Conversation on Iowa Abortion Bill

Earlier this month, Iowa Governor Kim Reynold signed into law "the heartbeat bill" which prohibits doctors from performing abortions after they've detected fetal heartbeats in pregnant women. This is a great step in removing the scourge of abortion in our country! Of course, the bill is being fought by many, but at the very least, it allowed for some conversation to be had on the subject.

On social media, one news organization asked readers whether or not the "heartbeat bill" was a good thing or not. Discussion on a friend's social media account ensued, and it's helpful to see at least a little headway made with the second of two people I dialogued with. My words will be in blue, one interlocutor's in red, the other in green, and other commenters in various colors.

Tom: Can’t get behind a bill that says what a woman can do with her body and decisions.

Nicholas: I wouldn't get behind a bill that says that either. What the bill proposes is the protection of the female's (or male's) body that lives in a mother's uterus from outside harm. As for "decisions", there are certain "decisions" that should not be protected by the law.

François Riss- Lullaby

Talking with Bishop Kurt Burnette on the Feast of Bl. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich

Over the past several years, I've gained another friend in heaven through a devotion to one of our country's newest saints, Bl. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich. I've written about her before on here, and when I had a chance to make this woman of God more widely known over at Ascension , I jumped at it. I was able to talk to a couple of Byzantine Rite Catholics, one a priest, and another the Bishop of the Eparchy of Passac in New Jersey. It was great talking to these two priests regarding this thoroughly American saint.

Click the link here to read the article in full, and see a snippet below:

Bishop Kurt Burnette, the current bishop of the Eparchy of Passaic where Teresa lived and died, sees her as a treasure not only to Byzantine Catholics, but to all American Catholics: 

“Her learning of the faith through the Byzantine Rite, really affected her theological outlook. She saw contemplation as an outreach of the Trinity…