Politics
Wednesday March 7, 2001
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PrintBISHOP HENRY REMAINS HEROICALLY FIRM ON CORRECTING JOE CLARK
TODAY'S HEADLINES
CALGARY, Mar. 7, 2001 (LSN.ca) - Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, was interviewed by CTV News and Current Affairs yesterday about his statements chastising Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, a self-professed Catholic, for his pro-abortion stand. Interviewer Valerie Pringle was hostile in her choice of words to describe the bishop's actions but Bishop Henry was not ruffled and answered her questions with flair.
Asked why Clark was "targeted," the bishop explained that Clark is a resident of Calgary diocese about whom he has a serious pastoral concern. He added, "I expressed my disappointment at some of our Catholic politicians, how they seem to almost take their faith as if this were simply a privatized sort of matter and kind of checked it at the doors to the halls of Parliament, much like you might check a coat. And I said this is unacceptable for us. There must be consistency between the timeless principles that we espouse in our daily life between our political commitment and our moral conviction."
Pringle noted Henry's indication he would not lead Clark's funeral service, and then asked if the bishop was "offended by Pierre Trudeau's funeral at the Basilica?", referring to the very public church funeral for the former Liberal prime minister, who legalized abortion in 1969, at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal last fall. Bishop Henry responded, "Yes, I was.... there were some issues or questions there that might make one kind of pause and consider whether or not this was an appropriate funeral to have or not."
Pringle quoted Clark as saying, "I'm personally opposed but I can't impose my morality on everyone else." Henry responded, "Yeah. That's the sort of thing that someone says, Yeah, I'm opposed to child abuse but I can't impose my morality on anybody else. It's inherently a contradiction and it's a problem." Pringle demanded, "You think that's analogous" to which the bishop responded, "That's right."
Pringle summarized, "So, for all Catholic politicians, they should subscribe exactly and - what? - try and put laws together that reflect that?", and then asked, "So no separation of Church and State?" Bishop Henry responded that Catholics are "called to serve God first and, like Thomas More" and the issue is not one of Church and State but of "calling Catholics to be Catholics. And as a bishop [that is] my responsibility."
Pro-lifers wishing to congratulate Bishop Henry may contact him at:
Most Rev. Frederick Henry
tel: (403) 218-5526 fax: (403) 264-0272
120 - 17th Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta T2S 2T2 Canada;
(with files from Pro-Life E-News)
See the full letter at:
http://www.occb.on.ca/english/marriage.html
Back to TopPOPE SAYS WE NEED TO DO MORE THAN DENOUNCE CULTURE OF DEATH
VATICAN CITY, Mar. 7, 2001 (LSN.ca) - In an address to his "beloved" Pontifical Academy for Life last weekend, Pope John Paul II said, "Although a necessity and obligation, it is not sufficient to limit oneself to expose and denounce the lethal effects of the culture of death." Addressing the 125 participants in the Academy's General Assembly the pope encouraged working to regenerate contemporary culture. The pope noted that the areas to address were those affected by the culture of death - individual decisions, political and legislative decisions and decisions on how to proceed in the field of science.
The pope mentioned the importance of looking at life as a gift from God, and stressing the dignity of the person from conception to natural death, using the media to promote the culture of life and engaging in dialogue. Dialogue is possible, he noted, since reason and faith do not conflict. He encouraged the participants, recalling that the culture of life "will win" since God is on the side of life.
The pope's address to the Academy (in Italian) is available at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_...
See also the Zenit coverage at:
http://zenit.org/english/archive/0103/ZE010306.htm#3191
EXPERT DEBUNKS 'MEDICALLY NECESSARY' ABORTION IN BREAST CANCER CASES
NEW YORK, Mar. 7, 2001 (LSN.ca) - In an article published in the current issue of The Post-Abortion Review, Dr. Joel Brind debunks the myth commonly used by pro-abortionists who say that "therapeutic abortions" are necessary for women diagnosed with cancer while pregnant. Brind, a leading expert on the abortion-breast cancer link and head of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, notes studies have shown that pregnant women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and carry to term generally live longer than women who have abortions. In one study, while only 20 per cent of women who carried to term were still alive 20 years later, all of the patients who chose to abort had died within 11 years.
Brind hypothesizes that the lower death rate may be due to hormone changes in the last stages of pregnancy that switch the cells from a growth stage into a milk producing tissue. Since this hormonal change shuts down cell division (cancer is characterized by cell division that is out of control), this hormonal shutdown signal may be a powerful form of "natural chemotherapy."
Since studies have consistently shown that women with gestational breast cancer are actually more likely to survive if they carry to term, how could any physician not strongly recommend against abortion? If their first concern was the welfare of the woman, they could do nothing else. But according to one surgeon cited by Brind, abortion is recommended not because it will benefit the woman but purely for the sake of destroying the child who might suffer from some ill effects of the mother's chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
But even this eugenic "targeting" of the potentially "unfit" lacks any scientific merit. As Brind notes, numerous studies show that "the unborn child demonstrates a remarkable capacity to withstand aggressive maternal cancer therapy without ill effect." After the first trimester of pregnancy, chemotherapy does not appear to increase the risk birth defects, and even in the first trimester, the risks of fetal harm are very low and can be further reduced with proper precautions.
For the full text of Brind's article go to:
http://198.78.170.85/news/2001/NRL02/joel.html
PRINCETON PROFESSOR FAVOURS INFANTICIDE AND BESTIALITY
PRINCETON, Mar. 7, 2001 (LSN.ca) - Princeton University's infamous Professor Peter Singer, an advocate of infanticide in the first few weeks after a child is born, is now writing in favour of bestiality. National Review associate editor Kathryn Jean Lopez reported Monday on an article Singer wrote for the online magazine nerve.com entitled "Heavy Petting." In the article the "ethicist" advocates the normalcy of bestiality.
Lopez points out that Singer was appointed to his position at Princeton by President Harold Shapiro, chairman of President Clinton's National Bioethics Advisory Commission. He was appointed despite massive protests by pro-lifers.
For more see the National Review at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_commentprint030501a.html
LIFESITE NEWSBYTES
Rod Love, the former campaign manager of Stockwell Day, has publicly expressed his "wholehearted" support for legalized abortion. Speaking of the "pro-choice" stand of Joe Clark and Jean Chretien he said, "I agree wholeheartedly with that." (The Calgary Herald Sun 04 Mar 2001 Comment A13 Column Rod Love)
[with files from Pro-Life E-News]
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is now a full-fledged pro-homosexual activist. The National Post reports that Klein quashed dissent among his cabinet ministers, who objected to the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in the 1999 Vriend case, reading "sexual orientation" into the province's human rights legislation. Reflecting on his reaction to the many passionate complaints he received from Albertans, he said, "My God, if this is the way people feel about sexual orientation, there has to be protection for gays and lesbians.''
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?f=/stories/20010302/489932.html
U.S. NEWS ROUNDUP
Carolyn Lund, 66, a campaigner for Oregon's euthanasia law, committed suicide with the "help" of a doctor by drinking a glass of cranberry juice loaded with barbiturates. She died early Monday morning, her children said - 37 hours after drinking the deadly cocktail.
http://www.dhonline.com/dhonline_news/regional/dhregional-07.html#TopOfPage
Jane Fonda has donated $12.5 million to Harvard's Graduate School of Education to establish a center devoted to studying the role of gender in education.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/newsatlanta/fonda0303.html
The online magazine The Daily Catholic has written an open letter to the Catholic Bishops of the United States to begin excommunicating pro-abortion Catholic politicians, such as Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy. On Ash Wednesday the Daily Catholic began an expose of about 70 of these people ("Herod's Heroes") - with their pictures and the names of their bishops and addresses.
http://www.dailycatholic.org
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