Articles for Month: March 2009

By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Barack Obama plans to rescind the Bush policy limiting federal funding for embryo destructive research on Monday. The Bush policy had allowed federal funding for experiments on already existing lines of embryos, but forbade the funds from being used to create new embryos for experimentation.  According to news reports, a signing ceremony will take place on Monday at 11 am.  Details about the Executive Order are not available, but according to the Washington Post, “proponents expect Obama will simply lift the restriction without caveats and let the NIH work out the details.” Tony […]

WASHINGTON, DC, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, announced March 3 that he is banning Bishop Richard Williamson from any Roman Catholic Church, school, or other facility in the archdiocese for denying certain facts about the Nazi Holocaust. Now, in response to Mahoney’s decisive acts, the American Life League is asking the Cardinal if his public ban of a Holocaust-denying bishop signals his willingness to take a similar position on pro-abortion advocates in his own archdiocese and parish.  “Since Cardinal Mahony is taking such a strong public position against the Nazi […]

Commentary by Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President, Human Life International March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – I am not a politician, I am a priest. So I would like to give my priestly perspective about the recent endorsement of Senator Sam Brownback for the candidacy of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services: Senator Brownback’s cowardly betrayal of his Catholic faith is even more damaging than his political permission for this renegade to take office. The situation is atrocious. An extremist abortion hack (called the most pro-abortion governor in the nation by many), who falsely calls herself “Catholic,” is […]

By Kathleen Gilbert SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Scranton’s Bishop Joseph Martino continued a streak of outspoken teaching on Catholic life and family values this week, as he issued a reflection on the real meaning of “diversity.” Bishop Martino issued the March 3 address in light of his recent injunction to Misericordia University to consider abolishing the “Diversity Institute” that invited a homosexualist speaker to the school last month.  The bishop noted that a great deal of student and community feedback objecting to Martino’s injunction praised the Institute’s work advancing harmony among different races and cultures. Such goals […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski LONDON, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Upon returning to England following a meeting with US President Barack Obama, British PM Gordon Brown has declared as “unacceptable” the passing of Proposition 8 in California, the constitutional amendment which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. At a Downing Street reception yesterday, hosted by Brown for the homosexual community in honor of homosexual history month, which takes place each February in Britain, the PM said, “What I saw in America tells me what we have got to do. “This Proposition 8 in California, this attempt […]

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-Life members of the U.S. House of Representatives this week urged congressional leaders to abandon federal funding of embryo-destructive stem cell research in favor of ethical adult stem cell research. “We have moved beyond the ethical debate because we have something in hand that is the promise and the hope of regenerative medicine,” insisted Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) in a speech on the House floor Wednesday. Smith and nine other pro-life Members of Congress discussed the breakthroughs and advantages of stem cell therapies that do not require the destruction of […]

Column by John Jalsevac March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Abandonment to Divine Providence has, as a way of life, gone out of fashion. Of course, it was never particularly popular to begin with; but at least it was once considered “quaint,” or perhaps “idealistic,” while it is now popularly believed to be a sign of madness and cowardice – the refuge of weak and unimaginative minds who would rather throw up their hands and “trust” in something invisible, than apply their intelligence solving problems and diligently planning for the future. This past Sunday, Catholics heard the Gospel reading about Christ’s […]

By Hilary White ROME, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A self-proclaimed feminist religious sister has urged her fellows in the feminist Catholic movement to “non-violent” resistance against an upcoming Vatican-mandated visitation into the lives and works of American religious orders. Vatican visitors to the convent, wrote Sr. Sandra M. Schneiders, should be received “politely and kindly,” but not welcomed, honored or cooperated with. Sr. Schneiders, a member of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and a professor of New Testament studies and Christian spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California, wrote a thousand-word email, […]

By Hilary White LONDON, March 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of Britain and leader of the ruling Labour Party for ten years, has decried in an interview the “ludicrous” recent decisions by which the religious expression of Christians is being suppressed in Britain. “I hope and believe that stories of people not being allowed to express their Christianity are exceptional or the result of individual ludicrous decisions. My view is that people should be proud of their Christianity and able to express it as they wish,” Blair told the Church of England Newspaper. He agreed […]

By Samantha Singson NEW YORK, NY, March 6, 2009 (C-FAM) – This week at the United Nations (UN), thousands of activists, government officials and UN officials gathered in New York for the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). While the theme for the conference is, “The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS,” several countries and non-government organizations (NGOs) have used the annual meeting as a soapbox to promote radical ideas on homosexual rights, abortion and sex education. Norway and Sweden partnered with the International Planned Parenthood Federation to host […]