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Credit Card Offers New Way to
Promote 'Culture of Life'
By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON---Steve Thomas is concerned that many of those who want to foster the "culture of life" promoted by Pope John Paul II are being betrayed by their own wallets.
A frequent speaker on natural family planning and chastity education, Thomas often asks his audiences what credit cards they carry. Many are horrified, he said, to find that the banks whose names appear on their credit cards are among the biggest financial supporters of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the world.
To solve that problem, Thomas, a member of St. Mary's Parish in Mokena, Ill., has founded the Vitae Corporation to channel some of the financial resources of the banking and telecommunications industries toward the pro-life cause.
The Vitae (Latin for "life") Corporation offers the "Culture of Life" credit card and the "Culture of Life" long-distance telephone program.
Through the credit card program, MBNA Bank -- which Thomas says makes no contributions to Planned Parenthood or similar organizations -- will return to Vitae Corporation or other pro-life organizations it designates 0.5 percent of the amount charged on the card.
The card has no annual membership fee, has an introductory annual percentage rate of 5.9 percent, and a credit line of up to $100,000 for those approved for the Platinum Plus card.
Although the card has only been available for a little over three months, "several hundred" cards have already been issued, Thomas said, and calls have been received from as far away as Alaska.
No one is receiving a salary from the company, he said, and the Vitae Corporation is still "in the red" because of start-up costs.
Despite the low APR, Vitae Corporation encourages those who take out the credit card not to carry any balance on the card, Thomas said, noting that the bank and not Vitae -- gets all the interest or late fees paid when a balance is due.
Vitae also has several contracts with telephone companies that offer local and long-distance phone service. One provider, for example, offers a $20 bonus for each sign-up, a flat 11.9 cents a minute charge, no monthly fee and a 5 percent rebate on long-distance charges to the pro-life organization.
Thomas said the idea for the credit card and phone services arose not only from a concern about financing Planned Parenthood but also from a growing frustration about the continual need to raise funds for pro-life activities.
He and his wife, Ginny, who are expecting their sixth child, were trying to bring their chastity education and natural family planning information to a wider audience, but found they were always running out of money for books and other materials. Thomas works part-time in sales for his father's cabinet manufacturing business, but hopes to eventually devote all his time to pro-life work.
"It's frustrating when you have something good but you can't get it out there," he said. With the funds generated by the credit card and long-distance service. Vitae and other pro-life groups "wouldn't have to keep looking for money," he said.
But aside from the financial factor, the "Culture of Life" credit card can serve as a powerful tool for evengelization, Thomas said. The card shows a scene from Michelangelo's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, with the hands of God and Adam touching, and bears the words "Vitae means life."
"Every time you use this card, you are going to be thinking of the dignity ad sanctity of life," said Thomas. And maybe that will lead others to think about it, too.
At a time when people are being bombarded with the wrong messages about life and how to live it, he added, "maybe it's time to start bombarding with the right message."
For further information, call 888/883-LIFE
(5433) or write Vitae Corporation at P.O. Box 219, New Lenox, IL 60451.
Copyright ©1998 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was published in the Arlington
Catholic Herald,
200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 607, Arlington, VA 22203; Vol 23, No 49;
dated Dec. 10, 1998, on page 10.
E-mail:
letters@catholicherald.com
Fax: 703/524-2782;
Editorial: 703/841-2590;
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Circulation: 703/841-2565
A note from the Web Master:
It is noteworthy and honorable that some folks are willing to stand up for a ban on Partial-Birth Abortion. Let us not forget that ordinary everyday Abortion is also murder. We must understand that murder is murder no matter the method. Because one method of abortion seems to be horrible does not justify the other methods. We should be horrified and sickened by any Abortion regardless of the method. The Fifth Commandment spells it out clearly: "Thou shalt not kill." A fetus is a person, a human being with a God given soul. Imagine the pain the Lord must feel when any Abortion occurs. Please contact both of your Senators and Representative, via letter or phone, to let them know how horrified you are that Abortions are legal and to stop Partial-Birth Abortions and all other Abortions as soon as possible. (It has become apparent recently that they do not respond to email therefore you will have more of an impact by writing or telephoning.)
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