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Huge Victory: Kansas Supreme Court Unseals Secret Abortion Suit

TOPEKA, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In what is being called a "huge victory for the rule of law", this morning the Kansas Supreme Court unsealed a secret lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood against District Attorney Phill Kline. Planned Parenthood was seeking to have the Court order Kline to return abortion records that are critical evidence in Kline's prosecution of 107 criminal charges against the abortion giant.

Instead, the Court rejected a letter from former Attorney General Paul Morrison "exonerating" Planned Parenthood, indicating that the records showed no criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood. Morrison then engaged in acts meant to force the evidence from Kline's possession in order to cover up criminal activity on the part of Planned Parenthood, who had supported his election campaign.

"Every judge that has reviewed the evidence has ruled that there is probable cause to believe that crimes have been committed by Planned Parenthood," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for June 12. The abortion records were subpoenaed by Kline when he was Attorney General. When still the Attorney General, Kline received permission from Judge Richard Anderson to forward the records to the Johnson County District Attorney's office, with the court's full knowledge that Kline had been appointed to that post. Planned Parenthood secretly sued Kline to get the records back, a suit that was joined first by Morrison, and then by Attorney General Stephen Six after Morrison's resignation due to a sex and corruption scandal.

"It is wrong that the subject of a criminal investigation should be allowed to misuse secret proceedings to harass a prosecutor with falsehoods and spurious personal attacks as Planned Parenthood has done," said Newman. "Now that this case has been unsealed, we trust that the truth of Planned Parenthood's wrongdoing and the obstructionist attitude of the Attorney General's office will finally come out."

"The mantra from the AG's office has always been that the records must be returned in order to protect patient privacy, but that couldn't be further from the truth. All patient identifying information was redacted long ago. One has to wonder about the integrity of the Attorney General's office that continues to promulgate such untrue statements," said Newman.

"In the interest of justice, Kline's evidence must be allowed to be seen in a court of law at the time of trial and let a judge and jury decide. That's the American way," said Newman.

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Arizona Bishops Condemn Efforts to Curtail Physician Freedom of Conscience

By John Jalsevac

PHOENIX, AZ, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new statement from the Arizona Conference of Catholic Bishops, signed by Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, strongly condemns recent efforts by lawmakers in Arizona and throughout the United States to curtail fundamental rights of conscience, particularly the freedom of conscience of physicians and healthcare workers.

"Today in our state and elsewhere in our nation, healthcare professionals and institutions find themselves struggling to preserve their rights of conscience, especially in matters that would involve the taking of human life," begins the bishops' statement.

"The right to follow one's religious beliefs and moral convictions is being compromised, undermined, and increasingly disregarded today by those who insist that actions be taken that violate the moral convictions a person holds dear or that underlie the very mission of an institution."

The bishops claim that "the pressure to deny 'rights of conscience' continues to mount" across the country, and cite several examples from their own state to illustrate. 

"Pressure to violate one's conscience is an increasing reality for today's doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. We are aware here in Arizona of doctors who face ridicule and difficult ramifications if they are unwilling to participate in or sanction abortions in the course of their work. We are also aware of a nurse in Arizona who was fired from a hospital for refusing to participate in abortions, only to be later hired back because of a nursing shortage. Likewise, pharmacists in our communities feel compelled and are being forced to violate their conscience, especially in the distribution of medication that may act as an abortifacient."

In particular the bishops take to task already existent legislation in Arizona that forces employers to provide healthcare coverage to their employees that includes coverage for contraception. "This law clearly forces Catholic organizations like Catholic Charities and Catholic Hospitals to act in a way that is contrary to our moral teaching."

"Ironically," the bishops observe, "supporters of 'mandatory contraception' legislation often advocate for a 'separation of church and state,' but do not see the inconsistency involved in the state forcing church organizations to violate critically important tenets of their faith."

The bishops conclude their statement by encouraging Catholics and all men and women of good will to take action to protect freedom of conscience in five different ways: 1) Prayer, 2) Self-education on the issue of freedom of conscience, 3) Involvement in the political process, 4) Supporting healthcare providers in matters of conscience, and 5) Joining with people of other faiths and those of goodwill to find solutions. 

"The opportunity to refuse to take part in the consultation, preparation, and execution of these acts against life should be guaranteed to physicians, health care personnel, and directors of hospitals, clinics and convalescent facilities," conclude the bishops. "Those who have recourse to conscientious objection must be protected not only from legal penalties but also from any negative effects on the legal, disciplinary, and financial plane."

To read the complete statement see:
http://www.newvisiononline.org/freedom.html

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Four States Consider Permitting Academic Freedom on Evolution

By Michael Baggot

TALLAHASSEE, FL, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The effort to protect the academic freedom of the nation's educators received a blow, as a Florida bill protecting the right of teachers to examine the strengths and weaknesses of Darwin's theory of evolution died on Friday with the end of the state legislative session.  However, Michigan, Louisiana, Alabama, and Missouri currently have similar legislation under consideration.

After approving legislation that would require a "critical analysis" of Darwinian evolution in state elementary and secondary biology classes, the Florida House rejected a weakened Senate-approved adaptation that would only allow, but not require, teachers to present criticisms of Darwinism.

Opponents of the academic freedom legislation contend that the laws are thinly veiled attempts to replace scientific analysis with religious doctrine.

"These anti-evolution bills are really the creationism du jour, an end run around the legal decisions that have banned the outright teaching of creationism," said Eugenie C. Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education.

Proponents of Intelligent Design Theory (ID), the leading alternative scientific theory to Darwinism, disagree with Scott's assessment.

"We oppose intelligent design mandates.  The text of both (Florida) bills make very clear that this isn't protecting the right to give religious critiques," said John West of the conservative think-tank the Discovery Institute.

Intelligent Design, routinely confused with creationism, is a scientific theory that infers to the existence of an intelligent cause to account for the empirical evidence of design in certain features of nature and living things.  In contrast, creationism holds that the creation of the earth and all living species occurred during a literal 7-day process as described in the book of Genesis.

Neo-Darwinism, on the other hand, contends that the origin and complexity of life can be explained solely in terms of blind, unguided natural selection acting on random genetic mutation.
 
Despite the failure of Florida's academic freedom bill, four other states continue to consider similar measures.

On Wednesday, a Missouri House committee pass HB 2554, protecting the freedom of state elementary and secondary teachers to "review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of theories of biological and chemical evolution" with their students.

On Tuesday, Rep. John Moolenar introduced the "Evolution Academic Freedom Bill" (HB 6027) into the Michigan House with the intention of "helping prepare the best scientists of the future for our state and for our country" by giving them "the academic freedom to explore and critically examine scientific theories."

Last Monday, the Louisiana "Science Education Act" (SB 733) passed the Senate.  The bill would require elementary and secondary school boards to support teachers helping students to develop "critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories."

The Alabama "Academic Freedom Act" (HB 923), introduced in the House on April 24, protects the right of all teachers in the state "to present scientific information pertaining to the full range of scientific views" without punishment or discrimination.

The need for academic freedom legislation is receiving national attention with the release of the documentary "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed", which has exposed the intimidation and persecution many figures of academia have received for offering scientific objections to the neo-Darwinian interpretation of biological evolution.

Biologist Jonathan Wells of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture observed that in taxpayer funded schools teachers should have the ability to rise above the dogma of the day, in order to explore various theories.

"In educational institutions that receive taxpayer support, it is entirely appropriate for the government to ensure that teachers and students have the right to discuss freely the evidence and scientific arguments for and against evolutionary theory."

Other states are expected to introduce academic freedom legislation in the near future, based on a model supplied by the Discovery Institute.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Darwin's Kool-Aid
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08040705.html

Learn more about academic freedom:
http://www.academicfreedompetition.com

Learn more about the Intelligent Design-Darwinian evolution debate:
http://www.discovery.org/csc

Learn more about the film Expelled:
http://www.expelledthemovie.com

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Canadian Cabinet Member Slams Human Rights Commission Manipulations as "Dangerous"

By John-Henry Westen

CALGARY, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Jason Kenney, the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity gave an address in Calgary Friday where he sounded off on the scandal of Human Rights Commissions (HRC) suppressing freedom in Canada.  The speech marks the first time a high-ranking government official has offered open criticism of the HRC apparatus.

Addressing the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) Friday, Kenney, labeled "dangerous" the "illiberal tactics" employed by some activists in the name of tolerance, reported Kevin Libin in the National Post.

"I think it's very important for those of us engaged in anti-racism efforts to ensure the tactics we use, the approaches that we take, are consistent with respect for the liberal values of the Charter of Rights, of the Canadian constitutional framework, of our democratic parliamentary institutions," said Kenney.

"There is a large and growing debate about freedom of expression and the role of the human rights commission, and organizations that seek to use these commissions to deal with what they believe constitutes thoughts or opinions reflective of hatred or xenophobia.  I would also hope that we think long and hard about the central role, the foundational role, of such values as freedom of expression in our constitutional framework, and that we do not lightly undermine those constitutional values in our efforts to combat racism or hatred," he added.

Human Rights Commissions in Canada have been used to repress freedom for many years.  Christian mayors have been fined for refusing to proclaim 'gay pride days', teachers suspended for writing against homosexuality outside the classroom, a Christian printer was fined for refusing to print materials for a homosexual activist group, and a bed and breakfast was shut down for refusing to admit a homosexual couple, amongst countless other similar instances.  However, the actions of the HRCs only came under intense public scrutiny after complaints were filed against prominent Canadians Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn, both for reportedly offending Muslim sensibilities. 

The latest known attack of the HRCs came in the ruling against a Christian ministry to the disabled in Toronto called Christian Horizons.  The organization was fined $23,000 after a woman who signed onto a Christian lifestyle agreement as a condition of her employment reneged and entered a lesbian relationship and quit the organization, claiming a "poisoned" work environment.  The ruling forbade Christian Horizons from using its Christian Morality statement as a condition of employment, and ordered all its 2,500 employees to be given pro-homosexuality human rights training. 

See the National Post coverage of Kenney's speech:
http://www.nationalpost.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=48848...

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Huge Christian Ministry to Disabled Fined $23,000 For Rejecting Homosexual Employee
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08042512.html

Ontario Human Rights Tribunal Ruling Denies Christian Ministry's Right to be Christian
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08042809.html

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Pre-order sales of Bella DVD Make it #1 Selling Romantic Movie on Amazon.com Over Weekend

Response to Bella 10 Campaign says yes to slogan, "Can a movie really save a child's life?"

By Steve Jalsevac
May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Confirmed reports of the movie Bella has so far saved at least 13 mothers and their babies from abortion (two more reports yet to be confirmed) has spurred its producers to recently launch their Bella 10 campaign. The campaign is an unusual, grassroots targeted promotion strategy designed to give individual fans of the movie lots of practical advice and tools to convince 10 people to order a Bella DVD who would in turn convince 10 others to do the same. The campaign asks the rhetorical question, "Can a movie really save a child's life?" to emphasize that by promoting or even giving away purchased copies of the movie lives will be saved.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews today, Bella producer Leo Severino explained the rationale of the DVD promotion strategy. Severino related that he and the rest of the Bella team see the movie as "the entertainment ultrasound" which through its storyline and characters heightens the awareness of expectant mothers of what is living inside of them.  Because they have seen the movie in fact achieve that reality they felt compelled to develop the Bella 10 campaign program and website. The website makes it very simple to purchase one copy or a bulk quantity of the DVD and provides many suggestions on how to engage others to do the same.

The Bella 10 site also provides downloadable banners to post on Myspace, Facebook, blogs, etc. and a downloadable flyer to pass out. It also lists simple instructions on how to set up a Bella Movie Night and obtain a license to show the movie and how to raise profits for a group by selling the movie.

The DVD, to be released tomorrow, May 6, had strong pre-order sales this past weekend and was the number one selling romantic movie on Amazon.com. Severino stated, "We beat Pride & Prejudice and Atonement." He said the movie was 29th overall of all film and television program DVDs sold.

Bella star Eduardo Verastegui will record an appearance with Fox TV's Neil Cavuto tonight which may be broadcast tonight or tomorrow and he will also appear on another FOX program, The O'Reilly Factor tonight. Tomorrow, the day the DVD is released, Eduardo will appear on the Today show at 10 a.m. with Kathie Lee Gifford who Severino says "has been incredibly supportive".

See the Bella 10 website at http://www.bella10campaign.com/

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Despite Propaganda Effort, A Majority of Latin American Teens Do not Use Contraceptives

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

COLOMBIA, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Despite innumerable campaigns by international organizations with a population control agenda, a large majority of Latin American teens still do not use contraceptives, according to a recent study.

The study, which examined the contraceptive practices of people in a variety of Latin American countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Mexico, and Guatemala, showed that Latin Americans continue to ignore the message of contraceptive "family planning" as a means to avoid poverty.

According to the study's results, 62 percent of Latin American women between 16 and 19 years of age do not use any form of birth control.  Of women between 16 and 45 years of age, 32 percent do not use birth control.

Contraception advocate Doctor Samuel Santoyo, who conducted the study for the pro-contraception group Latin American Center for Women and Health (CELSAM) with support from the pharmeceutical corporation Bayer Schering Pharma, expressed his concern that birth control campaigns in Latin America aren't working.

"It confirms that there is a high percentage of people who do not use (birth control) methods but what draws our attention is that they do know about them," Santoyo told El Tiempo. 

"First place is occupied by the pill, which is known by 40 percent of them, followed by the condom, the IUD, injectables, even permanent methods such as vasectomies, in men.  Despite that more than 60 percent do not utilize them."

Santoyo admitted that one of the reasons that many women do not use contraceptives in Latin America is that "they are afraid of secondary effects." 

Scientific studies have linked the use of chemical contraceptives with heart disease, hardening of the arteries, sterility, breast cancer, and numerous other ailments.

Reluctance to use contraceptives among Latin Americans has caused the fertility rate to remain at a relatively healthy above replacement level of 2.6 children per woman on average in 2000, according to the UN Population Division, compared to a below replacement average 1.6 per woman in the industrialized nations. 

However, efforts by international foundations based in the U.S. and Europe to suppress the population of Latin America have had a significant impact since the 1960s.  Mexican fertility, for example, fell from over seven children per woman in the 1960s, to 2.4 per woman in 2000, after massive and sustained campaigns by population control groups.

Related LifeSitNews.com articles:

The Inherent Racism of Population Control
http://www.lifesitenews.com/waronfamily/Population_Control/I...

El Racismo Inherente al Control de la Población
http://www.lifesitenews.com/waronfamily/Population_Control/R...

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Abortion Kills Your Sex Life Says UK Doctor in Times Column

By Hilary White

LONDON, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the May 2 installment of his regular health feature in The Times, Dr. Thomas Stuttaford responded to a reader who complained of a loss of interest in sex following an abortion. "Though my boyfriend and I agreed it was the right thing to do, I feel guilty and I've gone off sex," wrote the questioner. Dr. Stuttaford responded by saying that loss of libido after an abortion is "so common that it can almost be said to be expected".

Asked if the feelings would pass, Stuttaford wrote, "It is possible, but by no means inevitable, that the changes this will have wrought in the way you feel about a future together may have irretrievably undermined your relationship."

Indeed, Dr. Stuttaford observed that in "years of experience with patients" has "reinforced the teaching I received in my early medical life that even the most ardent affair may not survive an abortion, although both partners often remain good friends. Frequently, there has been too much emotion around, even if there have been no spoken recriminations. The shadow of the decision to have the termination, and any doubts one or other may have had about this deep down in their psyche, means that sooner or later they will be tempted to start again with, as if it were, a clean slate."

Stuttaford referred to a study, authored "about 15 years ago," that he said showed that although "nearly all" women suffer feelings of guilt and grief following abortion, the effects usually passed within a month.

"My own opinion," he writes, "is that the American research workers were unduly sanguine in expecting women to jettison guilt and overcome their feelings of loss - the grief response - within just a month."

Statistical research by the Elliot Institute shows that, in many cases, the emotional effects of abortion are still discernable eight weeks after an abortion. In one study, two months after their abortions, 44 percent of women complained of nervous disorders, 36 percent had experienced sleep disturbances, 31 percent had regrets about their decision and 11 percent had been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor.

But Dr. Stuttaford quickly assures his questioner that "neither of you should assume blame or feel guilty."

The Times health feature was followed by comments from Suzi Godson, a journalist and a graphic designer who has recently published a book titled, "The Sex Book" who exhorted readers, "Be kind to yourself, and your partner, and be grateful that you live in a country where abortion is both safe and legal." 

In her comments Godson, like most supporters of abortion, dismisses post-abortive stress syndrome as a "pseudo-scientific condition" put forward by the pro-life movement. But loss of interest in sex is, as Stuttaford admits, is a well-documented result of abortion. Godson points out that the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has concluded that abortion in young women "might be associated with mental health problems" and that the Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends updating abortion information leaflets to include mention of the risk of depression.

The Elliot Institute study showed that thirty to fifty percent of women experience sexual dysfunction, of both short and long duration, beginning immediately after their abortions.

Fr. Timothy Finigan, a Catholic priest and founder of the Association of Priests for the Gospel of Life, commented on the column, saying that Britain is "a country where abortion is presented as 'safe'," and where possible consequences of abortion are seldom mentioned to women.

"Where this life has been crushed by abortion, it is surely only natural and to be expected that the urge to engage in the same life-giving activity should be muted," he observed.

But for Fr. Finigan, the woman was asking Dr. Stuttaford the wrong question. It is not loss of libido that is the danger, "it is the secular sanctification of libido that has brought about the destruction of so many millions of human lives."

"Nevertheless it is another feature in the whole sorry story of routinely available abortion. I wonder how many women are told about this 'expected' phenomenon before they consent to an abortion?"

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Pro-Abortion Speaker at Notorious Pro-homosexual Parish Cancelled

By Hilary White

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has cancelled the appearance of the pro-abortion Dr. Steven Miles, a professor at the University of Minnesota's Center for Bioethics who was to appear at the diocese's St. Joan of Arc parish. But while the archdiocese has been clear that no pro-abortion speaker may use a Catholic institution as a platform on any subject, the parish has arranged for him to give the talk tomorrow night at the Carondolet Center, a retreat centre operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet, St. Paul Province.

The archdiocese issued a statement saying that the decision was based "solely" on Dr. Miles' public advocacy of abortion, "which is fundamentally contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church". The decision was based on "guidance" of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who said in 2004 that "the Catholic community should not provide speaking platforms for those who act in defiance of our basic moral principles".

"The decision is in no way a repudiation of Dr. Miles' commendable work in the area of torture and torture victims," the statement added.

In his bioethics writing and lecturing, Dr. Miles has become a leading voice in amongst those who have made allegations that the Bush administration has used torture in its "war on terror." Dr. Miles was to give a talk, "Torture and the Courage to Be Inconvenienced" on the alleged use of torture by US intelligence agencies in the Iraq war. Miles was to speak twice at St. Joan of Arc church, a parish that has aligned itself with an array of issues on the extreme left of the political spectrum and that has become famous for its determined opposition to Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
 
Dr. Miles posted the text of the talk on the internet and in the introduction admitted that he is "pro-choice on abortion and pro-euthanasia," although he says he has "written and spoke [sic] against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia." 

The move to stop the talk came after Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) alerted pro-life Catholics to Dr. Miles' position on abortion and euthanasia and asked them to contact the archdiocese. In 2004, while pro-abortion Senator John Kerry was using Catholic venues to pursue his bid for the US presidency, the American bishops issued an instruction that no person who is publicly opposed to the Church's teaching on the sanctity of human life may use a Catholic institution as a platform.

Paul Schmelzer, a parishioner at St. Joan of Arc, wrote in the Twin Cities Daily Planet that, while the parish obeyed the letter of the archdiocese's order and cancelled Dr. Miles' speaking engagements at the church, the parish social justice coordinator Julie Madden simply arranged another venue for the talk. Dr. Miles will appear tomorrow night at the Carondelet Center in St. Paul, operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet, a Catholic women’s religious order in good standing that maintains close ties with the CPCSM .

Under the leadership of the former Archbishop Harry Flynn, who retired last week, St. Joan of Arc parish gained international notoriety as one of the Catholic parishes in the US most openly opposed to the Church's teaching on sexuality. St. Joan of Arc has long been the unofficial headquarters of the St. Paul - Minneapolis archdiocesan homosexual movement. Despite an intervention from the Vatican in 2004 that forced the parish to remove material related to the local Gay Pride parade, it maintains its contacts with the quasi-official CPCSM, a group that is implacably opposed to Catholic teaching on chastity and sexual purity.

Archbishop John Nienstedt who replaced Flynn as the head of the diocese last week, has instituted a series of liturgical and disciplinary reforms to parish life that has infuriated the liberal establishment in the diocese.

Nick Coleman wrote yesterday in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that parishioners at St. Stephen's parish were outraged at Archbishop Nienstedt's instructions to bring the parish liturgical offerings into line with the regular practices of the Catholic Church.

Coleman writes disapprovingly of the archbishop's order to shut down a "prayer service" that had been in place since 1968. "You know the kind of service," he wrote, "with guitars, lay people giving homilies, dancing in the aisles with people who have mental and physical disabilities, gay couples openly participating in worship, along with ex-priests, ex-nuns and sundry other spiritual wanderers. It's all so 1960s."

As with many Catholic parishes that fully embraced such liturgical renovations in the 1960s, St. Stephen's was also a leading force in the move to abandon the Church's moral doctrine. In 2004, St. Stephen's was included in a shortlist of the US's most "gay friendly parishes" for the Minneapolis-St. Paul archdiocese by the homosexual activist website Catholiclesbians.org. The other "gay-friendly" Catholic sites listed for the archdiocese included St. Francis Cabrini parish, St. Joan of Arc, and the University of St. Thomas
and the College of St. Catherine.

At the website, gaychurch.org, St. Stephen's, St. Joan of Arc, St. Francis Cabrini and the two colleges are also included on a list of gay-friendly parishes together with, Incarnation, St. Albert the Great, St. Lawrence and St. Philip parishes.

To contact the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
226 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55102
(651) 291-4400
communications@archspm.org

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

US Catholic Parish set to "Publicly Bless the Relationship of Same-Sex Couples"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07112807.html

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Bishop to Ban Masses Where Homosexual Men in Drag Portray Female Saints

"We should keep sacred what is sacred," says Bishop

By Michael Baggot

MANILA, Philippines, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales announced today that parishes that allow homosexuals to march in drag in religious festivals will not be permitted to offer Mass due to their sacrilegious behavior.

The Cardinal took the disciplinary step in light of attempts by openly practicing homosexual men to play parts of female saints in the Santa Cruz de Mayo, a traditional procession of song and prayer in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Cardinal Rosales told Manila's Radio Veritas that the transformation of the religious procession into homosexual-pride parades was "an insult to the Blessed Mother."

"We should keep sacred what is sacred," insisted the Cardinal.

The Cardinal noted that he had already disciplined a parish for allowing cross-dressers before he issued his public threat to ban Mass at other disobedient parishes.

"I told them that's not right because that's a procession.  You are destroying the purity of the devotion," said Rosales of leaders of a Manila parish permitting homosexual cross-dressers in the processions.

Danton Remoto, head of the pro-homosexual group "Ladlad," insisted that the cross-dressers meant no disrespect.

"In the eyes of God, everyone is equal.  Some of these gay men have saved a lot of money for their gowns (to be worn in the procession) and they were doing it because they believed in the Virgin Mary.  They need understanding, not condemnation," Remoto told Reuters.

Rosales dismissed charges of discrimination against individuals with homosexual inclinations.

"I am not angry at gay men.  But, I am against what they're actually doing."

To contact the Bishop:

Arzobispado de Manila
121 Arzobispo St., Intramuros, Manila
P.O. Box 132 1099 Manila
Tel: 527-7631 to 36
Fax: 527-3956
Email: RCAM@pldtdsl.net and rcamaoc@tri-isys.com

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