Wednesday January 23, 2008

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225,000 Take Part in National March for Life in Washington

By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, DC, January 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Hundreds of thousands of pro-life activists gathered on the national mall in the nation's capital yesterday standing in the cold on a cloudy day with a slight rain. The weather however did nothing to dampen the spirits of the vast crowd nor the political and spiritual leaders who addressed them prior to the march.

Powerful addresses were made by spiritual leaders and with a prayer and a rousing rendition of America, the march commenced. What would normally be a 15 minute walk took the line of marchers hours to complete.

Fifty across and thousands deep the march was an unbelievable sea of people. Some near the front who had completed the march went for lunch and returned to their hotel rooms only to see thousands of marchers still progressing toward the Supreme Court.

LifeSiteNews.com spoke with John Alger, the Convention Director of the March for Life about the attendance at this year's march. "The largest estimate to date was 225,000," said Alger.  "But we think this was at least as big as the largest if not larger, it was just an overwhelming turnout."

Leading the March were a large group of women who had had abortions and regretted them.  At one point the March stopped briefly as Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King invited the marchers to join her in singing "We will overcome".

At the conclusion of the March those women shared their testimonies in front of the Supreme Court.  After the women were finishing their presentations, a rainbow appeared just over the Court building.

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Christendom Students Meet with President Bush and March for Life

FRONT ROYAL, VA, January 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fifty Christendom College students attended a breakfast in honor of the Annual March for Life hosted by President George W. Bush at the White House on January 22. After the breakfast the group joined the rest of Christendom's entire student body and the many thousands of pro-lifers at the March for Life. Braving the cold weather, students rallied on the Mall facing Capitol Hill.

"It was very invigorating to see so many people stand together-people who fight with all their hearts," Sophomore Sarah Miranda of Boston, Mass. said.  "You're there to make a difference."

Many of the participants in the March for Life were young. The March appeared to be more like a youth rally "with smiling teenagers in matching scarves or sweat shirts holding school banners high," the Washington Post reported.

During the rally one of the speakers asked that everyone under the age of 25 raise their hand. "It seemed as if everyone in the crowd raised their hands," Miranda said.

"It's a joy to be a part of the March," College President Timothy O'Donnell said. "Christendom was founded four years after the tragic Roe v. Wade decision and the college has made the commitment to take a physical stance every year on behalf of the unborn. The formation that our students receive impels them to be active in the fight against the culture of death. Our motto 'to restore all things in Christ' calls us to take the Gospel message into all spheres of life, particularly the political."

Senior Dan Henson of Wake Forest, N.C. attended the breakfast at the White House and was one of the students able to shake hands with the President following his address. Henson said that he enjoyed sitting in the "Red Room" on furniture from the 18th century thinking of all the dignitaries that had done the same since the construction of the White House.

"It was amazing to be able to go to the White House and have breakfast with the President," Henson said. "It was an experience that few will ever be able to have and I am glad that the school had the connections in order to make it possible."

"Thirty-five years ago today the United States Supreme Court declared and decided that under the law an unborn child is not considered a person," President Bush said to the small crowd at the breakfast. "But we know many things about the unborn. Biology confirms that from the start each unborn child is a separate individual with his or her own genetic code. Babies can now survive outside the mother's womb at younger and younger ages. And the fingers and toes and beating hearts that we can see on an unborn child's ultrasound come with something that we cannot see: a soul."

The President's recorded breakfast address was later broadcast at the rally before the March.

Christendom College routinely cancels classes on the day of the March, and the Student Activities Council charters as many buses as needed to transport the entire student body, and numerous members of the faculty and staff to the March.

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Iowa Governor: "We'll Do Whatever It Takes to Protect Marriage"

By John Connolly

DES MOINES, January 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Iowa Governor Chet Culver has pledged to stop gay "marriage" coming to his state should the Iowa Supreme Court uphold a lower court decision that struck down Iowa's ban on gay "marriage" in August.

Culver, speaking on January 18, said he did not want to take any action before the courts make their rulings. 

"We'll do whatever it takes to protect marriage between a man and a woman," he said. "I think we have to let the judicial branch work through these cases and as a former government teacher and as governor I have a lot of respect for the judicial process. We shouldn't tamper with it. Let them do their work and then we can respond and react if we need to."

Culver warned supporters of traditional marriage to not overreact to another court ruling that said a lesbian has the right to seek custody and visitation rights for a child she adopted with her partner after their separation. Though the ruling may be an indication that the Iowa Supreme Court will uphold the ruling on gay "marriage," Culver warned against jumping to conclusions. He said that all sorts of options are "on the table," but lawmakers need to wait for the court's ruling.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Culver said. He also said that the legislature has the ability to push through a constitutional amendment should the courts uphold the August 2007 decision. If the court delays its ruling, Culver could call a special legislative session to deal with the amendment

Protesters rallied at Iowa's capitol on January 16, asking politicians to push through an amendment that would reverse the effects of the court decision that essentially legalized gay marriage in the state. Despite the turnout, state representatives were lethargic when questioned about the chances of marriage legislation being passed.

Gary Worthan, representative from Storm Lake, and Steve Kettering, state senator from Lake View, were interested to see the demonstration, and both told the Iowa Pilot-Tribune that they sympathize with those who defend traditional marriage. But both said they expect party leadership to block the issue from coming to a vote in this session.

"I'm hearing a lot of push from the constituents who want us to do something about gay marriage, but I think that leadership feels that they would rather just leave it and let the courts decide," Worthan said. "A lot of us, however, feel that the courts have already chosen to enter the legislative arena."

Worthan predicted much talk and little action from legislators over gay "marriage" and the defense of the family. Kettering said he will support legislation to restrict marriage to a man and a woman, but doesn't think that such legislation will come to a vote.

"It was a huge rally today, and I had the chance to visit with some of the participants from our home district," said Kettering. "Frankly, I doubt that leadership will allow it to come to a vote. The reason that will be used is that it should be allowed to run its course in the court system."

Governor Culver has expressed his wishes that the court system expedite its ruling so that excuse may be removed from legislators as a reason to avoid the topic. 

See previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Iowa Judge Temporarily Imposes "Gay Marriage" on State
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07083111.html

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Nicaraguan Bishop Demands Justice for Rape Victim Sheltered by Pro-Abortion Feminists

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MANAGUA, January 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) -  Bishop Albelardo Mata of the Nicaraguan town of Estelí is urging the Nicaraguan government to move forward with its investigation of nine feminists who are accused of covering up the rape of a young girl while using her pregnancy to promote abortion.

"One can't think about a nation when we citizens don't respect the laws, nor have an idea of what is fundamental, which in a nation is the Constitution," the Bishop told the Managuan daily La Prensa.  "And we see this Constitution trampled upon, reduced, amended in an incoherent manner in itself, and that we can't go on forever manipulating the fundamental law."

Denying that he was trying to destroy anyone, the bishop clarified that his goal was "simply that justice will shine in the nation, and that justice will be done in this Rosita case, which has been so worn-out, and the greatest victim of all of this has been the girl herself, raped, permanently abused.  As a mother her rights were violated, murdering her first child, all of this in a silence of people that supposedly were responsible for supporting the defense of the life of this girl."

Bishop Mata is referring to the case of "Rosita" (as she is known by the press, to protect her identity), a girl who was impregnated at the age of nine by her stepfather, Francisco Fletes.  In 2003, when the pregnancy was discovered in Costa Rica, feminists connected to the Women's Network Against Violence helped Fletes to escape authorities and return with his family to Nicaragua, where "Rosita's" pregnancy was used as a "hard case" to promote the decriminalization of abortion.

In a 2003 interview, feminist Marta Maria Blandón admitted that she knew Fletes was accused of the rape when she helped him escape Costa Rica. After bringing Fletes and his stepdaughter to Nicaragua, the Women's Network Against Violence procured a secret abortion for the girl and disposed of the body of the fetus, preventing genetic testing to determine the paternity of the child.  A Costa Rican man was falsely accused of the rape and spent months in prison.

After it was revealed that "Rosita" was pregnant again in 2007, her mother revealed that Fletes was the father, and further testing based on genetic evidence retained in Costa Rica in 2003 revealed he was also the father of the first child as well.  Interviews with neighbors and others in local press sources indicated that the Network feminists knew what was happening, but attempted to conceal it.

Not long after Fletes' conviction, in November of last year prosecutors received a formal complaint from the Nicaraguan Pro Human Rights Association (ANPDH), and several members of the pro-abortion Women's Network Against Violence were questioned by police.

However, international feminist groups began a letter-writing campaign to protest the investigation, claiming it was "political terrorism" and revenge by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife for an earlier campaign against him over accusations of sexual abuse against a relative, a scandal that shook his party in the late 1990s. The government seems to have done little to further the investigation since that time.

We don't have anything to do with the presidential couple, in any way," Bishop Mata told La Prensa.  "This was a determination that was made at the level of the (prosecutorial) team, the directives were consulted and the executive team was told, proceed, investigate well what you are going to do and put it into conformity with the laws of the country."

Contact Information:

Embassy of Nicaragua in the USA
1627 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20009
Telephone: (202) 939-6570
Fax: (202) 939-6542
Consulate Emails:
Email:
Email:
Email:
Email:

Nicaraguan Embassies in Other Countries:

http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/nicaragua3.htm

Related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Recent three-part series on "Rosita" case:
Part I: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07081602.html
Part II: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07081603.html
Part III: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07081604.html

Human Rights Group Files Charges Against Nicaraguan Abortion Lobby
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07111904.html

Pro-Abortion Feminists Subpoenaed in Nicaragua Rape Coverup Investigation
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07113010.html

Man Behind Effort to Legalize Abortion in Nicaragua Gets 30 Years for Step-Daughter's Rape
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07112110.html

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Germans Overwhelmingly Oppose Embryo Research

By Hilary White

MAINZ, January 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An opinion poll in Germany has shown strong public opposition to using human embryos as test subjects for research. Given Germany's still painful past experiences with the eugenics movement, opposition remains high and is increasing with the advent late last year of new methods of creating embryo-like iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells from adult tissue.

The poll showed that at the start of 2008, 61 per cent supported using only adult or iPS stem cells, up from 56.3 per cent in 2007. 26.9 per cent support embryo research, down from 32.9 per cent last year. 65.2 per cent support the existing ban on destructive embryo research.

Meanwhile, Karl Cardinal Lehmann, the archbishop of Mainz, has broken with the ecumenical trend and publicly opposed Wolfgang Huber, the Chairman of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany, who attacked the Catholic position on embryo research. Lehmann is the highest representative of the Catholic Church in Germany and widely acknowledged to be the leader of the Church's "liberal progressive" wing.

The dispute comes as the German government is considering relaxing the conditions under which it is legal to import embryonic stem cells into the country for research. In 2002, the German government voted to amend the Embryo Protection Act to allow the import of human embryo stem cells for research, but only those that had been "created in compliance with the laws of the country of origin before 1 January 2002". A proposal is before legislators to change the cut-off date to allow imports of newer stem cell lines.

In an interview with the Essen newspaper, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, the Cardinal said the issue of the cut-off date was not of the essence. "It's not about the date, but the conditions around it."

"The embryonic stem cells involved can only be preserved if an embryo is killed. Given that the Catholic church, but not only us but also many scientists and ethicists, say that after the union of egg and sperm cells in the embryo a human being is formed, which has human dignity and a right to life, we see no basis for moral and legal nuances in protecting life. Therefore, we already opposed the idea when in 2002, the cut-off date was first established. We were clear on this from the beginning."

When asked if his response to Wolfgang Huber would hurt relations between the churches, Cardinal Lehmann replied, "The ecumenical relationship is important, but it should not disguise a fundamental truth, namely, the right to life and the necessity of protecting the embryo from the beginning."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Germany's Top Evangelical Church Leader Backs Continuing Embryonic Stem Cell Research
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/08010309.html

Germany Allows Experimentation on Imported Human Embryo Stem Cells
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/jan/02013102.html

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Michigan and Alaska a Step Closer to Banning Partial Birth Abortion

By Hilary White

LANSING, Michigan/JUNEAU, Alaska, January 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On the 35th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, the Michigan Senate voted 24-13 to outlaw partial-birth abortion. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives where it is expected to be passed. Governor Jennifer Granholm, who maintains that she is Roman Catholic, has not yet indicated whether she intends to veto the bill.

A previous attempt to ban the grisly procedure in 2004 was vetoed by Governor Granholm. The veto was overturned by the legislature after a massive petition drive resulting in over 460,000 signatures. But a federal court subsequently struck down the measure overturning the governor's veto.

Sen. Cameron Brown, R-Sturgis, urged support for the ban, calling partial birth abortion "a practice not worthy of a civilized society". The proposal would make the procedure a state felony punishable by up to two years in prison and/or a $50,000 fine.

Meanwhile the House of Representatives of the state of Alaska is set to vote on a similar measure approved on Monday this week by the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, is co-sponsoring the abortion-related bill. He told the Fairbanks Daily News, "It's part of the generation-long debate over 'Is this really a child?'" he said. "Is this a human being worthy of protection?"

The language of both bills is in close conformity with that of the federal ban. Alaska's previous attempt to ban the procedure was overturned in 1998 by a federal court on constitutional grounds. Since the US Supreme Court allowed the federal ban to stand, other states are bringing forward legislation that are expected to stand.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

-Birth Abortion Ban in Michigan Unconstitutional: Federal Appeals Court
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07060508.html

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Head of Italian Bishops Conference Warns Catholic Politicians Never to Support Immoral Laws

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

VATICAN, January 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, has given clear instruction to Christian politicians in his preliminary address to the Permanent Episcopal Council in Rome.

"When it comes to legislative proposals going against Christian rational anthropology, Catholics should not take part in them," said Archbishop Bagnasco, directing his remarks to politicians who have declared themselves Christian and should act accordingly.

"On morally binding issues they should not follow in their decisions a merely political logic and abide by strategies or conveniences of single parties. It is true that the Catholic magisterium envisages the possibility to vote in favour of measures that may pertain to critical matters aimed at limiting the damage of a law and diminishing negative effects in terms of culture and public morality. But this does not apply when a legislative measure is still in embryonic form or is presented at the parliament. One thing is to operate in order to reduce an evil, another is to allow from the start intrinsically bad laws to belong to the legislation. This is not an external imposition."

"It is a choice to be made freely by someone whose conscience has already been conveniently formed. With reference to this there cannot be any external constrictions on the mandate because conscience is an inner and an intrinsic feature of each person, and therefore it cannot be objectively censored. The vote of conscience, as a matter of fact, is a resource exclusively at the service of good politics. Therefore, when it is necessary, it can become a transversal choice with reference to political affiliations in any legislature whatsoever."

This was a unmistakable exhortation to Catholics belonging to the Partito Democratico, the centre-left political party in Italy founded in 2007 as a merger of various left-wing and centrist parties.

"Behind these words there is no hegemonic plan. Like the pope said on a previous occasion, the Church knows that it is not its task to politically impose its doctrine. Its objective is to help form consciousness in the political life and to contribute to the perception of real needs concerning justice and the readiness to act accordingly even when this is in contrast with personal aims. This and nothing else is exactly what our Conference has in mind," the Archbishop concluded.

In April 2007, Archbishop Bagnasco issued an uncompromising condemnation of government plans to recognize same-sex unions in which he said, "Why say 'no' to forms of legally recognised co-habitation which create alternatives to the family? Why say 'no' to incest? Why say 'no' to the pedophile party in Holland?" He afterwards found himself the target of death threats from homosexual-rights activists. The Genoa police department responded by assigning an armed officer to guard him.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

If We Don't Say No to Same-Sex Unions, then Why Not Incest and Pedophilia Says Archbishop
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07040208.html

Head of Italy's Bishops under Police Protection after Threats from Homosexual Activists
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07041105.html

Homosexual Activist Sends Three More Bullets and 2nd Death Threat for Pro-Marriage Bishop
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07061203.html

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Archbishop Burke Calls on Catholic University to Discipline Pro-Abortion Coach

ST. LOUIS, January 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Tuesday, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, Missouri, urged St. Louis University to discipline its basketball coach for public statements in support of abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

"I'm confident (the university) will deal with the question of a public representative making declarations that are inconsistent with the Catholic faith," Burke told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  "When you take a position in a Catholic university, you don't have to embrace everything the Catholic Church teaches. But you can't make statements which call into question that identity and mission of the Catholic Church."

Coach Rick Majerus attended Tuesday's St. Louis rally for presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton and told television reporters that he advocates abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

St. Louis University president Rev. Lawrence Biondi, S.J., has shied away from reporters, but a university spokesman has said that Majerus was voicing personal views, and he would not confirm that any disciplinary action will be taken.

"We are grateful to Archbishop Burke for his example and leadership," said Patrick J. Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society.  "His call for disciplinary action is entirely consistent with Vatican principles for Catholic universities.  Sadly, St. Louis University has repeatedly violated those principles."

The Vatican's apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, Ex corde Ecclesiae, mandates: "Catholic members of the university community are also called to a personal fidelity to the Church with all that this implies.  Non-Catholic members are required to respect the Catholic character of the university, while the university in turn respects their religious liberty."

"Holding private views is one thing, publicly advocating them with the aim of transforming society and endorsing politicians is a much different matter," Reilly said.  "A Catholic university accepts the Catholic faith, and employees who publicly work against it have no claim to a paycheck largely funded by Catholic alumni and donors."

The Cardinal Newman Society is dedicated to renewing and strengthening Catholic identity at America's 224 Catholic colleges and universities. The Society focuses its work on assisting students, alumni and school officials; urging fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church; and researching activities both on campus and in the classroom.

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