LifeSite Daily News for Thursday May 1, 2008

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Italian Mother “Lays Down Her Life” for Her Unborn Child

Paola Brenda sacrifices life for “gift of motherhood, the gift of having children”

By Michael Baggot

PIEVE DI SOLIGO, Italy, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an act of sacrifice comparable to that of pro-life patroness St. Gianna Beretta Molla, Italian mother Paola Breda recently died after having declined potentially life-saving cancer treatment that could have harmed her unborn child.

Breda was diagnosed with breast cancer six months into her pregnancy with her child Nicola, but postponed treatment until after Nicola’s birth.

During her funeral, Vittorio Veneto Bishop Corrado Pizziolo called Breda an exemplification of Jesus Christ’s Gospel call “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

“What Jesus did – the Gospel which He lived for us – this is what we see carried out in the life of our sister,” said the Bishop according to the Italian newspaper Avvenire.

Father Giuseppe Nadal told Radio Vaticana that Breda was disappointed that she and her husband Loris Amodei were unable to have a child until a decade into their marriage.

Both Breda’s first child, Illaria, and her second child, Nicola, brought their mother great joy, said the priest. Fr. Nadal also recounted a teary-eyed Breda coming to him during her second pregnancy.

“‘I’ve been diagnosed with cancer, and they are suggesting chemotherapy, but that would hurt the baby. I absolutely don’t want that, because I always asked for the gift of motherhood, the gift of having children,” said Breda.

St. Molla was a Milanese pediatric doctor pregnant with her fourth child when she learned of a fibroma in her uterus and declined either the abortion or complete hysterectomy that would have saved her life.

Before surgery to rescue her unborn child, St. Molla told doctors, “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child – I insist on it. Save him.”

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Australian Doctor Dies After Refusing Cancer Treatment in Order to Save Her Unborn Child
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/sep/07091405.html

Mother Dies of Cancer to Save Life of Her Unborn Child
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121402.html

Daughter of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla Attends US March for Life
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05012701.html

Pope Canonizes Gianna Molla; Secular Media at a Loss
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/04051708.html

Detroit Bishop to Offer a Funeral Mass for Eighteen Aborted Babies

By John-Henry Westen

DETROIT, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A funeral Mass burial for eighteen unborn babies will be offered this Saturday, May 3, by Bishop John Quinn of Detroit. The remains of their bodies were discovered in dumpsters at the Woman Care abortion clinic on Southfield Road in Lathrup Village, Michigan which is operated by abortionist Alberto Hodari.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, called upon all of the nation’s Catholic priests today to offer a Mass within the next few days for the “Hodari babies.” The pro-life group Citizens for a Pro-life Society headed by Monica Migliorino Miller discovered the bodies in the dumpster and brought the matter to the attention of the police.

Unbelievably, Miller was billed $1,100 by Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for the removal of the evidence from her home. In the meantime, the abortionist has himself escaped without any significant punishment. (see coverage: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08032705.html )

“This is not the first time that my friend Monica Miller has organized such a work of mercy for discarded children like this,” Fr. Pavone stated. “Her work spans the last couple of decades, and it has been my honor to participate with her in similar funeral services in the past.”

“This Saturday’s service is no ordinary funeral. There are still too many of our fellow citizens who don’t even acknowledge that the people who will be buried this Saturday are people at all. To mourn their deaths publicly, therefore, is not just to honor them, but to sound a wake-up call to our nation that we are living amidst the biggest holocaust of all time. That is why I call upon my brother priests nationwide to bring to the attention of their congregations this weekend that children are being buried who were brutally, legally killed, and that the killing has to end,” Fr. Pavone concluded.

Hodari is a controversial abortionists who was caught on video last year telling medical students that he lied to his patients. Speaking to students at Wayne State in Detroit about his career performing abortions, he said that doctors have a license to lie to their patients, and informed them he does not frequently wash his hands between abortions.

Students for Life of America filmed the talk and SFLA President Ashley Tyndall commented, “Several women have died while getting abortions with Hodari, and yet the Michigan board of health has never investigated him. How many women have to die before the bureaucrats start telling Hodari to wash his hands and tell patients the truth.” (see coverage: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/dec/07121203.html )

US Chastity Speaker Meets “Toughest Crowd” at Ontario Catholic High School

Girls “competed to wear the shortest skirts” and students defiantly told her that they “loved sex.”

By Hilary White and Steve Jalsevac
LONDON, Ontario, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com ) – Dawn Eden, the US author and chastity campaigner, relates the story of her lecture tour in the Catholic high schools in Ontario where the girls “competed to wear the shortest skirts” and students defiantly told her that they “loved sex.”

Eden described Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in Strathroy, as her “toughest crowd” from which some students after the talk wrote threatening and abusive messages on her weblog.

Eden wrote of her shock at encountering the atmosphere in the publicly funded Ontario Catholic school system: “One school where I spoke yesterday, likewise Catholic and state-funded, had a display table on testicular cancer just inside the front door. Now, I realize it’s important for young men to learn about such things-but it was disconcerting to walk into a Catholic school and be greeted with a sign shouting, ‘MY LEFT NUT.'”

Sponsored in part by the London Area Right to Life Association, Eden, who normally addresses audiences of young adults, was giving talks to high schools for the first time. Eden is a former rock music industry journalist and more recently, the author of “The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfilment While Keeping Your Clothes On”. She gives lectures around the US and participates in panels and discussions on helping young people recapture chastity as a way of life.

She expressed her sympathy for young people under pressure to go along with the crowd. “Seeing the way the Ontario girls competed to wear the shortest skirts reminded me of how the social pressure to conform could be unbearable,” she wrote.

But the real surprise came after the lecture at Holy Cross when students left messages on Eden’s website so abusive that the Religious Life coordinator for the London Ontario school board later apologized.

One student wrote, “You are a SLUT!! You’re not a virgin! Face reality. PS- Just because we wear short skirts does not make us whores! Many of us are still virgins and wear short skirts! ALSO, a lot of us LOVE SEX!!!! So what?! You’re just making us want to have sex more. So just shutup cuz no one cares about your life.”

Another specifically cited the doctrine of cultural relativism to justify her sexual activity. [Note: all grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors were in the original.]

“I’m a catholic and i absolutely love having sex… does it mean im a bad person? No, i think that chastity should be up to the person, I believe in making my own decisions on my lifestyle, based on what i feel is right its called cultural relativism.”

But two notes from the student calling himself “Jay” were most alarming, both threatening violence. “HCC [Holy Cross Catholic] has had GREAT assemblies, you ruined that streak, even the teachers say so, Sorry to be harsh, but you need a good smack in the face.” And, “And I know many girls from HCC who where their skirts short, and i mean short, and their all virgins, you dont know us, lay on your death bed and think about it.”

Eden noted the general absence of a Catholic religious nature at some of the Ontario Catholic high schools she visited. She learned that in the Catholic schools, being state funded, as many as 25 per cent of the student body are non-Catholics. She was also told that of the Catholic students, “only a minority” attend Mass. “As a vice principal told me, they have a (well deserved) reputation for wearing the shortest skirts.”

She also said, however, that despite the well-documented movement in Ontario’s public Catholic schools to move away from the traditional Catholic devotional practices once normal in Catholic schools, some of the students themselves “had a strong devotional sense that was deeply touching,” and that “surprised” even the school’s staff. Eden’s small supply of wooden cross necklaces and prayer cards were snapped up by the students.

She wrote, “The kids hear about sex all day from their peers who are putting forth the idea that everybody’s doing it-a message that their schools’ staff do not always attempt to dispel.” She described as “exhilarating” that the work of “getting the students to see that not everybody was in fact doing it”.

Eden concludes, “How short were the skirts? Don’t get me started.”

“I can’t say what it’s like at Catholic schools in the States, but the state-funded schools here do not appear to police the uniforms…Honestly, these girls were walking around (and sitting on the floor) in hemlines that would make a Ziegfeld girl blush.”

“It amazed me that the boys in the audience could pay any attention to me at all with the epidermis buffet going on all around them.”

Ontario’s Catholic teachers are all forced to belong to a union that has for many years strongly opposed the Church’s moral teachings. The union intervened in a legal action on behalf of a student that successfully forced his Catholic school to allow him to bring his homosexual lover to the school prom.

The province’s bishops have not taken strong actions to bring the union in line. The main school religion programs, approved by the bishops, have received much criticism for their weak presentation of Catholic teaching and excessive emphasis on “social justice” issues.

Despite these negative factors, some Ontario Catholic schools, thanks to faithful School Boards, teachers, principals and parents, as well as some bishops who have accepted there are serious problems in the schools they must personally address, do manage to give authentic Catholic moral and spiritual formation to their students.

One of the largest contingents of Catholic students to the National March for Life in fact comes from the London diocese. The chastity presentation by Eden was the third year in a row that the London Board has arranged such a presentation for its high school students. However, reports are that this is the first time there has been such strong negative reaction to a speaker from some students. London area pro-life leaders who contacted LifeSiteNews have stated that Eden’s Strathroy presentation was very disappointing in that she appeared to unintentionally present some contradictory messages and was not as effective as the previous years’ speakers.

Read more: Dawn Eden – Driven to Pro-Life and Faith by Rebellion – LifeSiteNews Interview https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/07041904.html

Cardinal Egan’s rebuke to Giuliani – it was Specifically About Abortion

Egan’s statement stands in stark contrast to official silence from Washington’s Archbishop Wuerl

by Phil Lawler

May 1, 2008 (CWNews.com/LifeSiteNews.com) – In his public rebuke to Rudy Giuliani for improperly receiving Communion during Pope Benedict’s visit to New York, Cardinal Edward Egan raised two subtle but very interesting points. First, the cardinal says that Giuliani should not receive the Eucharist because of his support for legal abortion; he does not base his argument on Giuliani’s irregular marital status. Second, the cardinal reveals that he had reached a quiet agreement with Giuliani. The former New York mayor violated that agreement– apparently for his own political purposes.

But before discussing those rather subtle aspects of Cardinal Egan’s message, let’s begin with the obvious. Cardinal Egan deserves praise and thanks for his public statement, in which he shows himself to be a leader, a teacher, and a pastor of souls.

By emphasizing the gravity of support for the legalized killing of the unborn, the cardinal takes a strong stand in defense of human life. Since Giuliani is not currently a candidate for political office, the cardinal’s statement cannot be misinterpreted as a partisan gesture. Rather, he is using an opportunity to instruct the faithful.

At the same time, the cardinal is protecting the Church from further scandal. And as a pastor he is showing his concern for Giuliani, who is endangering his own soul by receiving the Eucharist improperly. The cardinal’s message should not be lost on countless other Catholics who are receiving Communion while in a state of serious sin; in that respect, too, his is a valuable pastoral statement.

In all these respects, Cardinal Egan’s statement stands in stark contrast to the official silence from Washington’s Archbishop Donald Wuerl after several prominent pro-abortion Catholics– most notably Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy– received Communion during the papal Mass in that city. Although these prominent politicians had indicated beforehand that they planned to receive the Eucharist, the archbishop made no statement to discourage them or to indicate to the public that they would be receiving Communion in violation of Church law. A spokesman for the US bishops’ conference issued only a lame statement: “People go to church and people go to Communion if they feel in their heart they are prepared to receive Communion.”

After the fact, Archbishop Wuerl had another opportunity to clarify Church teaching. He remained silent, and his silence appeared to give consent. Perceptive reporters like John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter and Bob Novak of the Washington Post concluded that the net effect of the papal visit had been to encourage the notion that “pro-choice” Catholics are eligible to receive Communion– a notion that the future Pope Benedict himself very clearly rejected during his exchange with American bishops in 2004.

The public statement from Cardinal Egan, then, corrects the record and prevents the further dissemination of a very misleading and damaging perception about Catholic Church teaching and pastoral practice. For that reason, too, the cardinal deserves our thanks.

But the value of Cardinal Egan’s statement goes beyond that, for the two reasons mentioned above. Notice, in the text of the statement, the passage which I have highlighted here:

“The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God. Throughout my years as Archbishop of New York, I have repeated this teaching in sermons, articles, addresses, and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind. Thus it was that I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion. I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the Papal visit here in New York, and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding.”

While there is some debate among American bishops as to whether a pro-abortion politician should receive the Eucharist, there is no debate about Catholics who have divorced and remarried outside the Church. They are not eligible to receive Communion. Rudy Giuliani is divorced and remarried. Therefore he should not receive Communion. That logical and canonical argument is airtight. So it is noteworthy that Cardinal Egan does not invoke that argument. Instead he says that Giuliani should not receive Communion “because of his well-known support for abortion.” Thus the cardinal’s statement underlines the point that support for legal abortion is a grievous offense.

More than that: By basing his argument on Giuliani’s advocacy for abortion, Cardinal Egan has sharpened the contrast between his stand and the stand (or non-stand) taken by Archbishop Wuerl. If the cardinal had cited Giuliani’s marital status as the factor that disqualified him, the argument would not have applied to Pelosi, Kerry, and Kennedy, all of whom are properly married (with annulments in place where appropriate) in the eyes of the Church.

Notice, too, that Cardinal Egan mentions he “had an understanding” with Giuliani. Some American bishops have said that they think it would be improper to take the very public action of barring a prominent Catholic from the Eucharist. But the first step– a private meeting with the erring individual– need not be public. Cardinal Egan had taken that step. Evidently the cardinal had spoken quietly with Giuliani, hoping to avoid both a public confrontation and a public scandal. He had done his pastoral duty by warning Giuliani against receiving Communion; there was no urgent need, then for a public statement as long as the former mayor abided by their “understanding.”

When he was apprised of the cardinal’s rebuke, Giuliani responded through a spokesman with a statement claiming that his Catholic faith “is a deeply personal matter and should remain confidential.” But if he had really wanted to keep the matter confidential, he would have abided by his agreement from Cardinal Egan. Instead he received Communion at the very time when his action would receive the most widespread publicity. He richly deserved the cardinal’s rebuke.

See the original article and numerous blog responses at
https://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=58113 ;

Canadian Bishops’ Life Office Calls on All Canadians to Attend March for Life May 8

Canada in Need of “A Great Cultural Renewal”

By John-Henry Westen

OTTAWA, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), the organization founded and supported by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, has called on “all Canadian citizens who respect human life to walk in support of the first of all human rights: the right to life” in Ottawa on May 8. With respect to the right to life, the COLF message says, “our country is in need not only of legislative reform, but also of a great cultural renewal . . . the building of a new awareness of the worth and dignity of every human life from conception to natural death.”

The statement, which comes in the year commemorating the 40th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae, the message for the March for Life addresses concepts fundamental to the right to life, but rarely heard. Young people, says the message, “want to know the truth about contraception, which has resulted in so many effects that are the opposite of what was promised.”

“Why has the promise of sexual liberation in fact resulted in the dehumanization of women, who are so often treated as objects for sexual gratification? Canadian teens and young adults want to know that their masculinity and femininity are not random or interchangeable, but that that man and woman are made to complement each other – physically, psychologically and spiritually – and that they are called to a lasting and joyful union that is worth preparing for with chastity.”

The message laments that many young people “have experienced a dependence on pornography and other traps of a culture that turns the human being into an object. Many of them have encountered the heartbreak that accompanies the end of premarital sexual relationships, the consequences of sexually transmitted diseases, or the unexpected ‘failures’ of contraception that have led them to abortion. Many live with the secret pain of post-abortion trauma.”

The message concludes, “Let us promote a cultural renewal that will allow us to regain the greatness and purpose of sexuality, fertility and marriage. In this way, we will also renew the respect that is due to each human life from conception to natural death.”

See the full COLF message:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/080501a.html

See the COLF website: https://www.colf.ca/mamboshop/index.php?option=com_frontpage&…

Over 760 Registered to Date for Canadian National March for Life Youth Conference May 9

Popular event has been wowing students in recent years with top notch presentations on life issues

By Steve Jalsevac

OTTAWA, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The annual National March for Life Youth Conference, which takes place the day after the pro-life march through the streets of the nation’s capital, has become a spectacular success in recent years attracting larger and larger numbers. This year almost 800 hundred have registered so far for the day long conference with many more expected to show up on Friday May 9. The facilities at the modern Hampton Inn Conference Centre can accomodate up to 1200 youth for the popular event that has been wowing students in recent years with top notch presentations on the life issues.

Chief conference organizer, Yoli Singson of Campaign Life Coalition, told LifeSiteNews that the youth coming this year are mostly from various parts of the province of Ontario. 200 students are busing in from Hamilton and other busloads are coming from London, Sarnia and other communities from across the province.

The headline speakers this year include Dr. Alveda C. King, Mary Ann Kuharski and LifeSiteNews’ own John-Henry Westen.

Dr. King, the daughter of the late slain civil rights activist Rev. A. D. King and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, is currently the Director of African American Outreach for Gospel of Life, headed up by Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. She is also the National Spokeswoman for the Silent no More Awareness Campaign, an organization of women who publicly regret their abortion and try to help other women deal with their abortion regrets.

Mary Ann Kuharski of Minneapolis, Minnesota is the founding member and President of PROLIFE Across AMERICA, known as “The Billboard People” for its positive and persuasive educational messages.

John-Henry Westen, the co-founder and editor of LifeSiteNews, is often a favorite speaker at pro-life youth events because of his animated style and powerful presentations on the manipulations and ridiculously biased views of the mainstream media on the life and family issues.

This year’s conference will for the first time also include two multiple workshop time slots.

Jojo Ruba of Calgary’s recently much in the news Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform will discuss “Abortion: Too Hot a Topic for Campus”. Alex Schadenberg, the head of the International Euthanasia Prevention Coalition will speak on “Turning the Tide” and Jim Hughes, president of Campaign Life Coalition Canada and vice-president of International Right to Life will address the issue of “Pro Life Challenges in the Political arena”. Theresa Matters of the National Campus Life Network will present on “Campus Activism and YOU!” for the University students attending the conference.

Singson urges anyone who wants to attend the conference but has not registered yet to do so as quickly as possible. This will help the conference team to order sufficient food and other supplies. Youth conference attendees have been offered a special youth price for the Thursday evening Rose Dinner. Singson reports however, that the dinner was completely sold out some time ago and so more youth cannot be accomodated at the dinner.

To register call Campaign Life Coalition at 1-800-730-5358

See the conference brochure in pdf format https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/events/Marchforlife/200…

British Government Bill to Impose Lower Age of Consent in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland’s Legislative Assembly accuses London of acting with “contempt for democracy”

By Hilary White

LONDON, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Paul Goggins, Minister of State for the UK’s Northern Ireland Office, has denied that the determination by the Labour government to lower the age of sexual consent in Northern Ireland will encourage sexual predators to target young victims in the province. The government tabled a bill yesterday, the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008, that proposes to reduce the age of sexual consent in Northern Ireland from 17 to 16.

Goggins told the BBC, “We are certainly not encouraging 16-year-olds to engage in sexual activity.”

He admitted, however, that the change is a result of the general lowering of sexual moral standards in recent years when he said that it would reflect the new sexual mores of modern society. Britain’s rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease have skyrocketed in recent years to be one of the highest in Europe.

“The Order sets out the parameters of permittable sexual activity in the 21st Century and clearly states what the law will not tolerate.”

“I am convinced that the changes will offer the people of Northern Ireland a modern legislative framework which will ensure maximum protection from unacceptable sexual activity. It puts Northern Ireland on a par with the rest of the UK.”

But the Members of Northern Ireland’s Legislative Assembly have accused the government of acting with “contempt for democracy” for pushing the measure through despite their opposition. Since the government proposed the change in November 2007 in its “consultation process”, the MLAs have worked to stop it.

The MLA’s warned that the change would encourage sexual predators from the Republic of Ireland, where the age of consent remains at 17, to go north in search of younger victims. A recent public opinion poll showed that 73 per cent of the Northern Irish public did not want the age of consent lowered.

Today Jim Wells, vice-chairman of the Stormont ad-hoc committee which reported on the matter, said the government’s determination to go ahead against the wishes of the majority of Northern Irish and the Assembly showed “contempt for democracy”.

“What was the point of asking MLAs to take evidence on this for three months only to completely ignore our conclusions?” he asked.

“There was absolutely no public pressure for these changes, which have only been supported by a liberal elite. We are clearly weakening the protections we had to stop situations where a paedophile in his 40s could be trying to attract a 15-year-old child in heterosexual or homosexual activity.”

Currently, the National Assembly of Northern Ireland, the province’s devolved parliament, does not have jurisdiction over criminal matters.

The proposed legislation will also fix at 13 the age at which sexual activity involving a child will be classed as statutory rape, regardless of consent and make the offence punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The bill also proposes to make sexual activity with anyone under 16 carry a maximum sentence of 14 years and rape and other serious sexual assaults also carry a maximum of life.

In November, Belfast’s Rape Crisis Centre added their voice to objections saying the plan would make it more difficult to protect vulnerable girls from sexual predators.

The bill is expected to pass through the House of Commons by June and come into effect by the end of the year.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

British Government to Lower Northern Ireland Age of Sexual Consent
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07112008.html

Cardinal Pell Argues Australian Charter of Rights Could Cause “Culture Wars”

Warns against judicial invention of rights – Canada a strong example of dramatic moral decline facilitated by a Charter

By Michael Baggot

BRISBANE, Australia, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Rights are best protected by the common law and by parliament when the people are equally aware of their responsibilities. Democratic law-making is imperfect, but preferable to rule by the courts,” Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell said Tuesday in an address arguing against the adoption of an Australian Charter of Rights.

Pell’s statement to the conservative think-tank Brisbane Institute came in light of proposals at the recent Australia 2020 summit to adopt a national bill of rights.

Cardinal Pell said that “the easy assumption, that lawyers are more trustworthy when it comes to protecting rights than politicians” is “one of the central problems of a charter of rights.”

He noted that politicians are accountable to the electorate in a way that unelected judges are not.

The prelate added that Zimbabwe has an extensive constitutional bill of rights that has not prevented a host of human rights violations in the country.

While acknowledging the dangers involved in majority rule, Pell warned against “the disproportionate influence that organised minorities can have over the political process.”

Pell cited the example of the United States, where a majority of citizens oppose same-sex “marriage,” while “a minority of the homosexual minority are actively seeking to impose their redefinition of marriage on the rest of the population through spurious rights-claims and judicial fiat.

The cardinal also criticized the assumption “that rights are ultimately about moral beliefs or consensus rather than moral truth.”

Pell emphasized the danger of abandoning objective moral law for ethical relativism.

“If moral consensus is the basis for human rights, then the manipulation and coercion of moral belief can produce new rights such as those to abortion, euthanasia, and the cloning and destruction of human life for research purposes.”

“The irony is that the uses to which courts put a bill of rights often generate exactly the hostile majority reaction to rights that this sort of legislation is meant to avert. We don’t have a culture war here in Australia in the way the United States does, but a bill or charter of rights could help provoke one,” added the cardinal.

Conservatives in Canada have argued that the nation’s 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms has provided the tool for courts to impose liberal social policy on its citizens.

For instance, in March 2006, lawyer Janet Epp Buckingham of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada noted that the Canadian Charter has been used to legalize abortion, homosexuality, and pornography.

Canadian liberals agree that the Charter has been key in advancing their policies.

In a March 2005 conference defending same-sex “marriage,” Canada’s Justice Minister Irwin Cotler called Canada’s Charter the “constitutional revolution of 1982” that made the courts “guarantors of human rights,” rather than mere “arbiters of legal federalism.”

“Without an appreciation of the revolutionary change brought by the charter, we can’t understand how we have gotten where we are now…,” Cotler explained.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Lawyer Says Canada’s Charter to Blame for Today’s Social Liberalism
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06033101.html

Cotler Revealingly Praises “Constitutional Revolution” Caused by the Canadian Charter of Rights
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05020113.html

Read Cardinal Pell’s address:
https://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/Archbishop/Addresses/20084…

Wisconsin Bishops’ Pastor Letter Promotes Ethical Stem Cell Research

Releas Question and Answer booklet and 14-minute DVD related to letter

By Michael Baggot

MADISON, WI, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Bishops of Wisconsin released a pastoral letter Tuesday as part of a diocesan campaign to educate citizens regarding stem cell research and promote ethical medical research.

In “Serving All and Sacrificing None,” Bishops Peter Christensen, Timothy Dolan, Jerome Listecki, and Robert Morlino emphasize the scientifically-demonstrated humanity of the embryo as the basis for opposing embryonic stem cell research.

“It is scientists who have demonstrated that the single cell, or zygote that results from fertilization, contains the complete genetic information necessary for the development of a unique human being. It is scientists who have shown us that human development is a continuous, uninterrupted process, from zygote, embryo, fetus, infant, child, to adult.”

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells capable of developing into various types of important cells that scientists can then use to heal damaged or diseased tissue. Ethical concerns arise when scientists extract stem cells from embryos, thus destroying innocent human life in the process.

The letter insists that scientific research cannot progress without ethical considerations.

The Bishops cite the case of Tuskegee Syphilis Study as an example of unethical research that disregarded human dignity in the name of biomedical progress. In the Tuskegee, Alabama study, doctors deliberately deprived African-American patients of penicillin without their consent in order to see the full effects of the disease on victims.

Likewise, the Wisconsin Bishops argue that the good of medical research for ill patients can never justify the destruction of innocent human life.

The Bishops reaffirm their support for non-embryonic stem cell research.

“The Church supports stem cell research whenever it does not involve destroying human embryos. Adult stem cells found, for example, in the amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, and skin cells can be extracted without harming the donor, and they have already helped thousands of individuals suffering from serious ailments. The Church applauds the recent breakthrough in reprogramming adult skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells.”

The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), the public policy arm of the Bishops, released a Question and Answer booklet and a 14-minute DVD related to the letter as part of an educational campaign it hopes will spark discussion and action across the diocese.

“I could see parishes having evening conversations around stem-cell research, where the video could be shown at the meeting of a parish group,” said John Huebscher, WCC executive director.

The DVD traces the story of Stephanie Miller, a near-death patient now living a healthy life thanks to ground-breaking adult stem cell heart therapy. The video also notes that embryonic stem cell treatments have brought many patients tumors, but have not brought a single one the longed for cures typically promised.

The WCC also encourages educated citizens to consider involvement in political life in order to defend the dignity of each human person.

See the bishops’ letter and other resources:
https://www.wisconsin.nasccd.org

New Paper Warns Against EU “Moral Regulation” of Abortion and Family Policies – Urges Protective Actions

Notes “states’ misplaced assumption that state sovereignty is protected by the current EU framework and treaty provisions”

By Samantha Singson

NEW YORK, May 1, 2008 (C-FAM.org) – In a recently released research paper on the European Union (EU) social agenda, scholar Maciej Golubiewski argues that the EU has overstepped its mandate by pursing a regime of “moral regulation” by funding controversial social policy initiatives on the family and the beginning and end-of-life issues. The European Institutions are doing this despite the frequent objections of individual EU member states.

In “Europe’s Social Agenda: Why is the European Union Regulating Morality?,” Golubiewski uses the term “moral regulation” to encompass all EU social and human rights policies and initiatives that intrude or potentially intrude on democratic national jurisdiction over moral matters.

He argues that the “moral regulation” agenda in the EU is the result of a confluence of several social, political, and legal trends over the last three decades, including an ascendant influence of powerful non-governmental organizations (NGOs), increasing numbers of EU bureaucracies concerning themselves with moral and social issues, and the diversification of legal and bureaucratic venues for promoting social schemes under the label “human rights,” among other trends.

The paper catalogues controversial programs and policies that are sponsored by the EU such as: competitions and publicity campaigns aimed at “influencing national norms surrounding the notions of family, appropriate sexual behavior, and even church-state relations,” bureaucratic promotion of reproductive rights encompassing abortion, criticism of pro-life views, anti-religious educational programs aimed at youth, and funding of NGOs that explicitly advocate the legalization of abortion.

Golubiewski outlines the EU’s legal and institutional structure and argues that over the last twenty years, treaty revisions have enabled NGOs to influence the policymaking process with little accountability. Coupled with an erosion of influence of national parliaments, he argues that the “moral regulation” agenda has been able to take hold because of states’ misplaced assumption that state sovereignty is protected by the current EU framework and treaty provisions.

Golubiewski points what he calls the “weak letter of the subsidiarity principle” that was supposed to guarantee respect for localized self-government and he argues that “sovereignty serves as a much better principle of democratic control … because the focus of control remains closer to the more transparent and accountable institutions of the democratic state.”

Golubiewski offers several recommendations to combat the growing “moral regulation” agenda in Europe. He urges national governments to scrutinize programs that fund controversial initiatives; seek greater transparency and control over the funding of NGOs; eliminate largely unaccountable advisory expert networks; and demand greater transparency and accountability of the European Parliament to member states.

The author concludes that “Only timely and effective action by national capitals to assert their rights can protect and preserve national traditions of marriage, family, and human life – arguably the most important issues of our time.”

Golubiewski is a Polish national working on a doctorate in international relations at Johns Hopkins University and serves as C-FAM’s analyst of European affairs.

Sex Education As Risk Management

Benedict XVI and the Lies of the Pro-Choice Movement

by Colin Mason

May 1, 2008 (pop.org/LifeSiteNews.com) – On 17 April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI addressed a crowd of Catholic educators gathered at the Catholic University of America. After congratulating them on their efforts against a “crisis of faith” and a “crisis of truth,” he went on to tell them why American education was failing.

“We observe today a timidity in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom,” the Pope said, seated in a wooden throne designed by CUA students. “We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and mistakes. And particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of ‘risk,’ bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.”

While these words were primarily intended for Catholic educators across the country, they hold a special meaning for the pro-life movement. They describe, in a beautifully succinct way, what we fight against every day: a sexual culture of lies, misrepresentations and illusions that results in an epidemic of contraception, sterilization, and abortion.

The modern pro-choice movement is the spawn of the “sexual revolution” of the 1960’s, in which a few million angry college students abandoned traditional norms of decency and the marriage bond. In its place they proposed a culture of what they termed “free love,” which turned out to be a euphemism for unbridled lust; sex without responsibility or commitment.

As the world has since seen, sex without responsibility is sex without love. The “free love” of these sexual revolutionaries turned out to be not so free at all, but rather was emotionally and physically destructive on a grand scale.

The sex education establishment denies all this. With typically modern schizophrenia, they aggressively advertise sexuality as a no-strings-attached recreational activity, while at the same time spending all of their time warning against the risks of this behavior. Having never known the wonder of committed, life-giving conjugal love, its adherents are passing on the only knowledge of sexuality that they do know: sex as a momentarily diverting activity with an alarming collection of risks.

Consequently, says Benedict, sex is taught as risk management. The wonder and beauty of conjugal love is reduced to a series of don’ts: Don’t get a sexually transmitted disease, don’t get overly attached to your temporary “partner,” and, above all, don’t get pregnant.

Never mind that these dangers, real and imagined, vanish when sexual activity is relegated to its proper place; i.e., marriage. For the “children of the revolution,” the traditional route is not an option.

They justify their program by claiming that, once children are taught the “safeguards” against sex’s inherent “risks,” they will be free to make “informed decisions” about when and how to engage in sexual activity. This is nonsense. How can children make informed decisions when they are deliberately left uninformed about the positive purpose and true beauty of the sexual act, as well as its rightful place as the consummation of marriage?

The “freeing” of sex from the marriage bond has instead resulted in the opposite of informed choice: There is a pervasive and fundamental ignorance not only of the true purpose of the sexual act, but the true meaning of conjugal love.

Sex education leads, through the treacherous sexual pragmatism of politicians and social “experts,” directly to contraception, sterilization and abortion. If kids must ride their skateboards, they say, then society must mandate helmets and kneepads. In the same way, if they must experiment with sexuality, society will provide them with convenient contraception and abortion. In other words, the “culture of death”–a term coined by Benedict’s monumental predecessor, John Paul II–really began as a culture of lies.

This mentality is easily the greatest boon to the pro-abortion movement. Now that love-making has been robbed of love, the fruits turn into liabilities. Children become symptoms, yet another disease that follows upon “risky sex.” Abortion becomes the antidote, and the new generation flocks to it because they have never known anything else.

Sex education must be replaced by education in marriage and family; love and truth must replace statistics and risks. Children beg for guidance. It is the duty of pro-life teachers to give it to them, and explain to them why true love is never free of commitment-in the best way possible.

Colin Mason is Director of Media Production at Population Research Institute.

Eminent Psychiatrist Says Homosexuality is a Disorder that Can be Cured

Says studies show 70-80 percent chance that child adopted by homosexuals will develop same tendencies

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

BUENOS AIRES, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The eminent Spanish psychiatrist Enrique Rojas gave a speech yesterday in Buenos Aires declaring that homosexuality is “a clinical process that has an etiology, pathogeny, treatment, and cure”.

Speaking at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair about his book “Goodbye, Depression”, Rojas characterized homosexual orientation as a “disorder” rather than an illness, and stated his opinion that 95% of cases are caused by environmental factors, according to the Spanish news service Terra.

The disorder, according to Rojas, is the result of an absent father, overweening mother, or sexual abuse in childhood.

Rojas blasted the homosexual movement for promoting the development of homosexual tendencies in young people, and particularly condemned the practice of allowing homosexual couples to adopt children.

The child is deprived of a right to grow up “in a normal environment, heterosexual, which is the standard” he said. “Heterosexuality is what is normal, the natural condition of human bengs.”

According to studies from the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, there is a 70-80 percent chance that a child adopted by homosexuals will develop the same tendencies, Rojas said.

Rojas is the author of various books on psychology, including “Who Are You?”, “The Light Man” and “Remedies for Coldness”.

LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes

Leading scientist warns new species of “humanzee,” created
from breeding apes with humans, could become reality unless UK
government acts to stop scientists experimenting
https://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/Exclusive-Should-…

Abortion advocates get their turn before the Supreme Court of Mexico
https://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=d636e699…

Florida Senate rejects bill requiring ultrasounds before abortions
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-flfabort0501sbmay01,0,144053…

Russia’s long-term demographic outlook “bleak,” – population to decline by an expected 10 million people by 2020.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20…

Netherlands Euthanasia Statistics: Not Even Telling Half the Story
https://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2008/04/netherlands-euthana…

Planned Parenthood is hoping their supporters buy into the lie that
college students are forced to choose between expensive contraceptives
on campuses or buying groceries.
https://www.citizenlink.org/fnif/A000007313.cfm

Law may change to allow ‘abortion on request’ by ending the need for doctors to give permission
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1908174/Law-may-change-to-al…-‘abortion-on-request’.html

Filipino bishops back move to curb lucrative organ-transplant business
https://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=58153

New York, Washington speak on Communion for pro-abort politicians
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12488

Rev. Hagee says “Amen” to Pope Benedict’s “moral vision for America”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12496

Nation’s Katha Pollitt says the Vatican is a major obstacle to the advancement of women’s human rights
https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog…

Nat Hentoff: Infanticide candidate for president
https://www.sacbee.com/110/story/896416.html

Ron Paul Tops Amazon List at #1
https://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/ron-paul-top…

The Reverend and the Cardinal By Maggie Gallagher
https://www.townhall.com/columnists/MaggieGallagher/2008/05/0…

A new study by Wallbuilders reveals that as the Christian vote goes, so goes family values legislation on Capitol Hill.
https://www.citizenlink.org/fnif/A000007312.cfm

Global Warming: The Left’s Latest War on the Family
https://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=E22AE43…

NASA Says Climate Shifting to Cooler Temperatures
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/NASA_Climate_cooling/2008/0…

Catholic-Muslim Dialogue Improving, says Muslim Leader
https://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive…

Report finds 9 of Top 10 movies from 2007 had powerful conservative biblical values
https://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&page…

Europe is Now the The Dark Continent
https://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_20146.shtml

Socialists want to eliminate God from hospitals, says Spanish bishop
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12493

Cardinal to claim media biased against Scotland’s Catholic education
https://news.scotsman.com/education/Cardinal–to–claim.40382…

Gujarat Enacts Anti-Conversion Law
https://christiannewswire.com/news/229096452.html

The Hard Truth about a Soft Science: Why Psychology Does More Harm Than Good
https://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_20150.shtml

Profits of Canada’s largest and very liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay newspaper fall 25 per cent
https://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/bustech/story.html?…

U.S. Newspaper Circulations in 3-Year Plunge, with Four Exceptions
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/05/01/newspaper…

Mortgage Crisis is Shaking Foundation of Marriages
https://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000007300.cfm

Chinese build secret nuclear submarine base
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/majornews/1917167/Chinese-bu…

New York Governor David Paterson has resurrected one of Eliot Spitzer’s least popular ideas, a tax on Internet sales
https://online.wsj.com/article/SB120959866791857741.html?mod=…

The Epidemic of School Sex Abuse
https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_conten…

Sex abuse in American public schools is at epidemic proportions and
school districts regularly sweep the problem under the carpet
https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_conten…

Woodland Hills parish donates most of its savings to help the Los
Angeles archdiocese pay sexual abuse settlements – archdiocese has
agreed to pay $720 million in settlements
https://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=d477bd65…

The sex abuse crisis, “How could this have happened?” the only answer
is, “How could it not have happened?” Thank God the corrupt system that
allowed it to continue was blown sky high – The ‘Clergy Problem’ By
John Mallon
https://www.humanaevitaepriests.org/

ACLU wants school district to change policies to ensure “privacy” of
homosexual students so parents and others are not told about what they
are doing or prevent them from engaging in “gay affection” during
school events
https://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?conten…

Kids Say, “Enough with the ‘Gay’ Stuff!” – Something extraordinary happened on the way to the brainwashing.
https://www.cwfa.org/articles/15149/CFI/family/index.htm

Class for kids: How to be homosexual – Critic warns, unless there is a
rally for traditional and moral views, “We will witness the
disintegration of a civilization”
https://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&page…

Gay pride parades cancelled in Moscow
https://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=4628

Senate Again Tries to Sneak in Hate-Crimes Legislation
https://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007282.cfm

The unintended legal consequences that flow from recognition of civil unions or gay marriages
present a serious threat to religious liberty
https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_conten…

Archbishop of Guayaquil clarifies that he did not ask for special rights for homosexuals
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12516

New Hampshire’s Bishop Gene Robinson is about to enter into a civil union to formalise his 20 year homosexual relationship
https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article383336…

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