| LMF News |  March 2011 | |
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Dear friends,
Welcome to the first edition of LMF News for 2011! We've had a bit of a break but it's good to be back for another year. A special greeting to new subscribers...thanks for joining us, we hope you get something out of LMF News and pass it onto family and friends.
As per usual you will see the list of videos and articles in the column to the left as well as a collection of our publications, podcasts and videos and many recommended websites on a host of topics.
You probably know that the traditional understanding of marriage will be under significant strain this year with strong pushes to redefine marriage to be between two men or two women. At this time, federal politicians have been asked to canvas the opinion of their constituents on this matter. Now is the time to visit, phone or email your MPs to let them know that you value marriage as the union of a man and woman. Marriage is a specific type of love, one that involves a love that is naturally open to the gift of life, and marriage forms the basis of the family, the cornerstone of society.
As part of our mandate to educate and strengthen marriage and family life, you will see at the very end of the newsletter a list of upcoming events. There are many retreats, conferences and reflection days coming up, make sure you make time to build up your vocation and support life issues in 2011. The first event the LMF Centre is hosting is our 'afternoon for couples hoping to conceive' and the information on that is in the first article.
Thank you for being a part of the work we do by subscribing to LMF News. If you do appreciate this newsletter, please forward it to someone else this month who you think might also like to subscribe. And if you have any comments or feedback email us at lmfnews@sydneycatholic.org or phone us on 02 9390 5290.
God Bless you and your family.
Life, Marriage and Family Centre Team |
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Afternoon for Couples Hoping to Conceive | | Saturday 19 March
When a couple are hoping for the gift of a child, difficulties in conceiving can be a source of anxiety and confusion. The Life, Marriage & Family Centre of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney is offering an afternoon on Saturday 19 March for married  couples (Catholic or otherwise), who are trying to have children, or who desire to learn more about the various options available to assist fertility, which are in harmony with the dignity of married love.
The afternoon will include talks on the Church's vision of fertility and parenthood, understanding one's own fertility, confronting problems with fertility, and concluding with an individual blessing for couples and afternoon tea.
Please pass the invitation onto any couples who might be interested.
See the flyer here.
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Video Interview with Bishop Anthony Fisher OP | |
Most Reverend Anthony Fisher OP, was Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, Australia and served as Coordinator of Sydney's World Youth Day 2008. He is now Ordinary of the Diocese of Parramatta in Australia. Bishop Fisher received a doctorate in bioethics from the University of Oxford in 1995 and became the founding Director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne. Join Fr. Thomas Rosica of Salt and Light Televison in Canada as he interviews Bishop Fisher on the dilemmas of our time including stem cells research, marriage, homosexuality and life issues.
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Same Sex Parenting: Liberation or Deprivation? | | |
Dr David van Gend - Gays are not second-class citizens but a gay man certainly makes a second-class mother. Two lesbian women may be model citizens, but neither of them can be a Dad to a little boy. The most serious objection to gay marriage is that it means gay parenting, and gay  parenting means depriving a child of either his mother or his father. The gay marriage debate, at its heart, is not about the rights and needs of the adults, but of the child.
There are already tragic situations where a child is deprived of a mother or a father - such as the death or desertion of a parent. Some broken families reform as a homosexual household, and nothing can or should be done about that. But such tragedy and brokenness should not be wilfully inflicted on a child by the law of the land.
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Is God Good? (video) | | |
Is God good? If he is why is there suffering and evil?
Watch this very short video below to find out the answer...
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Premarital Sex | | |
Not Good for Future Marriage
The Economist - When is it the right time to do the deed? If priests had their way, it would be shortly after the wedding ceremony-but recent studies show such advice is rarely heeded. Roughly 85% of the American population,  for example, approves of premarital sex. Faced with numbers like that, what hope do the Vatican and its ilk really have?
More than they did a week ago. Until now, the argument that couples should wait until they are married before they have sex has rested on mere assertion and anecdote. Dean Busby and his colleagues at Brigham Young University, in Utah, however, have gathered some data which support delay.
Read the complete article
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Outsourcing Pregnancy | | |
Surrogacy in the 21st Century
Audrey Echevarria - It all started with a bit of miscalculated PR. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, upon expressing their gratitude to the woman who carried the newest addition to their family, Faith Margaret, made the mistake of calling the surrogate mother by her proper medical industry name: a "gestational carrier". The outcry in Australia was instantaneous; people thought that Nic and Keith's cold and detached description of the surrogate mother sounded... wrong. How could they be so insensitive as to describe the woman who'd housed their child for nine months as some kind of incubating machine? Surely she deserved more respect.
At first sight, surrogacy might look like a kind service, done almost as a favour by a surrogate to help the infertile (or homosexual) commissioning  parents. Certainly, this is what is emphasised by those who defend the practice. The fact that some women (in the US, at least) are paid handsomely for this "favour" does not diminish their incredibly self-giving motive. Advocates try to woo us with tales of surrogates happy to go through gruelling pregnancies and ultimately give up the child for the sake of a couple's happiness. They rend our hearts with the suffering of infertile couples and their obsession with having children, which has made them ruthless in their quest, as if this obsession is proof that they actually deserve kids. They say critics of surrogacy are conservative or religious bigots who are afraid of the "unnaturalness" of assisted reproduction, for no real reason.
Read the complete article
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Video - The Pope's Monthly Prayer Intention | | |
The Imporance of the Family
Each month the Pope asks all the faithful to join with him in two specific prayer intentions, one is a general intentions and the other is a missionary intention. Last month his general intention was for that the family and a short video was produced (below) to promote this important need.
To read all the Pope's prayer intentions for 2011 click here.
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Marching on the Right Side of History | | |
Defending Conjugal Marriage
Jennifer Roback Morse - As an advocate of conjugal marriage, I am often told that I am on the "wrong side of History." The justice of "marriage
equality" is overwhelming; the younger generation favors it; same sex marriage is inevitable. But this analysis is false. Indeed, there is ample reason to think that the March of History storyline will be proven incorrect. The reason? We were told all these same things about abortion.
"You need to accept Roe v. Wade. The unlimited abortion license is nothing but simple justice for women. Besides, the next generation will completely accept abortion. They will grow up knowing nothing else. They will not have all your hang-ups about sex and your squeamishness about scraping a bit of tissue out of a woman's body. Reproductive freedom is the wave of the future. You are on the Wrong Side of History."
A funny thing happened on the way to History: the people did not perform as promised...
Read the complete article
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Man adopts 50 children to save them from abortion | | |
This video is about a man from Vietnam is on an incredible solo mission to cut the country's abortion rate, one of the highest in the world. Tong Phuoc Phuc has opened his home as a refuge for abandoned babies and looks after more than 50. He has pledged to care for unwanted children rather than see women terminate their pregnancies.
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CatholicSingles.com - Free for Australians | | |
CatholicSingles.com has been a meeting place for Catholics since 1997. It is run be practicing Catholics and it is used by genuine Catholics looking to meet someone with whom they can share their faith and form a possible relationship.
CatholicSingles.com is offering free membership to Australians right through 2011 so if you are looking for another avenue where you can meet fellow Catholics this might be for you!
Click on www.catholicsingles.com/Australia to access the page for Australians.
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Video - Why Should I Save Myself for Marriage? | |
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Sex Trafficking: The New Slavery | | |
Diane Bayly - Slavery was officially abolished in the United States in 1865. Yet slavery is now flourishing in the U.S. and out of public view.
Lena, a student from Eastern Europe, had dreams of visiting the United States and improving her English through a study abroad program. When she arrived at the U.S. airport, she was told that her study placement had
been changed. She was given a bus ticket to a different city. Upon arrival there, traffickers took her passport and enslaved her in the sex industry for almost a year (CNN Opinion, November 25, 2009).
Maria paid a coyote (a cross-border smuggler) $5,000 to bring her into California. When she arrived, the smugglers demanded $6,000 more. Unable to pay, she was forced to work off the "debt" as a prostitute. She reported that her captors tortured her with an electric shock when she did not follow their orders (Fox News, November 16, 2009).
These are only a few of the stories of tens of thousands of sex slaves in the United States. Modern-day slavery, now referred to as human trafficking, is not just an evil of bygone years that we read about in history books. It is a present reality worldwide. Human beings continue to be bought, sold, and subjected to horrific conditions of bondage. In fact, human trafficking is now the fastest-growing source of profits for organized crime worldwide and is tied with arms trading as the second most profitable.
Read the complete article
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Dating Someone who Fears Divorce | | By Anthony Buono
Dear Anthony,
My girlfriend and I met on Ave Maria Singles six months ago and have been going great until recently. She started to become distant and says she is afraid of the whole relationship thing. She said she doesn't want to get hurt like her mom (her father left the family after 20 years of marriage and got remarried). She says she can prevent being hurt that way in the future by not getting too involved in any relationship. I really want this to work but just don't know what to do at this point. Do you have any suggestions?
I'm sorry that you have to go through this. Poor girl. I feel bad for her. She is scarred by the divorce of her parents, and naturally does not want the  same thing to happen to her. Unfortunately, she equates the failed marriage of her parents as being marriage itself. If it can happen to her parents, why couldn't it happen to her?
It very well could happen to her. No one knows for certain that the person they marry won't change on them or go as far as to give up on their marriage. No one knows if they might be the one to end it. Nothing is certain. And in this uncertainty lies the trust in one another, and the trust in God. Marriage is a great leap of faith.
Read the complete article |
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Modesty and Beauty | | |
The Lost Connection
Regina Schmiedicke - In his book Man and Women, Dietrich von Hildebrand points to a particular "perfection" of the feminine nature: "We find in women a unity of personality by the fact that heart, intellect, and temperament are much more interwoven...This unity of the female type of human person displays itself also in a greater unity of inner and exterior life, in a unity of style embracing the soul itself as well as the exterior demeanor." In other words, women possess a special genius for harmonizing their outward appearance with their interior life-for  incarnating their beliefs and ideas in concrete, visible ways.
Sadly, just as many women have forgotten what it means to be feminine, we have also forgotten how to attain this unity. In short, while many of us Catholic women believe strongly in chastity and purity, our dress does not always reflect our convictions. In order to correct this situation, we need to recover a sense of the reason why women in the past dressed modestly, and how modest dressing "befits" the dignity and vocation of women.
In our fragmented society, scanty clothing has somehow become associated with women's social progress-as if the "right" to wear less indicated that we are moving up in the world. But my casual overview of history leads me to almost the opposite conclusion. It seems to me that in most cultures, the more clothing a person wears, the more important that person tends to be in society.
Read the complete article
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Coming Events | | |
There are always plenty of events happening in and around Sydney. If your parish, school or group is planning an event for families, couples, singles etc then let us know about it so we can share the news! Here are some events that we know about...
Lent for Real: Young Adults Weekend. 4-6 March. Dynamic inputs, discussion and community life, prayer & sacraments. Limited places! 40 Days for Life. From March 9 - April 17 2011, Sydney will be one of hundreds of cities around the world joining together for a Lenten pro-life campaign - 40 Days for Life. The remarkable Sydney 2010 Lenten campaign saw hundreds of young Catholics across the city participate & be inspired to be champions of the unborn. Take a stand for life this Lent! Celebrate Love Seminars. 12-13 March. Be reinvigorated in your marriage and advance your relationship as husband and wife.
Retreat for Young Women. 11-13 Mar, Mt Schoenstatt, Mulgoa. Come away for a weekend and focus on prayer, discernment and life with Christ. Planted in Love. A Day Retreat for Engaged/Married Couples. Sunday 13 May. Rosebery. Lenten Reflection Day for Women. "Lent - a time of letting go..." Mt Schoenstatt Mulgoa. Monday March 21.
Marriage Encounter Weekends. 25-27 Mar, 15-17 Jul & 21-23 Oct. Renew the relationship with your spouse and rediscover your best friend.
Share the Dream. 3rd National Family Gathering. Melbourne, Friday 15 Apr to Sunday 17 Apr.
Embrace Marriage Preparation. Preparing couples for a healthy and vibrant married life together. Mentoring and in groups. See website for dates. Sisterhood Women's Conference. 13-15 May. Catholic Women living everyday life in the 21st century. Collaroy Centre, Collaroy. Conference - Real Choices: evidence, experience and pregnancy support options. 13-15 May.
Post Abortion Healing Retreat, run by Rachel's Vineyard. 10-12 Jun, 2-4 Sep and 18-20 Nov. Spiritual and psychological healing for women and men suffering the effects of a past abortion experience.
Retreats for Men and Retreats for Women. Held on various dates throughout the year at the Kenthurst Study Centre.
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