CULTIVATE your Faith Your Catholic Voice Foundation

One Holy Catholic

and Apostolic Church
by Michael Galloway

A
s I sit here on this beautiful
Sunday afternoon, having
just returned from Mass and
receiving Holy Communion,
I think back to my early childhood. I
remember so many of the different hom-
ilies I heard as a child. I remember the
prayers I was taught to know by heart. I
remember the lines of one prayer we still
say every week at Mass: “We believe in
one Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church.” Whenever I profess the Creed,
I begin to feel an inner strength that can
only be given by the Holy Spirit. The
strength of understanding. The strength
of forgiveness. The strength to, in the

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words of the Holy Father, “Be not
afraid.” The strength of truth.
There are so many issues we need to
face today as Catholic Christians. It is
overwhelming. Let me now focus on just
one issue, the single-most important
human rights issue of our day, abortion.
Without the right to life there are no
other rights.
In the 30 years since Roe vs. Wade,
there have been many wonderful organ-
izations that have brought much aware-
ness and education concerning what we
are truly doing as a nation through legal-
ized abortion. We now have 30 years of
history from which, I pray, we can and
have learned. Most of us now have a
position—or at least a thought on where

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we stand on this most important issue.
But as Catholic Christians we must
also now face the truth…and the truth is
very simple—Abortion is still legal in
ALL 50 US states. Moreover, there is an
abortive procedure every few seconds in
a nation that was once rooted in Judeo-
Christian principles. PERIOD. End of
story. Why have we lost this monumen-
tal battle, the battle to uphold the right
to life for all men and women at every
age and stage? In our own founding doc-
uments as Americans we proclaim that
life is an inalienable right and an endow-
ment from our Creator!
With this all in mind we need to ask
what have we really learned and what have
many of these efforts actually accom-
plished? We also must face the truth. Let’s
be really honest—with ourselves and with
God. The truth is the proponents of the
so-called “right to choose” have won the
most important of contemporary battles.
They have won the battle to legalize the
culture of death. One must really pause at
the devastation legalized abortion brings
to women, men, and their families. The
horror it has unleashed upon our nation is
unspeakable!
However, truth always prevails and
the Lord of life hears the cry of the poor.
Mother Teresa reminded us that chil-
dren in the womb are the poorest of the
poor. They have no one to speak for
them and they cannot be heard—except,
that is, through our voice! We need to
“build” a new culture of life, not simply
oppose abortion.
P lease understand what I am trying to
say. I am convinced that “anti” cam-
paigning does NOT work. We need to
both become and act more positively.
Medical science now confirms what our
conscience has known all along, the child
in the womb is a person and our neigh-
bor. We need to examine and learn from
the “other” side, from their “winning”
strategy. We need to speak about this
vital issue with a new language. We need
to propose a new culture of life and not
“In the Catholic tradition, responsible
citizenship is a virtue; participation in
the political process is a moral obligation.”
simply oppose abortion. We need to talk
about the fact that some choices are
always wrong, like killing children in the
womb. We must offer another way and
develop the language of life.
Unfortunately, at least on this issue,
evil has temporarily triumphed! That is
truly what lies at the heart of the abor-
tion issue, evil. Jesus said it, “The thief
(the devil) comes to kill and destroy but
I have came to give life.”
Does anyone really remember the
Devil? I for one have not heard him
mentioned in my parish for many years.
Believe me—no believe God—the Devil
is real and he has become so successfully
entrenched within our families. This
complete destruction of the primacy of
the family is one of the prime goals of
the Devil. The family is the first cell of
society, the first church, first school, first
hospital, first economy, and the first
mediating institution.
T hen there is our national claim to
be a free people. Do we go on pre-
tending to be a nation “under God”?
The truth again, we are not a Christian
nation, if we ever truly were. We have
become a secularized nation. We have
been beaten down so much that we have
forgotten our own values, once so clear-
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ly informed by Christian faith. The
teachings and values that many of our
founding fathers gave to this mighty
nation flowed from the Christian her-
itage of Western civilization, the teach-
ings that our Savior, Jesus Christ, gave
his life for. Their influence has waned.
Let’s be honest. Here are a few sober-
ing points!
First…the institution of marriage
teeters at over a 50% divorce rate.
Abortion on demand is called “a
right.”
Partial-birth abortion (infanticide) is
still legal.
The routine selling of baby parts after
an abortion.
Stem cell research.
Euthanasia.
No more Pledge of Allegiance….
And now the Supreme Court’s deci-
sion that sodomy is a constitutional right?
What’s wrong with this picture?
We need to again confront the truth
—are we really a God-fearing nation?
We go to worship on Sunday. We say
our prayers. Some of us receive the
body and blood of Christ. Can we peek
into our hearts and ask in prayer to
receive the blessing of and understand-
ing of the truth?
N ow with all this in mind, let us look
for solutions. I for one do not want
anyone to bring me problems without
solutions. We need solutions. We need
the TRUTH….The truth is that we
need both prayer and action—Catholic
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 CULTIVATE your Faith
Action. As the leaders and shepherd’s of
our Church have taught us: “In the
Catholic tradition, responsible citizen-
ship is a virtue; participation in the polit-
ical process is a moral obligation. Every
believer is called to faithful citizenship,
to become an informed, active and
responsible participant in the political
process.” (The Catholic Bishops of the
United States “On Faithful
Citizenship”) In our political process we
have many organizational structures
seeking to influence and effect change.
We have candidate campaigns. We have
PAC’s—political action committees. We
have 501(c)(3) educational non-profits
and we have 501(c)(4) political non-prof-
its. What have they accomplished?
Where is the voice of the Catholic lay
faithful who share the concerns that I
have mentioned in this article, and so
many more?
Many single-issue political organiza-
tions have come and gone. There is a rea-
son for this. They have not built their
house upon a sound foundation. Jesus
Christ is the foundation of our one, holy
Catholic Church and of all Christendom.
He has built a true foundation upon which
is built our Catholic Christian faith. That
faith must now proceed to action.
I believe we many of our activist non-
profit organizations have not been built
on a sound foundation. What happens to
an organization that builds upon a poor-
ly constructed foundation? It crumbles
and fails to accomplish its mission.
W ith this understanding of the
need for a true foundation and a
new Catholic action, the “Your Catholic
Voice” movement was born. The mis-
sion of the “Your Catholic Voice” move-
ment is to motivate, educate and activate
Catholic citizens for political and social
© Third Millennium, LLC. Published by Catholic Online Publishing
participation as a response to their bap-
tismal vocation and the call of our
Church to be faithful citizens. The
motto of the “Your Catholic Voice”
movement is “Cultivate your Faith—
Activate your Voice.”
“Cultivate Your Faith.”
“Your Catholic Voice Foundation”
is dedicated to informing, educating,
supporting and serving a new Catholic
Action.
“Activate Your Voice.”
“Your Catholic Voice” is dedicated to
activating faithful Catholic citizens for
the vital work of political participation.
It is time for solutions and not just
more talk. The only real solution is the
implementation of the social teachings
of the Catholic Church. Movements
such as “Your Catholic Voice” are a vital
part of making that teaching known and
offering them as a path to cultural, polit-
ical and social recovery. We know that
the principles found in Catholic social
teaching promote the common good.
We have tried all others—now it is
time for all Catholics Christians to stand
as One Body in Christ. Let your
Catholic voice be heard. We need to
build upon the sure and firm foundation
of Catholic faith. We have professed
that we believe…now it is time to act
and to build!
Believing that our Catholic faith is
neither liberal nor conservative,
Democrat nor Republican, but true, we
will involve ourselves only in those issues
that flow from our “FOUR PILLARS
OF PARTICIPATION.” Through our
Four Pillars—Life, Family, Freedom and
Solidarity—we are proposing solutions
and seeking to build a culture of life and
civilization of love. The four pillars of the
“Your Catholic Voice” movement
encompass the social teachings of our
Your Catholic Voice Foundation
Catholic faith.
Mother Teresa, another great gift to
our Church and the world, once told us
all—“It has never been between you and
me, it has always been between me and
Him.” We must pray and live by example
the simple and wonderful truths that our
Father in heaven and His Son have given
us…compassion, understanding, faith,
hope and charity (love).
It has always been between me and
God. I am tired of seeing efforts to end
abortion fail. I am tired of seeing the
family devastated. I have decided it is
time to put legs on my faith and walk
into the world in order to build a truly
just society. Let us go forward and build
upon the foundation Christ has given us.
Come, join us in “Your Catholic Voice.”
As we pray every Sunday…
“We believe in one Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church.”
Let’s NOW act that way! ✝
MICHAEL GALLOWAY is the Publisher/President
of Catholic Online, a Catholic media company
that he and his wife built. He, his wife Sandy, and
Deacon Keith Fournier are the founders of the
Your Catholic Voice movement. He also serves
as the Chairman of the Board of Your Catholic
Voice, Inc., the 501(c)(4) activist arm of the
movement.
Your Catholic Voice is a movement to promote
faithful citizenship based on the fundamental truths
of the Catholic Church relating to Life, Family,
Freedom and Solidarity.
Your Catholic Voice Foundation
Visit us at http://www.ycvf.org
Your Catholic Voice Foundation
P.O. Box 11236
Bakersfield, CA 93389
661-869-1000
info@ycvf.org
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