Dr. Brian Clowes, August 31-September 9, 2007

England Says "The Curse of Cromwell Be Upon You" - Again!

One of the most distinct characteristics of the Culture of Death is that it cannot tolerate purity or holiness-anywhere.  It does not matter how much it corrupts or destroys.  If there is a bastion of Faith and virtue anywhere, the Culture of Death is compelled to attack it.  The Devil knows well that as long as a nation inspires others to attain a greater degree of holiness, it greatly hinders his progress on earth.

Satan has certainly done a hatchet job on Ireland, once known as the "Land of Saints and Scholars."  At one time, the Emerald evangelized the entire world with its priests and theologians, but now, due to the homosexual priest scandal, it has barely enough priests to care for its own parishes.  In November 1995, after an intensive campaign by foreign anti-life organizations, the Irish people voted for divorce by about one-half of one percent of the total turnout.  This was good enough for the Devil, and now Irish divorce levels are skyrocketing, with continued agitation by anti-lifers to remove what few restrictions remain.  And, as always, pro-abortionists have used fabricated sob stories and the "hard cases" to sway the sympathetic hearts of the Irish and have agitated for more and more exceptions.

In 1992, an unmarried and pregnant teenager threatened to commit suicide if she was not given an abortion, and three years later the Irish people gave women the "right to travel" to the United Kingdom to get abortions and the "right to information" about abortion.  The Irish Family Planning Association-an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation-immediately did all it could to ensure that Irish women could kill their preborn children as easily as possible, and they went so far as to advertise their services on stickers they plastered in women's restrooms.

Since 1995, English abortionists have killed more than 75,000 Irish babies, exceeding Cromwell's wildest dreams.  The Irish used to say to their enemies, malacht Cromail ort, or "The curse of Cromwell be upon you."

It seems that Cromwell is back with a vengeance in the form of English abortionists who are killing more Irish than the "Lord Protector" ever dreamed of-and also in the guise of Irish politicians who obviously could not care less about the lives of the poor and helpless.

As always, the Culture of Death hides in the background as it does its dirty work, and the great majority of people are completely unaware of its activities.  This was my second trip to Ireland this year, the first being in January to Tralee in County Kerry.  I interviewed two pro-life Ukrainian medical doctors, Vadym Lazaryev and Vladymyr Ischenko, who had exposed the newborn and late abortion organ-trafficking network in Eastern Europe and who had almost been murdered because of their exposé.

I also talked with Kathy Sinnott, an Irish Member of the European Parliament, who revealed that Ireland hopes to be involved in biotechnology in a big way and that the morality of such activities is completely irrelevant to the Irish government:   

We have developed pharmaceuticals as our leading export in Ireland.  Our government brings in pharmaceuticals [corporations] and tells them that they can do what they like.  They like their companies to feel comfortable here, and if they want to do [fetal] tissue research, our government is not going to ask too many questions.  In 2001, the head of the research board for the government, Bruce Barrington, said that we really have to get over our opposition to things like embryo research and cloning.  In other words, we have to get over our ethical problems and get on with the real business of making money and attracting pharmaceutical companies and frontline research.

God has blessed the Irish for centuries, but it appears as if that blessing might be diminishing, because the Irish are joining the rest of dying Europe in their refusal to reproduce.

In order for a developed nation to merely maintain a steady population, the total fertility rate, or TFR, must be 2.1 children per woman.  In the early 1970s, the Irish TFR was a healthy 3.8.  In just three short decades, it has plunged to a disastrous 1.7, and it is projected to fall much lower. According to the United Nations, the Irish population will continue to rise slowly, but this is due almost entirely to massive immigration.

HLI'S 2007 MISSION TO IRELAND

During his homily at Limerick near the beginning of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II paraphrased Matthew 16:26 when he said, "Ireland must choose ... What would it profit Ireland to go the easy way of the world and suffer the loss of her own soul?"

Father Tom, my wife Kathy, and I traveled to Northern Ireland on the last day of August for a whirlwind ten-day tour of the island, which repeated the Holy Father's urgent theme "Ireland Must Choose."  Patrick and Therese McCrystal, who live in a beautiful farmhouse less than half a mile from Belfast International Airport, picked us up for a day of recovering and strategizing.  We enjoyed playing with their kids, Francis, Sarah, Esther, and Mary (13 months) who, like most toddlers, would rather wear her food than eat it.

After a day of rest, we began an intensive tour of Ireland, visiting 11 cities and driving nearly 900 miles in six days, which in Ireland is saying something.  We visited most of the major population centers, beginning with Belfast, Newry, Omagh, Letterkenny, and Derry, then moving South to Knock, Galway, Thurles, Limerick, Killarney, Cork, and Dublin.  During this time, we imparted the pro-life activist message to several hundred people, including a dozen priests, a score of religious sisters-and one transvestite!

Our two-hour presentations focused on the necessity of prayer, the basics of pro-life activism, and the need to get involved before Ireland sinks even deeper into the mire.

Aidan Gallagher, head of HLI-Ireland, began each of our presentations with a short summary of the current situation.  He stressed that the tiny Irish population of just four million was fighting to protect itself from the corrosive secularist influence of the rest of Europe with 100 times as many people.  He spoke of the direct UK attempts to force Ireland into line to commemorate the 40th anniversary of abortion on demand, which has killed seven million English babies alone.  Aidan also outlined several attacks on the decency and innocence of children, especially through explicit sex education, contraception, and the provision of the abortifacient morning-after pill to girls down to 11 years of age.  He concluded with a summary of HLI-Ireland's many activities and its cooperation with other Irish pro-life groups that are doing so much good to stave off the Culture of Death, and finally asked everyone to get involved in one way or another.

Father Tom and I then rounded out the presentation by emphasizing prayer and the demographic situation, thus giving both the eternal and temporal perspectives of the fight.  The main point we tried hard to get across was that the Devil never sleeps, and that he is especially energetic when attacking a nation that has a tradition of holiness.

We told the Irish that most American pro-lifers have at least some Irish blood flowing in their veins and that if Ireland went down to defeat, it would be a devastating blow to our morale.

During our whirlwind tour of Ireland, we also had a chance to visit Dr. Rita O'Connor's Majella Life and Education Centre in Limerick, and I had a chance to catch up on the Eastern European baby organ-harvesting situation with Dr. Vadym Lazaryev in Cork.

Father Tom, Kathy, and I even had our photos taken next to signs that announced that we were entering the town of Tipperary.  It isn't such a long way after all.  We frequently saw tiny villages with enchanting and fascinating names such as "Blackskull" and "Watergrasshill."  I also saw many advertisements for the Guinness Beer Corporation and its fine products.  The company sponsors many sports events, including hurling contests in Ireland.  It looks like the Irish can make a sport out of anything.

THE GRAND FINALE

We wrapped up our grand tour of Ireland on September 8 at the beautiful Royal Dublin Society (RDS), a vast complex centered around a full-sized horse racing track.  The theme for this conference was the same as for the tour:  "Ireland Must Choose."

We had a truly great lineup for the several hundred people who attended, and almost every Irish pro-life group was on hand, selling their materials at tables in the conference rooms.

Once again, Aidan Gallagher opened the program and emphasized what Pope John Paul II said nearly 30 years earlier: that the Irish must rise up or the snakes will certainly be back in force.  Father Tom gave a presentation on the demographic situation and the threat posed by the international "family planners," and he was followed by talks from two women who had had abortions.

Father Harvey, the founder of Courage, talked about how to help people with same-sex attraction remain chaste. (That day was the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination!) Perhaps the most popular talk was by Dr. Tony Levitino, a former abortionist, on the duty to speak up for the preborn.

Patrick McCrystal, a pharmacist and former Director of HLI-Ireland, spoke on the abortifacient nature of some so-called "contraceptives," and Fathers Gabriel Harty and Killian Byrne followed with powerful presentations on the power of prayer with a focus on the Rosary.

We wrapped up the "Ireland Must Choose" tour with Mass and a consecration of all of Ireland's pro-life organizations and workers to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.