ads in OLA, OLS/St.Anthony's, St.Ann's, and St.Charles Borommeo

Rev. Cesar Rubiano

Our Lady of the Angels
Trenton, New Jersey
olatrenton05@aol.com

Rev. Msgr. Thomas Gervasio
Our Lady of Sorrows / St. Anthony
Mercerville/Trenton, New Jersey
info@ols-sa.org

Rev. Gerard F. Lynch, O.SS.T
Saint Ann
Lawrenceville, New Jersey
csainfo@churchofsaintann.net

Rev. Msgr. Edward Deliman
St. Charles Borommeo 
Bensalem, Pennsylvania
olf.parish@verizon.net



Greetings:

Catholic parishes - and others of good will - should not be cooperating with pharmacies which provide contraceptives and potential abortifacients, by allowing their advertisements in parish bulletins.  To the best of my knowledge, the St. Clare Pharmacy is the only pharmacy in the Central Jersey/Bucks County area NOT selling contraceptives and potential abortifacients.

Poisons which we often call "contraceptives" can often act as "abortifacients."  Since 1973's infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, it has been noted that there have been more than 57 million abortion in the United States.  Yet as hideous and horrible as that number is, it is an underestimate.  When you properly count abortions from chemical and mechanical methods (e.g., hormonal contraceptives, IUDs), Pharmacists for Life International puts the number of abortions in the U.S. since 1973 at 308,000,000.  

While the Pro Life community has grown more aware of Planned Parenthood's role in the genocide of pre born children, the role of the pharmaceutical industry most often goes overlooked.  To our shame, New Jersey and the Philadelphia suburbs are home to some of the world's "leading" manufacturers of hormonal contraceptives:

• Gynétics of Lawrenceville (NJ),  
• Jannsen-Cilag: "Janssen" is part of Johnson and Johnson and is in Titusville (NJ)
• Merck of Whitehouse Station (NJ), 
• Pfizer of Morris Plains (NJ),  
• Ortho-McNeil of Raritan (NJ), 
• Pharmacia of North Peapack (NJ), 
• Warner-Chilcott of Rockaway (NJ),  
• Women's Capital Corp is part of Teva of North Wales (Pa)
• Wyeth of St. David's (Pa))

Teva of North Wales manufactures the infamous Plan B and tells this to us, to our children, and to our grandchildren:

"You can start by looking for Plan B One-Step^® in the aisle. Otherwise ask anyone in the store where it's located. Then just take it off the shelf, and pay for it at the cashier. No prescription or ID required....Enter your zip code below to see which stores in your area may carry Plan B One-Step^®. Before you head out, call to make sure Plan B One-Step^® is in stock."

  

Unless it can be ascertained that a pharmacy is NOT selling Plan B - or any other abortifacient or contraceptive - their inclusion in parish bulletins seems grievously inappropriate.  To the best of my knowledge, the St. Clare Pharmacy is the only pharmacy in the Central Jersey/Bucks County area NOT selling contraceptives and potential abortifacients:

• The bulletin for Our Lady of the Angels carries inappropriate ads for Vizzoni's and Episcopo's.  Efforts to bring this to the attention of the former pastor were ignored.
  
  In June 2009, I met with James Vizzoni and was advised that Vizzoni's did NOT deal in the Plan B poison. However, Vizzoni's was dispensing contraceptives, including oral contraceptives which can act as abortifacients. 
  
  When I phoned on 6/24/13 and asked owner Episcopo's owner John Berkenkopt whether he sold contraceptives and other abortifacients including Plan B, he would not answer.  Responding that I would assume the answer to be "yes," he told me that I could assume anything that I like.  As per the  Episcopo ad: "Also available FRANCISCAN MISSION ASSOCIATION Mass Cards."  Is that not a sacrilege?  

• The bulletin for Our Lady of Sorrows / St. Anthony also carries the ad for Episcopo's, which notes: "Also available FRANCISCAN MISSION ASSOCIATION Mass Cards." (The bulletin actually includes two Episcopo ads), as well as an ad Risoldi's Market and Cafe (which includes a pharmacy). 
  
  When I phoned Risoldi's on 10/20/14, they expected to have Plan B in on 10/22 and indicated that it costs $50.

• The bulletin for St. Ann's in Lawrenceville carries an ad for McGrath's (with the note: "Member of the Diocese") and Penlar. 
  
  Back in July 2009, I phoned McGrath's and was advised that they DO provide Plan B.  On 6/24/13, I left an extended message for owner Steve Zagoreos, in an effort to get my information updated, but my message went unreturned.  Efforts to bring this to the attention of the former pastor were ignored.  On 10/20/14, I phoned Penlar and was advised that Plan B is available for $48.99.

• The bulletin for St. Charles Borommeo in Bensalem carries an ad for the Riccio Family Pharmacy. Like Vizzoni's, Riccio is NOT believed to be dispensing Plan B but to be dispensing "contraceptives," including hormonal contraceptives which can act as abortifacients.  Efforts to bring this to the attention of the former pastor were ignored.

Sincerely, 


"we need to recall briefly the principles assumed in classical moral doctrine with regard to the problem of cooperation in evil, a problem which arises every time that a moral agent perceives the existence of a link between his own acts and a morally evil action carried out by others....

"The first fundamental distinction to be made is that between formal and material cooperation. Formal cooperation is carried out when the moral agent cooperates with the immoral action of another person, sharing in the latter's evil intention. On the other hand, when a moral agent cooperates with the immoral action of another person, without sharing in the intention, it is a case of material cooperation.

"Material cooperation can be further divided into categories of immediate -- direct -- and mediate -- indirect -- depending on whether the cooperation is in the execution of the sinful action per se, or whether the agent acts by fulfilling the conditions -- either by providing instruments or products -- which make it possible to commit the immoral act.

"Furthermore, forms of proximate cooperation and remote cooperation can be distinguished, in relation to the 'distance' -- be it in terms of temporal space or material connection -- between the act of cooperation and the sinful act committed by someone else. Immediate material cooperation is always proximate, while mediate material cooperation can be either proximate or remote.

"Formal cooperation is always morally illicit because it represents a form of direct and intentional participation in the sinful action of another person. Material cooperation can sometimes be illicit -- depending on the conditions of the 'double effect' or 'indirect voluntary' action -- but when immediate material cooperation concerns grave attacks on human life, it is always to be considered illicit, given the precious nature of the value in question.

"A further distinction made in classical morality is that between active -- or positive -- cooperation in evil and passive -- or negative -- cooperation in evil, the former referring to the performance of an act of cooperation in a sinful action that is carried out by another person, while the latter refers to the omission of an act of denunciation or impediment of a sinful action carried out by another person, insomuch as there was a moral duty to do that which was omitted.

"Passive cooperation can also be formal or material, immediate or mediate, proximate or remote. Obviously, every type of formal passive cooperation is to be considered illicit, but even passive material cooperation should generally be avoided, although it is admitted, by many authors, that there is not a rigorous obligation to avoid it in a case in which it would be greatly difficult to do so" (Bishop Elio Sgreccia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, 6/9/05)