Articles for Month: March 2009

 By Katharina Rothweiler NEW YORK, NY, March 27, 2009 (C-FAM) – The Commission on Population and Development (CPD) will meet next week at the United Nations (UN) to mark the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (CPD), a landmark gathering held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994 that resulted in pro-life and pro-family nations pushing back population controllers who sought to advance a global right to abortion. Abortion is again expected to be a contentious topic as the CPD meets on “The Contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski TBILISI, Georgia, March 27, 2009 LifeSiteNews.com) – The head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, has come up with an astonishingly successful incentive to counteract the country’s plummeting birth rate. To encourage families to have more children the Patriarch has promised to personally baptize any baby born to parents who already have two or more children. The BBC reports that the results have been, in the words of the Georgian Orthodox Church, “a miracle,” with the country’s birth rate increasing by nearly 20% during 2008 – a rate roughly four times higher than the previous […]

NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following is a compilation of pertinent contact information for those wishing to voice opposition to the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama to offer the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree on May 17, 2009: To contact Notre Dame: University of Notre DameNotre Dame, Indiana 46556, USAphone: 574.631.5000email form: [email protected] Board of TrusteesThe Board has general power of governance at the University Mr. Richard C. Notebaert, Chairman of the BoardNotre Dame, Indiana 46556phone: 574.631.5000 list of all trustees: https://nd.edu/leadership/board-of-trustees/ Notre Dame Fellows(The Fellows are the “successors and associates […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski MELBOURNE, March 27, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) – Archdiocese of Melbourne spokesman James O’Farrell told the Melbourne Herald Sun today that Corpus Christi Catholic seminary is instituting the recommendations of the Vatican to use psychological testing to screen for homosexual tendencies in men who are considering a vocation to the Catholic priesthood. The testing is used to not only identify men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies,” but also to identify men for whom the burden of celibacy is too great and will cause emotional disturbance even if they manage to keep their vows. In a 2008 Vatican document approved […]

By Kathleen Gilbert NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fr. David Tyson, C.S.C., Provencial of the University of Notre Dame and religious superior of ND president Fr. John Jenkins, today responded to questions about Jenkins’ decision to back the invitation of Obama to speak at Notre Dame, saying that Jenkins is “fulfilling his responsibilities” as president of Notre Dame.  Fr. Tyson is Fr. Jenkins’ superior in the Congregation of the Holy Cross, a Rome-based order of priests and brothers who answer directly to the Pope, rather than the local prelate. Fr. Jenkins has been at the center of […]

By Kathleen Gilbert AUSTIN, Texas, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A third bishop has publicly condemned an invitation to President Barack Obama by the Catholic University of Notre Dame to receive an honorary law degree and offer the commencement address on May 17. In the latest issue of the Austin diocese’s “E-pistle,” Bishop Gregory Aymond states, regarding the scandal: “I, along with many other Catholics, express great disappointment and sadness that a Catholic university would honor someone who is pro-choice and who holds many values contrary to our Catholic belief. “In the midst of such a sad situation, as Catholics […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The American Family Association (AFA) is calling for a boycott of soft drink giant PepsiCo over its support of pro-homosexual groups, in particular the homosexualist group known as Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). PFLAG has recently begun a campaign against an organization that helps ex-homosexuals to return to a normal lifestyle, called Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX). Donald E. Wildmon, founder and Chairman of the AFA, said in a press release that, “By issuing national press releases against PFOX, by organizing protests at ex-gay conferences, […]

Tiller could still lose his medical license

By Samantha Singson NEW YORK, NY, March 27, 2009 (C-FAM) – As the United Nations (UN) gears up to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+15), UN agencies like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and abortion advocates such as the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) are pushing “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” with a particular focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The recent CRR publication “Using the Millennium Development Goals to Realize Women’s Reproductive Rights” cites the ICPD as the guide for its work and identifies the MDGs as an access […]

By Hilary White LANCASTER, UK, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A proposal by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to allow abortionists to advertise on television comes straight “from the heart of the abortion industry,” the Catholic bishop of Lancaster has said. In a statement issued March 26, Bishop Patrick O’Donohue called the proposed changes “deeply damaging” and warned that they would “result in the deaths of many more preborn children and cause untold harm to women” and threaten “yet another hammer-blow to the sanctity of human life in this country.” The proposal comes as statistics continue to show rises […]