Blogs
Featured Image

Big Tech is censoring us. Subscribe to our email list and bookmark LifeSiteNews.com to continue getting our news.  Subscribe now.

February 9, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — On a call today, the LifeSite staff was talking about how things are getting depressing out there and how we’re going to bring you more good news. And there’s no better time to start than right now.

Yes, we’re going to continue to tell you about all the concerning things taking place in the world, but we’re also going to try to feature more of the heroes fighting the good fight, more of the inspiring people and happenings out there to boost your spirits.

Today on my podcast, I’ll be featuring solid bishops fighting the good fight, as well as Taylor Marshall’s amazing conversion story and a movie you should definitely check out. 

One of my heroes that I wanted to start off with is one known to many of you at LifeSite. He’s an awesome priest who leads the daily rosary on LifeSite’s YouTube and Rumble channels, literally leading oftentimes 10,000 families per day in the LifeSite rosary. Fr. Anthony Pillari also runs the absolute best catechetical resource for children — the Our Lady of the Rosary catechism — a free online Catechism course we featured on this show some time ago. Click here to access that.

Fr. Pillari is very much an inspiration to me. A marine of a priest who loves the faith and gives life, his spiritual life, his all. He recently had a very bad fall on black ice. He broke five ribs and fractured three vertebrae. We had to cancel the LifeSite daily rosary for a few days because of his injury. But he is already praying it again, despite the pain, and for him likely the biggest pain is not being able to kneel down to pray the rosary. So, I ask you to pray for Fr. Pillari’s full and speedy recovery, but also to avail yourself of the daily rosary on LifeSite’s YouTube channel here and on our Catholic Rumble channel as well.

In other news today, President Joe Biden is continuing to put out executive orders that threaten life and family at an alarming rate. LifeSite recently published a piece by Austin Ruse, the head of the Center for Family and Human Rights. In his article, Austin notes that the president is funding a program to block foreign religious leaders who oppose the LGBT agenda, which may block pro-family leaders — maybe even me — from entering the United States. This week, Biden signed an executive order that will promote homosexuality and transgenderism as a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. 

Of most concern to human rights advocates around the world is the provision of $10 million in the upcoming fiscal year to fund the “Global Equality Fund” that will allow the U.S. government to blacklist foreign religious leaders who speak out in favor of the natural family and against the LGBT ascendancy. These human rights advocates could be blocked in the same way certain Russian oligarchs are blocked from entering the United States. 

But to get back to some good news, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has said that any decision to deny Holy Communion to publicly pro-abortion Catholic politicians, such as President Joe Biden or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, would not be “tied to politics,” but would ultimately be about “protecting” the sacrament while helping such a person move toward repentance. 

LifeSite’s Pete Baklinski reports that during a conversation between Archbishop Cordileone  and EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo last Thursday, Cordileone said Catholics “don’t understand anymore what it means to receive Communion.”

The Catholic Church holds that the bread and wine consecrated by a priest at Mass become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. St. Paul  warns  the Corinthians that those who partake of the Holy Eucharist in an “unworthy manner” will be “guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” 

But here is another great point Archbishop Cordileone made. He just smashed the argument that some Catholics tend to rely on that says we can support pro-abortion politicians for their other good stances on poverty or the environment. He compared abortion to the lynching of blacks Americans.

And speaking of courageous bishops, I wanted to read you a tweet from one of the most courageous bishops in the U.S. 

In the wake of learning that many medicines are also tainted with abortion, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has not decided to give up and throw in the towel. Rather, he said, Some may see this as a reason to surrender. No! We should uphold the dignity of human life more than ever. With one strong voice we all need to proclaim … WE WILL NOT KILL CHILDREN TO LIVE.  

In other good news, the Supreme Court of the United States has blocked California bans on church services. LifeSite’s Calvin Freiburger reports that the U.S. Supreme Court partially sided with California churches Friday, lifting some limits on church services imposed by Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom in the name of “public health.”

The court voted 6-3 to temporarily block Newsom’s ban on in-person services while a case on the merits makes its way through the lower courts. A majority of justices did not, however, vote to do the same to Newsom’s limit of church attendance to 25 percent  capacity or his ban on live singing during services. 

“When a State so obviously targets religion for differential treatment, our job becomes that much clearer,” Justice Gorsuch wrote for himself and Justice Thomas, noting that California holds most retail establishments to a lesser standard. 

Very soon on this show I’ll be bringing you a great man named Jason Jones, a fierce warrior for life, faith and family. He was the executive producer for the blockbuster pro-life film Bella, and for that amazing short film Crescendo. Jason is soon to release a new documentary called Divided Hearts. I encourage you to check it out. Click here to watch a short clip.

And finally, to my mind the best thing about the Super Bowl this year was a commercial. The Toyota ad at the Super Bowl was truly inspiring. It was a great promo for adoption. Have a look for yourself 

“It might not be easy, but it’ll be amazing,” says her adoptive mother. And isn’t that true for all of us right now? It is not easy, but it can be amazing. We have the opportunity now to evangelize in this dark period where your light can shine like never before. Live that faith of Christ. Allow Him to act through you daily, with all those He puts in your path. May God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show is available by video on the show’s YouTube channel and right here on my LifeSite blog.

It is also available in audio format on platforms such as SpotifySoundcloud, and ACast. We are awaiting approval for iTunes and Google Play as well. To subscribe to the audio version on various channels, visit the ACast webpage here.

We’ve created a special email list for the show so that we can notify you every week when we post a new episode. Please sign up now by clicking here. You can also subscribe to the YouTube channel, and you’ll be notified by YouTube when there is new content.

You can send me feedback, or ideas for show topics by emailing [email protected].

 

By clicking subscribe, you are agreeing to receive emails about The John-Henry Westen Show and related emails from LifeSiteNews.

Featured Image

John-Henry is the co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews.com. He and his wife Dianne have eight children and they live in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, Canada.

He has spoken at conferences and retreats, and appeared on radio and television throughout the world. John-Henry founded the Rome Life Forum, an annual strategy meeting for life, faith and family leaders worldwide. He is a board member of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family. He is a consultant to Canada’s largest pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and serves on the executive of the Ontario branch of the organization. He has run three times for political office in the province of Ontario representing the Family Coalition Party.

John-Henry earned an MA from the University of Toronto in School and Child Clinical Psychology and an Honours BA from York University in Psychology.