Progress

We just put in bulletin inserts to run in our home of Our Lady of the Lake in Holland this weekend.  The next weekend, we'll be having a registration weekend to help promote the conference in the parish.  After that, the hard work is done and we'll just have a few minor things to work out before Oct 8.  In short, the conference is now in the hands of God.

Update

To make things easier, for us and for you, the registration info is now on the side bar under "Just the Facts."

Another Pro-Life Victory

Looks like there has been even more fruit from the 40 Days for Life campaigns.  Another Planned Parenthood manager has quit and joined the Pro-life cause.  Follow this link to read her story.

Registration info again

Remember, the cost is $20 and $10 for students and free for clergy.  Students should submit a scan of their student ID.  Also, the pre-registration deadline is Sept 17 and the first 50 people to do so will be given a copy the Janet Smith Contraception, Why Not? CD.
.Online:  Simply email us at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com with your name and your menu choice (see         below).  Within the next day, you will receive an email with a link to pay via Google Checkout.  If you don't already have one, you will need to sign up for a Google account.  Click on the link and pay.  Your name will then be on the list come Oct 8.

Regular Mail:  Send a check made out to the Knights of Columbus Council 7115 and note with your name and menu choice (again, see below) to:

       K of C 7115 Life Conference
       P.O. Box 231
       Zeeland, MI 49464

MENU
When you submit your registration email, please select one of the following as your meal.

Classic Caesar

tossed romaine hearts, romano and parmesan cheeses,
topped with croutons. Tossed with classic caesar dressing

Cashew Chicken Salad

crisp mixed salad greens, topped with roasted chicken, grapes
apples, celery, red onion, toasted cashews and dijonaisse chicken salad
served with your choice of dressing.

Veggie Muffuletta

marinated artichokes, oven roasted tomatoes, grilled zucchini and summer squash
with provolone cheese, lettuce and an olive tapenade

Avocado Turkey Club

honey roasted turkey breast with bacon
white vermont cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato
and avocado aioli on a pretzel roll

AQ Italian

ham, pepperoni and genoa salami stacked on rosemary ciabatta bread
with sliced banana peppers, kalamata olives, feta, shredded lettuce
tomatoes and an Italian vinaigrette

Chicken Bruschetta

grilled chicken breast on ciabatta
with balsamic marinated tomatoes
and fresh mozzarella


Feel free to email at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com or call Eric at 616-994-7466 with any questions.

Scary stuff

This is one of the most disturbing things you will ever read.  The gist of it is this:  At least one Chinese pharmaceutical company is making "stamina" pills by literally taking dead babies, drying them out and grinding them up into powder so they be put in capsules and sold.  This is where we'll go too if our own country doesn't turn away from selfishness and greed and is just one more reason why our continued vigilance is so important.
Thanks to Mark Shea for initially finding this story a few days ago.

Schedule

This is just a reminder of the schedule for The First Annual Culture of Life Conference on October 8 at Aquinas College, Grand Rapids.



9 am - Dr. Mark Pestana:  Natural Law and the Life Issues

10 am - Dr. Dennis Marshall:  Humanae Vitae

11 am - Lunch

12 pm - Dr. Robert Marko - The Gospel of Life

1 pm - Mr. Al Kresta - The Civilization of Love

40 Days for Life

Many of you are no doubt familiar with the 40 Days for Life Campaign.  For those who aren't aware, it is a semi-annual campaign during which pro-lifers across the country unite in prayer to end abortion.  The main focus of course is praying outside of the abortion mills 24/7 but of course prayer from home or during Eucharistic Adoration is also encouraged. 
In Grand Rapids, the focus is on the mill at 320 Fulton Street.  I've spent a little time there during the last couple of years, including an early morning vigil that I would keep outside of the 40 Days period, back when I only had three children and a more conducive schedule.  Only speaking for myself, but I've never had any trouble from anyone while praying on the sidewalk save a few comments shouted from a passing car. 
Nationwide, a number of mills have closed as a result of 40 Days for Life, and even more babies saved and even one Planned Parenthood director was converted as a result.  If you are in the Grand Rapids area contact Patrick Keeley to sign up.  Or just show up when you are able.  I'm sure whoever is there will welcome the company.

Spreading the word

As many of you no doubt already know, the flyers and posters have been making the rounds via email for a week or so now.  This week, we got our first print run done and started sending out hard copies of the flyers to a number of parishes and campuses in the Grand Rapids and Holland areas.  So keep your eyes open, we'll be popping up everywhere over the next couple of weeks.

Our Sponsors

One of the groups that has really helped us out a lot has been the Pro-Life Club at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids.  Very early, they agreed to sponsor our event on campus which has led to free facilities and very inexpensive printing for our flyers.  Also, one of the members dedicated a significant portion of last weeks of her summer vacation to working on this.  Without them, this event probably would not be possible.

We're re-posting the registration info again.  Tomorrow, we'll start another batch of updates.


Remember, the cost is $20 and $10 for students and free for clergy.  Students should submit a scan of their student ID.  Also, the pre-registration deadline is Sept 17 and the first 50 people to do so will be given a copy the Janet Smith Contraception, Why Not? CD.
.Online:  Simply email us at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com with your name and your menu choice (see         below).  Within the next day, you will receive an email with a link to pay via Google Checkout.  If you don't already have one, you will need to sign up for a Google account.  Click on the link and pay.  Your name will then be on the list come Oct 8.

Regular Mail:  Send a check made out to the Knights of Columbus Council 7115 and note with your name and menu choice (again, see below) to:

       K of C 7115 Life Conference
       P.O. Box 231
       Zeeland, MI 49464

MENU
When you submit your registration email, please select one of the following as your meal.

Classic Caesar

tossed romaine hearts, romano and parmesan cheeses,
topped with croutons. Tossed with classic caesar dressing

Cashew Chicken Salad

crisp mixed salad greens, topped with roasted chicken, grapes
apples, celery, red onion, toasted cashews and dijonaisse chicken salad
served with your choice of dressing.

Veggie Muffuletta

marinated artichokes, oven roasted tomatoes, grilled zucchini and summer squash
with provolone cheese, lettuce and an olive tapenade

Avocado Turkey Club

honey roasted turkey breast with bacon
white vermont cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato
and avocado aioli on a pretzel roll

AQ Italian

ham, pepperoni and genoa salami stacked on rosemary ciabatta bread
with sliced banana peppers, kalamata olives, feta, shredded lettuce
tomatoes and an Italian vinaigrette

Chicken Bruschetta

grilled chicken breast on ciabatta
with balsamic marinated tomatoes
and fresh mozzarella


Feel free to email at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com or call Eric at 616-994-7466 with any questions.

Registration note

In case it was in doubt, attendance to the conference is of course free for clergy.  So if you are a priest or religious simply email us at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com with your menu choice and you'll be set.

Our Sponsors

As another continuing series leading up to the conference, we'll be featuring a number of posts that highlight those who have sponsored the conference.
First up is my own Council 7115 or the St. John Neuman Council.  We're based in Holland, MI and split between the St. Francis de Sales and Our Lady of the Lake parishes.  I've been there less than two years and been active less than that but in that short time, I've seen the council raise funds to purchase an ultrasound machine for a crisis pregnancy center in Grand Rapids and hold fundraisers for a number of things such as the mentally impaired and homeless missions.  Recently, the council also stepped up in a big way to help one of our members struggling with health issues.  Getting behind this conference is only the latest in a long line of efforts to further the Kingdom of God.

Registration Info

We're back from our weekend getaway and as promised, we're re-posting the registration info.  We'll be doing thing this every couple of days so that it will always be easy to find.


Remember, the cost is $20 and $10 for students.  Students should submit a scan of their student ID.  Also, the pre-registration deadline is Sept 17 and the first 50 people to do so will be given a copy the Janet Smith Contraception, Why Not? CD.
.Online:  Simply email us at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com with your name and your menu choice (see         below).  Within the next day, you will receive an email with a link to pay via Google Checkout.  If you don't already have one, you will need to sign up for a Google account.  Click on the link and pay.  Your name will then be on the list come Oct 8.

Regular Mail:  Send a check made out to the Knights of Columbus Council 7115 and note with your name and menu choice (again, see below) to:

       K of C 7115 Life Conference
       P.O. Box 231
       Zeeland, MI 49464

MENU
When you submit your registration email, please select one of the following as your meal.

Classic Caesar

tossed romaine hearts, romano and parmesan cheeses,
topped with croutons. Tossed with classic caesar dressing

Cashew Chicken Salad

crisp mixed salad greens, topped with roasted chicken, grapes
apples, celery, red onion, toasted cashews and dijonaisse chicken salad
served with your choice of dressing.

Veggie Muffuletta

marinated artichokes, oven roasted tomatoes, grilled zucchini and summer squash
with provolone cheese, lettuce and an olive tapenade

Avocado Turkey Club

honey roasted turkey breast with bacon
white vermont cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato
and avocado aioli on a pretzel roll

AQ Italian

ham, pepperoni and genoa salami stacked on rosemary ciabatta bread
with sliced banana peppers, kalamata olives, feta, shredded lettuce
tomatoes and an Italian vinaigrette

Chicken Bruschetta

grilled chicken breast on ciabatta
with balsamic marinated tomatoes
and fresh mozzarella


Feel free to email at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com or call Eric at 616-994-7466 with any questions.

This weekend

We'll be out of town enjoying sometime with the family over the weekend.  So registrations may process a bit slower during that time.  But we'll be back and hard at work on Monday.
Speaking of registrations, the info is two posts down.  I'll re-post it back to the top Sunday night.

Our Speakers

Today, we meet Dr. Robert Marko.  The Aquinas College website provides a pretty extensive biography of Dr. Marko, so I won't waste any of your time with my own words.

Background

Dr. Robert Marko, Professor and Chair of the Department of Theology, has been at Aquinas College since 1989 teaching primarily in the areas of Catholicism, moral theology, social ethics and ecclesiology. Trained as a systematic theologian beginning at age six by the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary's of the Springs, Ohio, he has memorized all the answers of the systematic theology of the Council of Trent articulated in the Baltimore Catechism. Dr. Marko hails from the Western Pennsylvania steel town of Braddock. He, his wife Faith and their children, Jonathan, Joshua and Hannah are all die hard Pittsburgh Steelers' fans.

Research Interests

Professor Marko, somewhat eclectic in interests yet always grounded in the Catholic Tradition, has primarily studied history and theology while having been a National Science Foundation Fellow in urban studies, a Center for Learning Writing Fellow in moral education, a Scaife-Mellon Fellow in international studies and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow in justified war and nonviolence.  During the fall of 2008 he served as a Fulbright Scholar in religious studies in Ukraine.  Here Dr. Marko researched the relationship of religion, ethics and society while he taught Catholic Social Teaching: Eastern Christian Perspective for the Licentiate of Sacred Theology degree at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. A 2004 Metropolitan Sheptytsky summer sessional lecturer at St. Paul's University in Ottawa in Eastern Christian Ethics, Professor Marko has been a passionate advocate for a deeper understanding of the riches of the Christian East by those in the West. Moreover, his study and experience of the prayer tradition of Eastern Christianity has affirmed his plea to students to not splinter spirituality, doctrine, liturgy and ethics.

Professional Work

Dr. Marko has published articles and book reviews in various scholarly and popular journals including The Josephinum Journal of Theology, Horizons: The Journal of the College Theology Society, Bohoslovia (The Journal of the Ukrainian Theological Academic Society) and Spirituality Today. A regular commentator on Catholicism and Eastern Christianity in the media,. Dr. Marko has presented at conferences of the College Theology Society, Dominican Colloquium on Higher Education, American Academy of Religion, National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the Catholic Theological Society of America, and the Ukrainian Theological Scientific Society. Professor Marko's greatest work, however, has been with the countless students he has been privileged to teach and advise.

Full Registration Info

At long last, we have figured out the registration problem.  The first thing to know is that there are two ways to do it, online and by mail.

Remember, the cost is $20 and $10 for students.  Students should submit a scan of their student ID.  Also, the pre-registration deadline is Sept 17 and the first 50 people to do so will be given a copy the Janet Smith Contraception, Why Not? CD.
.Online:  Simply email us at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com with your name and your menu choice (see         below).  Within the next day, you will receive an email with a link to pay via Google Checkout.  If you don't already have one, you will need to sign up for a Google account.  Click on the link and pay.  Your name will then be on the list come Oct 8.

Regular Mail:  Send a check made out to the Knights of Columbus Council 7115 and note with your name and menu choice (again, see below) to:

       K of C 7115 Life Conference
       P.O. Box 231
       Zeeland, MI 49464

MENU
When you submit your registration email, please select one of the following as your meal.

Classic Caesar

tossed romaine hearts, romano and parmesan cheeses,
topped with croutons. Tossed with classic caesar dressing

Cashew Chicken Salad

crisp mixed salad greens, topped with roasted chicken, grapes
apples, celery, red onion, toasted cashews and dijonaisse chicken salad
served with your choice of dressing.

Veggie Muffuletta

marinated artichokes, oven roasted tomatoes, grilled zucchini and summer squash
with provolone cheese, lettuce and an olive tapenade

Avocado Turkey Club

honey roasted turkey breast with bacon
white vermont cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato
and avocado aioli on a pretzel roll

AQ Italian

ham, pepperoni and genoa salami stacked on rosemary ciabatta bread
with sliced banana peppers, kalamata olives, feta, shredded lettuce
tomatoes and an Italian vinaigrette

Chicken Bruschetta

grilled chicken breast on ciabatta
with balsamic marinated tomatoes
and fresh mozzarella


Feel free to email at kofccultureoflife@gmail.com or call Eric at 616-994-7466 with any questions.

Technical Difficulties

For some reason, we haven't been able to figure out how to do the online donations yet.  I won't boor you with the detail, but there are a variety of quirks with all of the mainstream options that are proving troublesome.  If we can't figure out the online donation thing by the end of Tuesday, we'll simply post instructions on how to register via email.

The John Paul II Cultural Center...

...has just been bought by the Knights of Columbus.  I've been there, and while the center was a very good idea, it wasn't executed very well.  Fortunately, the Knights are planning to fix that, including a significantly remodeled chapel.  I for one am looking forward to what the Knights have planned for the troubled center.

The Menu

When you submit your registration email, please select one of the following as your meal.

Classic Caesar

tossed romaine hearts, romano and parmesan cheeses,
topped with croutons. Tossed with classic caesar dressing

Cashew Chicken Salad

crisp mixed salad greens, topped with roasted chicken, grapes
apples, celery, red onion, toasted cashews and dijonaisse chicken salad
served with your choice of dressing.

Veggie Muffuletta

marinated artichokes, oven roasted tomatoes, grilled zucchini and summer squash
with provolone cheese, lettuce and an olive tapenade

Avocado Turkey Club

honey roasted turkey breast with bacon
white vermont cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato
and avocado aioli on a pretzel roll

AQ Italian

ham, pepperoni and genoa salami stacked on rosemary ciabatta bread
with sliced banana peppers, kalamata olives, feta, shredded lettuce
tomatoes and an Italian vinaigrette

Chicken Bruschetta

grilled chicken breast on ciabatta
with balsamic marinated tomatoes
and fresh mozzarella

Added Bonus

A friend in Dorr (a little town south of Grand Rapids) has donated 50 copies of Janet Smith's Contraception, Why Not? talk.  These will be free to the first 50 registrants.

The Poster has arrived.

Here is a thumbnail of the 8x11 promo poster, courtesy of an Aquinas student who has spent the last few days of her summer vacation hard at work on this.




There is an 11X17 version on the way as well, which I will also be sure to post.

Flyer

Here's a rough draft of the basic flyer for the conference.  All of the relevant info that we have so far is included. 

1st Annual Culture Of Life Conference


What:  A Catholic Conference on Core Life Issues & The Natural Law Of Love

When:  Saturday October 8th, 2011 9 a.m. --- 2 p.m.

Where:  Aquinas College---Wege Center - Fulton St. Grand Rapids, Michigan

Who:  DR.. MARK PESTANA, PHD (GVSU) “THE NATURAL LAW”

         DR. DENNIS MARSHALL, PHD. (AQUINAS COLLEGE) “HUMANAE VITAE"

         DR. ROBERT MARKO, PHD. “THE GOSPEL OF LIFE”

         MR. AL KRESTA (CONVERT, RADIO HOST) “A CIVILIZATION OF LOVE"

Why:  To help today’s Catholic Christians understand the biblical and magisterial
          teaching about human life, the sacred nature of marriage and sexuality and
          the challenges we and our families face in today’s culture.


Cost:  $20 for adults, $10 for students
          Includes snacks, lunch and handouts (Lunch is included for pre-registrants only)
          Registrations must be postmarked no later than 9/17/2011

For More Information contact: www.kofc-cultureoflife.blogspot.com
                                             kofccultureoflife@gmail.com

Contact either Eric Postma or Steve Redmond for additional information:
Steve 616-399-5520 steveredmond@sbcglobal.net
Erik 616-994-7466 ejpostma2@gmail.com

The hold up with registration

I'm trying to find a way to do online donations without using PayPal.  Turns out, that it's pretty difficult.  The reason I'm trying avoid them is because they apparently have some sort of association with Planned Parenthood.  That said, we'll use if we have to.  Still, we're open to suggestions.

Registration Info

At last!  I can happily relay some registration info. 

Just to recap:  The cost is $20 for the conference for most people, $10 for students.  Register before Sept. 17 and lunch will be provided.  Menu choices should be up tomorrow night.

Online donations should be set up by the end of the week.  However, if you want to register now, you can send your check or money order made to Knights of Columbus Council 7115 to the following address:

PO box 231
Zeeland, MI 49464

If you are a student, please include a copy of your student ID. 

Once registered your name will go on a list which we will use to make sure you get your lunch. 

Again, the suggested donation is $20 or $10 for students. 

Saving babies

Some friends of mine down in Atlanta just reported that a couple they counseled outside an abortion clinic decided to keep their baby!  Praise God!  This is really good news but the couple still needs your prayers as they have a number of financial issues to deal with. 
This is also just one more reminder that people can be reached, that there is always hope, even mere feet away from the knife.