You may have noticed the article to the right about “Black Pro-Lifers’ Joy and Pain.”

In it, Tim Drake talked to several black pro-lifers who celebrated the historic nature of the election of Barack Obama, but were worried about how black babies would be affected.

“It’s an incredibly historic moment for our nation. There were many African-Americans who didn’t think we would see this in our lifetimes,” said pastor Arnold Culbreath, urban outreach director for Protecting Black Life in Cincinnati.

“However,” he added, “abortion remains the leading cause of death in the black community. With President-elect Obama being as aggressively pro-abortion as he is, that makes our work...READ MORE

Catholic moms familiar with the Proverbs 31 wife, who we hear about this Sunday, might sympathize with Daria Sockey. As April and I promised in our Guide to Sunday, here is Daria’s Faith & Family magazine payback piece:

Proverbs has a section subtitled “The Ideal Wife:” She’s held up to us as a role model, yet she dishes out intimidation as well as inspiration, if you ask me.

“When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize.”

On the one hand, anyone trying both to run a home and earn extra income sees a true sister in Mrs. Proverbs 31. She’s CEO of a cottage industry garment factory, a real estate...READ MORE

Rebecca Teti shared her parish’s “Jesse Tree Craft Swap” in the Register in the past.

But if no Jesse Tree craft swap is possble for you this year, simply use the list of ornaments and the readings she offered to do your own Jesse Tree at home.

Instructions

Bible Readings

Another great Register piece that got swallowed by the election was our symposium on the moral dimensions of the economic crisis. The whole thing is worth reading. But I wanted to point out Mark and Louise Zwick’s contribution.

It is a shame that adolescent-hearted men and women yoked liberal Catholicism to theological and moral dissent. Apart from sins of commission, those who did so will have sins of omission to answer for: They have taken a rich vein of Catholic thought and placed it at the service of the abortion, divorce and contraceptive industries. Instead of putting the Church’s wisdom to work in the world, they took the world’s wisdom and used it to throw roadblocks in front of...READ MORE

There’s an important interview at National Review with Marjorie Dannenfelser. It helpfully runs down all the bad news for pro-life during the election, and even finds a little good news. It also includes this memorable exchange:

Lopez: How are you keeping spirits up?

Dannenfelser: Drinking?

The bad news from Dannenfelser:

“In the House, there is a net loss of 15 pro-life votes. In the Senate, we lost Sununu and Dole, so that’s two, three if we lose Coleman, and four if we lose Chambliss. Our net loss will be somewhere between 2 and 4.Overall for SBA List, thirteen of our endorsed candidates failed to win election on Tuesday. That includes four incumbents (Marilyn Musgrave, Elizabeth...READ MORE

Here’s another cinematic take on pro-lifers’ predicament. I’ll set the scene, in case you don’t remember it (and finish it, in case you don’t want to watch the whole thing). Rocky is seeing his infant son for the first time. Adrienne has been in a coma since the birth, and Rocky has spent that time in church, praying for her.

In obedience to Adrienne’s orders, Rocky goes back to basics, relearning what made him great, and inspiring followers among the youth by the very zeal of his conviction.

Pro-lifers: After a tough election, we, too, need to decide not to be defeated, and train. For instance, on the home page, scroll down to the “Hot Topics” box to find articles about marriage and...READ MORE