LifeSite Daily News for Friday October 20, 2006

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US Bishops Set to Tell Catholics Opposed to Teaching on Abortion or Homosexuality not to Receive Communion

By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, October 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. bishops will vote on a proposed document, “Happy Are Those Who Are Called To His Supper: On Preparing To Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist” during their annual November meeting in Baltimore, Nov. 13-16.

The document, addressed to all the faithful, points out that Catholics may not receive communion if they do not accept Church teaching on matters such as abortion and homosexuality. Catholics should refrain from Holy Communion, says the document, “when they lack adherence to what the Church authoritatively teaches on matters of faith and morals.”

The document is designed to help Catholics properly prepare to receive Holy Communion. It is organized as a series of questions and answers, and explores topics such as what the Catholic Church believes about the Eucharist, who may receive Holy Communion, and how Catholics can prepare to receive the sacrament more worthily

The statement reiterates Church teaching that with “few exceptions, only those who are members of the Catholic Church may receive Holy Communion at a Catholic Eucharist.” Catholics should strive “to receive Holy Communion regularly, gratefully, and worthily,” but should refrain from the sacrament when they find themselves no longer in a state of grace because of mortal sin, which is an act violating God’s law that involves grave matter and that is performed with both full knowledge and complete consent of the will. Catholics who are conscious of committing any mortal sin must receive the Sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion, it says.

In addition to preparations by prayer and scripture reading, confession and fasting, the document also suggests that Catholics should prepare for communion by “wearing modest and tasteful dress during the liturgy.”

While this document to the faithful did not address it, the current Pope Benedict XVI while still as Cardinal Ratzinger the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the US Bishops that “Apart from an individual’s judgement about his worthiness to present himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone.”

The letter from Cardinal Ratzinger to the US Bishops continued, “Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.”

“When these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they were not possible,” concluded the Cardinal “and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it.” (see the full letter from Cardinal Ratzinger: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/050419a.html )

James Dobson: “I have never seen such hatred in my life. I am being bludgeoned”

Children Will Be Targeted if States Change Marriage Definition, He Warns

By Gudrun Schultz

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, October 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The social consequences of a liberal victory in the coming elections will be grave, particularly for children, Dr. James Dobson warned in a radio broadcast urging pro-family voters to go to the polls.

Dr. Dobson accused the national media of attempting to influence pro-family voters to stay home. Despite media efforts to convince “values voters” that the issue of homosexual marriage is no longer of central importance, Dr. Dobson said, activists’ push for same-sex “rights” is increasingly focused on the next generation.

“Children are being targeted,” Dr. Dobson stated. “If one of these states do not confirm traditional marriage, adoption laws will change. Those put in foster care will be placed in different kinds of homes, the training foster care parents receive will be consistent with the homosexual perspective.”

Dobson said the key significance of the coming elections is evident in media attacks on pro-family supporters.

“I have never seen such hatred in my life. I am being bludgeoned,” Dobson said, making reference to an NBC broadcaster who allegedly referred to him as ‘the worst man in the world.’ “Why? Why now? Well, it’s not really personal to me. But they identify me as one of the people who turned out the values voters last time–and they are determined to never, ever let it happen again.”

“If people of faith–the so-called values voters–don’t come out and let their voices be heard, there are going to be some major implications for this country”, he said. “There are these statements from the media that values voters don’t care this year and that they’re going to stay home.”

Recent efforts by the California legislature to pass a measure mandating the inclusion of pro-homosexual material in all public school curricula, beginning with kindergarten, was a vivid example of the child-oriented goals in the homosexual activist movement, Dr. Dobson pointed out.

“Teaching five year olds about adult perverse behavior instead of fairy tales is unconscionable.”

While the California measure was vetoed on the last day possible by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it had passed the Assembly and Senate by a wide margin despite a national and state-wide outcry by parents and pro-family organizations–an example, Dobson said, of the lack of any accountability on the part of those behind the pro-homosexual movement.

Read CitizenLink coverage:
https://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0042372.cfm

Hear audio broadcast (Standing for the Family in a Lost Culture):
https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/archi…

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:

California Gov Schwarzenegger Will Veto Bill Requiring Mandatory Gay Education in Schools
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06052602.html

California Senate Passes Law Forcing Schools to Celebrate Gay History
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06051506.html

Victory for Pro-Family Groups as Pressure Forces NBC to Cut Madonna on the Cross Mockery

NBC received millions of complaints from Christians protesting planned airing of blasphemous concert.

By John-Henry Westen

LOS ANGELES, October 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSiteNews.com readers who joined in the efforts of hundreds of pro-family groups over the past month to stop NBC’s proposed airing of pop singer Madonna’s mocking of the crucifixion have reason to celebrate. NBC has announced to its affiliates that the Madonna special set for November 22 will not portray her mockery of the crucifixion wherein she wears a fake crown of thorns and appears with arms stretched out on a glass cross.

NBC received millions of complaints from Christians protesting the planned airing of the blasphemous concert. The American Family Association alone was responsible for 750,000 emails to NBC.

Additional pressure was put on NBC on September 29, when a letter was sent to Bob Wright by Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, and Bill Donohue of the Catholic League warning him that a boycott of one of the sponsors of the Madonna concert would be launched if the ‘Mock Crucifixion’ part were not excised. The groups that said they would join the boycott included: American Family Association, Morley Institute, Christian Film and Television Commission, Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, Traditional Values Coalition and Women Influencing the Nation.

Thousands of Orthodox Jews Protest Gay Pride – Signs: “J’lem is not Sodom or New York”

By Hilary White

JERUSALEM, October 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Thousands of the Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem protested Wednesday against the efforts of a small group of homosexual activists to bring the so-called “Gay Pride” event to the city. Jerusalem is held as one of the world’s most holy places by Jews, Muslims and Christians.

The Israeli courts had ruled that the homosexual political event could go forward this summer, but just days later the Israeli/Hezbollah war broke out. The general opinion among Orthodox Jews is that the timing was a message from God. Homosexual activists have reached an agreement with Jerusalem officials to reschedule for November 10.

As the date approaches, anger over the intrusion of the homosexual festival has grown among the dominant Orthodox community. Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protested at Jerusalem’s Sabbath Square yesterday holding signs with messages in Hebrew, saying, “J’lem is not Sodom, Amsterdam or New York.”

“The war in the north broke out as soon as the parade was announced,” a Mea Shearim resident told a local news service, Ynet.

Ynet quoted him saying that the Rabbis are “fearful of another war,” and are asking the Jews of the world to protest.

A single homosexual activist organization, Open House, has been largely responsible for putting pressure on the Israeli government to allow the events in Jerusalem that have come to be known around the world as a public display of lewd sexual behaviour.

Ynet quotes Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, head of the Eda Haredit rabbinic court, “We did not succeed in Lebanon due to the obscenity and promiscuity in the Holy Land.”

On September 19, the Jerusalem Post reported that Jerusalem’s officials had agreed to allow the event November 10 in order to forestall a lawsuit by Open House and the Jerusalem police had reluctantly agreed to provide security.

At the end of August, Open House announced that the event would begin on September 21, just days before the Jewish New Year. Rabbi Yehuda Levin, founder of the New York-based organization Jews for Morality, told LifeSiteNews.com at the time, “It is inappropriate, so inappropriate, for them to flaunt their disrespect for thousands of years of Jewish tradition.”

Open House organizers admitted that they had deliberately set the date close to the Jewish holy days in order to antagonize their opponents. When the police refused to allow the event for security reasons, the group vowed to go to court.

Rabbi Levin called on Jewish, Muslim and Christian faithful to physically block the parade route, “to protect the holy soil of Jerusalem against this spiritual rape.”

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage: International Religious Outcry Close to Booting Gay Pride from Holy City of Jerusalem https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06070702.html

Jerusalem Gay Pride Set for September 21 https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082902.html

Jerusalem Loses Battle to Ban Gay Pride Parade—Court-Ordered Date Set for November 10 https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091904.html

Australian Bishop Says Catholic Hospitals Will Not Use Embryonic Stem Cell Treatments

By Meg Jalsevac

SYDNEY, Australia, October 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop Anthony Fisher of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia told the Australian parliament today that Australian Catholic hospitals would not use treatments for their patients that had been developed through embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are cells extracted from living human embryos. The extraction of the cells causes the embryo to die.

The Catholic Church maintains that embryonic stem cell research is morally evil because it necessitates the death of the embryo, a living person in the very earliest stage of development. In the introduction to Donum Vitae, an official Instruction written in 1987 from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it says “From the moment of conception, the life of every human being is to be respected in an absolute way…”

Bishop Fisher explained the Church’s position, “I think if in fact what the cures involved was using parts taken from very early human beings that had been killed to get those cells, and then lines grown from them for that purpose, we’d have to say that you couldn’t morally cooperate in that activity.”

Catholic health organizations maintain over 8,600 beds in small and large hospitals throughout Australia including St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney and Melbourne and the Mater Hospitals in Brisbane.

Dr. Sally Cockburn, a GP and radio commentator in Melbourne, was critical of the Church’s policy. “I really would question whether this is putting the patient first,” she said. Dr. Cockburn also wondered if the Catholic hospitals would be allowed to refuse certain treatments for their patients if the hospitals were receiving government funding.

Australia currently has a ban on human cloning so no new embryos may be made for research purposes. However, scientists may use stem cells from spare IVF embryos.

In December of 2005, former Federal Court judge John Lockhart recommended that the current regulations be relaxed so that ‘therapeutic cloning’ could be legalized and a stem cell bank established for research purposes. A conscience vote on the matter is scheduled in the Federal Parliament for later this year.

Scientists across the world have worked up a great hype about the potential benefits of using embryonic stem cells. However, a Nov. 29 Canadian Catholic News item reported bioethics expert Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk stating that not a single disease has been cured yet from embryonic stem cell research. Conversely, this distinguished director of the National Bioethics Centre in Philadelphia noted nearly 100 different diseases have already been cured using adult stem cells taken from the umbilical cord, hip or nasal cavity.

The Catholic Church encourages and supports research in adult stem cell therapy since adult stem cells are harvested in such a way as to not cause harm to the donor.

Read the entire text of Donum Vitae:
https://www.cin.org/vatcong/donumvit.html

Read Related LifeSite Coverage on Adult Stem Cell Treatment:

Adult Stem Cell Research: True Potential Sacrificed for Other Possibilities Says Biotech Writer
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061311.html
Stem Cell and Embryo Research Round-up for September
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092208.html
Adult Stem Cell Discoveries Could Treat Alzheimer’s and Blindness
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05021405.html
Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs Exciting Interest from Private Investors
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05062409.html
Success Stories with Adult Stem Cells Coming in Almost Too Fast to Track
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05012007.html

Read Related LifeSite Coverage on Embryonic Stem Cell Treatment:

UK Researcher: Cord Blood Real Potential for Cures, Not Embryonic Stem Cells – Part I
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06081804.html
UK Researcher: Embryonic Stem Cells Have Never Been Used to Treat Anyone and no Plans Exist to do so – Part II
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082401.html
Why Embryonic Stem Cell Research? It’s About Human Engineering, Not Ending Disease
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050902.html

Portuguese Parliament Approves National Abortion Referendum

By Gudrun Schultz

LISBON, Portugal, October 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ongoing efforts to break down Portugal’s laws against abortion took another step forward yesterday, as Parliament approved holding a government-initiated national referendum on abortion,, the Associated Press reported.

The referendum will ask Portuguese citizens to vote on a proposal to allow abortions on demand up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. Under current laws, abortion is not permitted in the Roman Catholic country except in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or if the mother’s health is endangered, and then only up until 12 weeks gestation.

Anticipated sometime in January 2007, the referendum must draw more than 50 percent of voters before the results will be considered valid. In a 1998 referendum on a proposed government measure legalizing abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, Portuguese voters narrowly rejected a change in law.

The results were discarded as invalid, however, after only 30 percent of registered voters participated.

The ruling Socialist Party has consistently pushed for liberal abortion laws over the past decade, introducing repeated measures that would remove protection for the unborn child.

Earlier this week Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates launched a pro-abortion campaign to encourage a “yes” vote in the referendum. The government announced the coming national vote on the issue last month.

See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Portugese Gov’t Launches Pro-Abortion Campaign
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06101803.html

Socialist Portugal Government to Introduce Abortion Vote January 2007
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091803.html

Abortion-Pushing Socialists Elected in Portugal
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05022105.html

Wisconsin Bishop Says Attack on Marriage Teaching an “Intimidation” Attempt

By Gudrun Schultz

MADISON, Wisconsin, October 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Wisconsin Bishop Robert Morlino defended his encouragement of parishioners to vote in defense of traditional marriage, saying accusations of “electioneering” leveled against him by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) were an “attempt to intimidate the Catholic Church.”

“The Church does not play partisan politics. The Church does not support individual candidates or parties”, Bishop Morlino said in a press release Wednesday. “This does not mean that when important issues (often very emotional issues) arise, the Church will remain quiet while the truths of the dignity of the human person and of Christ are being threatened. The Church and her members have a moral responsibility to engage the culture and political world in which we live.”

The WDC complained to the Elections Board, accusing the Diocese of Madison of “electioneering” with a brochure distributed to parishioners. Created for the diocese, the brochure entitled “Marriage Matters” explained the Catholic teaching on the sanctity of marriage to parishioners. 110,000 copies were distributed to churches in the diocese.

The WDC said the church needs to register with the state elections board and disclose how much money was spent, under state requirements for election campaign organizations. However, the bishop pointed out, those requirements do not apply to internal communication within the Church community. Material distributed within the diocese to members of the Catholic Church would be exempt.

“To claim that I must pay a fee and report to the state about my teaching activities in Catholic venues blatantly violates the rights of myself and my sister and brother Catholics to the free exercise of religion.

“To have my teaching about marriage in Catholic venues called “electioneering”, so as to seek the imposition of penalties from the state, seems an attempt to intimidate the Catholic Church as we try to teach the truth in an admittedly volatile atmosphere. Such persecution would surely be inappropriate.”

Bishop Morlino said his role as Bishop required him to faithfully communicate the teachings of the Church and to defend marriage to his parishioners.

“Saint John the Baptist laid down his life to protect the marriage bond. Throughout the history of the Catholic Church the Popes…have defended the marriage bond specifically, even up to the present in the case of Pope Benedict XVI. It is my responsibility and obligation to maintain that communion.

“When, in parish settings or other Catholic contexts, I insist upon the truth of what reason and faith teach us about marriage, I am maintaining that communion.

“I wish only to protect the truth about marriage and to proclaim that there is no right to redefine marriage. I stand against denying anyone’s basic human rights, and as we move ahead in the future, I will do everything to support authentic human rights for all people. The right to redefine marriage is not one of those authentic human rights. I pray that the Lord will give our citizenry wisdom to act prudently and truthfully with regard to the marriage referendum.”

To express support to Bishop Morlino:

Phone: (608) 821-3002
Fax: (608) 821-4552

Read Madison Diocese press release:
https://www.madisondiocese.org/marriage/Bishop_stmt_on_marria…

See related LifeSiteNews story:
The term “homophobia” is “a slogan of intimidation”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05113001.html

LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes

Archbishop warns “culture of extreme feminism” denigrates meaning of motherhood
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=7866

Charge dismissed for woman who aborted own child with gun
https://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=112925&r…

Minneapolis Bus Driver Has Right not to Drive Bus with Homosexual Ad
https://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/…

Boston College Now Requires ‘Catholic Perspective,’ Could Cancel Speakers
https://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=515071

Financial Helps to Mothers Begets Much Needed Baby Boom in France
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10…

Catholic school fires practicing homosexual guard
https://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/NEW…

No Death Benefits for Congressman Studds’s Homosexual Partner
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10…

Doctor: Abortion is Unnecessary
https://www.dakotavoice.com/200610/Guest/20061016_DO.html

Abortionist Evicted in Chicago
https://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/99510,2_1…

Defrock predator priests, victims tell bishops
https://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=…

Vietnam Government cracks down on gender-based abortion practise
https://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01SOC…

Nicaraguan president sends anti-abortion bill to Congress
https://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/17/america/LA_GEN_Nic…

Supreme Court Won’t Review Boy Scout Case
https://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/10/16/113136.s…

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