusetts, January 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Maddy Curtis of Bluemont, Virginia, the 16-year-old daughter of an award-winning pro-life blogger, impressed American Idol judges on the show this week, who unanimously advanced her to the next round.
The opening segment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XwbmGDgH60&feature=player_embedded featured a powerful testimony about her family of 12 children, and her brothers with Down syndrome - one biological (Jonathan) and three adopted (Jesse, Daniel, and Justin).
Maddy explained that her parents, Tripp and Barbara, adopted their first, Jesse, so that Jonathan would have “more of a companion.” After their first adoption, they served as a resource to counsel couples whose babies were diagnosed with Down syndrome, which led to two more adoptions.
About her disabled brothers, Maddy said, as tears welled up in her eyes, that, “I think some people are a little skeptical of Down syndrome. Those four boys bring out the best in every person they meet. They see the world in colors, and we need to see the world that way.”
In the audition, Maddy sang a beautiful rendition of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', yielding praise even from the normally-critical Simon Cowell. "Very good,” he said. “You've got a nice voice. Bit of soul in there, Maddy."
Maddy has been training as a singer for several years, and has entered a number of competitions, as well as playing the lead role in her high school's musical and starring in local concerts.
Despite her many accomplishments, however, her parish priest told LifeSiteNews that Maddy’s role singing as cantor at Mass every week is what's most important to her.
“Even though she's very accomplished at her age, she said that it makes her more nervous to sing at Mass than everywhere else,” said Fr. Ronald Escalante, pastor at St. Frances de Sales parish in Purcellville, Virginia. “She said, 'I'm singing for God', and it overwhelms her.”
“The whole parish enjoys it when she is singing, because they see this young 16-year-old girl leading the congregation in singing for the Mass,” he added.
The Curtis family were Evangelicals for twenty years, but two years ago, Maddy, her parents, and her four brothers with Down syndrome were all received into the Catholic Church. “They rely a lot on God's divine providence,” said Fr. Escalante. “They live by faith.”
“[Maddy] is a high-standards Christian girl, which I think is a good witness to the young people,” he said. “Even though she's very gifted with her singing, she is definitely someone who does not compromise her faith. ... She is a very, very good, down-to-earth, solid, sincere Christian Catholic.”
Fr. Escalante emphasized that the Curtis' are a “very, very pro-life” family, who, he said, “don't just preach about it, [but] actually live it.” Barbara, the mother of the family, is a professional writer and pro-life speaker who runs a popular pro-life blog.
Fr. Escalante believes the Curtis’ witness on American Idol was “just a grace of God.” “Every time I watch, I tell you, I get teary-eyed, because [Maddy] really got a lot more out of it than just being an audition,” he said. “She was able to showcase how good it is to be growing up with Down syndrome brothers. ... I thought this was a good exposure to plug in on a well-watched national and international setting – a chance for people to see these kids are beautiful kids.”
“My personal opinion is, anybody who would have been contemplating to get an abortion because they were diagnosed [with a Down syndrome baby],” he observed, “would probably think on that, because they really presented her story so well.”
See Barbara Curtis' blog: Mommy Life

Be Fruitful and Multiply.

J.M.J.+ HELP US!

This beautiful baby in the womb is 16 weeks in gestation and yet is elligible to be killed over at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England in New Haven. This particular PP killing center offers abortion up to 16 weeks and offers referral to all the other mothers whose babies are further along in developement, many to killing centers in NY.


Dear Fellow Helpers,
I am emailing in regards to our next peaceful prayer vigil which will take place on Saturday, January 2nd outside Planned Parenthood (345 Whitney Avenue New Haven) from 8am until 12 pm noon, the hours which the babies are scheduled to be killed by abortion. Please join us to take an hour of prayer. Abortions also take place on Wednesday from 11-3pm as well as Friday from 8 am-12 pm noon.



Wishing you all a Happy New Year and blessed Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God,
Mike and Kerry



Pope Benedict's New Year's Message Condemns, Abortion, Population Control
by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorJanuary 2, 2009
http://www.lifenews.com/int1039.html
The Vatican (LifeNews.com) -- Pope Benedict XVI has a special message for the world with the start of the New Year and it focuses on condemning abortion and birth control. The pope urged efforts to end poverty across the globe but said those efforts must also be life-affirming for women and unborn children.
The leader of the Catholic Church said poverty is often regarded by abortion advocates as a consequence of demographic change
That's the claim that there are too many people on the planet despite evidence that several areas of the world are experiencing underpopulation.
"For this reason, there are international campaigns afoot to reduce birth-rates, sometimes using methods that respect neither the dignity of the woman, nor the right of parents to choose responsibly how many children to have," the pope said.
"Graver still, these methods often fail to respect even the right to life," he added.
"The extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the fight against poverty, actually constitutes the destruction of the poorest of all human beings," the pope said.
The pope pointed out that population growth has led to a result in poverty, saying that, in 1981, around 40% of the world's population was below the threshold of absolute poverty and indicating that percentage has been reduced by half despite population growth in some of the worst areas.
"This goes to show that resources to solve the problem of poverty do exist, even in the face of an increasing population," the pontiff said.
"Moreover, among the most developed nations, those with higher birth-rates enjoy better opportunities for development. In other words, population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty," Pope Benedict concluded.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Helpers Vigil and Dr. Chu's Memorial mass

J.M.J.+

Dear Fellow Helpers of God's Precious Infants,

Please read and note the format change for this month.

The Monthly Prayer Vigil for December will be held this coming Saturday, December 12th on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, outside Planned Parenthood’s state Headquarters at 345 Whitney Ave in New Haven. The Prayer Vigil will begin with the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at 7:30 AM at Saint Mary's Church in New Haven on Hillhouse Ave. It will be followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for half of an hour and concluded with a closing Benediction at approximately 8:30 am.

We will leave Saint Mary's Church while praying the Rosary directly after Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Those who cannot process with us and wish to partake in the vigil will stay behind for Adoration and closing Benediction. We will not be reconvening at St. Joseph’s parking lot as regularly scheduled, but will be processing on foot directly from St. Mary’s to Planned Parenthood where God’s precious infants are scheduled to be killed. We will be lead by the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and escorted by the New Haven Police who will block off the intersections so we can safely process in the street.

After we have concluded our prayer vigil at Planned Parenthood we will then process on foot directly back to St. Mary’s Church where we will partake in the memorial Mass for Dr. Jim Chu which will begin at 10:00 am. Representing Jim as the founder and director of the Helpers in New Haven and to honor him as well as Our Lady( of course), we will process into the church and place the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the side of the Sanctuary. Paul Chu has arranged reserved seating in the front rows for all Helpers who will attend.
The change in schedule is to accommodate the 10:00 am memorial Mass for Dr. Chu whom we all love. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen
May God bless you,
Mike and Kerry

Saint Nicholas Pray For A Miracle For The Unborn Children You Love So Much!

J.M.J.+

Dear Fellow Helpers,
I am emailing in regards to our next peaceful prayer vigil which will take place on Saturday, December 5th on the Vigil of the Feast of St. Nicholas ( Patron Saint of Children) outside Planned Parenthood (345 Whitney Avenue New Haven) from 8am until 12 pm noon, the hours which the babies are scheduled to be killed by abortion. Please join us to take an hour of prayer. Abortions also take place on Wednesday from 11-3pm as well as Friday from 8 am-12 pm noon.
May God bless you,
Mike and Kerry
Saint Nicholas Pray for our Children at Planned Parenthood!


Senate Passes Amendment that Could Mandate Abortion Coverage in Insurance Plans

By John Jalsevac
December 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Senate on Thursday approved the Mikulski amendment by a vote of 61-39. All Republicans except Senators Vitter, Snowe and Collins voted against the amendment, and all Independents and Democrats except Senators Nelson (NE) and Feingold voted for it.
Pro-life leaders opposed the amendment over concerns that it provides authority that could be used to mandate abortion coverage in private insurance plans.
Specifically, the amendment states that anything classified as preventive care or screenings for women by the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) would become a mandated covered service. However, if the HRSA were to recommend abortion as a preventive care, insurance plans would have to cover abortion.
In a letter to Congress before the vote, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) explained its opposition to the Mikulski amendment: "If Congress were to grant any Executive Branch entity sweeping authority to define services that private health plans must cover, merely by declaring a given service to constitute 'preventive care,' then that authority could be employed in the future to require all health plans to cover abortions."
"Our concern on this point is not hypothetical," urged the NRLC letter. "Prominent pro-abortion advocates are already on record discussing abortion as a category of 'preventive health care.'"
In fact, as NRLC points out in its letter, a similar amendment that was proposed in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension was backed by a gamut of pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood and NARAL. "A July 8, 2009 letter from these groups asserted that by allowing the Health Resources and Services Administration to issue binding guidelines on preventive services, the 'unique preventive health needs of women' would be addressed," said NRLC. Pro-life organizations had proposed that the amendment should be modified to ensure that abortion coverage would not be mandated.
Americans United for Life (AUL) attorney Mary Harned wrote that while her group "strongly supports preventative care for women," "the Mikulski Amendment should be amended to include language prohibiting abortion from being included in the HRSA guidelines."
However, no such changes were made before the amendment was passed.

NON-EXISTENT

J.M.J.+

Dear Fellow Helpers,
I am posting in regards to our next peaceful prayer vigil which will take place on Saturday, November 28th outside Planned Parenthood (345 Whitney Avenue New Haven) from 8am until 12 pm noon, the hours which the babies are scheduled to be killed by abortion. Please join us to take an hour of prayer. Abortions also take place on Wednesday from 11-3pm as well as Friday from 8 am-12 pm noon.
The picture of the baby is 13 weeks old in his mother's womb. When we go out to pray at Planned Parenthood in New Haven we often pray for the babies and their mothers and fathers but it is hard not to feel and focus on the pain of the little ones even more harshly at this time of the year when everyone else has forgotten them. Pro-abortion advocates are always talking about the rights of the mother or the "woman" and how making abortion illegal would take that away. That argument itself is bogus as we know that abortion harms women just as it kills their children. It is not a choice or a right that any woman wants to make and it is not natural for a woman to allow someone to kill her baby. We see over and over that this harms women severly in many different ways...ways that may take years to come to the surface.However it is hard to not feel the pain and the suffering of the tiny babies who have been forgotten or worst yet have never even been acknowledged at all. Our society has made them invisible or worse has made them non-existent. Our culture does not accept them as people and there is a generation of young people growing up now who will tell you this. So the next time you are in the neighborhood of Whitney and Edwards where PP is located and you drive by... please remember that this is the place where so many babies have lost their lives all because our society has said they never existed. What else is our culture telling us that we so readily believe? I can only imagine the horror we would all feel if God would only allow us to hear the haunting cries which come from that building...God help us.

On behalf of the Helpers a floral arrangement of pink and blue flowers was sent to Dr. Chu’s funeral home. Two of the Helpers have suggested that we send a donation to the Franciscan Mission House in Pittsburg where we can have 30 Gregorian Masses sung by the same priest for 30 days in a row for the repose of Dr. Chu’s soul.

God bless you,
Mike and Kerry


Planned Parenthood Thanksgiving Dinner Conversation Guide : Promote Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 25, 2009Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When Americans gather around their dinner tables with friends and family tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving, they will catch up on the latest family chatter and probably talk about sports and the weather. But, Planned Parenthood's president has a suggestion for those who need a topic for discussion.In an email today to supporters of the abortion business, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards unveiled her own Thanksgiving dinner conversation guide."I don't know how things are at your Thanksgiving table, but in my house we don't just make small talk," she writes, saying she is "committed to having real conversations" that invariably turn to abortion. It is Thanksgiving "conversations like these that help" promote her pro-abortion agenda, she says, suggesting that abortion advocates follow her lead."If your family is anything like mine, you'll want to be prepared to converse thoughtfully. Here's some help — a guide to dinner table conversation," Richards says.Richards links to a Planned Parenthood web page urging members to help their family "avoid dirty politics by sticking to these points. If 'turkey talk' turns to health care reform, stand ready -- we've got you covered."The page lists several talking points on the topic of abortion funding in health care that covers the Stupak amendment added to the House government-run bill to remove abortion funding and the phony Capps amendment Harry Reid put in the Senate bill to include massive abortion funding in it."If Uncle Bill wants to debate, here are a few points he will have a tough time responding to: Stupak amounts to nothing less than an unacceptable 'middle-class abortion ban,'" Planned Parenthood advises saying. "If this bill becomes law, millions of middle class women will be prohibited from buying, through the exchange, private insurance that covers abortion, a legal medical procedure."The Planned Parenthood page urges activists to tell their family that some members of the House who supported the Stupak amendment are experiencing "buyer's remorse" and that "President Obama has indicated the Stupak goes too far.""Members of Congress have been saying in public interviews that they didn't realize the impact of Stupak before they voted for this proposal. Now that they have come to fully appreciate the impact of the Stupak ban, they are indicating that Stupak went to far," it continues.The Thanksgiving dinner conversation suggestion page urges activists to tell their family that health care reform "must include abortion" and that "Planned Parenthood must be part of the Exchange."Richards says the conversation guide is great for responding to occasions where "Aunt Gladys asks you questions," but given polls showing most Americans oppose being forced to pay for abortions under their health care plan, Richards's suggestions for answer may give Americans an upset stomach.

In Thanksgiving For a Baby Named Kevin!

D

J.M.J+
Dear Fellow Helpers,
I am posting in regards to our next peaceful prayer vigil which will take place on Saturday, November 21st outside Planned Parenthood (345 Whitney Avenue New Haven) from 8am until 12 pm noon, the hours which the babies are scheduled to be killed by abortion. Please join us to take an hour of prayer. Abortions also take place on Wednesday from 11-3pm as well as Friday from 8 am-12 pm noon.

So many thanks to all of you who donated your time, offered your prayers, and donated a gift! Victoria and her family were so touched by your love.
We cannot wait to meet baby Kevin in January!

God bless you and thanks be to God for this baby!
Mike and Kerry

I have spoken to some of you in regards to a baby shower which is being planned for one of the women that we are currently helping who changed her mind and decided to choose life for her baby at Planned Parenthood. Victoria is currently six months along and has 3 other children. She and the father of the baby are from Colombia and the father, Derik, also had a conversion of heart that day and has been very supportive of Victoria and the baby. Phil Liquori was able to encourage them to talk to a very special priest. Now they are hoping to not only prepare for the Sacrament of Marriage but also have their children baptized in the Church. I am currently looking for recommendations on who might know a priest willing to take on this family? If you have any ideas please email me. The graces from your prayers as Helpers have extended beyond the realm of saving a life into bringing souls back to the Church. Thanks be to God and to Our Lady for her unceasing prayers! On Saturday, November 14th a prayer Vigil and baby shower were held at both St. Mary’s and St. Anthony’s in New Haven. Financial difficulty was the main reason Victoria and Derik were headed to Planned Parenthood. Victoria didn’t have any baby items as she recently moved from Florida due to financial hardship and had to leave much behind. At the end of the baby shower she thanked everyone and was really moved at seeing everyone’s generosity and the caring way so many people had reached out to her. The baby will be due at the end of January and his name is Kevin.
The note above is an edited summary of Mike and Kerry Guidone’s great work at Helpers of God’s Precious Infants in New Haven.

Prayerful Presence

Dear Fellow Helpers,
I am posting in regards to our next peaceful prayer vigil which will take place on Saturday, October 17th outside Planned Parenthood (345 Whitney Avenue New Haven) from 8am until 12 pm noon, the hours which the babies are scheduled to be killed by abortion. Please join us to take an hour of prayer. Abortions also take place on Wednesday from 11-3pm as well as Friday from 8 am-12 pm noon.

May God bless you,
Mike and Kerry


Pro-Life Groups Call Guttmacher Study on Illegal Abortions a Propaganda Piece
by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 14, 2009
http://www.lifenews.com/int1352.htmlNew York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life advocates are responding to the new study disseminated by the Guttmacher Institute claiming that abortions should be legalized worldwide because of a supposed epidemic of unsafe abortions killing women. They say the study is nothing more than a propaganda piece by a group that supports abortion.
Guttmacher is formerly known as the Alan Guttmacher Institute and was an official affiliate of Planned Parenthood, where Guttmacher was a former president, until it disassociated itself with the abortion business to gain mainstream credibility.
The organization, which still advocates legalizing abortions on a global scale, issued a report yesterday claiming as many as 70,000 women die from illegal abortions.
Anthony Ozimic, the communications director for SPUC, the British pro-life group, says the Guttmacher study is false.
"The Guttmacher report is not independent academic research but propaganda from the pro-abortion lobby," he told LifeNews.com today. "The Guttmacher Institute was set up to promote abortion and contraception. The report's acknowledgments are a roll-call of the pro-abortion lobby."
Ozimic says "Guttmacher's figures are based on highly spurious guesstimates, which even the report itself is forced to admit."
"The pro-abortion lobby has a proven track record of exaggerating illegal abortions numbers. Abortion numbers in Britain today are many times higher than before the 1967 Abortion Act, despite ever-increasing access to birth control drugs and devices," he added.
Scott Fischbach, the head of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, a statewide pro-life group with a global outreach program that has seen it promote the pro-life perspective at the United Nations, also chimed in on the report.
He says Guttmacher should be promoting medical advances and better health care in the developing nations where it says abortions should be legalized because of supposed illegal abortion problems.
"The Guttmacher Institute refuses to address the greatest need of pregnant women: good medical care. This is the most important factor in reducing maternal mortality," Fishbach told LifeNews.com.
"Even though Guttmacher admits that its abortion numbers in the developing world are based on conjecture and are therefore unreliable, it continues to stridently argue that the legalization of abortion is the answer to the problems facing poor women," he added.
"Pregnant women need access to doctors, hospitals, medications, nutritional care, safe childbirth and other medical care in order to reduce the risks of pregnancy and childbirth. The legalization of abortion does nothing to improve women’s health or welfare," he said.