Who can resist a trusting little baby’s helpless gaze? Who can miss the message with it: “Did you know? Your baby’s heart starts beating at 21 days. Is abortion really an option? Get the facts; get help.”

The picture and message appear on some of the latest outdoor ads from 40 Million and Counting. Like the babies it’s trying to save, this grassroots campaign is itself young and small, but it is already making some impact in parts of Los Angeles and San Diego.

“We’re trying to educate the public to show them going through an abortion is more than what the people you’re paying $300 for it are telling you,” explained one of 40 Million and Counting’s staff members. “This is a living being, a...READ MORE

What do you get when you team up two pro-lifers, one a former Hollywood filmmaker and the other a Florida songwriter? You get a professional, quality music video that hopes to become the anthem for the unborn.

The song is I Am the Unborn, and the makers chose to premiere it here at the Register.

The filmmaker is Christian Peschken, who has a list of television and film credits to his name — stretching from major shows in his native Germany clear to Hollywood, where he worked with the likes of Martin Sheen. Peschken now focuses his producing/filmmaking talents almost exclusively on Catholic subjects.

The songwriter is Barry David Butler, who wrote a heartfelt song from the point of view...READ MORE

The Family Rosary apostolate has launched its 2012 “Try Prayer! It Works!” contest and is gearing up for a banner year of entries.

For this 17th national contest, Family Rosary is again asking children and teens from all over the country to express their faith through their art, poetry and prose, with a particular theme.

The contest is open to all students in grades K through 12 from Catholic schools, parishes, home schooling, religious-education classes and other Catholic organizations. Depending on the final tally, there is a potential of a total of 36 awards: first, second and third place at each grade level.

This annual national competition regularly draws more than 3,000 entries.

Nothing says “Christmas” more clearly at the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, Conn., than its annual crèche exhibit.

In years past, we’ve marveled at crèches from the Vatican, Italy, Europe, Central and South America and Asia.

The seventh-annual exhibit takes visitors to Africa in “Christmas Across Africa.”

More than a dozen countries are represented in this show, where each Nativity scene has been adapted to each country or local culture and customs.

Most of the crèches have European influences. The reason is simple: European countries colonized Africa, especially in the 19th century. Even before that, European missionaries brought Christianity to many places on the African...READ MORE

For the ninth year in a row, the Liberty Counsel, a pro-life, pro-family litigation group based in Florida and Washington, is releasing its annual “Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign.”

“We’ve seen a major shift in the last several years, and now the ‘Nice’ side outnumbers the ‘Naughty’ side,” said Matthew Staver, Liberty Counsel’s founder and chairman. “For just one example, CVS was historically on the ‘Naughty’ side, but now it’s come over on the ‘Nice’ side.”

Staver noted a major shift came in 2006. In 2005, Walmart “forbade employees even returning ‘Merry Christmas’ when customers initiated (saying) ‘Merry Christmas.’ And they called their trees ‘holiday trees.’ When we pointed that out...READ MORE

Father Robert Barron’s Catholicism series is already being hailed as a major documentary in this country. EWTN is airing six parts of the series, and more than 100 PBS stations across the country, from New York to Los Angeles, are airing four parts of the 10-part series.

Now Catholicism will be broadcast in Germany.

Nanette Noffsinger, the project’s and Father Barron’s public-relations representative, told me the release dates for the German edition haven’t been set yet, but German producer and filmmaker Christian Peschken is busy helping Father Barron’s ministry, Word on Fire, get Catholicism ready for the German people.

Peschken has been doing a lot of German-language adaptations of...READ MORE

The bells of St. Mary’s were ringing in Minneapolis on Oct. 14. They were pealing loud and clear to celebrate the huge grant just won by the Basilica of St. Mary.

The victory proved that when Catholics work together, they can accomplish great things.

In this case, it was for the Church and the church. The basilica, which is the co-cathedral church of the St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese, came in first place in the Partners in Preservation contest, gaining the top award of $109,800 to restore its narthex and sacristy.

How did the Catholic teamwork come about?

The Partners in Preservation program picks an area of the country to run this contest to give preservation grants. The contest...READ MORE