AMNESTY CONTINUES TO HOLD OUT AND ON TO ILLEGAL FUNDING FROM GEORGE SOROS’ OPEN SOCIETY.
(Good article though a little dated: Amnesty International Ireland, are still holding both out and on to the illegal money from George Soros’ Open Society: Meanwhile Bishop Fonsie Cullinan of Waterford diocese, has called for people to challenge the Standards in Public Office / S.I.P.O. over the money saga with Amnesty)
.- Amnesty International is in no position to oppose an Irish law against foreign political funding now that it is under scrutiny for taking money from U.S. financier George Soros’ Open Society Foundations to target the country’s abortion restrictions, Irish pro-life advocates have said.
“The arrogance they have shown in the past few days on this issue is staggering. They are now trying to argue that they have a ‘human right’ to take money from billionaires to push to have abortion legalization in Ireland, while they also argue that preborn children should not have the most basic human right of all – the right to life,” Niamh Ui Bhriain, a spokesperson for the Irish-based Life Institute, told CNA Dec. 11.
She said the action shows the reliance of Irish pro-abortion rights campaigners on foreign funding. Millions of dollars in overseas funding have targeted Ireland’s pro-life laws for decades, as have other U.S. groups like the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“It’s made for a very un-level playing field in the abortion debate in Ireland,” she said.
The Republic of Ireland’s Standards in Public Office Commission has told the human rights and pro-abortion legalization group to return about $160,000 in funds to the Soros foundations. According to the commission, the money violated Irish law barring foreign donations to third party groups seeking to influence the outcome of a referendum campaign.
For the rest of the article see: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/soros-money-means-legal-trouble-for-amnestys-ireland-abortion-campaign-29315
Category Archives: Christianity
Mantilla Motif
Mantillas are head-coverings traditionally worn by Catholic women when praying in public. You will see plenty of them at a traditional Latin Mass for example. It used to be mandatory (not just customary) for women to cover their heads in church, and conversely for men to bare theirs.
I have fairly long hair now and the commercially-produced mantilla I bought isn’t big enough to cover it all. I’ve been wanting to make my own larger one for a while. I started to crochet one but I ran out of yarn. I’ve found some more yarn now so I started a new one. However, I wasn’t entirely happy with how the edges of the motifs worked when joined together so I’ve modified it slightly. Four of the old motifs are shown joined together on the right of the photo below and four of the new ones on the left. See below for the instructions.
Here goes (UK notation):
6 ch, ss in 1st chain to form a ring. Now the rounds:
- 12 dc in ring, join with a ss to 1st dc.
- 5 ch, miss 1st dc, [1 tr in next dc, 2ch] 11 times, ss in 3rd of 5 ch.
- ss in 1st sp, 3 ch, leaving last lp of each st on hook work 3 tr in same sp as ss, yrh, draw through all 4 lps [5 ch, leaving last lp of each st on hook work 4 tr in next sp, yrh, draw through all 5 lps] 11 times, 2 ch, 1 tr in top of 1st cluster.
- *7 ch, ss in next 5-ch sp, [5 ch, ss in next 5-ch sp] 3 times, rep from * twice except instead of last 5ch make 2 ch, 1 tr in 1st of 7 ch at beg of round.
- [*7 ch, 1 tr in centre ch of next 7-ch sp, 14 ch, 1 tr in top of last tr, 1 tr in centre ch of same 7-ch sp as before, 7 ch, ss in centre ch of next 5-ch sp, 5 ch, ss in centre ch of next 5-ch sp*, 5 ch, ss in centre ch of next 5-ch sp] twice, work from * to *, 2 ch, 1 tr in 1st of 7 ch at beg of round.
- *5 ch, ss in centre ch of next 5-ch sp, 5ch, 8 tr in 14-ch sp (optional – work the 8th tr into the 7th ch), 6 ch, ss in top of last tr, 8 tr in same 14-ch sp (optional – work the 1st tr into the 8th ch), [5 ch, ss in centre ch of next 5-ch sp] twice, rep from * twice working last ss into 1st of 5 ch at beg of round. Fasten off.
Sorry for any errors.
If Ye Love Me
If you have any love for me, you must keep the commandments which I give you; and then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another to befriend you, one who is to dwell continually with you forever.
[John 14:15-17]
Come Holy Spirit
Where Thou art not, man hath nought
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.Heal our wounds, our strength renew,
On our dryness pour Thy dew,
Wash the stains of guilt away.Bend the stubborn heart and will,
Melt the frozen, warm the chill,
Guide the steps that go astray
See here for a Pentecost sermon about Ireland as it approaches a dreaded referendum.
Gagged by Google
I’ve updated this post a number of times since I first posted it yesterday morning. I’m afraid I wrote it originally as a knee-jerk response to some bad news, and I didn’t take enough time to check my facts before publishing. I have perhaps given the impression to some of my readers that Google and Facebook have unfairly targeted pro-life campaigners. In this particular case they have blocked ads from both sides. I’m sorry if my original post was misleading. I will try my best not to make a similar mistake in future. The fact remains, however, that this censorship affects the pro-life side disproportionately because the mainstream media (and all the political parties bar one tiny one) in Ireland are firmly pro-abortion, and the Internet is one of the few publicity tools left to the pro-life campaigners.
In the run up to the referendum here in Ireland, Google and Facebook have decided to block related ads. Pro-life campaigners have been forced to switch to other mail services and outlets (like FrontPage.org) to spread their message. It is now up to small independent writers, like me, to help promote the pro-life content.
The Yes side of this referendum is big on euphemism: ‘reproductive rights’; the ‘right to choose’ (choose what?); and the most nauseating of all – ‘abortion care’.
At the heart of the exercise is an immense evasion: the baby. It is as if the baby is a kind of cancer, to be eliminated, chopped off, expunged.
Another word for ‘euphemism’ is ‘lie’. This is a referendum of lies. Not, as we are sometimes told, lies on both sides but lies on only one side: the side that seeks the slaughter of innocents but will not come right out and say so. We are enjoined to be polite, to keep the debate ‘respectful’, to avoid ‘shock tactics’, but these injunctions invariably come from the people who are engaged in the telling of these colossal lies. ‘Shock tactics’ means the truth. Keeping the debate ‘respectful’ means avoiding mention of the truth.
If you want to read the rest of the article, click here.
I sometimes use a search engine called Yandex.com because it’s, well, it’s not Google. I have also switched my main mail account from Gmail to Yandex mail. The mail works great but the search engine is not as clever (IMO) as Google… yet.
I don’t think this blog is in any danger because my audience is too small but if I do disappear in the near future you’ll know why. By the way, talking of disappearing, I’ve been having problems with my WordPress app for the last few months. I read and “like” my readers’ blog posts but when I go back next time my Likes have disappeared. So if you feel like I’m ignoring you that might be why. The Likes stick if I do them on the previews in the Reader but that means I can’t see the full posts. So, anyway, there’s a fix, it just means I have to remember to go back to the preview after I’ve read your posts. I don’t always remember, so sorry about that.
New Blog Header
Regular visitors will notice that I’ve changed the header on this blog. I never intended to become a Catholic blogger because I don’t feel qualified. However, the fact remains that I’m a blogger who has become Catholic. It is such a major factor in my life that I haven’t been able to restrict myself to blogging about the original topics of this blog, i.e. my art and craft. Truth be told, I was never very good at staying on topic but recently it has become more noticeable. Anyway, rather than abandoning my old content to start a whole new blog, I’ve tried to address the issue by stating the expanded scope of the blog in the subtitle. Some people might find “Catholic Content” a bit misleading. All I mean is that there is content written from a Catholic perspective, regardless of the topic, simply because the author is Catholic.
Btw, the header image is a little sombre so I may change it again when I get the chance.
C. S. Lewis YouTubes
I have enjoyed reading C. S. Lewis’ non-fiction over the last few years so I was pleased to find a YouTuber who has animated some of his works. Here is an excellent example:
I found the format delightful and was tickled to find that my birth-country, Wales, managed to make an appearance at the end. There is mention of the Eisteddfod which reminded me of my own (albeit brief and lacklustre) performances in the Urdd (youth) Eisteddfod. I hope you enjoy the video and find the time to watch some more. The content is well worth your time.
By the way, I also re-read Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and found so much more than when I read them as a child. I found the fate of Emeth in “The Last Battle” particularly interesting.
Amnesty All Out For Abortion
I can’t believe I used to give money to these people. Since when is killing babies a human right? How can they spend so much more money promoting abortion than fighting against torture and other urgent human rights abuses? Rather than spending money on abortion we should be spending it on providing better healthcare and support for all pregnant women around the world.
[Sources here, here and below]
Almost half of Amnesty International Ireland’s campaign money went on abortion promotion in 2016 with just 6% going on abolition of the death penalty and 15% on stopping torture. Amnesty International’s spend in 2016 on abortion topped any other human rights work according an article in ‘The Sun’ October 2017 at nearly 50% of the total campaign funding.
‘Abortion is Amnesty International’s top campaign priority in Ireland – as charity spent €275k on the issue last year’ 6th October 2017:
Fighting for Life
Trigger warning: this post talks about abortion and related issues.
There are various campaigns going on in Ireland, and around the world, for the protection of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish constitution, which simply states the right to life of unborn children:
The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.
The current Irish legislation already allows for abortion in limited cases but the international pro-abortion lobby wants to expand access to bring Ireland in line with other countries. There is to be a referendum on the 25th of May to test public support for repealing the Eighth Amendment. The Irish government, mainstream media and pro-abortion forces outside Ireland (like Soros) are pushing hard for repeal. One of the reasons used to promote abortion is the safety of women, but Ireland is statistically one of the safest places in the world to be pregnant and give birth. Those statistics are an embarrassment to the pro-abortion lobby and so Ireland is being pressured to downgrade* its healthcare for women in the name of women’s rights. Ironic, no?
If you would like to support the pro-life efforts in Ireland, one of the easiest ways is through prayer. You can offer your own individual prayers, of course, but there are also organised prayer campaigns. For example, EWTN have organised a rosary campaign that you can join any time. There is also a fasting initiative being promoted in imitation of the successful, scriptural fast prompted by Queen Esther (a type of the Blessed Virgin Mary):
And again Esther sent to Mardochai in these words: Go, and gather together all the Jews whom thou shalt find in Susan, and pray ye for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days and three nights: and I with my handmaids will fast in like manner, and then I will go in to the king, against the law, not being called, and expose myself to death and to danger. [Esther 3:15-16 Douay-Rheims]
The Irish version of this fast is to be carried out on the Fridays of May leading up to the referendum, i.e. the 4th, 11th and 18th of May. Supporters are to have only bread and water on these days. Please join us if you feel able, but don’t endanger your health.
If you have the means, you could also consider donating to the various pro-life organisations in Ireland. There’s the Life Institute in Dublin that’s running the SaveThe8th campaign. There’s lots of information about the abortion issue on its website. There are also Catholic organisations like Human Life International and Ask Majella that support women with crisis pregnancies.
We can’t use the hard cases to justify abortion on demand. Threats to the mother’s life are already accounted for in Irish law. In cases of rape, incest and foetal abnormalities, the testimony of mothers shows that abortion tends to add to their suffering whereas birthing the baby tends to be a positive and healing experience. Other types of crisis pregnancy can be tackled by offering counselling, financial aid or adoption, and these alternatives should be researched, promoted, facilitated and financed in preference to abortion. Repealing the Eighth Amendment will make that so much harder. Please help Ireland set a good example for the rest of the world.
*Abortion poses a significant risk to the woman’s physical and mental health, despite what the pro-abortion lobby would like you to believe.
