---

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail  Print

---

---

Terri Schindler-Schiavo's Legacy to Live on - Radio Show Dedicated to Anti-Euthanasia

Program to give voice to persons with disabilities

By Michael Baggot

ST. PETERSBURG, FL, March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation has announced the March 15 3pm EST debut of the American Lifeline hour radio program.  The show's mission is to "educate Americans about their health care rights as well as protecting themselves and loved ones who may be sick or disabled from the threat of euthanasia."

The weekly program will begin next Saturday on Talk Radio 860 WGUL in Tampa, Florida and will be available online at http://860wgul.townhall.com/.

"Our intentions are not to rehash Terri's case, but rather do what Terri's Foundation has been doing since my sister's death - provide a voice for persons with disabilities," Bobby Schindler, co-host of Lifeline and brother of Terri Schindler Schiavo, told LifeSiteNews.com. 

Speaking about the treatment of the disabled, Schindler told LifeSiteNews, "There remains a tremendous amount of confusions regarding this issue and our hope is that the radio program will provide us a way to raise awareness and educate those that don't fully understand this issue and how grave of a problem it potentially is for not only the tens of thousands of persons in similar conditions as Terri, but every single one of us."

Schindler told LifeSiteNews that the program will address "advanced directives & wills, the health care rights of Americans, threats to the disabled, national health care, local & national politics, home & hospice care, euthanasia, doctor assisted-suicide, medical futility & ethics committees, state & federal laws, and any current cases or situations where someone life might be in jeopardy of being killed."

Schindler hopes that the new program finds the sort of interest and support his sister's struggle found.  "Something largely ignored by the mainstream media is that during Terri's battle to save her life, there were close to 30 local and national disability rights groups publicly advocating for her life."

"We should all be concerned about the direction of our nation and how it is treating our most vulnerable," added Schindler.

"America's Lifeline is something we've wanted to do for some time, and with Cary Hall's health care expertise, and my family's experience trying to save Terri and now running her foundation which works to save those like Terri, we'll be able to educate Americans and raise awareness about the euthanasia movement like never before", said Suzanne Vitadamo. Vitadamo, Terri Schindler-Schiavo's sister, will co-host the program with Schindler and Carry Hall.

Hall is host of The Health Insurance Advocate program, which "takes phone calls and empower listeners with the knowledge they need to make wise and informed decisions about personal health care and related topics," according to the program's website.

Following Terri's death, family members founded the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation as a means of spreading her story and protecting individuals deemed unworthy of life.  The foundation seeks "to develop a national network of resources and support for the medically-dependent, persons with disabilities, and the incapacitated who are in or potentially facing life-threatening situations."

Terri gained nation attention when her husband and legal guardian Michael Schiavo had her feeding tube removed despite her family's willingness to care for Terri.  Terri's tube was removed on March 17, 2005, resulting in her March 31 death through starvation and dehydration. 

The foundation insists that Schiavo was not terminally ill or at the end of her life when food and water were refused her.  Schiavo did not lack respiration and other reflexes absent from those in comatose state, notes the foundation, nor was she was dependent upon artificial respiration.  The foundation adds, "Terri's behavior and ability to interact with her surroundings did not meet the medical or statutory definition of persistent vegetative state."

As Terri's legal guardian, Michael Schiavo stood to inherit the almost $800,000 fund earmarked for Terri's rehabilitation and therapy if Terri should die before using the money for treatment.

Terri had no written advance directive to indicate her wishes regarding her treatment following major illness or injury.  Almost eight years after her injury, her husband presented hearsay evidence that Terri would not want to live on life support.  A twenty-year childhood friend testified that she never heard Terri request dehydration or starvation in the event of disability. 

In 1998, Michael Schiavo asked that Terri's feeding tube be removed, stating, "It was Terri's wish that she wouldn't want to live in this condition."  In 1993, when ending Terri's antibiotic treatment, Michael stated, "It's what I think Terri would want", and "In my own feelings, if Terri were to wake up and see herself the way she is now, she wouldn't even want to live like that."

It was not until the spring of 1999 that Florida law declared feeding tubes artificial life support.  Hence, the nutrients Terri was receiving, previously understood to be basic health care, became known as extraordinary medical treatment. 

Speaking on euthanasia and the mentality that promotes it, the National Council of Catholic Bishops observed in 1992, "Nutrition and hydration (whether orally administered or medically assisted) are sometimes withdrawn not because a patient is dying, but precisely because a patient is not dying (or not dying quickly) and someone believes it would be better if he or she did, generally because the patient is perceived as having an unacceptably low 'quality of life' or as imposing burdens on others."

Read LifeSiteNews.com's extensive coverage of the Terri Schiavo case:
http://www.google.com/search?q=terri+site:http://www.lifesite.net

Contact the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation:
The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation
5562 Central Avenue, Suite 2
St. Petersburg, FL 33606
(727) 490-7603
http://www.terrisfight.org  ;

Tune into America's Lifeline:
http://860wgul.townhall.com/ ;

 Back to Top

---

Catholic University of Notre Dame President Approves Vulgar Pro-Lesbian Play Vagina Monologues

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - University of Notre Dame President, Father John Jenkins, C.S.C., announced today that he has approved campus performances of the lurid play, "The Vagina Monologues," on March 24-26.  It will be the sixth year since 2002 that Notre Dame has hosted the play.

The Vagina Monologues is a sexually explicit and offensive play that favorably describes lesbian activity, group masturbation, and the reduction of sexuality to selfish pleasure.  In one scene, the lesbian seduction of a teenage girl is described as the girl's "salvation" that "raised her into a kind of heaven."

"The announcement comes as a grave disappointment given the status Notre Dame holds as America's most prominent Catholic university - albeit not the most consistent in its Catholic identity," said Patrick Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society.  "This play is a scandal in every sense of the term."

For seven years, The Cardinal Newman Society and its more than 20,000 members have urged Catholic colleges to ban The Vagina Monologues, resulting in a significant decline from 32 Catholic campus performances in 2003 to just 19 this year. 

Father Jenkins released the statement only weeks prior to the much-anticipated visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States, including an address to the presidents of America's 213 Catholic colleges and universities on April 17.  The statement also comes after the U.S. bishops' doctrine committee snubbed Notre Dame by moving a February 11 meeting off campus, because Father Jenkins would not assure Bishop John D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend that plans for The Vagina Monologues would be canceled.

"By approving performances of the Monologues, Notre Dame is in blatant defiance of Catholic morals and basic civility," Reilly said.  "Given the imminent arrival of Pope Benedict next month, the refusal of the U.S. bishops' doctrine committee to meet at Notre Dame, and Bishop D'Arcy's repeated condemnation of this play at a Catholic institution, this decision amounts to a public thumbing of the nose to our Catholic leaders."

A Notre Dame policy, "The Common Proposal of the Chairs of Arts and Letters and Fr. Jenkins," makes allowances for almost any event on campus, so long as "a knowledgeable presentation of Catholic teaching is included."

In the March 10 statement, Father Jenkins said: "Notre Dame's policy on controversial events rests on the conviction that truth will emerge from reasoned consideration of issues in dialogue with faith. …[I]t is, in my judgment, the action that best serves the distinctive mission of Notre Dame."

Reilly countered: "Reasonable consideration of issues - even of perversity - can hardly mean that a Catholic university should put perversity on display and scandalize its students.  Catholics have been discussing and lamenting this play for seven years.  It's time to move on to both a new discussion and much better campus entertainment."

To express concerns:

Local Bishop John D'Arcy
Fort Wayne Chancery
1103 S. Calhoun Street
P.O. Box 390
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46801

University of Notre Dame President
Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C.,

 Back to Top

---

Suit Set to Expose Planned Parenthood's "Extensive, Organized Fraud"

Former Planned Parenthood executive reports that PP's illegal practices cost taxpayers more than $180 million

By Michael Baggot

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A fired executive of Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the nine California affiliates of the group for over-billing the government more than $180 million, it was revealed Saturday.  

P. Victor Gonzalez, former vice president of finance and administration of Planned Parenthood's Los Angeles affiliate, filed his 2005 suit under the False Claims Act.  Gonzalez claims that he was fired after voicing concerns about "illegal accounting, billing and donations practices."

Gonzalez alleges that the over-billing began in the late 1990s and deals with state and federal health care program reimbursements to PP for contraceptives. 

Gonzalez's attorney, Jack Schuler, alleges that PP bought contraceptives at a discounted rate given to charitable organizations, "then billed the state Medi-Cal program for 12 or more times their purchase price."

Schuler accuses the CA PPs of "extensive, organized fraud."

"A previously buried and ignored California Department of Health Services 2004 Audit, which found more than $5 million in egregious over-billing in two years by the San Diego/Riverside Planned Parenthood affiliate, is an extraordinary indictment against Planned Parenthood," stated Schuler.

"Planned Parenthood is America's most trusted provider of reproductive health care.  Our skilled health care professionals are dedicated to offering men, women, and teens the highest quality medical care and the most affordable products," states the official website of the group.

"Each health center provides safe, reliable services that prevent unintended pregnancies through contraception, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections through testing and treatment, and screen for cervical and other cancers," adds the site.

"Here is the ultimate Hollywood movie set façade of a corporation that poses as charitable while grossly over-billing government programs funded to service the needy, not the greedy. I would not be shocked that criminal prosecutions might follow," added Schuler.

In a separate wrongful termination suit scheduled to begin on April 7, Gonzalez alleges that the PP LA affiliate advanced money to the Sacramento affiliate "to cover expenses for lobbying and advocacy."  Gonzalez reported taking pictures of anti-Bush and pro-Barbara Boxer signs in PP headquarters that violate the IRS Code forbidding support on the part of charitable organizations for specific political issues or candidates. 

Gonzalez also alleges credit card abuse in the LA PP.  "Instead of using the card for legitimate non-profit purposes, employees were using donor money and other PPLA money for Victoria's Secret and private video purchases. Other instances of credit card abuse occurred as well."

California PP spokeswoman, Ana Sandoval, declined comment until her organization could assess the suit. 

In the summer of 2007, LifeSiteNews reported on PP's increased profit and taxpayer funding.  According to PP's official 2005-2006 annual report, the organization announced a $55.8 million profit for the year, bringing total PP profits over the years to over $700 million. 

PP gains money from three main sources: clinic fees, donations from groups and individuals, and taxpayer funds from the government.  The 2005-2006 financial report indicated a decline in both clinic fee profit and donations. 

The report also revealed that PP received $305.3 million in taxpayer funds, 14 percent more than in the previous year.  Taxpayer funding accounted for 34 percent of PP's income. 

"The bottom line is that Planned Parenthood is losing donations, its clinic income is down and you and I are being forced to pay more so the organization can kill our children through abortion and spread its perverted ideology throughout the land…Something is wrong here," said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League.

See other related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

U.S. Planned Parenthood Reports Record Profit, Record Amount of Taxpayer Funding
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jun/07060811.html

 Back to Top

---

Catholic Diocese of Little Rock Flip Flops - Now Okays Funding Group which Supports Planned Parenthood

FRONT ROYAL, VA, March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On February 7, 2008, the Respect Life Apostolate of the Diocese of Little Rock issued a statement saying that it "neither supports nor encourages participation in activities that benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure." Now, less than a month later, the Diocese has reversed its position. The decision was made after Komen assured the Diocese that local fund-raising will not benefit Planned Parenthood.

"Despite the efforts of some to make this issue sound complicated, the facts are clear," said Douglas R. Scott, Jr., president of Life Decisions International (LDI). "The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation allows its chapters to fund Planned Parenthood and several of them do so. The Diocese of Little Rock has essentially said it is acceptable to be associated with a group that funds an abortion-committing goliath so long as local dollars are not going to the group. This kind of disconnect is exactly what Komen officials were hoping to achieve and they clearly succeeded."

"I had been assured that 25% of the money given here in Arkansas goes to the national Komen foundation, which provided grants to Planned Parenthood, a major provider of abortions," wrote Diocesan Administration Rev. J. Gaston Hebert in explaining the new position. "If that were true, money donated in Arkansas could have indirectly funded abortions. Regardless of the exceptional work done by Komen...the good accomplished would not have been a legitimate reason to participate in the death of unborn children...However, the reality is that the national Komen foundation does NOT give grants to Planned Parenthood - and, therefore, money given to Komen in Arkansas does NOT, even indirectly, fund abortion. Thus, my major reason for releasing the position statement was NOT valid."

"In other words," Scott said, "as long as my specific dollar is not going to Planned Parenthood, it is morally acceptable to be associated with an organization that allows its chapters to support an enterprise that killed 264,943 preborn human beings in 2005 alone. "Scripture calls on Christians to have nothing to do with evil. If a Komen chapter in California was actually committing abortions with money raised locally, would Rev. Hebert use the same logic? If the answer is 'no,' I would sure like to hear his rationale."

Scott said that other than the obvious connection between any parent organization and their affiliated chapters, the issue is not whether the parent directly funds Planned Parenthood, but whether the parent directly supports a chapter that directly funds Planned Parenthood. "The parent could prohibit funding of Planned Parenthood by its chapters but Komen has steadfastly refused to do."

"I would note that there is [sic] a relatively small number of affiliates of Komen that do give grants to Planned Parenthood..." Rev. Hebert wrote. Scott wondered if the Diocese would have come to a different conclusion if every Komen affiliate, with the exception of those based in Arkansas, supported Planned Parenthood. "Based on the logic used to defend the new position, the answer is that it would not have mattered." "Even this partnering...unintentionally gives credence and acceptability to Planned Parenthood due to Komen's excellent reputation," Rev. Herbert continued. "Exactly!" Scott responded. "The partnering, which is actually quite intentional since it certainly did not happen by accident, does give credence and acceptability to Planned Parenthood."

 Back to Top

---

Biotech Firm to Provide Ethical Alternatives to Aborted Fetal Vaccines

SEATTLE, March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a victory for pro-life families around the world, AVM Biotechnology LLC (AVM Biotech) announced on February 29 their decision to provide ethical alternatives in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and vaccine development.

Dr Theresa Deisher, AVM Biotech Research and Development Director and founder stated, "We will be working to bring commercially available, morally acceptable, vaccines to the US market and to use existing technology to produce new morally certified vaccines.  Revenues from the vaccine business will also further the research, development and commercialization of morally certified therapeutics in other areas of medicine as well."

The announcement was an answer to years of hard work and prayers for Children of God for Life, a pro-life organization that has battled to bring moral alternatives to aborted fetal vaccines to the US market for nearly a decade.

"There are no words sufficient to express our deepest gratitude to Dr. Deisher and AVM Biotech", noted the group's Executive Director, Debi Vinnedge, who was also named to AVM Biotech's Advisory Board for vaccine development.

While most vaccines and medicines are produced in an ethical manner, several are manufactured using cell lines derived from aborted fetal tissue with no competing ethical products available. Vinnedge noted this has left concerned pro-life families in both a difficult and unjust position.

Both organizations hope the news will spark Congress to move forward with their Fair Labeling and Informed Consent legislation, a bill that would require full disclosure from the pharmaceutical industry whenever aborted fetal or embryonic cell lines are used in medical products.

"Every consumer, whether pro-life in philosophy or not, has the right to know if human fetal cell contaminants are present in the drugs they receive", noted Dr. Deisher. "Consumers should be informed and empowered to make the best health care choices for themselves and their families.  Surely, if we have the right to know what is in our fast food, we should also have the right to know what is in our medicine. "

AVM Biotech intends to further assist in this effort by certifying that its therapeutic products are not discovered, screened, evaluated, produced, or tainted in any way by the use of electively aborted human fetal material, human embryonic material, or any other unethically obtained materials.

 Back to Top

---

Rainbow Sash Movement Plots Papal Protest

Gay advocacy group to throw ashes and blow whistles at pope during April US visit

By Michael Baggot

March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Rainbow Sash Movement, a homosexual activist group, announced their plans to protest Pope Benedict XVI's opposition to homosexual behavior during his April visit to the United States. 

The RSM plans to throw ashes at the Pope, because "ashes are an ancient and appropriate greeting for a sinner who has caused the Church so much division and pain," stated the movement.

"We will also be greeting him with whistles; these were used by the Polish People to show shame for the violation of human rights by the Communist Government prior to the end of the cold war," added a RSM statement.

"We are a community of Catholic GLBT along with our allies who work for change in the Church. To continue to hide our identity only enables shame and homophobia.  We are committed to working from within the Church," says the movement.

The RSM is best known for its large Pentecost Sunday protests, in which openly practicing homosexual, bisexual, and "transgendered" individuals identify themselves as such with multicolor sashes and demand Holy Communion during Mass.

The Pope has been a vocal opponent of homosexual "marriage".  In January 2007, after praising traditional families, the Pope said, "projects that aim to attribute to other forms of union inappropriate legal recognition appear dangerous and counterproductive."

The RSM contrasts with ministries in the Church that support Catholics in their efforts to live a life of chastity and to overcome homosexual inclinations when possible.  The Courage apostolate, founded by Fr. John Harvey, OSFS in 1980, has five main goals: Chastity, Prayer and Dedication, Fellowship, Support, and Good Example. 

Courage professes complete fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church, including those regarding homosexuality.

"Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,'" states the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Catechism adds that those with homosexual tendencies "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.  Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."

"It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs.  The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law," stated a 1986 Vatican document on the pastoral care of homosexual persons, issued by the then Cardinal Ratzinger.

"But the proper reaction to crimes committed against homosexual persons should not be to claim that the homosexual condition is not disordered," added the document.

See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:

Learn about the Courage apostolate:
http://www.couragerc.net

Read the Vatican's document on pastoral care of homosexual persons:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_d...

Pope Benedict: Marriage is Between a Man and a Woman "Admit No Alternatives"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05060602.html

 Back to Top

---

Pro-Abortion Socialists Win National Elections in Spain

"Conservative" opposition party presented little difference on life and family issues

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MADRID, March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Spain's Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) won enough votes on Sunday to perpetuate the regime of Prime Minister José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, whose administration has sought to expand the availability of abortion, created a system of homosexual "marriage", and liberalized the nation's divorce laws.

Although the PSOE did not win a majority of seats in the nation's parliament, the party will form a coalition with smaller parties to again choose Zapatero as "President of the Government", the Kingdom of Spain's prime minister.

Despite dissatisfaction from various sectors of Spanish society over Zapatero's policies, including his perceived weakness in the face of terrorism from Baque separatists and his anti-family measures, a majority of voters rejected the main opposition party, and its leader, Mariano Rajoy.

Although millions of Spaniards had protested Zapatero's anti-family policies in recent months, Rajoy and his People's Party positioned themselves only marginally closer to a pro-family position.  Rajoy refused to consider changing Spain's abortion law, which is one of the most liberal in Europe, and said that he would only rename the country's homosexual "marriage" law, maintaining all of the legal privileges it establishes for homosexual couples.

Instead of presenting a sharp contrast with Zapatero, Rajoy attempted to capitalize on anxiety over a recent economic downturn, and ran a campaign that was seen as empty and negative.

Other factors contributed to the loss of Spain's more conservative party, including its support for a strong central government, a position that differentiates it from American and Canadian conservatism.  The People's Party's centralism makes it unpopular with highly nationalistic provinces such as Catalonia, whose overwhelming support of Zapatero was seen as decisive in this year's elections.

A last minute assassination of a socialist politician by Basque separatists is also believed to have created sympathy for the PSOE.  The fallen leader's daughter's appeal for socialists to go to the polls in response may have decisively increased the turnout, a crucial factor for the socialists who are popular with younger Spaniards less likely to vote in an election.

Although Zapatero is taking a conciliatory tone in the wake of his victory, he is unlikely to revoke any of the policies that have made him so unpopular with pro-family and pro-life groups in Spain.  His win ensures that for the next four years the Spanish family will continue to be undermined and displaced by state power in accordance with secular values.

 Back to Top

---

Jesuits Proclaim Loyalty to Pope but Fail to Allay Doubts

By Hilary White

ROME, March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The two-month General Congregation meeting of the Society of Jesus ended in Rome on Thursday with the 225 delegates professing their loyalty to the Pope and their obedience to Catholic teaching. At the start of their meeting, the Jesuit order, one of the most influential in the history of the Catholic Church, received a letter from Pope Benedict XVI implicitly criticising the order for laxity in its commitment to Catholic teaching and its traditional loyalty to the pope.

Pope Benedict wrote to the order in January, "I heartily hope that the present Congregation affirms with clarity the authentic charism of the founder so as to encourage all Jesuits to promote true and healthy Catholic doctrine."

The pope wrote that "it could prove extremely useful" for the General Congregation to "reaffirm...its own total adhesion to Catholic doctrine," in areas which "today are strongly attacked by secular culture". Pope Benedict specified the teaching of the Church on inter-religious and inter-denominational relations, "some aspects" of "Liberation theology" denounced by many in the Church as Marxist-inspired, and "various points of sexual morality, especially as regards the indissolubility of marriage and the pastoral care of homosexual persons".

In response, the General Congregation has issued a declaration titled, "With New Fervor and Dynamism, the Society of Jesus Responds to the Call of Benedict XVI".

Shortly after his election during the General Congregation as the new Superior General of the order, Father Adolfo Nicolás chided reporters for running "unhelpful" reportage and creating "an artificial tension" between the Jesuits and the Pope. He said the problems had been created by outsiders unaware that "the Society of Jesus from the very beginning has always been in communion with the Holy Father."

The order, founded in the 16th century to answer the religious controversies driving the Protestant Reformation, has in recent decades moved away from its traditional defence of Catholic orthodoxy. Throughout its history the Society of Jesus was strongly marked by its characteristic "fourth vow" of total obedience to the pope, in addition to the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. But since the 1960's, that special relationship has been strained as the order has taken the lead in the so-called "progressive" or left-liberal wing in the Church.

In the areas of the sanctity of human life, the Church's teaching on sexuality and the meaning of marriage, US Jesuits in particular have been instrumental in creating in both government and academia the widespread acceptance of abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality and finally gay marriage among American Catholics, particularly in the political sphere. 

Observers have said that despite the officially declared line of loyalty, little is to be expected in reform of the order's direction of "tacit dissent" of the past forty years.

Fr. Adolfo Nicolás did little to allay such suspicions when he told reporters on Friday that the Jesuits' tradition of fidelity and obedience never stopped them "in their theological research or in their way of living the Christian faith." He said only that the order would now understand that "we need more humility because conflicts and difficulties are what make us grow."

Even more clearly, the superior of the Jesuits of Italy distanced the order from the traditional "militaristic" interpretation of obedience. Father Carlo Casalone said, "In reality, obedience understood as uncritical obedience to the will of another is not a virtue." Instead, he said, obedience is "seeking the will of God together with another person, that is, seeking the good to be done."

US Catholic author and columnist Russell Shaw wrote in January, "The Jesuits as a body are in serious trouble today". He called the 35th General Congregation, "a matter of the highest urgency. The Society's very survival could be at stake."
 
"The really big difference between then and now is that Jesuits then were a band of ultra-orthodox papal loyalists, while Jesuits now and for several decades have collectively cast themselves in the role of a shakily loyal opposition."

The order's continued existence, however, is a matter of some doubt. The order reached a numerical peak in 1965. However, in 2002 more men had left since 1960 (5,892) than were then members (3,635). As of 2007, the number of Jesuits in the United States has fallen to 2,991.

American Catholic author and thinker George Weigel wrote in the Denver Catholic Register in February that there were immediate tests in the offing for the Jesuits' latest profession of loyalty. Weigel asked the newly elected Superior General, "What will Father Nicolas do about Jesuits who are manifestly not obedient to the Pope or to the teaching authority of the Church?"

Weigel offered one example among many. "Take, for example, the case of Father James Keenan, S.J., of Boston College. Several years ago, Father Keenan testified before the Massachusetts Legislature, arguing that the principles of Catholic social doctrine did not merely tolerate 'gay marriage,' they demanded it."

"That position is manifestly not 'in communion' with the teaching of popes past and present on the nature of marriage; now what?"

 Back to Top

---

Pope Benedict: Hedonistic Secularist Mentality Pervades the Church

Leads to "spiritual atrophy" and "emptiness of heart"

By Hilary White

ROME, March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The secularization that so characterizes many western societies has also found its way into the Church, Pope Benedict has warned. At a meeting March 8th with the Pontifical Council for Culture, the pope said that "the lofty values of existence" must be reintroduced to contemporary cultures. The media has spread a "hedonistic" and consumerist mentality that promotes the idea that "there is no longer any need for God, to think of Him or to return to Him."

The dangers of this way of living, he said, are "the risk of falling into spiritual atrophy and emptiness of heart". Without God at the centre, human life and intellectual endeavour "gives way to a sterile worship of the individual".

"In this cultural context, there is the risk of falling into spiritual atrophy and into an emptiness of heart, sometimes characterised by surrogate forms of religious membership and vague spiritualism."

Secularization, he said, "is not just an external threat to believers, but has for some time been evident in the bosom of the Church herself". It "invades all aspects of daily life and causes the development of a mentality in which God is effectively absent, entirely or in part, from human life and conscience".

Benedict warned that this culture promotes, in both laity and clergy, "a drift towards superficiality and selfishness which damages ecclesial life". The pope called on the faithful to fight these trends by re-introducing "the exalted values of existence which give meaning to life and can satisfy the disquiet of the human heart in its search for happiness."

These include "the dignity and freedom of the person, the equality of all mankind, and the sense of life and death and of what awaits us at the end of earthly existence".

"The phrase 'etsi Deus non daretur' [as if there were no God] is becoming a way of life which has its roots in a kind of 'arrogance' of reason."

The pope warned that the exaltation of reason above God, a characteristic of the 18th century's "Enlightenment" philosophies, is now pervasive in society. But, he said, the Enlightenment inverted the real order. Reason he said, "was actually created and loved by God."

Now, however, it is "held to be sufficient unto itself and closes itself off from contemplating and seeking a Truth that lies beyond it".

Pope Benedict concluded, "Above all, I exhort pastors of the flock of God to a tireless and generous mission to counteract - in the field of dialogue and meeting between cultures, of announcement and testimony of the Gospel - the worrying phenomenon of secularization which weakens man and hinders his innate longing for the entire Truth".  

 Back to Top

---

No "New Deadly Sins" - Media Perpetrating Massive Distortion

By Hilary White

March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Some of the most prominent English language newspapers in the world - the Times and the Daily Telegraph in London; the Globe and Mail in Canada; the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia; as well as Reuters news agency and ABC News and NPR in the US - have run this week with the story that the "Vatican" has "re-written" the traditional seven deadly sins and offered a "replacement" list. But Catholic journalists and media watch groups have said it is a blatant case of media distortion and the creation of a massive teapot tempest. 

Within hours of an interview with a Vatican official appearing in L'Osservatore Romano, the news wires were flooded with hundreds of reports. "Vatican updates seven deadly sins", ABC News offered; from Reuters we have "Vatican lists 'new sins', including pollution"; the Sydney Morning Herald wrote, "Vatican updates seven deadly sins".

Out (say the news outlets) are lust, greed, gluttony and sloth; in are environmental degradation, "social injustice" and being too wealthy.

But according to Catholic media experts, the headlines have distorted beyond recognition the original L'Osservatore Romano interview with Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, an official of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican office that oversees the delicate and difficult matters of confession of sins. 

Catholic author and journalist Phil Lawler said the "media need a reality check".

"When a second-tier Vatican official gives a newspaper interview, he is not proclaiming new Church doctrines" Lawler said.

Presenting the comments in the context of a speech by Pope Benedict calling for Catholics to return to the sacrament of confession, Girotti was portrayed as offering a "new list" of sins that would "replace" the traditional theological formulation.

In reality, Archbishop Girotti was giving some private comments on the application of Catholic teaching to modern conditions. The archbishop gave examples of what he called "new forms of social sin," including genetic manipulation of human embryos and drug trafficking.

Girotti also listed "social inequality" and "social injustice" as a "corollary of the unstoppable process of globalization".

Girotti, erroneously identified in the media as the "head" of the tribunal, told the interviewer, "If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has a value, a resonance beyond the individual, above all social, because of the great phenomenon of globalization. In effect, the attention to sin presents itself more urgently today than yesterday, because its consequences are wider and more destructive."

Writing for Catholic World News, Lawler said the media's frenzied reaction has not only distorted what the archbishop said, but the concept of sin as it is understood by Catholics.
 
"An ordinary reader, basing his opinion only on the inane Telegraph coverage, might conclude that a 'sin,' in the Catholic understanding, is nothing more than a violation of rules set down by a group of men in Rome. If these rules are entirely arbitrary, then Vatican officials can change them at will; some sins will cease to exist and other 'new sins' will replace them. But that notion of sin is ludicrous."

Lawler continued, "A sin is not a sin because simply an archbishop proclaims it so...The precepts of 'reason, truth, and right conscience' do not shift in response to political trends, nor do they change at the whim of Vatican officials."

Also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, the "seven deadlies" are a theological classification of vices first formulated by St. Gregory the Great in the 6th Century AD. In the original Latin they are Luxuria (extravagance, later lust), Gula (gluttony), Avaritia (greed), Acedia (sloth), Ira (wrath), Invidia (envy), and Superbia (pride). They are countered by their opposite virtues: chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility.

Many Catholic thinkers and writers have strongly criticised the concept of "social sin" popularized by the leftist "progressive" wing of the Church since the beginning of the social revolution of the 1960's. Trendy among dissenting Marxist-inspired "liberation" theologians, the notion of social or "corporate" sin such as "social injustice" or "systemic inequality" has been largely discredited.

The Church continues to hold that sin is an act by an individual contrary to the will of God, that can be absolved after the sinner makes a valid confession. Critics have said that the idea of "social sin" such as "environmental degradation" is one for which no one individual can be held to account and that therefore becomes largely meaningless for the greater majority.

Read an English translation of the original L'Osservatore Romano interview:
(Adobe required)
http://blog.acton.org/uploads/penitentiary_interview.pdf

 Back to Top

---

More on LifeSiteNews Copyright Policy - Clarifation

By Steve Jalsevac

As a result of emailed questions in response to yesterday's notice of changes to the LifeSiteNews copyright we have updated the new copyright notice to better clarify our limited conditions.

The copyright notice now reads:

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to http://www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.

** The main new change is that we are now also requiring that any website publishing of a an entire LifeSiteNews report or a large portion of it MUST include a live link to http://www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts.**

See previous report:
LifeSiteNews Search Problem, Blocking of LifeSiteNews Emails to Subscribers, Change in Copyright Requirement
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08031001.html

 Back to Top

---

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail  Print

---

---

MORE NEWS: LifeSiteNews.com Home Page  Last 10 Days   Archives   Special Reports

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.