Pro Life, Pro Hope

"The most dangerous place for a baby is in the mother's womb."

When I heard Cardinal Seán say this during his homily at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, D.C. before going out to join the crowd for this year's March for Life, I stopped taking notes. Nothing else hit me as hard as those words and it finally clicked why all these people had come to the nation's capital.

To think that the womb, where babies are at their most vulnerable, where they develop and are nourished by their mothers for the first nine months they are on this planet, is the only place where they are not legally protected is not only not right; it's cruel.

As a young woman who has never been particularly maternal, I've always been told that once I eventually become pregnant, that motherly instinct kicks in. But what could be less motherly than to kill your own child?


That is what I thought of as I walked with over 400,000 people holding banners and signs protesting abortion. That's what I thought of when I talked to a high school girl whose mother chose to keep her baby, despite being only 18 years old when she became pregnant.

American playwright and author Eda J. Le Shan once said, "A new baby is like the beginning of all things--wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities."

When we commit abortion, we aren't only killing a baby, which is bad enough. We're also killing hope and possibilities.




Kate Andrews
Associate Producer | The CatholicTV® Network

Catholic Schools Week on CatholicTV

CatholicTV will celebrate Catholic Schools Week the week of January 29th with local schools from the Archdiocese of Boston. Each day, a different area Catholic school will join us for our Daily Mass in the CatholicTV chapel. 

Catholic Schools Week, which celebrates its 40^th anniversary next year, is a time for students to celebrate their unique path of learning within the parish, community and nation, organizers state. Festivities across the country will reflect that, most notably open houses for prospective students and public rallies at state capitols supporting school choice.

The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2012 is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Academics. Service.” The annual observance starts the last Sunday in January and runs all week, which in 2012 is January 29th to February 5th. Schools typically celebrate Catholic Schools Week with Masses, open houses and activities for students, families, parishioners and the community at large.

The theme focuses on the three priorities that Catholic schools establish that make them stand out from other educational institutions. Children are aided in the development of their faith: they are taught not just the basics of Christianity, but also how to have a relationship with God. Academics, which in Catholic schools are held to very high standards, help each child reach his or her potential. Service, the giving of one’s time and effort to help others, is taught both as an expression of faith and good citizenship.

To honor Catholic Schools Weeks, CatholicTV will celebrate Mass with 5 Catholic schools from the Archdiocese of Boston. The schools in attendance will be as follows: 

Boston College High School, Dorchester, MA; Arlington Catholic High School, Arlington, MA; Monsignor James J. Haddad Middle School, Needham, MA; St. Jude School, Waltham, MA; and Mount Alvernia Academy, Chestnut Hill, MA. 

For more information on Catholic Schools Week please visit the National Catholic Educational Association at: www.ncea.org.

CatholicTV at the March for Life

Today is the 39th anniversary of Roe V. Wade, the court case that unconstitutionally declared abortion a legal right.

For Catholics, it is a Day of Prayer and a Day of Penance, and for all pro-lifers it is the date of the March for Life: an annual peaceful demonstration in our nation's capital. Attendees of the March for Life are many; the youth alone make up tens of thousands of the marchers.

CatholicTV is among them, in spirit and in person. Our crew in D.C. is down there sending frequent updates, and we will be airing the Youth Rally and Mass for Life at 12pm and again at 8pm.

If you don't get CatholicTV in your area, you can watch our live stream at http://CatholicTV.com, on your computer or mobile device.

As Father Domurat, our celebrant at Mass this morning, said, "Today we join our prayers to those of Cardinal O'Malley" who is celebrating the Mass for Life as the chairman of the USCCB's Pro-Life office. Fr Domurat said, "We may be criticized and misunderstood for our pro-life position. Take courage. Know that God is with you, and never tire of doing what is right."

Keep the marchers in your prayers today, along with the 50 million young lives that have been terminated since Roe v. Wade. And join us for our coverage of the March at noon today.

Who is:  

The CatholicTV® Network 
(America’s Catholic Television Network®)

         

    The CatholicTV® Network is a twenty-four hour cable, satellite and IP television network available throughout the United States in selected markets on Comcast, Charter, Verizon FiOS, RCN, Cox, SkyAngel and numerous other cable providers.   

   You may visit the network website at www.CatholicTV.com

o  The CatholicTV Network is the first Catholic television station in the world!   More information and a history can be found in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CatholicTV

o  The CatholicTV Network is known as America’s Catholic Television Network®

·  Faithful to the magisterium, The CatholicTV Network operates under the auspices of Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston and with the blessing of Archbishop Vigneron of Detroit connecting the network to the universal Church

 

·  The mission of The CatholicTV Network is to showcase the diversity and the good work occurring throughout the Catholic Church in the United States and beyond.  We seek to educate, evangelize and inspire people of all ages with the precious wealth of Catholic belief and life. 

o The CatholicTV Network features programming from many dioceses, religious orders, Catholic campuses and individual producers from around the nation as well as Papal Masses and other events from The Vatican Television Center.

o  One of the great challenges to The CatholicTV Network has been to find ways to bring to the television screen the rich treasure of Catholic Faith, tradition and life for the purpose of a more vibrant Evangelization.  To this end, the network taps into the wealth of talent and media available across the nation providing a platform for all that is good, noble and true in the Catholic community.

o  The CatholicTV Network strives to offer an orthodox and authentic presentation of Catholic belief and life which draws on national talent, but retains a local feel.

·  The CatholicTV Network provides a connection to the Church and therefore to Christ for as many people as possible. 

o  The network is very faithful to senior viewers and the sick by providing daily Mass, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and welcome entertainment.  

o  Much like the satellite radio station “The Catholic Channel” (on Sirius/XM), The CatholicTV Network makes a concerted effort to reach young people, families and average Catholics searching for quality programming that teaches the Faith in a fresh and exciting way. 

·  The CatholicTV Network uses printed, digital and social media effectively including: CatholicTV.com, Twitter, Facebook, iCatholic.com, The CatholicTV Monthly magazine and an extended digital version of the printed magazine

·  On The CatholicTV Network, we refer to our viewers as: “The CatholicTV Family” and the network as:  “The Parish of the Airwaves”

The Gist Premiere

Today's the day!

The Gist, the newest show from CatholicTV, premieres today at 10:30am (ET). We're incredibly excited over here. There's been a serious lack of relevant, quality Catholic programming that focuses on women. I had the privilege of being able to preview the premiere yesterday, and it's great. I'm so happy for everyone who's been working so hard on this show, especially Kate Andrews, the producer, Adam Stone who beautifully edited it, and Charles Green, who did the lighting and set design.






If you don't get CatholicTV in your area, you can always watch it stream live at CatholicTV.com (that will also work on any mobile device). Danielle Bean will be hosting a Live Chat over at Faith & Family Live. We've thrown our live stream over to them so they can stream it, and I'll be participating in the chat along with Danielle, Rachel Balducci, and Carolee McGrath. We will also be tweeting the premiere live, so pay attention to the hashtag #thegist.

Finally, don't forget the last challenge in our Countdown Giveaway! Pay attention so you can answer our question and get a chance to win a free The Gist mug.