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OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF METUCHEN

catholicspirit.com • November 11, 2010 • Vol.15 No.29

Reprinted with permission from The Catholic Spirit. Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.

By Christina LeslieCorrespondent

PISCATAWAY — Nearly 200 participants showed their support for the sanctity of life at the ninth annual Critical Life Issues Conference held Oct. 23 at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center.

Organized by the diocesan Offi ce of Re-spect for Life, the program, “Illuminating the Truth, Celebrating Life,” attracted representa-tives from Catholic dioceses throughout the state, from clergy and healthcare professionals to high school students and parish pro-life teams.

Presenters included Jennifer Lahl, RN; Patricia Bainbridge, Loretta Fleming and Christian recording artist Jaime Thietten.

The day-long event began with

an opening Mass celebrated by Bishop Emeritus Edward T. Hughes. In his hom-ily, the bishop urged attendees to keep up their efforts to protect the sanctity of life.“We are in great danger that very good people will give up the gospel of persever-ance,” Bishop Hughes said. “The Lord calls us to persevere and to persevere with joy.” He added that we must be joyful because the Lord is with us and he is our joy.

In her keynote address, “An Inconvenient Truth: Eggsploitation Happens,” Lahl decried the actions of the largely unregulated in vitro fer-tilization industry in the three decades after the birth of Louise Brown, the fi rst “test-tube” baby.

The founder and national director of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Net-work and a pediatric critical care nurse,

Lahl used the self-coined word, eggsploita-tion, to describe the industry whose roots are in eugenics and animal husbandry.

“The industry egg-alts and egg-sploits the female body,” Lahl said, describing how IVF facilities tailor their advertisements to altruis-tic young women or those in debt, give them fertility drugs, then fail to track their health after the harvest of eggs. She showed excerpts of her fi lm “Eggsploitation” which chronicles the health problems of several donor women after their ingestion of fertility drugs.

Lahl said women have no say in how their eggs will be used, whether for implan-tation into a prospective parent or stem cell research, dubbing it egg traffi cking. She advocated monitoring and regulation of

Critical Life Issues Conference provides education, information, inspiration

Attendees of the ninth annual Critical Life Issues Conference, organized by the dioc-esan O� ce of Respect for Life, take advantage of one of the many informative exhibits lining the halls of the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway, Oct. 23.

Joanne —Ward photos

TRUTHTRUTHTRUTHCelebrating

Continued on page 2

atholic SpiritCTHE

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF METUCHEN

catholicspirit.com • November 11, 2010 • Vol.15 No.29

Reprinted with permission from The Catholic Spirit. Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.

PAGE 2

Workshop facilitators discuss the conference with Jennifer A. Ruggiero, director of the diocesan O� ce of Re-spect for Life. The program, "Illuminating the Truth, Celebrating Life," attract-ed nearly 200 participants to the day-long event.

Annual conference presenters include physicians, musicianContinued from page 1clinic data and the cessation of payments so that fertility is no longer a commodity.

Citing Scriptural passages from Saints James [1:27] and Matthew [25:45] which promote the protection of the weak and vul-nerable, Lahl said, “Human embryos have no voice; we have work to do.”

Bainbridge led the audience in a fast-paced and scathing examination of “Planned Parenthood and Mixed Messages.” The for-mer professor at Michigan State University and co-founder of Life Decisions International noted that 40 percent of Planned Parenthood’s annual income is from abortions.

Through multiple internet sites, Face-book, an iPhone application and a series of books geared toward children as young as four, Planned Parenthood is building their customer base early, Bainbridge said. Their underlying themes are that sex is just another activity and parental input on sexual behavior could be ignored. Devoid in any of their infor-mation were acknowledgements of religion or the sanctity of marriage, she added.

Bainbridge urged parents to educate themselves on the myths of the Planned Par-enthood message and remember that they, not the organization, should be their children’s primary source of sexual education.

“We need to speak intelligently about Planned Parenthood; when we don’t speak the truth, we diminish our message,” said Bain-bridge. She told the audience to remember the words of Archbishop Charles Chaput of Den-ver: “If we stand up to evil, we may lose. If we don’t stand up to evil, we will lose.”

Offering a concrete avenue to fi ght evil laws was Loretta Fleming, Deputy Director for Field Coordination for the National Commit-tee for a Human Life Amendment (NCHLA) in Washington, D.C. She referred to Bishop Hughes’ phrase “joyful perseverance” in ex-horting Catholics to keep informed and take action on pro-life issues.

The NCHLA website allows concerned citizens to keep abreast of pending legislation. The “Action Alerts” feature on the site offers background on pertinent issues, a timeframe for action, and sample messages which can be sent to Congress to infl uence senators and represen-tatives. “We need to be active in letting law-makers know our views,” Fleming stressed.

Christian recording artist Jaime Thietten

Michael Nuzzi stands next to the Truth Booth, a kiosk that displays 3D and 4D ultrasound images of unborn children. The kiosk is being piloted in several diocesan parishes and schools.— Joanne Ward photos

A number of pro-life exhibits were available for conference attendees to gain further insight into local and statewide campaigns to protect the sanctity of every hu-man life.Continued on page 3

atholic SpiritCTHE

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF METUCHEN

catholicspirit.com • November 11, 2010 • Vol.15 No.29

Reprinted with permission from The Catholic Spirit. Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.

PAGE 3

Christian recording artist Jaime Thietten dis-plays some of her CDs and t-shirts which were available for purchase. She also per-formed her pro-life song, “My Chance,” to conclude the annual conference.

Participants at the conference present the gifts to Bishop Emeritus Edward T. Hughes during the opening Mass.

Continued from page 2concluded the conference with witness and song. The petite blonde detailed her struggles over the course of her career to fi nd a place in the crowded country music arena.

“Nine years ago, when I watched my nephew being born, I knew I had to do some-thing,” Thietten said, explaining her gradual shift towards a pro-life message. “I kept feel-ing a tug on my heart... I knew I should be the voice for the unborn.” Her signature song “My Chance,” a lament from a mother who later regretted her abortion, brought tears to the eyes of many attendees.

In addition to the scheduled presenters, Dr. Kyle Beiter, an area OB/GYN, was on hand to announce the opening of the “Gianna Center” at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick, where Beiter and staff will provide pro-life women’s healthcare in accor-dance with Catholic ethics.

Between each presentation, a decade of the rosary was prayed and throughout the day attendees were given the opportunity to visit the numerous pro-life messaged exhibits along the hallways of the conference center.

Deacon Joseph Saggese and his wife Cher-yl of St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral, Metuchen, were return visitors to the conference.

“We come every year to get resources and share them on our bus trip to Washington, D.C. for the March for Life,” Cheryl, the for-mer pro-life parish rep, said.

Eva Jane Woodruff of St. Magdalen de Pazzi Parish, Flemington, had accompanied a large group of pro-life teenagers from the parish.

“It is important for them to be present with other large groups of pro life individuals to know there are a bunch of us,” Woodruff said. “It gives them more tools to take back into the secular world.”