Hope floats and LIFE Rosary Soars!

Over Chicago that is!  Check this out.


Giant LIFE Balloon Rosary seen by Thousands over Chicago's Downtown

CHICAGO (August 15, 2011) - Just in time for the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, a 75-foot rosary floats skyward from Chicago's Michigan Avenue Bridge claiming the Magnificent Mile for Mary.

A giant rosary floated gracefully over Chicago's busy tourism district on Friday as thousands looked on. The six-foot gold cross hanging from the rosary sparkled in the sunlight as it very slowly ascended between the Tribune tower and the Wrigley building. The rosary of helium-filled yellow balloons bearing the word LIFE then floated down Michigan Avenue over the Hancock Tower and past North Ave Beach. Cameras and cellphones flew into action as people responded to the unexpected sight.

"There was an excitement all around us and there were people in tears at the sight of the rosary. I think we often take it for granted the power of a simple witness to the faith," said a camp counselor.

A passerby tweeted, "A balloon rosary in the air. My faith confirmed :)", while another surprised Chicagoan wrote, "what the... giant balloon rosary, with cross, just floated heavenward from the michigan avenue bridge."

The rosary was the craft of 20 imaginative elementary-school-aged girls and their counselors participating in a summer camp at a Chicago Catholic Parish. The girls prayed the rosary in front of the Washington Blvd. Family Planning Associates asking Our Lady for an end to abortion. They then carried the rosary, cross-first, through downtown Chicago's peak traffic to the cheers, and sometimes jeers, of pedestrians and motorists. Homeless people gave high fives, street preachers started singing Gospel songs, and semi-truck drivers shook the streets sounding their truck horns in approval. "I was completely ecstatic the whole time. I loved seeing how many people on a random street corner were thrilled. It is a lot more than we tend to think," said one participant.

One of the girls said, "It was the prettiest rosary I have ever seen. I liked how it would float up and sit and then float up and sit. It looked really pretty against the buildings and the sky." Another camper said, "The best way to describe it was 'beautiful'. I didn't see one frowning face. It evangelized everyone who saw it."

This is the latest of a series of spontaneous acts of joy across the United States involving the yellow LIFE balloons. Sightings of LIFE balloons at prayer vigils, county fairs and flash mobs leave many wondering if the trend will impact this year's March for Life in Washington DC.

See photo post here:  Giant Balloon Rosary

If you care about your conscience, sign this

On August 1, 2011 the Department of Health and Human Services directed by Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic, adopted the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that “the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive methods” be determined a “preventive care service for women.” Under these new guidelines, mandatory coverage will be provided for surgical sterilization, all prescription contraceptives approved by the FDA - including drugs like Ella that can cause abortions in the early weeks of pregnancy - as well as counseling to promote them. This directive from the Affordable Care Act initiative will be supported by tax payers without a conscience clause exemption, violating the civil and religious liberties of millions of Americans.


This new directive by the Obama Administration is:

Undermining: The U.S Department of Health and Human Service’s adoption of the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that contraceptive services be provided for all women is contrary to Catholic moral teaching and undermines fundamental principles of the Catholic Faith. ["Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means . . . for example, direct sterilization or contraception." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2399)]


Deceptive:  Many FDA approved birth control methods are classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency of Cancer Research (IACR), a research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) and categorized in the same group as cigarettes and asbestos.

Discriminatory Against Catholic Institutions:  It violates the freedom of conscience and freedom to practice religion guaranteed by the Constitution, specifically targeting Catholic hospitals, clinics, parishes, social services, schools and other Catholic institutions under the new rule compelling them to act contrary to Catholic teaching on life and procreation unless they stop hiring and serving non-Catholics.

Biased Against Catholic Health Care Professionals:  A direct attack on Catholic doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers who are not provided a “conscience clause” to opt out of providing medical services that are contrary to their religious beliefs.

Misleading:  Increased access to birth control will actually increase (not decrease) the need for abortion.  The Guttmacher Institute, a research arm of Planned Parenthood, admits that their research reveals that over 50% of women show up at abortion clinics for an abortion due to failed birth control.

Bad Medicine:  Encourages unhealthy and immoral sexual practices which will drive the need for more health care services in the area of STD treatment and abortion services.
Lacking Transparency:  This mandate reveals shameless abortion rights advocacy by the Obama Administration as they are well aware that birth control distribution is the feeder system of the profitable abortion industry.

Therefore, we petition the Obama Administration and Secretary Sebelius to immediately withdraw all references to contraception and contraception counseling from the “Guidelines for Women’s Preventive Services” under The Affordable Care Act, and to provide a CONSCIENCE CLAUSE to protect the religious freedom and beliefs of Catholics and other Americans who are opposed to contraception.

To take immediate action follow this link, Stop the Birth Control Mandate sign the petition & share with your friends.

Pray for Priests -- August Intentions

THIS IS NOT AN EVENT YOU NEED TO PHYSICALLY ATTEND it is an event where the Body of Christ, the Church, are uniting to pray for our priests.

"The world looks to the priest, because it looks to Jesus! No one can see Christ; but everyone sees the priest, and through him they wish to catch a glimpse of the Lord! Immense is the grandeur of the Lord! Immense is the grandeur and dignity of the priest!" 
Blessed Pope John Paul II (Rome, Italy, October 13, 1979)

Our priests are under constant attack, they are called to be God's instruments to administer His Sacraments which translates to they are walking around with a giant target on their forehead.

We need to pray and sacrifice for our priests, we need to form an army to defend them in prayer and penance.

I ask you to join me in dedicating August to praying for priests around the world, to praying for seminarians, for those training and forming priests, for vocations directors and for more vocations and for those who are discerning priesthood.

I prepose praying St Therese's daily prayer for priests (see below) and fasting or doing penance one day a week each week in August (and beyond) for our priests.

Please invite all your friends to join us.

"O Jesus,
I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;
for your unfaithful and tepid priests;
for your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields.
For your tempted priests;
For your lonely and desolate priests;
For your young priests;
For your dying priests;
For the souls of your priests in Purgatory.
But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me:
The priest who baptized me;
The priests who absolved me from my sins;
The priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;
The priests who taught and instructed me;
All the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way
(especially …).
O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,
And bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.
Amen