This afternoon Uncle R. came by and picked up the multiple boxes of pro-life stuff from me — the things I inherited from my predecessor and the stuff I accumulated during my tenure.  (Step one in readying the basement for our hoped-for move, I guess.)

Now if only we could make our move and have a fresh beginning somewhere…  There’s still potential life in the offer we got, but more time is needed to bring it to conclusion.  We’ll see where things go.

Anyway, after Agent Murphy went to bed last night, Mr. Tldz and I spent some time figuring the best way to arrange our remaining living room furniture.  It definitely looks more spacious now, but it feels weird when I walk in there.  I guess maybe this is good practice for going to a whole new place.  Would really like to sell and get the house we want…

Still have to take the step of “firing” our existing agent so we can list with the other guy.  I called her this morning, but had to leave a generic voice mail.  I hope she’ll get back to me soon.  Maybe she’ll get lucky and this lowball offer will turn into something real based on our counteroffer, but otherwise we’re moving on.

Speaking of moving on…  This morning I sent in a wrap up/thank you announcement on the Mend a Heart campaign.  And then I let our pastor know that, given our (hopefully) impending move, I’m resigning my position as head of the pro-life committee.  Uncle R. has agreed to keep things going at least in the interim until Father decides who he’ll appoint as the next leader.  Five and a half years was a pretty good run, and we ended on a successful fundraising campaign for PATH.

This weekend was also the committee’s last meeting for a couple of months, as we’ll break for June and July.  I’ve decided that in the next couple of weeks I need to inform our pastor of my intention to step down as chair.  I’d hoped to have an offer on the house, a move date, etc. to make it a “clean break.”  We’re still hoping we’ll be moved by the end of the summer, but even if we’re not, it could come sometime in the fall.  And I don’t think it’s right for me to lead the start of the new program year and then just drop it on someone else.  (And, honestly, I’m a bit burned out.  I’ve been chair for 5 1/2 years, and that’s enough banging my head against a wall in that particular venue.)

Our realtor says we had decent traffic at the open house on Sunday, but no showings since.

Will be glad to get our final pro-life project of the year behind me.  (Then, if we actually get to move, I can hand off the leadership of the committee!)  The Mend a Heart Campaign benefiting Post Abortion Treatment and Healing (PATH) kicks off this weekend.  Hopefully the parish will actually follow through on the logistics as planned and our small, merry band of volunteers can pull this off.

Agent Murphy has decided to drool all over a puzzle piece and then use it as a tool to spread drool all over the floor and any other surface he can get to.  Yippee.

Time to go fold diapers…

Planning a pro-life committee fundraising project this spring to benefit PATH (similar to the Baby Bottle Boomerang program we did two years ago to benefit Birthright).

Have a rental minivan again because our car is in the shop, trying to rectify the post-accident fuel gauge problem that they couldn’t figure out when they did the original body work.  That’s been a saga, but not worth rehashing; hopefully it will be all better soon.  Have a new Town & Country this time – with power sliding doors and mirrors.  Very nice.  Power mirrors a definite must.  Power sliding doors are nice, too.

Preparing for our first road trip with a toddler.  Hopefully we have some things that will keep him busy in the car, and we’ve acquired an electric cooler for the car to make feeding him on the road a little easier.  This drive to Greensboro will just be a dry run for our big trip to Chicago at the end of May.

Getting close to time for Agent Murphy’s lunch, so I must go.

We were the first group to do a project like this in the new church, and we hit some snags with the setup.  Staff didn’t seem to think through how things like this would go in the new space, so when I did what I was told to do but it wasn’t really what they wanted done, I got chewed out.  A real pain in the-you-know-what.  I hope it’s time off of purgatory for me…  (The cynical part of me says that if the first thing in the new space had been a recycling project sponsored by the social justice committee, the staff would have thought it all through perfectly and everything would have gone smoothly; but then, we’ve long known the priorities of our parish.  But our director of religious education did step in to help Sunday morning, and I really appreciated that.)

Edit: In response to a wrap-up report I sent him, I did receive an e-mail from our pastor today apologizing for “barking” at us before mass last weekend.  That is much appreciated.

November 6, 2008

Dear Father Schillinger:

It is with sadness but resolve that we write this letter to inform you that we are modifying our 2009 offertory pledge. We turned in our completed pledge form as Mass last weekend indicating an annual pledge of $____, but in light of the recent election we will be reducing our 2009 offertory contribution from $___ per month to $___ per month. [We halved our pledge.]

With a radical pro-abortion, even pro-infanticide (he voted 3 times to deny any care to infants in Illinois born alive after abortion) president and pro-abortion liberals in control of Congress, we know that what rather meager resources we have must be directed to pro-life causes. As pro-abortion forces now in control work to expand the “right” to abortion and force taxpayers to fund abortion, organizations who speak clearly and forcefully for the unborn must be strengthened. Their work – Birthright, PATH, Priests for Life, and similar organizations – must be supported as much as possible.

Unfortunately, as a parish, IHM does not make the list of organizations that speak clearly and forcefully for the unborn. With [Mrs. Tldz] heading up the pro-life committee for several years, we wish that were not so; but that involvement has proven to us that it is. Our committee received criticism for our prayer vigil sign which said “say NO to abortion mill on Cliff Valley Way,” being told that the term “abortion mill” lacked “Christian charity.” But what about the Christian charity lacking in intentionally and brutally ending the life of a completely defenseless unborn baby? In your years as IHM’s pastor, we have heard you publicly mention the word “abortion” perhaps three or four times – a paltry number considering that abortions are routinely being performed within walking distance of the parish. When we made a submission for the prayers of the faithful around the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we were questioned by a member of the parish staff about the use of the word “abortion” several times in the prayer. We had to explain that given the presence of a facility performing abortions so close to our parish, and the fact that Our Lady of Guadalupe is patroness of the unborn, it was an appropriate prayer. It seems that at IHM, those of us who defend the right to life of the unborn are called upon to explain ourselves more than those who remain silent, or even support, this slaughter. We are often told that abortion is not the only life issue, which is true; but those who say we should address other life issues really seem to believe that we should talk about other issues and NOT talk about abortion. This is not what we know our Church to teach.

Archbishop Gregory, in his pre-election column, wrote:

“According to the principles of Faithful Citizenship, Catholics must support the just care of the poor, the rights of workers, the dignity of people who immigrate to a new nation, the conservation of the environment; we must assess the very complex economic issues, seek to provide affordable health care for people who do not enjoy that security, and foster the more humane treatment of those who are imprisoned, to list only some of the issues that we now face. However, before and prior to all of those vitally important concerns, Faithful Citizenship places the issue of Life itself. All of those other matters are of immense and lasting significance, yet they remain of no consequence for those who are not granted the first right—the right to be born. For this reason, I want to remind all of you, my brothers and sisters, to remember those famous Jeffersonian words borrowed from Locke—and especially remember the order that he gave them.”

So we were taken aback to hear you say on the Sunday before election day that a Catholic could “in good conscience” vote for Barack Obama – one of the most pro-abortion politicians ever elected. If all those other “vitally important concerns” are of “no consequence” to those not allowed to be born, how can we “in good conscience” vote for someone who would deny the right to be born to so many because we may like his stance on other issues?

While we would have been disappointed by your words no matter the outcome of the election, if pro-abortion forces had not won, we would have maintained our pledged support of IHM. Now, however, the need for pro-life work and post-abortion work will sadly be so great that we must redirect some of our limited resources to it. Note, though, that we are not eliminating our support of the parish. It is where we worship and we know we have an obligation to support its operation; and we happily fulfill that obligation.

Please know that IHM, you, your brother, and your family remain in our prayers.

Sincerely,

Mr. and Mrs. Tldz

Now I just hope the action plan we parish pro-life leaders are awaiting to formally address President-elect Obama’s stated intention to promote abortion among his earliest actions will be coming quickly – and will be a strong one.  I fear, though, that our bishops often fail to recognize the necessary time frames/time constraints to address legislation, etc. effectively.  Lord, give them courage.

In other news, all the letters from Agent Murphy’s name puzzle bench are currently accounted for.  It’s good he has his whole name back!

After a stop at home, we headed off to lunch at Los Bravos with J from my MBA program.  It was her first time to meet the Agent.  As we hoped, he took a nice nap.  Upon returning home, he just downed 10 ounces of milk – his largest intake in a single sitting ever.  And we read about Tootle the train, part of an anniversary collection of Golden Books from J.  Good fun.

A Prayer for Mothers

Good and Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth new life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.

Give them the strength to love and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly. Give them the faithful support of husband, family and friends as they care for the physical and spiritual growth of their children. Give them joy and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood. Most of all, give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most.

Dear Lord, let me honor my mother if she is living and remember her in prayer if she is dead. Pour down your grace on her and on all mothers on this day dedicated to them.

Amen.