JOIN OUR ONLINE THEOLOGY OF THE BODY STUDY WITH FR. THOMAS LOYA: "LOVE & RESPONSIBILITY"

PARISHES: Gather a group and project from computer!This flyer can be downloaded in .doc or .pdf at: http://hellburns.terapad.com/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.xbhgllbbvqgqzsdw

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MEDIA LITERACY ASSIGNMENT: EMBARRASSING FAMILY PHOTOS DEPICTING FASHIONS INSPIRED BY MEDIA INFLUENCES

My sad attempt at a Dorothy Hamill haircut--NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Note my brother's mop top.

My mother's Jackie O look. NOT embarrassing. She looks fantastic (Mom's also French).
SAN FRANCISCO. Note that my brother and I have windbreakers with our NAMES EMBROIDERED ON THE ARM. This was a fashion requirement. At least in New England. No idea where the trend started.

My brother's later John Travolta 'do. More Vinny Barbarino than Saturday Night Fever.

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MOVIES: “BLOOD MONEY—THE BUSINESS OF ABORTION”

"Blood Money—The Business of Abortion" is a much-needed and thorough examination of the history, industry, personal impact and human toll of abortion in America. Who should see this? Everyone. Age-appropriateness? High school and up. A great film for college campuses. There are no gruesome photos of dismembered or salinated babies (on purpose, although those have their place, too), but former abortionists and post-abortive women do describe abortion procedures and procedures gone (very) wrong.

This extremely professional, engaging, precisely-edited 2010 documentary was written and directed by David Kyle (david@bloodmoneyfilm.com) with an emphasis on educating Americans about how abortion became legalized in this country, about the incredibly blatant lies, deceit (e.g. "abortions" on non-pregnant women), lack of regulation and bundles of money (much of it undeclared) being made off of abortion, as well as the physical/psychological/spiritual ramifications on everyone involved in abortion. Men (fathers) as both victimizers and victims of abortion is also touched upon, but not at length.

Narrated by the elegant Dr. Alveda King (Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece), there is added attention to what many call "the Black genocide" in this country. Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger, was a racist and eugenicist who gave directives to her followers to HIDE the fact that Planned Parenthood wanted to decrease the inferior Negro populations (by setting up shop specifically in their neighborhoods). An excellent magazine-style synopsis of how this continues to effect African Americans today is available free in .pdf format at: http://www.humanlife.org/did_you_know.php --multiple full color print copies also available.

Heavy-hitting pro-aborts turned pro-lifers Carol Everett, Dr. Bernard Nathanson (founder of NARAL and Jewish convert to Catholicism), Norma McCorvey (Roe of Roe v. Wade) tell of their odysseys. There's also input from long-time pro-lifers Joe Scheidler, Fr. Frank Pavone, and folks from HLI, Operation Rescue, etc.

"Blood Money" starts off like a hardcore History Channel investigation. All kinds of legal minds and politicians explain to us—in heavy legal, political jargon--the strange, unconstitutional, anomalous travesty of justice and usurpation of the power of "We, the People" that Roe v. Wade was. It's a little hard to follow, but one gets the message loud and clear that something went very, very screwy in 1973. And America needs to wake up and realize that this is exactly how social engineers pull the carpet out from under our feet literally overnight. Better we understand the democratic system we're living in. The film states that even the pro-abortion radical left (in 1973) thought taking away the inalienable right to life was completely indefensible and were astounded at the outcome.

How might post-abortive women and men react to "Blood Money"? They would definitely have to relive their pain--as survivors of the abortion ordeal tell their stories, but the film ends with accounts of self-forgiveness, healing and hope. I think it would be imperative, in a group setting, to have immediate post-abortion counseling available for women and men, but I would think that survivors would feel that THEIR story is finally being told, perhaps even their long silence is being broken by people who are ON their side and not pointing fingers.

This is not a hyped-up, overdramatized presentation. The subject matter is dramatic enough. Everything is so well-put. There is talk of those on "the other side" of the abortion issue, but there is no animosity or demonization. The closest the film would come to that is by simply revealing heinous facts (some revealed by former abortion providers themselves), especially the lack of care/compassion/cleanliness in abortion clinics, and how a kind of passionate missionary zeal FOR abortion seems to boil down two things: post-abortive women tragically needing to justify their own abortions AND the almighty dollar.

OTHER STUFF:
--We need to make sure we remember that those who have had abortions are all around us. Our family, our friends, the people in the pews with us, the people at the mall. We should always talk about abortion as though the people who hear us have had abortions. This doesn't prevent us from speaking the truth at all, but if we speak with compassion, it will signal that there is hope, that someone understands what they're going through.

--ABORTION DOESN'T PLAY FAIR. IT'S LEGAL. NO ONE TELLS US THE RISKS/CONSEQUENCES. IN FACT, THE RISKS/CONSQUENCES ARE SURPRESSED. LEGALLY.

--One thing I would like to have seen developed in the film is the role (or seeming non-role or prohibited role) of men in abortion. I have a theory that the time has come for us to "make" abortion the man's issue that it is. Pro-lifers tried making it about the baby. But nobody cares about the baby. Pro-lifers tried making about the woman which is much more to the point, but this also isolates her from both the baby and the man involved, as well as the larger community. Feminists also wanted to keep abortion a "woman only" issue because it was "her body" that was primarily involved. But no one is an island. Women are distraught, confused and desperate when confronted with a crisis pregnancy. So many of the women in the documentary said: "I felt I had NO other CHOICE." Many are coerced into abortion by boyfriends, husbands, family members, girlfriends. And abortion is supposed to be all about CHOICE and FREEDOM. Nothing could be further from the truth. And who is getting all these women pregnant??? Men. Men who demand that the woman gets an abortion, AND men who are willing to do whatever is necessary to bring their baby to term, but are silenced or ignored. It's time for men to be included—to call them to their responsibilities, and to honor their rights. But maybe that's a whole 'nother documentary.

--We need to call men to sexual responsibility. It's way easier for men to be selfish in this area than for women. We can't let them. Not just for the sake of women and children, but for their own sakes. Men CAN'T have their cake and eat it, too. Men CAN'T be pro-life and play around. (I think some men don't even realize they're pro-life until the woman they are with gets pregnant.) I have a friend who converted to Catholicism. She has slowly been helping her teenage son to become very pro-life in his thinking. One day she said to him abruptly: "Do you want to be responsible for an abortion?" "No!" he countered. "If you fool around before you're married, that girl could abort your baby and not even tell you, or even if she tells you, there's nothing you can do about it." Said teenage son promised he would not fool around before marriage.

--Women of ALL ages tell their abortion story.

--Some of the re-enactments and "sad teenage girls" looked a little staged.

--"Blood Money" just made me see the crying need for Theology of the Body as the ultimate abortion preventative. I was recently at Dr. Michael Waldstein's week-long classes on the writings of VJP2G on women and on the family. There was a 57-year-old woman there who had been part of the early hippie movement. She had 2 abortions and then went on to have 8 children. She was still grieving her 2 aborted children and had a lot of profound things to say. One of them was simply: "We have to get the word out that pregnancy is GOOD for women" (biology proves this). She explained that the earliest hippie movement (starting in the 50's) was a back-to-nature reaction against industrialization and what it was doing to the family (including taking the man out of the home). The hippie motto was "women and children first." But then the Pill came a long and they debated what to do. They embraced the Pill. Then abortion came along and they debated what to do. They embraced abortion. And the whole hippie movement fell apart.

--Pope Benedict's (unwitting, perhaps) summation of Theology of the Body applicable to our sexual behavior: "WE NEED A BETTER WAY OF RELATING TO EACH OTHER AS PERSONS."

--The biggest lie of the sexual revolution perhaps is that sex ≠ babies. But it does. Or rather, the lie that we CAN separate sex from babies, love from life. It simply can't be done, no more than we can tear God apart Who is both Love and Life. It's one of the most basic equations on the planet (like "drop this plate and gravity WILL take it to the floor") that we are in total denial about. We can TRY to prevent conception, but we KNOW it's Russian roulette (unless we get sterilized). We KNOW life is persistent and often finds away. But we act totally and completely surprised when we have sex and get pregnant. Of course this denial is often PLANNED IGNORANCE created by deliberate misinformation from the abortion industry that PRETENDS its giving us accurate information about contraception, PRETENDS it doesn't want us to get pregnant, BUT IT DOES! THAT'S THEIR BREAD AND BUTTER! WHY WOULD THEY NOT WANT US TO GET PREGNANT? They want to us to think they're in the birth control biz, but THEY'RE NOT IN THE BIRTH CONTROL BIZ, THEY'RE IN THE ABORTION BIZ! Just do the math and follow the money. The blood money.

The same place that is telling you have sex and not get pregnant (and not making much money off that end of it) is also the same place you go to get an abortion? Hmmmm. Conflict of interest, perhaps? I am still amazed that people don't know that PLANNED PARENTHOOD GIVES OUT LOW, INEFFECTIVE DOSES OF BIRTH CONTROL AS WELL AS THE CHEAPEST, ALMOST-DEFECTIVE CONDOMS AVAILABLE (AND THEY KNOW WOMEN FORGET TO TAKE BIRTH CONTROL OR TAKE IT IMPROPERLY). IF WE DON'T GET PREGNANT, THEY'RE OUT OF BUSINESS! That's why I'm all about INFORMATION, EDUCATION, INSPIRATION. INFORMATION, EDUCATION, INSPIRATION. When I talk to teens (even ones from great youth groups) about Theology of the Body, porn, etc., I always ask them: "Is anyone telling you this stuff?" They always answer "no." (Of course, the youth group has invited me in to talk about it at least once, but they should be talking about this stuff non-stop.)

--"Blood Money," without even trying, brings out the huge connection between contraception (we have firmly decided to have sex, but just as firmly decided NOT to get pregnant, as if getting/not getting pregnant were really up to us and we could absolutely control it once we are having sex) and abortion. So abortion becomes back-up contraception because we have already firmly made up our minds.

--If I wasn't a Daughter of St. Paul, I would totally be in the pro-life movement, EDUCATING. But I felt part of my call as a Daughter of St. Paul is to get to the roots, to work on preventative measures. I have found none better than Theology of the Body.

--There were people actually munching popcorn during "Blood Money." Probably the same ones who munched during "The Passion."

--I hope the filmmakers think about making the script available. Loaded with stats and great quotes of all kinds!

--For a showing in your parish or organization, of for copies of the DVD, contact: david@bloodmoneyfilm.com

--There's still time to see in Chicago—Park Ridge! Click on "screenings": http://www.bloodmoneyfilm.com/

--Cool pro-life idea: No need to re-invent wheel! Take your students to the Museum of Science and Industry (in Chicago)—57^th Street and Lakeshore Drive—to the "YOU!—the Experience" permanent exhibit. It has real preserved fetuses, embryos, etc., and a fantastic 6-minute CGI film of life developing in the womb. All the plaques, the script of the film, the literature is TOTALLY PRO-LIFE. (Science is on the Creator's side.) It just keeps saying over and over again that the fertilized egg is YOU and that EVERYONE starts the journey of life the exact same way, as this tiny little thing…. Also has a kind of model of pregnancy from the woman's POV. Everything is totally personal, not cold and clinical. http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/you/the-exhibit/

--"Planned Parenthood" used to be called "The Birth Control Society," but "control" sounded too intimidating and not beneficial enough. Check out the old version of "Cheaper By the Dozen." The Birth Control Society lady is portrayed as an old biddy while families were cool. My how times have changed.

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MOVIES: "EAT, LOVE, PRAY"

Big fat disclaimer: Sr. Helena has only skimmed the book and has not seen the movie, but I found this article very interesting.

"Eat Pray Love": Spiritually capitalistic
by Meghan Daum

I was hoping to avoid writing about "Eat Pray Love." The movie's been out for two weeks, and the book has been out for four years, 184 weeks of which it's been on The New York Times best-seller list. Not that you need to be told, but "Eat Pray Love" (often EPL) chronicles writer Elizabeth Gilbert's post-divorce spiritual quest through Italy, India and Bali.

Gilbert, played by Julia Roberts in the film, has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" three times (most recently with Roberts), and the tale of "Eat Pray Love" — not just what's told in the book but the story of

Sr. Helena: I had to use the pic with the half-nun :]

its head-spinning success and the anointment of its author into something resembling a modern-day guru — has become a bona fide cultural meme. It has also become a major merchandizing opportunity. There's an EPL-themed product line at Cost Plus World Market (incense burners, beaded jewelry and Eat Pray Love™ tea from the Republic of Tea). The Home Shopping Network offered 72 straight hours of movie promotions and product tie-ins (an organic cotton T-shirt reading "Nourish Your Soul" for $39.90, an Eat Pray Love™ Sony™ Pocket Edition e-reader with special case for $229.95).

Meanwhile, EPL tourism has become its own niche, with travel companies offering packages through Italy, India and Bali, usually with the single female traveler in mind. Lonely Planet travel guides offer tips on how to eat the same gelato Gilbert ate in Rome and how to find the Balinese medicine man who, according to the book, told her to "smile in your liver."So you get the idea. It's not just a book-turned-movie. It's a lifestyle-turned-consumer-phenomenon-turned-quasi-religion. Never mind that this lifestyle — at least the part that entails airfare, lodging and vacation time — requires an independent income and an extended break from responsibilities. Never mind that these consumer goods tend to run the way of colorful paper lanterns you think will transform your yard instantly from a dirt heap into a Balinese paradise but fall apart when you attempt to remove them from the box. Never mind that "quasi-religion" is surely an overly generous way of describing what you get after months of eating, praying, loving and, to go by the movie, riding your bike past glistening rice paddies while wearing adorable hats.

To my mind, Gilbert has epiphanies with more regularity than certain bodily functions, and that stretches the limits of credulity, but that also may be beside the point. After all, people (women especially but not exclusively) are digging this thing. EPL is apparently winning hearts and minds, filling a need, getting people excited. And for all the quasi-ness of this quasi-religion, this sort of engagement is something a lot of established, non-quasi religions aren't having much luck with. Still, I'm not suggesting that people are snapping up "Nourish Your Soul" T-shirts out of an overt frustration with organized religion or that the cult of personality around Gilbert portends the demise of more traditional objects of worship. If anything, Gilbert's breezier-than-thou tone has the same earnest ring you often hear from the pulpit (when it's called holier than thou). This brings me back to why I couldn't help but write about EPL. Now that her musings are a brand, the real epiphany is less about New Age pabulum than old-school capitalism — and, specifically, about how brilliantly the two work together. It's a bit queasy-making, sure. But it's also kind of like smiling in your liver. If you can manage that, maybe you deserve your own line of incense burners.

Los Angeles Times Meghan Daum is an essayist and novelist in Los Angeles.

mdaum@latimescolumnists.com

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MORE TRANSFORMERS 3

OUR BACK ALLEY DURING SHOOTING

OUR BACK ALLEY AFTER SHOOTING


You see the crews all over Chicago. They have that same "top of the world" look, like they are doing and enjoying the best job on earth: Making movies. Creating worlds. Like God.

So this crew is walking through our back alley (tool belts, etc.). They always fan out like a bunch of hunters or soldiers with a look of ownership over every piece of ground they walk on.

Me (lots more hoof-in-mouth disease): "Did you guys clean up the alley?" (Our alley has been nicely cleaned since they stopped shooting in it.)

One of the crew: "No, we're the electricians."

Me: "Oh, you're the grip." (Duuuuuuuuuuuuh--the grip are lowly go-fers! I meant to say "gaffer," which is the head electrician.)

Same crew member: "No. We're the electricians."

Me: "Yeah, the grip."

Same crew member: "No. The grip are the ones with the blank looks on their faces."

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"TRANSFORMERS 3" FILMING IN OUR BACK ALLEY

Rosie

Rosie & Shia

AAA guy

smoke & asphalt

"Transformers 3" has been filming around Chicago since mid-July and in our back alley for the past few days. Our entire alley has been shut off to the public, with all kinds of police and security. But our bookcenter/convent is smack-dab in the middle of the "Action!" and it has its perks.

This morning, I let a 15-strong, red T-shirted, junior high youth group race up the fire escape to snap furtive pictures and video. Said police and security were not amused.

Later in the day, we absolutely HAD to get our van to the shop for a new battery, but it first had to be jumped by AAA. Sooo...we cleared it with security and some P.A.'s and AAA nosed into the alley, just out of the shooting line of the cameras. Suddenly, leading lady Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Megan Fox's replacement) and Shia LaBeouf came running--through a scene--off camera to our loading dock. (I was, like, 20 feet away from them with the AAA guy. ) "Shia LaBeouf at 1 o'clock," I hissed to the AAA guy. "Yeah, I see," he whisper-grinned. "Aren't you glad we called you?" I beamed.

To my horror, Sr. Lusia Yvonne OPENED OUR BACK DOOR, like, 10 feet away from Rosie (now sitting on our loading dock) and Shia. "Hi! I'm Sr. Yvonne!" to Shia and Rosie. Both of them shook her hand. Then she proceeded to talk to them in the most natural and wonderful way, treating them like "ordinary people doing a job, except they make a lot more money" (Sr. Yvonne's words to me later). She invited them to stop in the bookcenter or ring the bell if they needed anything, told them about our media mission, told Shia we have a place in New Orleans (Sr. Yvonne keeps up with the celebrity stuff online, so she knew Shia is from Louisiana), MADE SHIA LAUGH when she told him: "I read all about you--but I know it isn't true." She told Rosie she looked tired, and Rosie said: "I am! It's a long day!" Shia asked how many Sisters lived in the building and if we got to get out and go to baseball games and the like. Sr. Yvonne said: "Yeah, if we get free tickets." SHIA LAUGHED AGAIN.

Meanwhile, I--who, have been trained as a proper Angeleno after having lived in L.A. for 5 years--was totally intent on NOT MAKING EYE-CONTACT AND GIVING THE STARS THEIR SPACE WITHOUT OGLING OR APPROACHING, but found myself shaking Shia's and Rosie's hands because Sr. Yvonne introduced me to her new best friends.

Then came the hoof-in-mouth disease. Earlier that morning I had asked one of the red shirts who the new actress was. He said: "Some Victoria's Secret model." So there I was in the back alley with two of the stars from the biggest movie of 2011 that has been filming in our fair city for over a month and I didn't know the female star's name. No, wait! I remembered! As I shook her hand I said: "Are you Victoria?" Yes. I really said that. Luckily, I don't think she made the connection, but very sweetly said, "No, I'm Rosie." I had absolutely NO IDEA what to say to Shia when I shook his hand, so I said--referring to his smudgy-flesh-wound-make-up--"Wow. They really messed you up." Yes. I really said that. What could he do but agree? "Yes, they did," he said, and he and Rosie raced off into the smoke machines and broken asphalt, out of sight.

A lot of the crew are from L.A.--the best movie crews in the world. They are so gracious (as I always knew them to be in L.A.). So, I took my courage in hand and told a P.A. they should put our good friends, the Flood Brothers', dumpster in the film, instead of Waste Management's. I told them it was "more Chicago." Next thing I knew OUR Flood Brothers' dumpster had disappeared. Could it be...? No! It was just shoved to the end of our alley.

Sr. Margaret Michael, our national vocation directress, arrived for our vocation retreat, driven by a priest who dropped her off near the back alley (Fr. Brian, the Archdiocese of Chicago's new vocation priest). She wanted me to meet him, so he said he'd drive around to the front of the bookcenter. It took him forever. Turned out, some of the crew saw the Roman collar and asked him to conduct an impromptu prayer service!!!

How did I get the above (cell phone) pics? I pretended I was making a phone call. You press "camera" and then put it up to your eye, er, ear.

And I think I saw Michael Bay.

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BLESSED JAMES ALBERIONE T-SHIRTS!

Standard black T with white letters. $10 each. $5.00 postage. S, M, L, XL Contact: Sr. Helena hburns@paulinemedia.com Put "ALBERIONE" in email subject line.

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