By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
TORONTO, December 9, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Long time pro-life campaigner and Campaign Life Coalition leader Winifride Prestwich passed away in her 93rd year on Saturday morning in Toronto.
Prestwich, a prominent geologist and geographer, taught at Toronto’s Havergal College. She was a published author of Canadian geography textbooks and was, notably, one of five geologists chosen to examine damage to the Niagara escarpment the first time they turned off Niagara Falls.
Prestwich was a regular columnist at The Interim newspaper, publishing numerous articles and papers on abortion and euthanasia. Jim Hughes, the president of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), recalled that at one time a book of Winifride’s columns was in the works, but “she got cold feet because she was so humble she didn’t think that she was of the caliber.”
CLC National Coordinator Mary Ellen Douglas said of Prestwich, “She was a valuable member of Campaign Life Coalition throughout the 80s and 90s. … Her skill, intelligence and commitment will be missed.”
As well as being an insightful commentator on ethical matters for CLC, Prestwich had a flare for investigation which led her to an early recognition of the social consequences of matters as diverse as embryo research, euthanasia, and the Halloween coin collection by UNICEF.
Prestwich was the first person to recognize the problems with UNICEF and uncovered the organization’s gradual embrace of the population control and sexual liberation ideology. Her meticulous research undoubtedly played a role in convincing the Vatican in 1996 to finally remove its symbolic annual donation to UNICEF.
In a pamphlet published by the Life Ethics Centre, Prestwich wrote that the organization began moving away from its original mandate in the early 1970’s and joined with the work of the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization in providing IUD’s and sterilization for girls and women in the developing world.
In her 1996 book, “UNICEF: Guilty As Charged,” Prestwich detailed how, “UNICEF, unwillingly at first, was carried along by a tide of change.” She concluded: “It is not a charity, like Easter Seals or Operation Eyesight, run by people with a personal interest in the cause … UNICEF is an international government organization, controlled by an executive board … with its own agenda.” Prestwich was able to personally give the thoroughly documented booklet to a senior Vatican cardinal when he was visiting Toronto. The Vatican discontinued its symbolic UNICEF contribution not too long after that.
“She was always on the cutting edge,” said Hughes about Prestwich’s prescient awareness of the direction the culture was taking. “For some reason she knew exactly what was happening.”
She also foresaw the ethical problems associated with embryonic research and genetic research, and even warned of the creation of human/animal hybrids when most people thought this was the realm of science fiction.
In her concluding comment on embryonic stem cell research during a conference called by Campaign Life Coalition in 2000 to discuss the increasingly popular form of research, Prestwich stated bluntly what pro-life groups are up against: “The greater number of people in Canada and throughout the world haven’t a clue what you are talking about. …the people who are going to make all these regulations, they are going to talk to a vacuum of ignorance. Because I see it as a teacher, you have to start at the beginning. We have to go back to the beginning and tell them exactly what is going on.”
The funeral Mass for Prestwich will be held on Friday, December 12th at 10:30 a.m. at Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church (3220 Bayview Avenue, north of Finch, west side) with interment at Holy Cross Cemetery.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations to Campaign Life would be appreciated.
Read
UNICEF: Guilty as Charged
https://www.lifesitenews.com/waronfamily/unicef/unicef.pdf