Author Archive for Fr. Shenan J. Boquet

The Great Value of the March for Life
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The Great Value of the March for Life

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Is the March for Life a waste of time? It seems like every year some people ask the question, even as around half a million folks take over the National Mall of Washington, D.C., and dozens of other marches challenge the complacency of state capitals around the country. The answer, by the way, is “no.” […]

Marching for Life: Defending Life from its Beginning to Natural End
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Marching for Life: Defending Life from its Beginning to Natural End

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Every year on January 22nd, the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, hundreds of thousands of brave marchers from all walks of life participate in the March for Life in Washington, D.C. While the March for Life focuses on the grave nature of abortion, it provides the perfect sounding board to voice the sacredness of […]

A Pivotal Opportunity to Rally in Defense of Life
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A Pivotal Opportunity to Rally in Defense of Life

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While it’s great news that substantial political pro-life victories were won in the mid-term elections, we must now ask ourselves, “What do these victories mean for the protection of human life and family?” Pope Saint John Paul II inspires and instructs us in this opportune and pivotal moment to rally in defense of life: “What […]

Our Risen Lord Gives us Strength to Build a Culture of Life
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Our Risen Lord Gives us Strength to Build a Culture of Life

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If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? (Romans 8:31) This exhortation by Saint Paul vividly expresses the full extent of the love of God the Father and […]

Building the Culture John XXII and John Paul II Envisioned
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Building the Culture John XXII and John Paul II Envisioned

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This Sunday, Pope Francis will proclaim Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II Saints. He personally chose the date to coincide with Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast inaugurated by John Paul II in 2000. It was on the eve of this feast on April 2, 2005 that John Paul II gave up his spirit […]

St. Michael, Defend Us in Battle
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St. Michael, Defend Us in Battle

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On September 29, 2008, the Feast of the Archangels, Human Life International launched its Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer Campaign for the Conversion of Abortionists. Recognizing that the fight against the culture of death is primarily a spiritual battle, the prayer campaign was designed to encourage the faithful after every Mass to seek Saint Michael’s […]

Prelude to a Persecution?
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Prelude to a Persecution?

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Last Wednesday morning the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child published its Concluding Observations concerning the Catholic Church’s treatment of children. In this widely-denounced document (see HLI’s statement here), the Committee chastises the Church for supposedly ignoring or refusing the rights of children. It called for the Church to amend Canon Law, […]

A Shifting Tide: Pro-Life Laws and the March for Life
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A Shifting Tide: Pro-Life Laws and the March for Life

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Wednesday, January 22 will mark the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade: a 7 to 2 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Justices’ decision invalidated all state laws restricting access to abortion […]

The Nativity Scene Opens Our Hearts to the Mystery of Life
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The Nativity Scene Opens Our Hearts to the Mystery of Life

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Tradition teaches that Saint Francis of Assisi set up the first Nativity scene in order to inspire and encourage a greater appreciation of the wonders of the first Christmas. The year was 1223, and Francis created the scene in a cave outside Greccio, Italy featuring a wax figure of the infant Jesus and a man […]

Heroes in the Season of Hope
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Heroes in the Season of Hope

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This Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, we light the third candle of the Advent wreath. The rose-colored candle and the priests’ rose vestments mark a change in the tenor of this penitential season. For those who have been using Advent as a time to prepare heart and home for the celebration of Christ’s birth, it is a […]

The Moment of Choice: Recognizing Human Dignity in Difficult Circumstances
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The Moment of Choice: Recognizing Human Dignity in Difficult Circumstances

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In every country, at this very moment, women who have become pregnant — either because of decisions they made or as victims of assault through no fault of their own — are faced with making the choice of life or death for their child. Some of these women are financially stable, some are in financial […]

The Importance of Language in Changing the Culture
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The Importance of Language in Changing the Culture

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For forty-one years Human Life International has been engaged in building a Culture of Life through education and activism. Though we have been blessed with success in many of our efforts, we have also faced numerous difficulties. One of these difficulties is one we share with all who defend life, faith and family: As cultural […]

We Need Saints!
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We Need Saints!

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Why are the Philippines, Malta, Costa Rica and now Ireland succumbing to the population control mentality and anti-religious sentiment? Compared to so many other Catholic nations, these have long held firm. What has kept the anti-life agenda at bay for so long has been the vibrant living of the gift of faith. It permeated every […]

Irish Abortion Bill Will End Lives to Promote False “Right”
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Irish Abortion Bill Will End Lives to Promote False “Right”

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This is how crazy the situation has become in Ireland. The abortion bill that is nearing a vote on the Emerald Isle is being pushed by politicians who promised not to do what they are now doing. OK, maybe this is not shocking anymore. But the bill is being sold as necessary to save the […]

A People Who Can’t Say “No”
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A People Who Can’t Say “No”

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The annual celebrations of the Church are her way of bringing the temporal and the eternal into conversation, allowing us to, if you will, listen in to what Our Lord is telling the Church, again. Last Friday’s Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is another such occasion, an especially poignant one for […]

Signs of Hope in a Conflicted Society
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Signs of Hope in a Conflicted Society

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Walking among a half million fellow pro-lifers on January 25 in the nation’s capital, one could not help but reflect on the irony: We marched to remember the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s abolition of every state law against abortion in Roe v. Wade, while only four days previously the same streets were filled with […]

The Nature Of Marriage Is Not Defined By Popular Whim
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The Nature Of Marriage Is Not Defined By Popular Whim

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The debate over “social issues” in the United States recently brought many important topics, those typically reserved for the backburner in American politics, to the national stage for the first time in a long time. With the focus of the media shifting towards these issues, however, we have seen vicious attacks from political pundits, and […]

A Lesson Learned?
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A Lesson Learned?

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Yes, America, you are beautiful indeed, and blessed in so many ways … But your greatest beauty and your richest blessing is found in the human person: in each man, woman and child, in every immigrant, in every native-born son and daughter. For this reason, America, your deepest identity and truest character as a Nation […]