Sedation with Dehydration used as “Slow Euthanasia” UK Survey Reveals

By Hilary White LONDON, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Slow euthanasia by deep sedation” is a current reality in the British health care system, and not just a journalistic myth, a survey of UK doctors has revealed. The study found that continuous deep sedation (CDS) was more frequently requested by patients or relatives seeking a “hastened death” and was associated “with a greater incidence of other end-of-life decisions containing some intent to end life by the doctor”. Under existing medical care protocols in the UK, patients who are designated as dying, can have food and hydration withdrawn until they die of dehydration, […]
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“Death Panels” Return: House Bill Has Potential Physician-Assisted Suicide Loophole

By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – They're back. The provisions on advanced-planning directives labeled “death panels” by concerned observers have re-emerged in the final version of the US House of Representatives health-care reform bill. Moreover, the bill also lacks protective language that would prevent reimbursement of physicians counseling assisted suicide as a legitimate “end-of-life” option in states like Washington and Oregon. Section 240 of H.R. 3962 “Affordable Health Care for America Act” requires insurance companies offering a “qualified health benefits plan” on the health insurance exchange to provide information related to “end-of-life planning” to enrolled […]
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Extreme Religious Left Furious over Rome’s Anglican Offer

By Hilary White ROME, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Vatican's offer to allow doctrinally Christian Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church en masse is eliciting increasingly shrill denunciations from representatives of the extreme left of the religious world. The Vatican, critics say, is indulging in a form of ecclesiastical “piracy” and is attempting to shift the Church back towards its old pre-Vatican II “imperialism.” In an Op Ed published October 27 in several European newspapers, one of the most notorious members of the Catholic Church's extreme liberal establishment, former Catholic theology professor Hans Küng, lashed out at his one-time […]
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Canadian National Pro-Life Conference Opens in Saskatoon Saskatchewan

By John-Henry Westen in Saskatoon SASKATOON, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Canadian National Pro-Life Conference got underway last night in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, also known as the City of Bridges.  The conference, “Building Bridges: Making Choices for Life,” is hosted by the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association, and sponsored by Campaign Life Coalition and Life Canada. Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), opened the meeting with greetings, thanks and humorous stories, followed by Dr. Delores Doherty President of Life Canada. The evening's main speaker was Andrea Mrozek, the founding director of the blog prowomanprolife.org.  Mrozek explained that she comes […]
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Man Imprisoned Under Anti-Abortion Law for Beating Pregnant 17-Year-Old to Induce Miscarriage

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VERNAL, Utah, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A 21 year-old Utah man was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for beating a pregnant 17 year-old girl to try to cause a miscarriage, after she paid him to do so. Prosecutors said the seven months pregnant Uintah County girl paid Aaron Harrison $150 to beat her after her boyfriend threatened a breakup if she didn't abort the child. Court documents said Harrison brought the girl in May to his home, where he was accused of kicking and biting her, leaving bruises on her stomach and […]
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Beggars Versus Giants: More Quotes to Consider

See previous Part 1 and Part 2 of this series Compiled by Steve Jalsevac October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The following are additional quotes from prominent individuals emphasizing why abortion and its related anti-life evils must be given a very high priority: “Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should therefore be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free  nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide.”Ronald Reagan  Abortion and the Conscience of […]
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ACLU Fights Illinois Parental Notification Law

CHICAGO, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently brought forward a suit in Illinois state court to block the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act, after the ACLU lost its bid in federal court earlier this year to stop the law from going into effect. On Thursday, the Thomas More Society, a public interest firm, filed a petition in Cook County Circuit Court to intervene on behalf of three attorneys for the state of Illinois defending the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act. State Attorneys Stewart Umholtz of Tazewell County, Edward Deters of Effingham County, […]
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Student President Faces Removal after Allowing Pro-Life Display

By Patrick B. Craine SACRAMENTO, California, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Christian student government president in California is facing a recall amidst anger from some administration and students after the student government permitted a pro-life demonstration during the college's annual Constitution Day celebrations. Constitution Day at Sacramento City College, which took place this year on September 16-17, is an annual celebration of the Constitution and free speech, which features external speakers and organizations who request an invitation from the Associated Student Government (ASG). ASG president Steve Macias, 19, and student affairs commissioner Monica Guzman now risk losing their positions […]
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House’s Final Version of Massive Health Care Bill Poised to Instigate Government-Funded Abortion

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Democratic House leadership yesterday unveiled the final version of the health care overhaul on Thursday, one that keeps intact language to immediately initiate government funding for elective abortions.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced at a press conference Thursday the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), which Democrats expect to keep closed from further emendation. “We are about to deliver on the promise of making affordable quality health care available for all Americans, laying the foundation for a brighter future for generations to come,” Pelosi announced on the steps […]
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Texas Bishops Threaten “Vigorous” Opposition to Abortion-Funding Healthcare

By James Tillman AUSTIN, TX, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—The bishops of the Texas Catholic Conference have issued a statement criticizing the health care reform bill's abortion-funding Capps amendment, while calling for “reform of our nation's health care system in ways that respect the lives of all human persons.” The bishops began by stating their commitment to improving the United States' health care, saying they were “hopeful that such reform legislation will someday be enacted into law.” Nevertheless, “true health care reform must maintain longstanding public policies that restrict funding for abortion and respect the consciences of health care providers.” “The […]
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USCCB Launches All-Out Campaign against Abortion-Funding Healthcare

By James Tillman WASHINGTON, DC, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched a bold and sweeping nation-wide campaign against the abortion funding mandate included in healthcare reform legislation currently making its way through Congress. Pro-life leaders are applauding the campaign, with American Life League's Judie Brown describing it as “unprecedented.” USCCB Pro-Life Activities Secretariat Tom Grenchik this week sent an email to parishes across the US, detailing the contents of the plan. At the same time, Cardinal Francis George and other members of the USCCB leadership have asked every cardinal, archbishop, and […]
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New Book Details Strong Influence of Trudeau’s Womanizing on His Politics

By Patrick B. Craine October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new biography about Pierre Elliot Trudeau reveals the great influence exerted on his political decisions by the many women with whom he associated romantically.  For pro-life and pro-family advocates, these revelations shed light on the character and motivations of the man who opened the legal door to Canada's now-rampant sexual permissiveness and abortion culture. The book, Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliot Trudeau 1968-2000, is historian John English's second volume on the former Canadian Prime Minister.  English drew on Trudeau's personal papers, as well as interviews with his […]
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Draft USCCB Document Addresses Confusion over Reproductive Technologies

By Patrick B. Craine BALTIMORE, Maryland, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new draft document on reproductive technologies will be considered by the U.S. bishops at their upcoming annual plenary assembly, in Baltimore from November 16-19.  Titled “Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology,” the 22-page document sets the forth the Church's teaching that procreation can never be licitly separated from the union of husband and wife, reports Catholic News Service. While the Church feels compassion for those experiencing “unanticipated childlessness,” the draft insists that some reproductive technologies “are not legitimate ways to solve” problems with infertility. “Some solutions offered […]
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Life Versus Death; Beggars Versus Giants – Part 2 of 2

See Part 1 of this series Special Report By Steve Jalsevac Massive Funding Received by Anti-Life Organizations In Canada, all abortions are fully funded by taxation dollars. Abortion advocating feminist and other organizations are given millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars from all levels of government, plus funds from wealthy multinational foundations and other sources. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation reported that Canada’s Conservative government gave $80 Million to de-population groups in 2006/07. $44,050,000 went to the UNFPA, and $18 million each went to Planned Parenthood and UNICEF. The Minister for Canadian International Cooperation in the federal Liberal government in the […]
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Wisconsin Ponders Replacing Abstinence-Only Program with Contraceptive Sex Ed

By Kathleen Gilbert MADISON, Wisconsin, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A law set for consideration in the Wisconsin state legislature aims to replace the abstinence-only curriculum used in the state's public schools with one that educates students on the use of condoms and contraceptives. The Healthy Youth Act (AB-458 and SB-324), introduced by Democrat state Rep. Tamara Grigsby and Sen. Lena Taylor last month, aims to establish a contraceptive-promoting state curriculum for all schools that have a Human Growth and Development Program.  The curriculum is billed as giving “age-appropriate, medically accurate information” on how to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually […]
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Commentary on October 29 News

Dear Readers, The problems and needed massive reform of the U.S. bishops' social justice arm are astonishingly similar to those of the Canadian bishops' Development and Peace organization that we have been reporting. The new coalition, begun by advocacy organizations HLI, ALL and BVM, appears to have done an outstanding job of launching this initiative, summarizing the problems and proposing excellent solutions. Bravo for them. Check out the various pages on their website. Please read my Special Report Commentary today. Part 2 will come tomorrow. Although only a few groups are named in the report as examples, the arguments apply to […]
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Google Supports Ref. 71 Favoring Same-Sex Unions

By James Tillman SEATTLE, WA, October 29 (LifeSiteNews.com)—Representatives of the Google offices in Seattle and Kirkland Washington have sent a letter to the editor of the Seattle-Post Intelligencer supporting Referendum 71, which would grant the same legal rights to same-sex “partners” as to married couples in Washington.  The letter, signed by the engineering and site directors of each office, says that although Google does not “not generally take positions on social, legal or political issues that arise beyond our normal, day-to-day business,” there are nevertheless “issues that are so important and so clear cut that we feel compelled to lend […]
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Archdiocese of Washington Opposes Bill to Redefine Marriage in District of Columbia

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski WASHINGTON, October 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Representatives of the Archdiocese of Washington spoke in support of natural marriage and religious freedom at a hearing examining proposed same-sex “marriage” legislation in the District of Columbia. In testimony before the D.C. City Council's Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary on October 26, the archdiocese stated its opposition to proposed legislation that would redefine marriage and infringe upon religious liberty. On October 6, D.C. Council member David A. Catania, one of two open homosexuals on the council, introduced the same-sex “marriage” bill, with nine of the thirteen council […]
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Coalition of Catholic Groups Calls for Massive Reform of U.S. Bishops’ Social Justice Arm

By Patrick B. Craine WASHINGTON, D.C., October 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new coalition of Catholic pro-life organizations is calling for a massive reform of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) and urging Catholics to boycott the upcoming November collection. The CCHD is the domestic social justice arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and focuses on supporting groups that work in community organizing.  They have been accused over many years of supporting radical left-wing groups who advocate a distorted un-Catholic view of social justice.  The organization primarily raises funds through an annual nationwide parish collection, this […]
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Life Versus Death; Beggars Versus Giants – Part 1

Special Report Commentary By Steve Jalsevac Note: There has been much discussion lately among pro-life leaders about the chronic lack of resources the movement has had to endure during its existence while fighting the great battle against the Culture of Death. This article is one I believe has been needed for some time, and now more than ever. 40 years of this battle is a long time. It will be won, but certain things must finally happen to bring that about. This article addresses some of those needed developments. October 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Mother Teresa, awarded the Nobel peace prize […]
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Conservatives Propose UN Reform

By Samantha Singson NEW YORK, NY, October 29, 2009 (C-FAM) – At a United Nations (UN) press conference Wednesday a group of conservative policy experts put forth an agenda for UN reform including alternatives to major UN programs on social issues and methods for making the UN more accountable to member states. The event featured authors of the new book ConUNdrum: The Limits of the United Nations and the Search for Alternatives, published by the Washington DC-based Heritage Foundation. Ambassador John Bolton, former United States Ambassador to the UN and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, praised the book's […]
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UN Rapporteur Criticized for Report Claiming Gender is a “Social Construct”

By Piero A. Tozzi, J.D. NEW YORK, NY, October 29, 2009 (C-FAM) – A host of nations lined up this week to criticize a special report on “gender-based human rights abuses in counterterrorism measures” for pushing a notion of gender as a fluid social construct and advancing a United Nations (UN) “gay rights” document known as the Yogyakarta Principles, rather than focusing on the assigned task of examining the abuse of women caught up in the global “war on terror.” Dubbed an “interactive discussion” with UN Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinin, criticism from the Organization of Islamic Countries and the African […]
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Stem Cell Breakthrough Could Create Babies Without Men, Women, or Sexual Relations

By Hilary White October 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Researchers announced a scientific breakthrough yesterday in which the progenitor cells to human ova and sperm have been created out of embryonic stem cells. Pro-life commentators have responded to the news by highlighting the massive ethical pitfalls involved in the technology: not only does the process result in the death of embryos, but it potentially leaves both men and women, as well as natural sexual relations, out of the human reproductive picture. The report, published in the journal Nature by Stanford University researchers, says that the primary aims of the researchers were […]
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Accused Shooter of James Pouillon Found Competent to Face Murder Charges

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski CORUNNA, Michigan, October 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Harlan James Drake, who is accused of murdering pro-life activist Jim Pouillon in September, was deemed competent to stand trial for the killing by 66th District Court Judge Terrance P. Dignan on Tuesday. Earlier this month Judge Dignan ruled that Drake was incompetent to stand trial, after an evaluation by the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ypsilanti, and ordered treatment to render him competent. Drake's lawyer said the order was partially based on Drake's attempted suicide on the day following his arrest. On September 12, Drake gashed his arm […]
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40 Days for Life Reaches Milestone: 2,000 Babies Saved from Abortion

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Through the grace and mercy of God – and the faithful prayers of more than 200,000 volunteers standing vigil outside abortion facilities – an incredible miracle has taken place,” said David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life, in a letter to supporters today. “Starting with the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign in Bryan/College Station, Texas in 2004, and continuing through the international 40 Days for Life effort that is under way this fall, we now have confirmed reports of at least 2,000 babies whose lives have been saved from the tragedy […]
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Bishop Tobin asks Rep. Kennedy to Talk after Abortion/Healthcare Remarks

By James Tillman WASHINGTON, DC, October 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence has asked Senator Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) to discuss health care legislation and life issues with him.  The invitation follows a heated exchange in which Kennedy said the Catholic bishops were acting “against the biggest social justice issue of our time” by opposing abortion-funding health care legislation. Bishop Tobin in turn responded by calling Kennedy “a disappointment to the Church and to the citizens of Rhode Island.” Bishop Tobin, in a letter to Kennedy dated Tuesday and released Wednesday, argues that “the Catholic Church has been clear […]
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Obama Memorandum Encourages Hospital Visitation Rights to Gay Partners

By Kathleen Gilbert  WASHINGTON, D.C., April 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Obama has encouraged nearly all U.S. hopsitals to provide for visitation rights to gay and lesbian partners, in a memorandum to the Department of Health and Human Services published online Thursday. Critics say the memorandum, which does not actually create any new rights or benefits, is a “red herring” in the same-sex “marriage” debate.  The Obama administration and gay rights activists have been working together quietly on the issue, resulting in a document instructing that hospitals that receives Medicare or Medicaid funds “may not deny visitation privileges […]
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Commentary on October 28 News – Berkeley, Stupak, Hoffman, Hate Crimes

Dear Readers, The Gap event at Berkeley is an historically significant development. The Stupak comments at a Town Hall meeting appear to be alarming. He certainly seems to indicate that if his very praiseworthy efforts to stop the funding of abortion fail, then he would nevertheless vote for the bill. Does he not comprehend that many consider this would be a vote for government funded baby killing? Perhaps if he replaced the word “abortion” with “slavery” or “racism” or “rape” of a certain category of people, he would then understand concerns that the bill cannot be supported no matter how […]
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West African Health Ministers Call for Legalization of Abortion

By Hilary White LAGOS, October 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ministers of health from West African countries are calling for the legalization of abortion. A statement from the Health Ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a group of 15 West African countries, said that member states should make abortion “safe” by legalization. They claim that legal prohibitions on abortion have contributed to high maternal mortality rates. Using the language common to international population control groups like the United Nations Population Fund, the ECOWAS ministers proposed a special summit of heads of state to discuss “maternal, newborn and […]
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Graphic Obama-Themed Abortion Display Clashes with Strong Pro-Abortion Presence at UC Berkeley

By Kathleen Gilbert BERKELEY, California, October 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The University of California Berkeley campus erupted into a hotbed of controversy earlier this week after the Genocide Awareness Project set up an immense two-day display of graphic abortion images in the midst of what is considered one of the most liberal universities in America. The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform teamed up with the on-campus group Berkeley Students for Life on Monday and Tuesday to set up the large images of aborted children, juxtaposed with the images and words of President Obama.  The huge billboards quickly attracted curious onlookers and […]
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New Polls Show Pro-Life Conservative Upstart Hoffman Taking Lead in Battle for NY 23

By Peter J. Smith WATERTOWN, New York, October 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the fierce three way battle for representation of the 23rd New York congressional district, each candidate knows “it ain't over 'til it's over,” but two new polls suggest that Conservative Party upstart Doug Hoffman might have taken the lead. Two polls commissioned by the conservative Club for Growth and Minuteman PAC suggest Hoffman has taken the lead over Democrat Bill Owens and Republican Dede Scozzafava in the contest for a district that has voted GOP since the Civil War. Despite Republican Scozzafava's extreme liberal views – pro-abortion, […]
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Russian Lesbian Couple “Married” in Canada Hopes to Force Russia to Recognize Union

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski TORONTO, October 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two Russian lesbians have travelled all the way to Canada to be “married” under Canadian law in order to try to force Russian authorities to recognize their union. Though homosexuality is not illegal in Russia, Russian law states that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. The couple is hoping to exploit a loophole in Russian law which does not specify the gender of those married abroad. Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shipitko came to Canada with the help of the homosexual advocacy group Egale Canada, and were […]
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LSN NewsBytes – Life Issues, Obama, Obamacare, Economic Crisis, H1N1 Virus/ Swine Flu, Homosexuality

* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information. Compiled by Steve Jalsevac LIFE ISSUES Killing for Organs – Wesley J. Smithhttps://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/10/05/killing-for-organs-2/ Bobby Schindler Wants to “Kill” the PVS Diagnosis – Wesley J. Smith https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/10/26/bobby-schindler-wants-to-kill-the-pvs-diagnosis/ They Really, Really Want To Kill For Organs – Wesley J. Smithhttps://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/10/03/they-really-really-want-to-kill-for-organs/ Let's Give Three Cheers for the World's Independent Pro-Life Movement (part one) – John Smeatonhttps://spuc-director.blogspot.com/2009/09/lets-give-three-cheers-for-worlds.html Study Shows That PVS Patients May Learn! – Wesley J. Smithhttps://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/09/21/study-shows-that-pvs-patients-may-learn/ Shocking, Unforgettable Pro-Life film-“It's The Same Thing” […]
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LSN NewsBytes – Religion, Homosexuality Within Catholic Church

* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information. Compiled by Steve Jalsevac RELIGION EWTN'S “The World Over Live” Honored by Cable Industryhttps://www.ewtn.com/news/blog.asp?blog_ID=2 Catholic Priests Try Disco Dancing at Mass. https://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100012358/catholic-priests-get-down-the-kids-warning-for-strong-stomachs-only/ The State of Catholic Higher Education by Patrick J. Reilly    The reality is that the crisis in Catholic higher education is far from over. Most Catholic colleges have secularized considerably over the past 40 years, such that anyone who attended these colleges in the 1960s or earlier would scarcely […]
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LSN NewsBytes – Global Warming and Radical Environmentalism

* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information. Compiled by Steve Jalsevac What Happened to Global Warming? – BBC This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might the fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998. But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8299079.stm Fidel Castro Praises Obama on Climate Changehttps://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hrsJ4qSe4ne2_544A7Wzg4_uT7TwD9AT2O683 U.S. Media Ignoring About […]
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Quebec Considers Proposal to Take Even Greater Control of Private Schools

Commentary by Patrick B. Craine QUEBEC, October 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following their loss in the language war at the Supreme Court of Canada last week, the Quebec provincial government is considering a solution that would have them take even greater control over the province's unsubsidized private schools and possibly even homeschooling, and thus remove more of the rights of parents to determine the education of their children. The imposition of the French language on everyone in Quebec has emerged as by far the most emphatic aspect of what is said to be a necessary struggle to preserve the province's endangered […]
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Interview: President of Oldest US Pro-Life Group on 2009 Virginia Election

By Peter J. Smith October 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Olivia Gans is the President of the Virginia Society for Human Life (VSHL), the oldest pro-life organization in the United States, founded in 1967. Gans has spoken in all 50 states and abroad on behalf of the pro-life movement. LifeSiteNews.com presents this exclusive interview with Gans, conducted Thursday, about VSHL's efforts in the 2009 Virginia elections, and their view that the participation of pro-life voters is crucial to the election of three thoroughly pro-life candidates: Republicans Bob McDonnell for governor, Bill Bolling for lieutenant governor, and Ken Cuccinelli for attorney general. They are opposed respectively […]
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Aborted Fetal Material Used in Anti-Wrinkle Creams

TENNESSEE, Oct. 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Children of God for Life announced today that Neocutis, a bio-pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology and skin care, is using aborted fetal cell lines to produce several of their anti-aging skin creams.  For years Children of God for Life has been a watchdog on pharmaceutical companies using aborted fetal cell lines in medical products and they have received thousands of inquiries from the public on the use of aborted fetal material in cosmetics.  However, the group says that this is the first time they have encountered any company bold enough to put the information […]
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67 Year-Old Grandma Interrogated and Threatened by Police over Gay Pride Complaint

By Hilary White NORWICH, U.K. October 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The visit and threat of a “hate crime” charge by police to a 67 year-old U.K. pensioner and devout Christian grandmother, has garnered outrage from all corners of Britain, and has even been criticised by the head of Britain's leading homosexualist lobby group. Mrs. Pauline Howe was told by two police officers who visited her home that she may have committed a “hate incident” simply for having written a letter to her local council complaining about the local Gay Pride parade. Mrs. Howe says she is considering suing the police, after enduring […]
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Canada’s Swine Flu Vaccine Ethically Produced, Though Safety Concerns Still an Issue

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski OTTAWA, October 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The swine flu vaccine approved for use in Canada by the country's federal drug regulator does not use aborted fetal cell lines in its manufacture. The vaccine is produced by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name Arepanrix, and is made with chick embryos. Health Canada's Arepanrix product information leaflet says the “H1N1 antigen is prepared from virus grown in the allantoic cavity of embryonated hen's eggs.” This is welcome news for those considering the swine flu shot. The information is corroborated by evidence gathered by Children of God for Life, a […]
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Abp. Dolan: American Catholic Leadership against Abortion Redeems Laxity against Slavery

By Kathleen Gilbert NEW YORK, October 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While the American Catholic Church once failed to diligently promote human dignity in the era of slavery, Catholics can now take pride that its leaders are taking a stand against the civil rights atrocity of abortion, said New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan last week. In his column at Catholic New York Online, Archbishop Dolan reflected on October as Respect Life Month by pointing out the similarities between slavery and abortion in America – two assaults on human life, he notes, that were both deemed “constitutional.” Dolan writes: “That 'right' to […]
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Disgraced Korean Cloning Doctor Convicted on Embezzlement Charges

By Hilary White SEOUL, Korea, October 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, the disgraced South Korean cloning doctor who in 2006 was exposed as having falsified his results, was convicted Monday on charges of embezzlement and bioethics law violations. Hwang was given a two-year suspended sentence. The Seoul court ruled, “Hwang embezzled a considerable amount of money by using borrowed names and false tax accounts. Also, his practice of purchasing egg cells from women violated the Bioethics and Safety Act even if he did so for scientific research.” The verdict noted, “He feels deeply sorry that this case […]
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St. Louis Agrees to End Ban on Christian Handouts During Gay Pride

ST. LOUIS, October 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The city of St. Louis has agreed to scrap a problematic literature distribution policy after a federal court ordered the city to stop enforcing it as part of a lawsuit filed by an Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) allied attorney. The policy was used to prohibit members of a Christian ministry from distributing literature and speaking about their religious viewpoint at an annual “PrideFest” event that celebrates homosexual behavior. The ministry filed a voluntary dismissal of its lawsuit Wednesday after reaching an agreement with the city. In June 2006, members of Apple of His […]
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Catholics and Orthodox Express “Sadness” over Swedish Lutheran Decision to Embrace Homosexual “Marri

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman STOCKHOLM, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in Sweden are joining conservative Lutherans in denouncing the recent decision by the Lutheran Church of Sweden to conduct homosexual “marriage” ceremonies, reports the Catholic News Agency. In a joint statement Catholic and Orthodox church officials expressed “sadness” upon learning “about the decision by the synod of the Church of Sweden,” which is the largest religious organization in the country. “In our churches and communities, we will not unite homosexual couples since it is in complete contradiction with the tradition of the church […]
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Commentary on October 26 News

Dear Readers, Congressman Bart Stupak is quite the guy. Principles mean very much to him. His efforts on the health care bill deserve huge support. 40 Days for Life is a really good news story. The pro-abort ideologues just can't stand balanced, honest presentation of the abortion issue. Law and Order appears to have done an outstanding job on a very controversial story. Bravo for them. That took courage. The USCCB participation in the “hate speech” group is bizarre. I suspect that many bishops and even many USCCB staff would strongly disagree with USCCB association with this petition. It reeks of political leftist […]
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First Battle of the 2009 Christmas Culture War over Nativity Displays; Federal Lawsuit Filed

WARREN, Michigan, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Christmas culture wars for 2009 have now begun and ground zero is the Detroit suburb of Warren, which for 63 years has hosted a privately maintained nativity scene set at the crossroads of the city. The Nativity display had been maintained by Warren city resident John Satawa and his family for most of the municipality's history until the Macomb County Road Commission this year ordered the display removed because it “clearly displays a religious message” in violation of the “separation of church and state.”  The Road Commission had informed Satawa of its […]
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New Bishops’ Statement on D&P Calls for Greater Oversight and Work with Local Bishops

CORNWALL, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On the final day of their Plenary Assembly which met in Cornwall 19-23 October, the bishops of Canada approved a statement on the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P), which has been involved in a controversy over revelations that it was funding numerous organizations that advocate for abortion.  The statement said that the bishops were encouraged by the intention of D&P “to improve its oversight of the mandates and operations of its partners in collaboration with local episcopates.”  The statement added that, “For the Bishops of Canada, these are essential initiatives.” The bishops […]
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Homosexualism to be Promoted at Canadian Human Rights Museum, Says New C.E.O.

By Patrick B. Craine WINNIPEG, Manitoba, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The head of Canada's forthcoming Museum of Human Rights, Stuart Murray, vowed before a gathering of the homosexual community last night that the homosexualist agenda will be given a 'vital voice' at the museum, reports the Winnipeg Free Press.  The national museum, funded by various sources, including $100 million from the federal government, began construction in April and is currently expected to open in 2012. “I'm here as the president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights to tell you that you will have a voice at […]
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Anglican Reunion will Create “Huge Cultural Shift” to the Extreme Left in Anglican Church

By Hilary White ROME, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – By focusing on the issue of married clergy in the Catholic Church, the secular media has got the thin end of the story of last week's offer of reunion from the Vatican to “traditionalist” Anglicans. The more interesting story, says Fr. Philip Powell, a Dominican priest based in Rome and a former Episcopalian, is the “huge cultural shift” in the Anglican Church that it presages. Fr. Powell gave his analysis of the move in an interview with LSN, saying that despite accusations from the left and from some quarters of the […]
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Los Angeles Man Arrested, Held on $2M Bail for Murder of 13-Week Unborn Child

By Kathleen Gilbert LOS ANGELES, California, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Los Angeles police say they have arrested a 37-year-old man in the pre-dawn hours this morning for the murder of an unborn baby at 13 weeks' gestation. According to a police department press release, 37-year-old businessman Joshua Woodward is now being held at the Wilshire Jail on $2 million bail in connection with the child's death. The child is believed to have been Woodward's son. The arrest followed an investigation into what police called “the suspicious circumstances of a miscarriage.” Police gave no information on the child's mother, other […]
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Vancouver Church Steps up to Provide Venue for Euthanasia Activist after Library Refuses

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VANCOUVER, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Unitarian Church of Vancouver has stepped in to provide a Canadian venue for Australian right-to-die activist Philip Nitschke after he was refused workshop space to hold a seminar on how to commit suicide by the Vancouver Public Library. Rev. Steven Epperson of the Unitarian church said he believes Nitschke, director of the suicide advocacy group Exit International, has the right to free speech, even if he's telling people how to kill themselves. “Historically, we have provided a forum, a space, for controversial, difficult ideas to be presented,” Epperson told the […]
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Saved from Abortion: The Remarkable Stories behind Four Pro-Life “Saves”

Commentary by David Bereit, National Coordinator, 40 Days for Life October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The words a sidewalk counselor spoke to a woman entering the abortion center in Dallas, Texas summed things up so accurately. “I know the baby is not the problem,” the counselor said, “but it's the situation you are in.” The woman took information from the counselor but continued into the clinic—while 40 Days for Life vigil participants prayed for her and her child. An hour later, the woman came out of the clinic in tears. She was married, she said, but thinking about abortion—though she doesn't […]
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White Ribbon against Pornography Happening This Week

NEW YORK, NY, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This year, the annual White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week runs Sunday, Oct. 25, through Sunday, Nov. 1. WRAP Week is intended to inform the public and public officials about the harms of pornography and the need to enforce obscenity and related laws. Robert Peters, the President of Morality in Media, which is organizing the event, said: “Our nation is facing a moral crisis which is giving rise to, among other things, teen promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS), abortions, children born to single mothers, divorces, sexual abuse of children, rape, trafficking […]
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Brazil’s Ruling Labor Party Moves to Punish Members who Oppose Abortion

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, Latin America Correspondent BRAZIL, October 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Brazil's ruling Labor Party has suspended two members, both representatives in the National Congress, for opposing the decriminalization of abortion. Luiz Bassuma of the state of Bahia, and Henrique Afonso of the state of Acre, are accused of having “ostentatiously” and “militantly” opposed the party's support for permitting the killing of the unborn. In its announcement of the suspension, the Labor Party acknowledges that “the statutes of the Labor Party guarantee to all the right to make public declarations on doctrinal and political issues” but that the […]
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Commentary on October 23 News

Dear Readers, There is much fascinating news to read today. The radically pro-abortion nun story does beg the question of how she can possibly still be permitted to be part of a Catholic religious order. Hello? Is anyone in charge? Two significant stories on Development and Peace today. Our interview with the kindly Archbishop of St. John's regarding the CCCB report, which lists him as being a co-author, is revealing. As we continue our investigations we find there is more and more to the story. The New York State 23rd congressional district race is a fascinating development. It has hugely […]
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Letters to the Editor

Re: Bishop Says D&P Funds to 'Pro-Choice' Groups Okay if Restricted to Good Projects Dear Editor,   You must be mistaken in your supposition that the bishops who object to the thorough job that LSN does in reporting the facts about obscure organizations (that in various ways promote the culture of death) also hold that D&P cooperates in their evils to an acceptable degree. It must be granted that absolute purity is impossible in the valley of tears—Jesus approved payment of Roman taxes, while the Imperial organization was obviously perpetrator of many and continuing evils. But if your detractors honestly […]
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Conservative Rebellion Explodes in New York over Extreme Liberal GOP Candidate

By Peter J. Smith SYRACUSE, New York, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A conservative uprising against the GOP's selection of a staunchly pro-abortion, pro-gay “marriage” nominee has transformed the battle for New York's 23rd congressional district into a tight three-way race that has the strong possibility of a dark horse Conservative Party candidate pulling an upset victory – or sending a strong message to the GOP that they alienate social and fiscal conservatives at their peril. New York's 23rd Congressional District covers much of the northern areas of upstate New York just north of Syracuse, bordering Canada, and encompassing most […]
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NRTL Warns U.S. House on Coming Vote to Set up Federal Abortion-Funding Program in “Public Plan”

WASHINGTON, D.C. October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The nation's largest pro-life organization has put members of the U.S. House of Representatives on notice that it regards an upcoming procedural vote on the health care legislation as a vote on whether to establish a new federal government program that would directly pay for elective abortions with federal funds. In a “scorecard advisory” letter sent this week to U.S. House members, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states, focused on a key procedural resolution (called “the rule”) that the House must approve before […]
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Handheld Ultrasound: A Peek at the Future of the Pro-Life Movement?

By Kathleen Gilbert SAN FRANCISCO, California, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New technology hailed as a stunning leap forward in modern health care may be about to give pro-life advocates unheard-of power to save a life – in the palm of their hand. At the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco this week, General Electric unveiled the ultraportable and user-friendly Vscan, an ultrasound machine about the size of a large flip phone.  Dubbing it “the stethoscope of the 21st century,” the company offered various scenarios in which the device could vastly advance the landscape of diagnostics.   For pro-lifers on the […]
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Rep. Kennedy Questions Whether Bishops “Pro-Life” over Opposition to Healthcare: Local Bishop Demand

By Peter J. Smith PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Bishop of Providence has lambasted Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) for smearing the Catholic bishops over their opposition to the health-care reform bills going through Congress because they would fund abortion. Kennedy, the son of the late pro-abortion Catholic Sen. Ted Kennedy, said objections to abortion and conscience protections in the bills were just a “red herring” to cover the bishops' refusal to support health-care for 50 million uninsured Americans. “I thought they were pro-life” Kennedy told a reporter from Cybercast News Service. “If the church is pro-life, […]
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VIDEO: Univ. of Victoria Abortion Debate a Powerful Example of Pro-Life Apologetics and Open Academi

By Patrick B. Craine VICTORIA, British Columbia, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The video of Wednesday's debate on abortion at the University of Victoria (UVic) is now available on Youtube, showcasing a brilliant example of pro-life apologetics and civil, academic debate. The debate, hosted by UVic's pro-life club, Youth Protecting Youth, featured Stephanie Gray of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform and Dr. Eike-Henner Kluge, UVic philosophy professor and bioethicist. Miss Gray's argument cut through the various issues that are often raised to confuse the abortion issue, boiling it down to the two simple questions: Are the unborn human?  Does […]
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B.C. Civil Liberties Association Demands Equal Treatment for University of Victoria Pro-Life Student

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VICTORIA, British Columbia, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) is taking up the case of Youth Protecting Youth (YPY), a pro-life club at the University of Victoria (UVic). UVic pro-life students, who have been fighting for fair treatment from their student union since October 2008, were finally granted club status and funding by a vote of the Clubs Council on February 10th this year. However, they were again denied the right to be treated equally to other groups on campus only the following month. In March of this year the UVic student […]
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B.C. Asks Court to Rule on Polygamy Law

By Patrick B. Craine VICTORIA, British Columbia, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – British Columbia Attorney General Michael de Jong announced yesterday that he will be asking the B.C. Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of Canada's law against polygamy (section 293 of the Criminal Code).  Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, further, has pledged his support in defending the law. The announcement follows the B.C. Supreme Court's decision on September 23rd to throw out polygamy charges against Winston Blackmore and Jim Oler of Bountiful, B.C.  The two men are leaders of rivalling Mormon sects which advocate and practice polygamy.  Blackmore, […]
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Australian Catholic Bishops Condemn Decriminalization of Abortion

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski MELBOURNE, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On the first anniversary of the decriminalization of abortion in the State of Victoria, which occurred on October 22 2008, the bishops of Victoria have issued a pastoral letter that condemns the termination of innocent life, and questions the coercion of unwilling doctors and nurses to cooperate in the procurement of abortion. The bishops' statement, entitled “A People of Life and a People for Life,” says that the liberalization of abortion law in Victoria is “a symptom of a much deeper cultural problem of increasing secularisation and relativism.” The Victoria Abortion […]
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Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Funds Pornographic Display at Harvard

By James Tillman WASHINGTON, DC, October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—Obama's controversial and embattled “safe schools czar,” Kevin Jennings, has helped fund a pornographic, anti-Catholic and sado-masochistic art display currently being shown at Harvard University, reports massresistance.org. The Harvard exhibition, entitled, ACT UP New York: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987-1993, chronicles the efforts of the homosexual civil disobedience group, Aids Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP), through the graphic stickers, posters, and other visual media used as propaganda in the early years of the homosexualist movement. ACT UP describes itself as a “diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and […]
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Canadian Bishops: We need to “Step Up” on Life Issues, Dialogue with Pro-Life Groups

CORNWALL, October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The role of bishops in life issues was the focus of much of the afternoon of the fourth day of the Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).  Referring to the recent debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as other life issues, London Bishop Ronald Fabbro noted the importance of being pro-active in framing the questions. “If Bishops don't step up,” he said, “others will who may present a distorted view of the Church's teaching. We need to inform our people on the foundations of our faith.” Presenting on life […]
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UN Petition for the Unborn Child Re-Launched, Seeks One Million Names

By Austin Ruse WASHINGTON, DC, October 22, 2009 (C-FAM) – An international coalition of pro-life and pro-family groups has re-launched a petition that is expected to gather one million signatures in support of the unborn child and the traditional family.  Groups from the United States, Poland, Spain and other European counties launched the petition last fall and at that time gathered nearly 500,000 signatures, which were presented to selected Ambassadors at the United Nations (UN) and at a UN press conference that was broadcast throughout UN headquarters. The groups included C-FAM, Concerned Women for America, United Families International, all from  […]
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Christopher West Thanks and Responds to His Critics in Theology of the Body Debate

By John-Henry Westen October 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Christopher West, the prolific author and well-known speaker who shot to fame in the Catholic world as a result of his work popularizing Pope John Paul II's “Theology of the Body,” has for the first time responded publicly to criticisms that were directed at his work by other theologians and professors of Theology of the Body earlier this year. In an essay sent to LifeSiteNews.com, West stands by his take on the issue of the nature of concupiscence – which, in the case of sexuality, manifests itself in the temptation to lust – […]
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University of Victoria Abortion Debate Overflows Capacity

By Patrick B. Craine VICTORIA, British Columbia, October 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The University of Victoria`s (UVic) pro-life club, Youth Protecting Youth, hosted a wildly popular debate on abortion at the campus yesterday, which generated so much interest that the presenters offered a second such event to accommodate those students who were barred from the first due to fire regulations. (Watch the debate on Youtube here) Stephanie Gray from the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR) debated against UVic philosophy professor and bioethicist Dr. Eike-Henner Kluge. “I thought it went very well,” said Gray. She says the 200-seat room overflowed, […]
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Traditional Anglican Communion “On the Same Page” as Vatican on Life and Family: Canadian TAC Head

By Hilary White ROME, October 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), the largest of the “traditionalist” Anglican breakaway groups, is dedicated to the Catholic teachings on moral doctrine, including the life and family issues, according to its leadership in Canada. Over the last few days the TAC has been at the centre of the growing tumult over the surprise move by the Vatican to offer a means for groups of Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church en masse while retaining their unique liturgical and pastoral traditions. Bishop Carl Reid of the Traditional Anglican Communion in Canada, told […]
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Investigations Find Chinese Babies are Abducted, Sold for Adoption: Canadian Government Challenges C

By Patrick B. Craine October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Canadian government has called on China to respond to claims that Chinese babies are being kidnapped from their parents and sold to orphanages so as to be adopted by Canadians and other Westerners, reports Canwest News Service. The Canadian embassy in Beijing has reportedly requested that an investigation be conducted by the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (CCAA), the Chinese federal agency in charge of the country's international adoption program. This news follows an investigative report last month in the Los Angeles Times, which revealed horrific stories of babies being […]
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British PM Gordon Brown Wants Homosexual “Weddings” at Westminster Palace

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski LONDON, October 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants same-sex civil partnerships performed at the Houses of Parliament, saying it is unfair that only heterosexual couples can marry inside the Palace of Westminster. Brown says he wants the historic Westminster building to be used more “inclusively.” Speaking at the recent Speaker's Conference, Brown said, “Just as marriages can take place in the House, we hope Mr Speaker will consider that civil ceremonies could take place here.” The Speaker's Conference was formed to “consider, and make recommendations for rectifying, the disparity between the representation of […]
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Battle in Maine Over Future of Same-Sex “Marriage” in Dead Heat

By Peter J. Smith AUGUSTA, Maine, October 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In less than two weeks, voters in Maine will have the opportunity to decide the fate of traditional marriage by referendum; but the latest polling reveals that both sides are locked in a statistical dead heat. Each side believes that a victory may significantly alter the political momentum in the ongoing battle over marriage in the United States. According to a Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey conducted between October 16-19, 48 percent of voters would vote “yes” on Question 1, the referendum to overturn a state-law that would permit same-sex […]
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Nevada Launches Personhood Initiative

By Kathleen Gilbert CARSON CITY, Nevada, October 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another personhood amendment initiative entered the signature-gathering stage on Wednesday after being filed by a pro-life coalition in Nevada. The proposed amendment would change the Nevada constitution to read: “In the great state of Nevada, the term 'person' applies to every human being.  Article I Section 8 of the Nevada constitution states, 'No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.'” Richard Ziser, a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate and campaign manager of Personhood Nevada, is heading up the campaign behind Nevada's Personhood […]
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Former President Bush Honored with Pro-Life Award during Visit to Saskatoon

By Patrick B. Craine SASKATOON, SA, October 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Yesterday morning, before delivering an address at TCU Place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for a crowd of about 2,000, former U.S. President George W. Bush joined the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) at a business breakfast where the pro-life group presented him with an award for his “very public determination to protect the unborn while he served two terms as President.” The Humanity of the Unborn Child Pro-Life Award, as it is called, was given to the former President “in recognition of [his] resolve and initiatives in the protection of human […]
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No Official News from Canadian Bishops’ D&P Deliberations Till Dec. 2

By John-Henry Westen CORNWALL, October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Gerald Baril, outgoing Communications Director for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has informed LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that the deliberations and conclusions of the Canadian Bishops regarding Development and Peace (D&P) are to be kept confidential till after the meeting of the Permanent Council of the CCCB.  That meeting is currently set for December 2, 2009. The confidential deliberations over D&P, the international development arm of the CCCB, are taking place this week and will in part address the contents of an LSN exposé on groups funded by D&P.  LSN presented […]
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“The Final Chapter”: Personhood Measures Introduced in Michigan, Montana

By Kathleen Gilbert October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Michigan and Montana have recently joined with dozens of other States currently seeking what proponents call “the final chapter of the civil rights movement”: the affirmation of personhood rights for all human beings.   In Michigan this week, Rep. Jim Slezack (Democrat) sponsored a joint resolution that states:  “Every human person has a right to life, which is the paramount and most fundamental right guaranteed under the constitution and laws of the state.” It continues, “With respect to the fundamental and inalienable right to life, the word 'person' applies to all human […]
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Cambridge Study Says 5-year-olds Too Young To Start School

By Thaddeus M. Bakllinski LONDON, October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A study of primary education by Cambridge University recommends that formal schooling of children should begin at the age of six, a year later than the present norm in the UK. The 608-page Cambridge Primary Review, which was based on 28 surveys and 1,052 written submissions by 14 authors, 66 research consultants and an advisory committee, said there was no evidence suggesting formal teaching environments benefited young children, and that introducing children at the age of five into the structure and discipline of a classroom could even be harmful. Dame […]
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U.S. House Bill Would Coerce States to Allow Homosexual Adoption

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Last week a bill was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives proposing federal-level punishment for states that ban homosexual couples and non-married individuals from adopting children. Touted as a measure to help more children find homes, Democratic California Rep. Pete Stark's “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” recommends that states allowing foster care placements only into married heterosexual households be deprived of federal child welfare funds. The law would have an impact on Utah, Florida, Arkansas, Nebraska and Mississippi, which either explicitly restrict adoption to heterosexual couples, or restrict […]
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Maine Homosexualists Frantically Refute Evidence that Same-Sex “Marriage” Would Affect Schools

By James Tillman WASHINGTON, DC, October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—Homosexualist advocates are denying evidence indicating that making same-sex “marriage” legal in Maine would lead to the encroachment of homosexual themes in school classrooms – a claim that pro-family advocates have dismissed as simply untrue and contrary to the experiences of parents in other states where same-sex “marriage” has already been legalized. The frantic repudiation of same-sex “marriage” advocates comes in response to ads and information from “Stand for Marriage Maine,” detailing how Massachusetts schools began to indoctrinate children with homosexualist ideas after the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalized homosexual “marriage.”  One ad […]
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Pittsburgh Bishop Urges Catholic Politicians to Shun “Sad and Morally Bankrupt” Anti-Life Policies

By Kathleen Gilbert PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh has issued a strongly pro-life pastoral letter urging his flock's active protection of life from conception to natural death – and reminding Catholic politicians that, in order to maintain their Catholic identity, they must show the same commitment.  In the October 17 document, Zubik's third pastoral letter, the bishop exhorts public officials to “avoid the sad and morally bankrupt positions that prevent the protection of human life.”  “Rather, they must support the dignity of all persons, whatever their age, race, gender, stage of development, or […]
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Commentary on October 20 News

Dear Readers, The ages old wisdom that one can judge a person by the company he keeps should be heeded in evaluating President Obama. The Peruvians still understand that there can be no exceptions when it comes to abortion. That is, once a sacred principle is allowed to be violated for exceptional cases, the principle is in effect fatally undermined. Another important and encouraging story today from the Canadian bishops' plenary meeting. As well, we have produced a short video walkthrough today to show you how easy it sometimes is to discover evidence of Development and Peace funded groups acting […]
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Pornography, Pills, Planned Parenthood and Prayer

Commentary by Judie Brown, American Life League October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Planned Parenthood of New York City recently held a fundraising event at – surprise! – a pornography museum. Yes, that's right. While this did not come as a shock to me, I was taken aback when a friend sent the following e-mail about it: “Planned Parenthood is evil and sick. With this, I think they just answered the question as to whether there is a link between pornography (objectification of women and men, but especially women) and abortion (murder of the most innocent). Both are evil and both […]
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UK Doctor Convicted of Trying to Poison Pregnant Mistress

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski LONDON, October 20, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) – Dr. Edward Erin, 44, a married father of two who worked at St. Mary's Hospital in West London, has been found guilty of procuring and administering poison to induce an abortion in his pregnant mistress. Erin tried to pressure his hospital secretary, Bella Prowse, 33, into having an abortion when she told him she was carrying his child. When she refused, saying she regretted an abortion she had six years earlier and wanted to keep the child, he attempted to give her the abortifacient drugs. Prowse told the Old Bailey […]
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US Supreme Court Blocks Public Release of Names behind Washington Pro-Marriage Petition

By Peter J. Smith OLYMPIA, Washington, October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The US Supreme Court has now intervened in the battle over the public release of tens of thousands of signatures to a petition for a referendum (R-71) in the State of Washington that allows voters to reject or approve a law that gives homosexual couples all the rights and benefits of marriage without the name of “marriage.” The full panel of the US Supreme Court assembled and voted 8 -1 to stay a federal appeals court's decision that would have allowed Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed to make […]
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Pope Benedict XVI Affirms Value of Human Life, Traditional Marriage

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VATICAN CITY, October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI called again for an entrenchment of the right to life of the unborn and a realization of the fundamental nature and importance of the family founded on natural marriage as he received the EU's new envoy to the Vatican on Monday. After receiving the Letters of Credence of Yves Gazzo, head of the delegation to the Holy See of the Commission of the European Communities, the Holy Father reminded those present that the European values of respect for life, and the role of natural marriage as […]
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Jesuit University to Host Amnesty International Chief Responsible for Change to Pro-Abortion Stance

By Peter J. Smith SAN FRANCISCO, October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Jesuit University of San Francisco (USF) has announced that its campus will host a book signing and panel discussion with the chief of Amnesty International (AI), who led the organization's move in 2007 to advocate abortion as a matter of human rights, the California Catholic Daily reports. Irene Khan, the secretary general of Amnesty International since 2001, oversaw the effort which changed AI's official position on abortion in 2007 from neutrality to full-fledged support for abortion as a woman's “right.” The action led to turmoil within the human […]
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VIDEO: Pro-Lifers Overflow the Streets of Madrid at Huge Pro-Life March

By Patrick B. Craine MADRID, Spain, October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Numerous videos of footage covering Saturday's pro-life march in Madrid are available on Youtube, showing the massive crowd and their jubilant passion for the cause of life. The crowd of pro-life demonstrators, gathered under a massive banner proclaiming “Every life matters,” came out to protest a law proposed by the predominantly Catholic country's Socialist government that would allow abortion-on-demand up to 14 weeks, and allow girls from 16 years on to get an abortion without parental involvement. Estimates of the number of protesters ranged widely, from 250,000 by the […]
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Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity – Students Giving Silent Witness To Life Today

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Students from all over the world are giving up their voices today for a day in solidarity with children who have lost their lives to abortion. Red arm bands and red duct tape on their mouths will identify the students as taking part in the sixth annual Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity. They will carry fliers explaining why they are silent and educate others about the plight of the innocent children we are losing every day. Bryan Kemper, President of Stand True Ministries which organizes the event, said last year students […]
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Vatican, “Conservative” Catholics Undermining Vatican II: Gregory Baum at Ottawa’s Saint Paul Univer

By Patrick B. Craine and Steve Jalsevac OTTAWA, Ontario, October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Despite efforts by the Vatican to bring back out-dated Catholicism, the Second Vatican Council was a “paradigm shift” in the Church that “cannot be invalidated,” said controversial theologian Gregory Baum, in an October 15th keynote address at Saint Paul's University, reports the Catholic Register. He delivered his address at a conference on 'Vatican II in Canada', hosted by the faculty of theology at the Ottawa Catholic university from October 15-16.  A response to Baum's keynote was delivered by Bishop Remi De Roo, the former Bishop of Victoria. […]
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Archbishop Chaput: “God Will Demand an Accounting” for Our Moral Indifference

By James Tillman PHOENIX, AZ, October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—In remarks delivered to the Phoenix Catholic Physician's Guild on October 16, 2009, Archbishop Chaput of Denver condemned moral indifference in the face of the culture of death as dishonesty towards God and ruinous to America. The archbishop began by discussing a single facet of our society: its attitude towards children with Down syndrome. “Currently about 5,000 children with Down syndrome are born in the United States each year,” he said.  “They join a national Down syndrome population of roughly 400,000 persons. But that population may soon dwindle.  And the reason why it […]
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Majority of Peruvians Oppose Attempt to Depenalize Abortion in Rape and Deformity Cases: Poll

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, Latin America Correspondent LIMA, October 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At the same time as the Peruvian Congress considers depenalizing abortion in rape and fetal deformity cases, a new poll indicates that a majority of the Peruvian people oppose the measure. According to the poll 53% of Peruvians are against abortion in cases of rape, with 41% in favor and 6% undecided. In cases of fetal deformity, 48% are opposed to abortion, while 46% are in favor, and 6% are undecided.  The only case in which a majority regarded abortion as acceptable was danger to the life […]
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White House Official Admits Obama Campaign “Absolutely Controlled” Media Image, Slams Fox News

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After very publicly throwing down the Obama administration's gauntlet to the Fox News network last week, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn is again attracting attention thanks to new footage of her revealing the Obama campaign's own media philosophy – deepening the already dizzying saga of the Obama administration's power struggle with the media establishment. At a Dominican Republic conference in January, Dunn – a former team member of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and the wife of Obama's personal attorney Robert Bauer – discussed the “absolute control” the campaign exerted […]
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Anglicans to be Brought Back to “Full Visible Unity” with Catholic Church: Surprise Vatican Announce

By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent VATICAN CITY, October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a surprise announcement this morning, the Vatican opened the door to groups of Anglicans – including potentially whole parishes or even entire Anglican dioceses – who are seeking communion with the Catholic Church while keeping their unique Anglican liturgical and pastoral traditions. The creation of new “canonical structures” to achieve this, Vatican officials said, comes in response to “hundreds” of requests by Anglicans from around the world who maintain the traditional moral teachings of Christianity. William Cardinal Levada, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of […]
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Late Term Abortionist Arrested by Spain’s Police

Thursday November 29, 2007 Late Term Abortionist Arrested by Spain’s Police Action Against Spain’s “Tiller” Result of Citizen’s Campaign By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman BARCELONA, November 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a case remarkably similar to that of Kansas late term abortionist “Tiller the Killer”, Spanish police in the state of Catalonia have arrested Spain’s notorious late-term abortionist Carlos Morin, after criminal complaints were filed against him by the Catholic organization E-Cristians in 2006. The arrest was based on proof offered by E-Cristians that Carlos Morin was violating Spanish abortion law. Abortion is legal in Spain only in certain restricted cases, […]
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Commentary on October 19 News

Dear Readers, Editor John-Henry Westen and myself returned this evening from attending Monday's sessions of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops annual Plenary Assembly in Cornwall, Ontario. That first day of the five day meeting was open to journalists. We found it to be a positive and productive experience. John-Henry's first report from the meeting is published today. The appointment of Archbishop Burke and another notably pro-life prelate to the Vatican Congregation for Bishops will likely prove to be a monumentaly positive development related to the issues emphasized by LifeSiteNews. This is good news in spades. The re-election of Notre […]
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CCCB Prez: there will be a “Renewing, Remandating and Revisioning” of D&P

By John-Henry Westen at the CCCB Plenary Assembly CORNWALL, October 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)  In his remarks at the opening of the Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), outgoing CCCB President Archbishop James Weisgerber  addressed the controversy over the CCCB international development arm, Development and Peace.  The matter will be discussed at length in private sessions over the week of meetings. In his official President’s report, Archbishop Weisgerber said: “Development and Peace has clearly indicated that it wishes to respond to new questions and concerns, and is already reviewing the effectiveness of its contractual arrangements with other […]
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Federal Court of Appeals to Hear Kentucky Ten Commandments Case

CINCINNATTI, Ohio, October 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments tomorrow in a battle over the constitutionality of two Kentucky displays on the “Foundations of American Law and Government,” which feature the Ten Commandments. The public-advocacy and religious liberty group Liberty Counsel is representing McCreary and Pulaski Counties in Kentucky before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in defense of the “Foundations of American Law and Government” display, which contains the Ten Commandments, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Charta, the Star-Spangled Banner, the National Motto, the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, […]
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Santorum: The Triumph of Socialism in U.S. Requires Destruction of Family and Church

By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Both the family and the Church stand in the way of socialism's triumph, former US Senator Rick Santorum told Christians gathered for the 17th International Week of Prayer and Fasting last week. The pro-life champion warned attendees, however, that both institutions are under heavy attack from Obama-administration policies. “We are under a great assault with this President and this Congress on the issue of life. We are under a great assault, maybe even greater assault, on the foundational issue of the family,” Santorum told those gathered for the October 11 […]
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Federal Appeals Court Orders Washington Pro-Marriage Signatures Made Public

By Peter J. Smith OLYMPIA, Washington, October 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal appeals court has ordered the public release of tens of thousands of signatures to a petition in support of a pro-marriage referendum. The referendum would allow Washington voters to reject a law that gives homosexual couples all the rights and benefits of marriage without the name of “marriage.” A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California overturned an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Ben Settle, who had blocked release of the petition signatures. Settle had ruled in his decision that First […]
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Two High Profile Pro-Life Prelates Appointed to Key Vatican Post

By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent ROME, October 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two prelates who are known for their vocal defence of life and family as well as the defence of traditional liturgical practices have been appointed to one of the most critical offices in the Catholic Church. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke and Antonio Cardinal Canizares Llovera have been appointed to serve in the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, the group that oversees the selection of bishops around the world. Archbishop Burke is well known both in the US and internationally as one of the foremost defenders of the unborn in the Catholic Church […]
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Fr. Jenkins Reelected as President of Notre Dame

By James Tillman South Bend, IN, October 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—The Notre Dame Board of Trustees has re-elected Fr. John Jenkins to a second five-year term as president of the university, despite severe and widespread criticism of his role in inviting pro-abortion President Obama to speak and receive an award at Notre Dame's graduation this past year. On the occasion of his election last Friday, both the Board of Trustees of Notre Dame and the Fellows of the University issued resolutions supporting Fr. Jenkins and praising him for his commitment to the Catholic faith. The Board of Trustees lauded Fr. Jenkins […]
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Federal Judge Dismisses Catholic Answers Lawsuit over IRS Bullying of Non-Profits

By Peter J. Smith SAN DIEGO, October 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filed by Catholic Answers, a Catholic apologetics ministry, which charged that the federal tax collection agency routinely bullies churches and non-profit organizations into political silence, especially when it comes to speaking out on moral issues. Catholic Answers and its founder Karl Keating filed the suit with the US District Court based in San Diego on April 3, 2009, in response to the IRS levying an excise tax of $831.41 plus interest for 2004 and 2005 […]
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Judge Rules that Obstetricians Have a Duty of Care to the Unborn

By Patrick B. Craine LONDON, Ontario, October 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Ontario Superior Court ruled last Wednesday that obstetricians owe a duty of care to the unborn.  The question about the responsibility of healthcare workers towards the unborn arose after Guelph General Hospital had claimed that there was no such responsibility in August, during a preliminary proceeding to a malpractice case brought by a family who claim that hospital staff were negligent in the birth of their son. Kevin Liebig, 8, from Rockford, was born with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, a type of brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, and has since […]
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MASSIVE ONTARIO LAND RESTRICTIONS FOR POPULATION CONTROL

Monday March 29, 1999 MASSIVE ONTARIO LAND RESTRICTIONS FOR POPULATION CONTROL SUDBURY, ON, Mar 29 (LSN) Ontario Premier Mike Harris announced today a massive expansion of “park” lands whereby land is restricted from human use (for living, timber, or mining use). The total “protected lands” in Ontario alone will now equal three-quarters the size of England at 9.5 million hectares. Harris noted that the land restriction follows UN directives, directives which at the core aim to reduce human population. “We are protecting 12 per cent, which is based on the standard set by the United Nations,” said Harris. In December […]
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LifeSite Special Report – Same-Sex “Marriage,” “Hate Crimes,” and the New Totalitarianism

Monday February 28, 2005 Same-Sex “Marriage,” “Hate Crimes,” and the New Totalitarianism by Michael D. O’Brien See Acrobat version at https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005_docs/New%20Totalitarianism.pdf Lost is our old simplicity of times; the world abounds with laws and teems with crimes. This anonymous aphorism, published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1775, rings even more true of our times. Proliferating crime is endemic to contemporary democracies, it seems, and the Western world is awash in so many laws that one hardly dares guess what will next be made illegal. Strangest of all is that so much of the new legalism is directed not at criminals […]
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SOCIAL ENGINEERING STUDY USES RADIO FOR POPULATION CONTROL PROPAGANDA

Friday December 15, 2000 SOCIAL ENGINEERING STUDY USES RADIO FOR POPULATION CONTROL PROPAGANDA CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Dec 15, 2000 (LSN.ca) – A social engineering study was done in St. Lucia to encourage a population control mentality in the heavily Catholic Caribbean-island nation. The study was conducted by US researcher Peter W. Vaughan from Population Communications International. It involved the creation of an entertainment-education radio soap opera, geared to promote politically correct notions such as the use of contraception and the belief that small families are better than large. Vaughan, visiting assistant professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, aired […]
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2 BIASED STUDIES PROMOTE POPULATION CONTROL

Friday October 2, 1998 2 BIASED STUDIES PROMOTE POPULATION CONTROL LONDON, Oct 2 (LSN) – Researchers from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Cornell University have both claimed to find scientific evidence for the need for mass population control. Despite the refutations of their so-called evidence by thousands of credible scientists, the radical environmentalists continue to purport that an overabundance of human beings on the planet are the main causes of “dramatic decline in the state of the natural world.” On Thursday the WWF released its Living Planet Index (LPI), which claims to have analyzed “the deterioration of the […]
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LifeSite Special Report – Scandal of Abortionist at U.S. Catholic Hospital Continues

Wednesday December 13, 2000 Scandal of Abortionist at U.S. Catholic Hospital Continues Catholic Hospital Distortion in Press Release from Diocese of Springfield The recent news about the scandal of abortionist Yogendra Shah being chief of OB/GYN at a Catholic hospital while operating an abortuary across the street was first reported by Missionaries to the Unborn (Not to be confused with Missionaries to the Preborn). It was later confirmed by WorldNetDaily and covered by LifeSite and other news services. However, once the story broke, the Catholic hospital, St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Granite City Illinois, claimed in a press release sent […]
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Film Premiering in 27 Countries Sunday Documents Human Costs of Global Warming Hysteria

By James Tillman Washington, DC, October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The global waming fear mongers are increasingly being challenged as their predictions are not panning out and their thesis is being questioned by large percentages of the populations in various nations. In a new documentary “Not Evil Just Wrong,” premiering in 27 nations this Sunday, two Irish filmmakers address what they call the “cynical fear mongering” of Al Gore and the threat “he and other climate change radicals are posing to our liberty, our livelihoods, and our nation's future.” “Global warming alarmists want Americans to believe that humans are killing the planet,” states a […]
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CDC Report Shows U.S. Pregnancy Rate Plummeting

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new Center for Disease Control (CDC) report shows that the pregnancy rate in America dropped drastically between 1990 to 2009, by a margin of 11%. The CDC reports that in 2005 there were about 6.4 million pregnancies in the U.S., or 103.2 pregnancies per 1,000 women between the ages of 15-44, compared to 115.8 pregnancies per 1,000 women in the same age range in 1990. In 2005, the pregnancy rate dropped to near the rate recorded for 1976 – the year the government branch began collecting pregnancy data.  The […]
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UK Information Tribunal Orders Government to Make Late Term Abortion Data Public

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski LONDON, October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The UK's Pro-Life Alliance (PLA) announced a victory today for full disclosure of abortion statistics beyond 24 weeks gestation, after the Information Tribunal ruled against the Department of Health (DoH), which had refused to release the data. The Information Commissioner had earlier ordered the release of the figures requested by the Pro-Life Alliance. But the DoH resisted the move, claiming that the data could lead to women who have late abortions being identified. DoH lawyers argued that the information was “sensitive, personal and private.” In question was data on mothers […]
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Senate Diverts $20M in Defense Bill to Institute Honoring Ted Kennedy

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – $20 million in federal defense spending has been earmarked for an educational institute to honor and preserve the legacy of the late Senator Ted Kennedy.  Kennedy, a Catholic, was known by conservatives as one of the most formidable proponents of abortion and homosexuality on Capitol Hill. Sen. Kennedy established the plan for the Edward Kennedy Institute in Massachusetts before he succumbed to brain cancer in August.  Similar to a presidential library, the Institute would house Kennedy's official documents from his 47 years in the Senate, and offer an educational focus […]
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Swiss Woman’s Death Linked to Hormonal Contraceptive

October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Swiss government is linking a woman's death to the popular birth control product Yaz made by Bayer Pharmaceuticals. The woman died of a pulmonary embolism in June, just 10 months after starting the hormonal contraceptive. The government agency, Swissmedic has launched an investigation into the death. The agency stated on its website that “thromboembolic complications are rare but well-known complications associated” with hormonal contraceptives. Between January 1, 2005, and April 15, 2009, stated Swissmedic, there were a total of 691 reports of suspected adverse reactions linked to contraceptives in Sweden, of which 49 were […]
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Women Launch Lawsuit to Stop New York State Payment for Ova Donation

ALBANY, N.Y., October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A New York pro-life feminist organization filed suit last Friday in New York State Supreme Court (Albany) to block the use of taxpayer funds to pay women recruited to “donate” their eggs for embryonic stem cell research. New York State is the first governmental entity anywhere in the U.S. to approve taxpayer money to pay women to undergo an invasive procedure to harvest eggs for embryonic stem cell research. In 2007, the New York State Legislature enacted a new Title V-A to Article 2 of the Public Health Act, committing $600 million for stem […]
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Case of Gender-Confused Teacher against Catholic School Board Accepted by HRC

By Patrick B. Craine EDMONTON, Alberta, October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Alberta Human Rights Commission has accepted a complaint brought against an Edmonton-area Catholic school board by a substitute teacher who was let go after she announced she was 'becoming' a man. Janet Buterman, 39, had been employed by the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Board for about four months when, in June 2008, she informed deputy superintendent Steve Bayus that she was undergoing a 'sex change' and now wished to be treated as a man. The following October, Mr. Bayus responded with a letter indicating that Buterman had been […]
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Miracle Baby: Mother Successfully Battles for Right to Deliver Healthy Baby Despite Terminal Cancer

Commentary by Georgia Froncek Editor's note: Georgia Froncek, a veteran pro-life sidewalk counselor from California, has agreed to publish her experiences with a cancer-stricken woman who was nearly coerced by her insurance company into aborting her child in order to obtain treatment. LONG BEACH, California, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When I pulled up to the Long Beach Family Planning Associates Abortion mill at on February 3, 2009 at 8:30 a.m., I saw my fellow street counselor Charlotte talking to an Hispanic man named Carlos, who was visibly very upset.  As soon as I exited the car, Charlotte motioned me to […]
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LifeSite Special Report – Inappropriate Speakers & Honourees at Catholic Colleges

Thursday May 8, 2003 Inappropriate Speakers & Honourees at Catholic Colleges COMMENCEMENT 2003 AQUINAS COLLEGE (Grand Rapids, MI): Civil rights activist Roger Wilkins will give the commencement address on May 10. Wilkins is a public advocate of abortion rights. In 1989, Wilkins joined 12 other civil rights leaders assembled by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America to chastise pro-life activists for using nonviolent forms of civil disobedience to demonstrate outside abortion clinics. Wilkins signed a statement claiming a “constitutional right to freedom of choice” and “access to contraception and the development of new contraceptive methods.” In 1992, Wilkins served on […]
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New UN Report Pushes Gender as a Social Construct not Based in Nature

By Piero A. Tozzi, J.D. NEW YORK, NY, October 15, 2009 (C-FAM) – An advisory report on the protection of human rights in the context of counter terrorism recently submitted to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) includes a radical redefinition of the term “gender,” claiming that it is a purely social construct not connected to biology. UN Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinin was asked to report to the UN on “gender-based human rights abuses in counterterrorism measures” – with an intended focus presumably upon hardships encountered by women caught up in the war on terror. Instead, in his report, […]
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Obama’s UN Rep Touts Administration’s Abortion Sea Change

By Piero A. Tozzi, J.D. NEW YORK, NY, October 15, 2009 (C-FAM) – In a speech last week at Howard University Law School, United States (US) Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Susan E. Rice recapped the Obama Administration’s foreign policy departures from previous Bush Administration policy. Rice also subtly redefined terms used in UN documents to mark a substantive policy shift on abortion. Reviewing the new Administration's first nine months in office, Rice touted Obama’s reversal of the “Mexico City policy” that had prevented US funding of organizations engaged in abortion overseas and his decision to fund the UN […]
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Condom-Promoting Sex-Education Play “Secrets” Performed at Catholic High Schools

By James Tillman San Francisco, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—”Secrets,” a play explaining condom use, is being shown at various Catholic high schools in the San Francisco Archdiocese, reports the California Catholic Daily. The play, written by the openly lesbian playwright, Patricia Loughrey, features a teenager, Eddie, who discovers that he is HIV positive after having intercourse; the production deals with the repercussions that this has on his life and on the lives of his friends. According to an informational hand-out for parents from California's Fremont Unified School District, which also uses the play, in one scene a “character dumps dozens […]
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Schwarzenegger Signs California Law Recognizing Out-of-State Same-Sex “Marriages”

By Peter J. Smith SACRAMENTO, California, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Californians may have voted in November to amend their state constitution to define the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but new legislation signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now requires California to validate and recognize same-sex “marriages” performed outside the state as either legal “marriage” or marriage-like “unions.” Earlier in the week, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed into law Senate Bill 54, which allows the state to recognize same-sex “marriages” performed outside California between June 16, 2008, when the state Supreme Court legalized […]
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Canadian Family Group Launches National Campaign against Child Pornography

CALGARY, AB, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canada Family Action, a Canadian pro-family organization, has launched a nation-wide campaign to protect children from internet sex crimes. The “Child Safe Nation” campaign aims to pressure the government for tougher legislation to protect kids, deter pedophiles and achieve justice for victims.  Child sex crime charges increased 800% in just five years and the number of internet sex images has quadrupled since 2003 according to the Ombudsman for Victims of Crime. Minimum sentences for child pornography crimes range from 14 days for possession to 90 days for production and distribution. Brian Rushfeldt, CFA's […]
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Botched Abortion Nearly Kills Montreal Woman

By Patrick B. Craine MONTREAL, Quebec, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Last Thursday, a 19-year-old Montreal woman almost died following a botched second-trimester abortion, reports Le Journal de Montreal. Christelle Dupuis-Labelle, who has an 8-month-old baby, was three months along in her pregnancy, and so was referred to CLSC des Faubourgs, one of the few abortuaries in Quebec that does abortions after 12 weeks. The baby was aborted at 9:00 a.m., after which Dupuis-Labelle spent two hours recovering.  She then went to the bathroom and found that she was bleeding heavily.  “There was lots of blood,” she said.  “I told […]
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Catholic School Board in Northwest Territories Rejects HPV Vaccine

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Yellowknife Catholic School Board (YCS) voted last night to reject a proposal to inject all its female students from Grades 4 to 12 with the controversial human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine known as Gardasil. The motion to initiate a school-based vaccination program was decisively shut down by a vote of 5 to 2. According to a Northern News Service report, trustees on both sides of the issue agreed that the school board and its trustees were not qualified to make scientific and medical decisions and that parents should […]
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Leaked US Bishops Draft Marriage Pastoral Letter Strong, but Under Fire from Dissidents

By Patrick B. Craine October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At their upcoming general assembly in Baltimore from November 16-19, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will debate and vote on a new pastoral letter on marriage.  A draft of the letter, entitled 'Love and Life in the Divine Plan,' has been leaked, and is already being praised by Catholic and pro-family leaders as a strong presentation of the Church's teaching on marriage and a forceful rebuke of cultural attacks on authentic marriage and family life. The letter, meant to be an important component of the USCCB's National Pastoral Initiative for […]
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African Bishops Synod Denounces “Ferocious Onslaught” of Abortion Ideologies

By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent ROME October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Tuesday, the relator-general of the African Bishops Synod, which is currently taking place at the Vatican, denounced the “ferocious onslaught” of international abortion and contraception promoters in Africa. On the same day, the archbishop of Gulu in Uganda, called for an authentic verification of true women's rights that affirms the family and rejects abortion. In a summary of the interventions over the last ten days, cardinal archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, Peter Turkson, said that the Synod had identified “the destruction of an authentic idea of marriage and […]
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Court Hears Third Appeal in Ten-Year Battle Over Censorship of Poster with Jesus

NEW YORK, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments today on behalf of a former kindergarten student from Syracuse, New York, whose art project was censored by public school teachers, because it featured an image of Jesus. For the third time in 10 years, Liberty Counsel will represent Antonio Peck and his mother in the case of Peck v. Baldwinsville School District before the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals. Liberty Counsel filed this case in 1999, after school officials punished Antonio for twice including a figure of Jesus in a poster that was […]
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Italy Rejects “Sexual Orientation” in Hate Crime Legislation

By Hilary White ROME, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Italian parliament has rejected an attempt by homosexualist campaigners to install “sexual orientation” as a privileged category in hate crime legislation. The measure was defeated by a vote of 285- 222. Opponents had argued that the change to the criminal code would have produced an inequality, in fact a case of reverse discrimination. Politician Rocco Buttiglione said that homosexuals are protected under the law in the same way as all other citizens and said that the defeat of the bill was a victory for “the principle of the equality of […]
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Toronto 40 Days for Life Holds Midpoint Rally Tonight

By Jenna Murphy TORONTO, ON, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Tonight (Thursday, Oct. 15), participants in the Toronto 40 Days for Life campaign are invited to take part in the campaign's mid-point Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church in Toronto. The Mass, which will take place at 7:30 PM, will be celebrated by Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Peter J. Hundt. With nearly half of the 40 Days for Life Campaign behind them, Toronto vigilers have been reflecting on the fruit that has been borne since 40 Days For Life made its debut in Toronto. “I see a real maturity and wisdom among […]
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Abortionist Reflects on Dismembering One Baby While Feeling Her Own Flutter in Her Womb

By Kathleen Gilbert ANN ARBOR, Michigan, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “There was a leg and foot in my forceps, and a 'thump, thump' in my abdomen. Instantly, tears were streaming from my eyes.” So writes abortionist Lisa Harris in a disturbing article relating her experiences as an abortionist, particularly her anguished and “brutally visceral” experience of dismembering an 18 week gestation unborn child, while 18 weeks pregnant herself. In the article, entitled “Second Trimester Abortion Provision: Breaking the Silence and Changing the Discourse,” Harris, an abortionist and assistant professor at the University of Michigan, explains the ethical position that she says helps her […]
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New Documentary Explores Global Demographic Crisis

Friday February 8, 2008 New Documentary Explores Global Demographic Crisis By John Jalsevac. February 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While the world focuses its energies and its fears on a purported global-warming crisis, a new, not-yet-released documentary claims that if there is any global crisis, it is not global warming, but rather demographic winter. As the website for Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family, explains, the phrase “‘Demographic Winter’ denotes the worldwide decline in birthrates, also referred to as a ‘birth-death,’ and what it portends.” “The ongoing global decline in human birthrates is the single most powerful force affecting […]
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Vatican Calls on U.N. to Recognize Unborn Right to Life, Drop Population Control

By Patrick B. Craine NEW YORK, New York, October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Vatican U.N. representative Archbishop Celestino Migliore submitted a letter yesterday to the President of the 64th General Assembly, calling on the U.N. to drop its population control agenda and recognize the right to life of the unborn child. The letter was sent in conjunction with the U.N.'s commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. When the member states met in Cairo in 1994, the Archbishop says, “many of them were under the impression that a population explosion was […]
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Pennsylvania Student Ordered to Remove Pro-Life T-Shirt During Obama Address to Students

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski SCRANTON, Pa. October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A student at Crossroads Middle School in Lewisberry was ordered by the school's principal, Robert Savidge, to remove the T-shirt he was wearing that bore the message, “Abortion is not Healthcare,” on the day of President Obama's public address to students in September because the official deemed the shirt “inappropriate.” The student wore his shirt to express his viewpoint on abortion and did so without incident until his fifth period teacher sent him to the principal's office to see whether the shirt was “appropriate.”  There the student was ordered to […]
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Aid in Africa Tied to “Insidious” Ideological Conditions: South African Cardinal

By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent ROME, October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Aid offered to African nations from the developed world should not come with “ideological” strings attached, the Cardinal Archbishop of Durban, South Africa, said at a press conference today at the Vatican. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier said that the African countries themselves should be allowed to say what type of aid they need and to be able to receive it without having to sacrifice their traditional cultural and moral values. Currently, with aid programs, “if you're going to get aid for your program to try to deal with HIV/AIDS, you […]
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Obama Admin Supports Controversial UN Resolution: Critics Say it Could Limit Freedom of Speech

By James Tillman  Geneva, October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—The Obama administration, in combination with Egypt, has sponsored a resolution in the UN's Human Rights Council (HRC) on the issue of “religious discrimination” that critics say would limit freedom of expression.    The resolution, while affirming the right to freedom of speech in its first pages, nevertheless includes clauses some argue may be used to censor those who express their opinions about religion, especially about Islam.  In particular, the document says that states must take “effective measures … to address and combat” those who advocate “religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, […]
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Guttmacher Abortion Report Flatly “False”: Pro-life Experts

By Hilary White ROME, October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Allan Guttmacher Institute, a body of the abortion industry giant International Planned Parenthood Federation, has issued a report claiming that “unsafe” abortions are claiming the lives of 70,000 women around the world every year, a number that pro-life advocates have said is flatly false. According to the abortion industry lobbyists, abortion is made “unsafe” when it is illegal. Institute president Sharon Camp said it is “significant and tragic that while the overall rate of abortion is on the decline, unsafe abortion has not declined.” The authors complain that 40 per […]
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“The End Game”: Abortion-Expanding Health Bill Inches Closer to Law after Passing Senate Finance Com

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the latest victory for President Obama's health care overhaul, the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday voted 14-9 to pass its version of the administration's plan.  America's pro-life leaders are urging citizens to keep up the pressure against the bill's radical abortion expansion now that it has cleared its final congressional committee.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus will now lead discussions to mend the bill with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's version, in pursuit of a final bill that has a […]
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Maine Ad Promoting Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Uses ‘Catholic’ Mom

AUGUSTA, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Homosexual advocates have released a new ad in Maine featuring an older woman and two homosexual men – one of whom is evidently the woman's son – urging Maine voters to approve same-sex 'marriage.' The woman in the new commercial speaks about her son's homosexual relationship, her Catholic faith and the importance of the institution of marriage, but then urges voters to support same-sex 'marriage.' “My faith means a lot to me,” says the woman. “Marriage to me is a great institution, it works, and it's what I want for my children too. I […]
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Anti-Euthanasia Group Questions Survey Suggesting Quebec MDs are Favorable to Euthanasia

By Patrick B. Craine October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A survey commissioned by the Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists (FMSQ) suggests that 75% of its members would 'certainly or probably' favor the legalization of euthanasia within a clearly defined framework.  However, according to one prominent Canadian anti-euthanasia activist, the survey results are questionable because the survey also reveals the doctors' confusion over what euthanasia actually is. A private members bill is currently before Parliament seeking to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.  Bill C-384, brought forward by Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde (La Pointe-de-l'Ile), received its first hour of debate on October 2nd.  The […]
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Bishop Who Would Have Barred VP Biden from Speaking at Catholic School Dies

By James Tillman WILMINGTON, DE, October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—Bishop Emeritus Michael Saltarelli of the Diocese of Wilmington died early on Thursday.  A diocesan spokesman said that the 77-year-old Saltarelli died from bone cancer. Bishop Saltarelli had stood against pro-abortion politicians during his 12 years as Bishop of Wilmington, before his retirement last year.  In his Statement on Catholics in Public Life, issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Saltarelli compared the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade to their decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford; he said that both “have a comparable corrosive effect on public life, […]
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Mother Says Miss. Doctor Refused Care to Baby Girl Born at 22 Weeks

By Kathleen Gilbert FLOWOOD, Mississippi, October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a case echoing the tragic story of Britain's Sarah Capewell and son Jayden, a Mississippi mother says that her neonatologist refused to help her baby daughter survive because he believed she was too young, at 22 weeks 4 days gestation, to merit intervention. Necie Franklin of Flowood, Mississippi, told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that Dr. Kenny Robbins of River Oaks Hospital refused to treat daughter Jessa Mackenzie after she was born suddenly in May, because she was three days shy of 23 weeks gestation – at which point he would have […]
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Statement by H.E. Archbishop Celestino Migliore Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See

Mr. President, As we call to mind the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), we recognize the many challenges facing the international community to achieve the goal of greater sustained economic and social development. When States came together in Cairo in 1994, many of them were under the impression that a population explosion was going to occur and hamper the ability to achieve adequate global economic development.  Now fifteen years later, we see that this perception was unfounded.  In many developed countries, population demographics have declined to the point where some national legislators are now […]
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Commentary on October 13 News – Nobel Prize, CCODP

Dear Readers, Today is catch up day from the weekend and Monday, hence the large number of reports. The Catholic Church leadership response to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama is certainly confusing and unlike the consistently critical response of the world's pro-life leaders, not to also mention the unusual outrage expressed by numerous secular media journalists over the decision. This coming Monday, Canada's bishops will be discussing the problems of their official International development arm, Development and Peace. The letter from the renowned Dr. Jack Willke on behalf of International Right to Life plus John-Henry […]
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Pro-Life Leaders Representing 170 Nations Praise Bishops Who Withheld Funds from Development and Pea

By John-Henry Westen OTTAWA, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As the Bishops of Canada prepare to meet for their annual Plenary Assembly in Cornwall Ontario later this month, the International Right to Life Federation (IRTL) has written the bishops a letter regarding the recent controversy over the international development arm of the Conference – the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P). Investigations over the past year have revealed that D&P has been funding dozens of organizations that support abortion and contraception, or otherwise undermine Catholic moral teaching. The IRTL letter was sent to the Primate of Canada, Quebec City Cardinal […]
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Australian Catholic Pharmacist Refuses To Sell Contraceptives

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski SYDNEY, Australia, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Catholic pharmacist Trevor Dal Broi, who owns and runs East Griffith Pharmacy in New South Wales, has decided to stop selling any form of artificial contraception because of his deeply held religious beliefs. The pharmacist removed condoms from his store several weeks ago and has advised women seeking oral contraceptive pills or the “morning after” pill to go to other pharmacies in the area. “As a practicing Catholic, it is my obligation to accept the official teaching of the Catholic Church against the use of artificial contraception,” Mr. Dal […]
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Anti-Euthanasia Groups to Host Strategy Weekend Examining Methods of William Wilberforce

By Patrick B. Craine OTTAWA, Ontario, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) and the Manning Centre for Building Democracy will be hosting a national strategic seminar in Ottawa on November 13-14. The Wilberforce Weekend, as it is called, is aimed to “explore and enhance transformative cultural and public policy advocacy supporting people with disabilities, those who are chronically ill, dying, or otherwise medically at risk.”  The EPC describes it as “one of the most important events” they have ever hosted. Participants will examine the late 18th-early 19th century campaign of William Wilberforce to abolish slavery in […]
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Finland’s New Catholic Bishop Warns of Rift if Finnish Lutherans Bless Same-Sex Unions

By Patrick B. Craine HELSINKI, Finland, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Finland's Catholic Bishop, Teemu Sippo, has warned that the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) would risk hurting their relationship with the country's Catholic Church should they choose to bless same-sex marriages, reports the Finnish broadcasting company YLE. Bishop Sippo, 62, a member of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, was ordained Bishop of Helsinki in September and is the first Finnish-born Catholic bishop since the Reformation.  The entire country comprises one diocese, with about 10,000 Catholics.  Approximately 80% of the estimated 5.3 million residents are […]
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British Man Found Free of Cancer Dies after Hydration Removed

By Hilary White LIVERPOOL, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A British widow has won a settlement of £18,000 for the death of her husband, who died after being cured of stomach cancer in a hospice that has adopted the notorious Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) protocol for the terminally ill. 76 year-old Jack Jones had responded successfully to chemotherapy and surgery, but died of pneumonia two weeks after doctors at the Marie Curie Hospice ordered the withdrawal of food and hydration and all medication except painkillers in accordance with what is being called in British media the “death pathway.” Jones's widow, Pat, […]
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US Homeschooling Hero Christopher Klicka Passes Away

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Christopher J. Klicka, Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) Senior Counsel and Director of State and International Relations, died yesterday at the age of 48 after a 15-year battle with multiple sclerosis. An attorney, spokesman, lobbyist, and homeschooling husband and father, Chris is survived by his wife, Tracy, their seven children (ages 11-21), and his parents, Ardath and George Klicka. “Chris was both a people person and a goal person. He cared deeply about people, but was also driven to always do more!” said HSLDA President J. Michael Smith in a […]
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White House at Loggerheads with U.S. Bishops on Existence of Government-Funded Abortion in Health Bi

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has again claimed that the U.S. Catholic bishops, who have complained that the current health care legislation does not exclude government funding of abortion, are wrong in their assessment in the bill. On Thursday, the U.S. bishops sent a letter to members of Congress asking them to “exclude mandated coverage for abortion,” and instead include “policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights.”  The bishops' critique was based on the fact that – as confirmed by such establishments as the Associated Press, […]
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Notre Dame Pays Student Expenses to D.C. March for Homosexual ‘Marriage’

NOTRE DAME, IN, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The University of Notre Dame gave financial assistance to five students to participate in Sunday's national gay rights demonstration, which was organized in part to advocate homosexual “marriage,” a campus newspaper has reported.   The “National Equality March” on Sunday, October 11, in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by Equality Across America, which aims to build a national grassroots network asserting homosexual couples' “right to marry” as well as other demands. The Catholic Church believes that marriage is possible only between a man and a woman. “Faithful Catholics will ask whether Notre Dame […]
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Abortionist Punches Woman in Face in Road Rage Incident

By James Tillman Atlanta, Georgia, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sandy Springs police have arrested abortionist Daniel E. McBrayer, 58, on charges of punching a woman in the face during an afternoon “road rage” incident last Monday. Regina Ordaz says that McBrayer got out of his car at the intersection of Roswell and Abernathy roads, walked up to her car as she was stopped at a red light, and struck her in the face.  Ordaz says she thought that McBrayer was going to ask her for directions or tell her that something was wrong with her car. She also says that […]
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Homosexual Hate Crimes Law Poised to Become Law after Passing U.S. House

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In what appears to mark the end of a years-long battle over homosexual hate crime legislation in America, the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed a law authorizing the federal government to intervene in violent crimes that appear motivated by hatred of homosexuals. The hate crimes language passed in a 281-146 vote as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill, with 15 Democrats and 131 Republicans voting against the must-pass bill in apparent protest against the hate crime language. The expanded hate crime legislation would extend special protection to victims of […]
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Policeman Confiscates Rockford Pro-Lifer’s Christ Image

By Kathleen Gilbert ROCKFORD, Illinois, October 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another bizarre happening at the Northern Illinois Women's Center in Rockford, Illinois was reported last week, with one area pro-lifer saying that a policeman confiscated his large sign portraying an image of Jesus – though the same officer declined to remove an obscene image of Christ perched in the abortion facility's window. The Northern Illinois Women's Center is notorious as the site of routine abuses against the community of pro-lifers who keep vigil there and for the grotesque and often blasphemous displays in the windows of the building.  Veteran Rockford […]
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Vatican and Irish Bishops Conference Give Contrasting Messages on Lisbon Treaty Says SPUC Director

Commentary By John Smeaton Director, Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) LONDON, Oct. 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, recently told the Czech president, with reference to the Lisbon treaty: “Each European state has its own identity. The European Union will stipulate its rights and points of view that may not fit in with their own traditions and history. Some states naturally defend themselves against it – i.e. Ireland. If, for example, Europe acknowledges the union of homosexual couples as equal to marriage, it would go against its own history. And it […]
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President Obama’s Remarks to the Human Rights Campaign

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Please, you're making me blush. (Laughter.) AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Barack! THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. (Applause.) To Joe Solmonese, who's doing an outstanding job on behalf of HRC. (Applause.) To my great friend and supporter, Terry Bean, co-founder of HRC. (Applause.) Representative Patrick Kennedy. (Applause.) David Huebner, the Ambassador-designee to New Zealand and Samoa. (Applause.) John Berry, our Director of OPM, who's doing a great job. (Applause.) Nancy Sutley, Chairman of Council on Environmental Quality. (Applause.) Fred Hochberg, Chairman of Export-Import Bank. (Applause.) And my dear friend, Tipper Gore, who's in the […]
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CCCB Plenary Presenter Advocated Obama as the ‘Pro-Life Candidate,’ Was Criticized by His Bishop

Wednesday September 30, 2009 CCCB Plenary Presenter Advocated Obama as the ‘Pro-Life Candidate,’ Was Criticized by His Bishop Rather than ‘supporting’ women’s ordination, the presenter has said that he merely questions the authoritative status of that particular Church teaching. By Patrick B. Craine TOLEDO, Ohio, September 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The presenter at next month’s plenary assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), Dr. Richard Gaillardetz, argued during last year’s U.S. election cycle, to the dismay of his bishop, that notoriously pro-abortion President Barack Obama was the “pro-life candidate” in last year’s election, because of his social policy […]
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Homily of Daniel Cardinal DiNardo: 56th Red Mass

Monday October 5, 2009 Homily of Daniel Cardinal DiNardo: 56th Red Mass I want to extend my deepest thanks to Archbishop Wuerl and to the Members of the John Carroll Society for their invitation to preach at this Year’s Red Mass in Washington, DC. It is an honor. In this federal city where the role of lawyer and judge is so important and where the legal profession is so prominent, even ubiquitous, the invocation of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the judicial year is appropriate and necessary. The Liturgy of the Word is simultaneously proclamation as an action […]
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Commentary on October 9 News – Nobel Prize, Zapatero, D&P, African Synod, No LSN on Monday

Dear Readers, LifeSiteNews will not be publishing on Monday, so enjoy the break from the travails of the world. It appears that the Nobel committee has hugely undermined its international credibility with its decision to grant the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama. We have rarely, if ever, seen such widespread derision from all sides of the ideological, political and social spectrum over a Nobel decision. Unbelievably, the Vatican press office has once again managed to jump in on the wrong side on a major issue and look very foolish as a result. Spain's rabidly pro-abortion, socially radical Prime Minister will […]
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French Culture Minister Denies Participation in Sex Tourism: Says “Young Boys” were Really Adult Pro

By Hilary White PARIS, October 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The French Minister of Culture has said that during his trips to Thailand to cruise the “slave markets” and brothels for boys for paid sexual encounters, the boys in question were not minors but “youths” and that homosexuals call all men “boys”. Frédéric Mitterrand, the openly homosexual nephew of former French president François Mitterrand, is belatedly facing public disgrace after having admitted in an autobiographical book published in 2005, “I got into the habit of paying for boys … The profusion of young, very attractive and immediately available boys put me […]
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Commentary on October 8 News

Dear Readers, The US Catholic Bishops Conference is taking a hard line on the lack of conscience protection and clear prohibition of abortion funding in the Democrats' health care proposals. The USCCB is not buying the White House smokescreen. This is good. Is it just me or do most of you also feel acute embarrassment for the infantile tactics of the pro-abortion demonstrators at McGill University? As well, why are university security personel and police so cowardly and totally ineffective when faced with these disruptive, coddled children tantrums? I would be ashamed and get another job. Irish Redemptorist priest, Fr. Gerard Moloney […]
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Hiding Behind Hyde: More “Deception” and “Smokescreens” from the White House on Abortion

By James Tillman Washington, DC, October 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Yesterday CNS News reporter Fred Lucas asked White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, if the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was wrong in claiming in a recent letter to the Senate that the health reform bills considered in committee fail to prevent the use of federal dollars for abortion. Gibbs responded: “Well, I don't want to get me in trouble at church, but I would mention there's a law that precludes the use of federal funds for abortion that isn't going to be changed in these health care bills.”  Gibbs' […]
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U.S. Bishops Will “Vigorously” Oppose Health Care if Abortion Concerns Not Addressed

By John Jalsevac October 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Three U.S. bishops have written to Congress expressing their “disappointment” that the healthcare bills currently being considered in Congress have not addressed the issue of federal funding of abortion, and warning that unless their concerns are addressed, the U.S. bishops will have to oppose “vigorously” the health care reform legislation. Writing on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the three bishops said in a letter released today, “We are writing to express our disappointment that progress has not been made on the three priority criteria for health care reform that we […]
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Aquinas Catholic College to Host “All Day Long” Homosexualist Event

By James Tillman GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan, October 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Aquinas College, a Catholic college located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is planning to hold an event titled “Love is everywhere … AQ Celebrates Human Rights” this coming Monday.  The event features showings of multiple movies about homosexuals, a “coming out” story, and “ribbons and face-painting to celebrate our unique differences,” according to the college website. The prospective event will take place “all day long” at various locations and times on the campus. Founded by Dominican Sisters in 1886, Aquinas College is an institution “rooted in the Catholic Dominican tradition,” […]
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French Abortions Do Not Decrease Despite Increase in Contraception: Study

By James Tillman  France, October 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – According to a new study by the French National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED), although the number of unplanned pregnancies in France has fallen, the number of abortions in such cases has increased, reports the Monde Actu 24h/24.  Unplanned pregnancies fell from 46% to 33% from 1975 to 2004, ostensibly due to use of contraceptives, according to the study, but the number of abortions of such pregnancies increased from 40% to 60% over the same period.  Over 40% of French women have an abortion at least once in their life.  The […]
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Relativism in Europe has Created Demographic Crisis: European Bishops

By Hilary White ST. GALLEN, Switzerland, October 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet empire, the people of Europe have been using their hard-won freedom to indulge in relativism and materialism, said the European bishops in a recent statement. According to the bishops, this materialism has led Europeans to avoid having children which has created a looming demographic crisis The Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe, (CCEE) holding their plenary assembly last week, wrote, “The development of the European Union has gone hand in hand with a growth in consumption, at […]
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Fr. John Corapi on the Cause of Today’s Meltdown of Western Civilization

By Steve Jalsevac October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A ten minute YouTube video of excerpts from a past EWTN interview with Fr. John Corapi has been making its way onto many Internet blogs and websites recently. Its perceived high relevance to the West's ongoing cultural and social meltdown appears to be the reason for its popularity. Corapi's blunt comments in the video titled, “Fr. Corapi and Corruption in the Church,” take head on the contraception, abortion and euthanasia issues and his perception of the root cause of their deadly rise. Corapi states that the rejection of Pope Paul's encyclical Humane […]
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London Library Allowing Pornography on Public Computers

By Patrick B. Craine LONDON, Ontario, October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The London Public Library (LPL) in London, Ontario, is embroiled in controversy over its internet policies, which currently allow users to access pornography on the public computers. London city councillor Cheryl Miller is insisting that patrons should not to be subjected to offensive material at the library against their will, according to Macleans.  “Canadians have a constitutional right to say, 'I don't want to see or hear that sexualized material,' ” she said. “And in this library, they don't have that right.” The London library is the same that […]
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Boston College Health Plan Covers ‘Family Planning’ Services

October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New research by The Cardinal Newman Society has uncovered evidence that the student health insurance plan provided by Boston College, a Jesuit institution of Catholic higher education, includes coverage for “family planning” services such as birth control pills.   Contraception and birth control services are explicitly covered under the student health plan, Blue Care Elect Preferred (PPO), which is an optional plan for students provided by Boston College.  Although elective abortion is not explicitly stated in the policy, Koster Insurance Agency, Inc., Boston College's insurance agent, could not rule out the possibility that abortions are covered […]
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Homosexual Man Suing for Right to Donate Blood Donated While Infected with Syphilis

By Patrick B. Craine OTTAWA, Ontario, October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A homosexual man who is suing Canadian Blood Services (CBS) for the right to donate blood was found to be infected with syphilis and gonorrhea after having lied repeatedly on the questionnaire about his sexual history.  An Ottawa court heard the case this week. CBS launched a suit against Kyle Freeman, 36, for negligent misrepresentation after they found out that he had lied on their form and, through regular blood screening, that he had syphilis. In response, Freeman has launched his own suit against CBS, alleging that the policy […]
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Taxpayer Money Feeds Pornography Addictions at the National Science Foundation

By James Tillman October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The taxpayer-funded National Science Foundation (NSF) has had a sixfold increase in employee misconduct evaluations, often involving the access of pornography from government computers, according to a new report by the Washington Times. The NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress to “promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; to secure the national defense,” according to its own website.  It has a budget of approximately 6 billion dollars, much of which is used in grants given to promote scientific research. The pornography problems at […]
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Obama Election a “Divine Sign” of Racial Healing: African Bishop

By Hilary White ROME, October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Because he is black, the election of Barack Obama as president of the US, is a “divine sign” according to one African bishop attending the Synod currently meeting in the Vatican. Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, head of the archdiocese of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, called the election of Obama a “primordial event” in the history of salvation and God's answer to the historic injustice of the African slave trade. During Monday's afternoon session of the Synod, Monsengwo presented his report on trends in the Church in Africa since […]
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Montana Supreme Court Hands Parental Rights of Woman’s Adopted Children to Former Lesbian Lover

By Kathleen Gilbert HELENA, Montana, October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Montana's highest court has ruled that a married woman must give up full custody of her adopted children to a former lesbian lover who sued for parental rights. Barbara Maniaci, the adoptive mother of a 9-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl, ended her ten-year relationship with Michelle Kulstad in 2006.  Maniaci adopted the boy in 2001, and the girl in 2004, as the sole legal guardian.  In the year following the breakup, Kulstad began fighting for joint custody with Maniaci, who is now raising the children with her husband. On […]
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Bursting the Bubble: Pro-life Advocates Fight Chicago Law Aimed to Kill 40 Days for Life Vigil

By James Tillman and Peter J. Smith CHICAGO, IL, October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Chicago City Council is currently considering an amendment which would create a 50 foot bubble zone for protestors around abortion mills, and thereby cripple the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil.  Within this 50 foot zone, pro-life protestors would be prohibited from approaching closer than 8 feet to a person without their consent, in order to educate, counsel, or give leaflets to them.  Violations could be punished by a fine of up to $500.00.   The amendment to the city's Disorderly Conduct Ordinance was introduced by […]
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Hospital Counselor Leaves Abortion Unit during 40 Days for Life

Commentary by Dave Bereit, National Coordinator, 40 Days for Life October 7, 2009 (40DaysforLife.com) – Most 40 Days for Life prayer vigils are conducted outside abortion facilities that are either in stand-alone buildings or in medical office parks. There are, of course, some exceptions. One of those exceptions is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where abortions are performed in a hospital. So it's hard to know who among the many hundreds of women entering the hospital are there for an abortion, and good news about lives changed through prayer is hard to come by. Still, local coordinator Julie Culshaw has always […]
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Federal Court Dismisses Challenge to Pledge of Allegiance and “Under God”

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Last week a federal court in New Hampshire dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Pledge of Allegiance and the phrase “under God.” In 2007, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, represented by Michael Newdow, sued two New Hampshire public school districts and Congress on behalf of several parents and students who objected to the voluntary recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in school.  Specifically, the lawsuit challenged the 1954 addition of the words “under God” and the practice of reciting the Pledge in public schools as a patriotic exercise. On Sept. 30, Chief Judge Steven McAuliffe […]
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Un-natural Selection: Birth Control Pills May Alter Choice of Partners

SHEFFIELD, UK, October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Is it possible that the use of oral contraceptives is interfering with a woman's ability to choose, compete for and retain her preferred mate? A new paper published by Cell Press in the October issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution reviews emerging evidence suggesting that contraceptive methods which alter a woman's natural hormonal cycles may have an underappreciated impact on choice of partners for both women and men and, possibly, reproductive success. Human females are only fertile for a brief period during their menstrual cycle, just prior to ovulation. Many […]
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Planned Parenthood Conducts Birth Control Clinical Trials on Underage Girls

WASHINGTON, DC, October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -  American Life League has released a recent survey that reveals that at least 10 Planned Parenthood clinical trials have been conducted on underage girls as young as 13. According to ALL's findings, twenty-eight Planned Parenthood affiliates have been involved in 33 clinical trials – some government funded – and 10 of which involved young girls. Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League, conducted the review. Two of the trials in which girls as young as 14 participated dealt with getting the girls to take birth control consistently by sending them text message […]
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Commentary on October 6 News – Obama, CCCB Speaker

Dear Readers, See the first item regarding the success of our fundraiser. Obama, Obama – how much more hard, irrefutable evidence do we have to continue to report until the chronically doubting Christians finally accept that his administration is a danger to all that we cherish. Archbishop Chaput lays it out well for the Catholics who emphasize social justice that Obama is not offering valid Christian social justice policies or is at least acting against crucial social justice priorities. More today on the very problematic Canadian Bishops' Conference plenary speaker. Every day we are discovering more information confirming that he […]
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Archbishop Chaput Gives Vatican Dose of “Humble Realism” on Barack Obama and Notre Dame Scandal

By Peter J. Smith ROME, October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has given Vatican prelates a gentle dose of “humble realism” about President Barack Obama and the Notre Dame scandal – in order to help them appreciate better the American bishops' grave pastoral concerns over a President whose lofty words diverge sharply from his actions on abortion and other issues. In a July essay “Politics, Morality, and Original Sin,” published in the international Catholic journal 30 Days, Cardinal Georges Cottier, a Swiss theologian and former member of John Paul II's papal household, appeared to downplay the […]
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Liberty Counsel Unveils the Adopt a Liberal Prayer Program

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Liberty Counsel (LC) has launched a new program called Adopt a Liberal. The program encourages people to pray for those in leadership to restore poor leaders to right thinking. According to LC, the Adopt a Liberal prayer-in-action program is based on the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy to pray for “all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” (To find out more about the Adopt a Liberal program, click here) The current list of liberals includes Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and those […]
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“Enough is Enough!”: Halifax Archbishop “Broken” over Fellow Bishop’s Child Porn Charges

By Patrick B. Craine HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 4th, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “My heart is broken, my mind is confused, my body hurts,” laments Archbishop of Halifax Anthony Mancini in a pain-ridden, but hopeful letter to the Catholic faithful of Nova Scotia. Read at Mass on Sunday, the letter was written in response to the recent charges against Bishop Raymond Lahey, who resigned as Bishop of Antigonish on September 26th after he had been charged on September 25th with possessing child pornography.  Border officers seized Bishop Lahey's laptop on September 15th after they had found concerning images on it during […]
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LSN Campaign Results and Thank You

Dear Friends, We want to thank all those who helped to make our fall fundraising drive a tremendous success.  We didn't just reach our $40,000 campaign goal – we surpassed it! That's right, we received an influx of donations at the last minute, including one for $5,000!  Please know how truly grateful we are for each and every one of our donors, who together, helped us raise over $46,000 towards our annual budget. As we mentioned numerous times over the course of this fundraiser, LSN is so obviously the product of the effort and support of many people.  Without your […]
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Pope Reminds U.S. Ambassador Diaz to Uphold Dignity of All Human Life

By Kathleen Gilbert VATICAN CITY, October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an address to the new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican on Friday, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the central role of the dignity of human life and freedom of conscience in Catholic social teaching.  The choice of Miguel Diaz, who says he is pro-life, as U.S. ambassador met with criticism from pro-life Catholic leaders earlier this year, due in large part to the fact that Diaz had famously thrown his support behind the strongly pro-abortion Health and Human Services Secretary and fellow Catholic Kathleen Sebelius. Benedict gave the remarks as he officially […]
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UK Doctors who Allowed Suicidal Woman to Die Acted Lawfully: Coroner’s Inquest

By Hilary White LONDON, October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Doctors who allowed a young British woman to die in hospital after she swallowed poison and declared her intention to commit suicide acted lawfully, according to the findings of an inquest this week. Under the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the coroner's inquest ruled that doctors had no choice but to allow the woman to die after she had written a letter saying she did not want to be saved. The Mental Capacity Act, passed by Tony Blair's Labour government, created “advance directives,” or “living wills,” which were ostensibly […]
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McGill Student Union Threatens Pro-Life Club with Defunding for Hosting Event

MONTREAL, Quebec, October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A controversial pro-life presentation will continue this evening at McGill University, despite the student union's attempt to censor it. The Students Society of McGill University (SSMU) voted 25-2-2 to censure an event entitled “Echoes of the Holocaust” at their meeting last Thursday, October 1. The event, scheduled tonight, has been organized by Choose Life, a pro-life club on campus, and will carry on as planned. The presentation, hosted by a university-sanctioned club, Choose Life, is to be given by Jose Ruba of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform. His presentation outlines how societies […]
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Nun Group Under Investigation by Vatican Praised by U.S. Cardinal

By Hilary White October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Cardinal archbishop of Boston, Sean O'Malley has praised a group of dissident nuns who are under doctrinal investigation by the Vatican. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has launched an historical exhibit on the contributions of Catholic sisters to US history that was praised by O'Malley, who is head of the USCCB's Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. In letter to LCWR, O'Malley said, “The Church is grateful for all that your communities have done and continue to do to advance the mission of the Church, especially in the […]
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Seizures and Brain Damage Follow HPV Vaccine Injection for U.K. Girl

By James Tillman October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An 18 year-old U.K. girl has suffered severe brain damage from seizures that began after receiving the vaccination Cervarix. Stacey Jones, 18, of Bilston in the West Midlands of England, began to have seizures days after receiving the first injection.  The fits eventually caused such severe brain injury that she had to be admitted to a rehabilitation unit to relearn simple tasks. Stacey's mother, Julie Jones, believes that the vaccine Cervarix is unsafe and caused the swelling in the brain that has been diagnosed as the cause of Stacy's neurological problems. Cervarix, […]
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EU Bishops’ Group Praises Irish Lisbon Vote

By Hilary White BRUSSELS, October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following the warnings against the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty by both the pro-life movement in Ireland and the Vatican's Secretary of State, Catholic bishops of the European Community have praised and congratulated the Irish on the “positive outcome” in voting Yes in the referendum on Friday. The vote gave “hope for renewed EU Institutions capable of tackling urgent needs” said a media release from the Commissio Episcopatuum Communitatis Europensis, (Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, COMECE). COMECE president Bishop Adrianus Herman van Luyn of Rotterdam in the […]
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Obama to Deliver Keynote Speech at Major Homosexualist Dinner

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at a dinner hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, America's largest homosexualist lobby, the group announced yesterday. Obama is expected to offer remarks at the 13th Annual Human Rights Campaign Dinner, which will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Saturday, Oct. 10. “We are honored to share this night with President Obama, who has called upon our nation to embrace LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people as brothers and sisters,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President […]
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Commentary on October 5 News

Dear Readers, Thank you to all those who donated during our now completed fundraiser. The goal was reached over the weekend! We will provide more information about the campaign results tomorrow. The high papal award to EWTN founder Mother Angelica has notable implications. Mother has ruffled a lot of feathers among the princes and clergy of the Church by simply standing up for the truth. She did this for the good of the Church and the world, rather than to cause division or place herself above the bishops, as so many of her liberal critics have claimed. With this award, […]
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US Supreme Justices Admonished at Red Mass to Give “Radical Support” for the Unborn

By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., October 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Catholic jurists and justices gathered in the nation's capital on Sunday to celebrate the day before the beginning of the US judicial year with the 56th “Red Mass.” At the Mass Cardinal Daniel DiNardo in a sermon reminded those present that God calls them back from “religious amnesia” and that even the unborn child is a client who requires their “radical support.” Six Supreme Court Justices were among the legal professionals gathered at St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral for the famous “Red Mass” – a Catholic celebration for lawyers and judges dating […]
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Abortion and Gay Activist MPs Horrify Trafficking Victim by Opposing Tougher Sentences

OTTAWA, October 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Federal MP Joy Smith's Bill C-268, which proposes five year minimum sentences for traffickers of children, received significant support from 239 Members of Parliament during the vote at Third Reading last week. However, 43 MPs of the Bloc Quebecois and 3 MPs from the NDP parties voted against harsher penalties for child traffickers.   While the Bloc MPs voted along Party lines against the measure, three NDP MPs joined in opposition to the bill despite wide support from the rest of the NDP, Liberals and Conservatives.  The three NDP MPs were: Libby Davies – one […]
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Texas Judge Declares State Marriage Law, DOMA Unconstitutional

DALLAS, TX, October 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Dallas judge ruled last Thursday to hear a “divorce” lawsuit between two men whose same-sex “marriage” was performed in Massachusetts, declaring the state marriage amendment and the state's Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. District Judge Tena Callahan issued her ruling in a state court in Dallas last week to strike down the Texas marriage amendment, as well as the state DOMA, stating that the state ban on same-sex “marriage” violates the federal constitutional right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This ruling marks the first time that […]
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Support for Abortion Slips: Poll

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new national survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has found that fewer Americans express support for abortion than in previous years. In Pew Research Center polls in 2007 and 2008, supporters of legal abortion clearly outnumbered opponents. Now Americans are evenly divided on the question, and there have been modest increases in the numbers who favor reducing abortions or making them harder to obtain. Conducted from Aug. 11-27 among a total of 4,013 adults, the new […]
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Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Appeal on Case Censoring “Choose Life” License Plates

WASHINGTON, D.C, October 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal in Choose Life Illinois v. White, upholding a Seventh Circuit ruling that the Illinois system for approving specialty plates was not discriminatory.  The case was filed in 2004 after citizens had collected more than the requisite number of signatures, but were denied a “Choose Life” license plate.  In 2007, a Northern Illinois District Court judge ordered Secretary of State Jesse White to distribute the plates.  The Illinois Attorney General's office brought the matter to an appeals court, where the ruling was overturned. “Ever-increasing […]
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Teacher, Dismissed from Catholic School After “Sex Change,” Files Human Rights Complaint

By Patrick B. Craine EDMONTON, Alberta, October 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Alberta substitute teacher, dismissed by a Catholic school board because she was undergoing a sex change, has filed a human rights complaint against the board, and is demanding to be reinstated. Janet Buterman, 39, was told by the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Board in a letter last October that the procedures she was undergoing in an attempt to become a man were in conflict with the Catholic values espoused by the board. “In discussions with the Archbishop of the Edmonton Diocese, the teaching of the Catholic Church […]
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40 Days for Life: 123 Babies Saved – So Far!

40 Days for Life: 123 Babies Saved – So Far! Commentary by David Bereit, National Coordinator, 40 Days for Life October 5, 2009 (40DaysforLife.com) – Judging from the hundreds of e-mail messages I get daily, you like to hear stories about babies saved from abortion, and you like to see pictures of 40 Days for Life in action. So, today I bring you both! Kristina and Michele in Syracuse, New York were praying in front of Planned Parenthood when two young women stopped to talk. One of the young women said she was pregnant and going to Planned Parenthood for […]
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Judge Deems Pouillon Murder Suspect Incompetent to Stand Trial

By Kathleen Gilbert OWOSSO, Michigan, October 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – 33-year-old Harlan Drake of Owosso, who has been accused of murdering pro-lifer Jim Pouillon, has been ruled incompetent to stand trial and will be remanded to the State Department of Mental Health for psychological treatment. Drake was taken into custody on Sept. 11, a few hours after the fatal shooting of Pouillon, 63, and a local gravel pit owner, Mike Fuoss.  Police say Drake admitted that he shot Pouillon because his pro-life witness in front of local schools annoyed him.  In his frequent witness around the small town of Owosso, […]
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PRO-LIFE HERO LINDA GIBBONS RELEASED TODAY

Goal: $40,000. Donations received: $39,500. Tuesday December 14, 1999 PRO-LIFE HERO LINDA GIBBONS RELEASED TODAY TORONTO, Dec 14 (LSN.ca) – Canadian pro-life hero Linda Gibbons, who has spent almost 5 years in prison for quietly praying and offering pro-life counselling outside a Toronto abortuaries, was released from prison today. The release followed immediately after her case was heard in court this morning. Ontario Court Justice E.G. Hachborn convicted Linda on three charges (non-related to the injunction itself since such a charge would allow a court challenge to the injunction) but sentenced her to only one day in prison for each […]
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Vogue Magazine Attempts to Bring Partial Birth Abortion into Vogue

Goal: $40,000. Donations received: $37,550. Thursday January 10, 2008 Vogue Magazine Attempts to Bring Partial Birth Abortion into Vogue By Hilary White NEW YORK, January 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cleverly marketing legal abortion as a boon to women’s emancipation has been the most important task of the abortion industry and lobby for thirty years. In this month’s edition, the gruesome procedure of partial birth abortion has been given a style makeover by the world’s most influential fashion magazine, Vogue. The magazine offers the article’s description: “When Lori Campbell’s second pregnancy developed complications, she was faced with a painful decision. But […]
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Friday, Saturday, Sunday – Three More Days to Make a Commitment to Life and Family

Dear Readers, Can you believe that it was only a week and a half ago that we launched our fall fundraising campaign, with a totally empty progress bar on the top of the LSN homepage? The start of this campaign seems miles away as our readers have donated $34,000 in 11 days, putting us within striking distance of our $40,000 goal.  This includes those who donate monthly, and were unable to respond specifically to this campaign – your September donation has been included in the donation progress bar. But now, with this weekend left, we are still $6,000 short. To […]
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Sex, Lies & Power Exposed: Obama “Safe Schools Czar” Admits to Ignoring Continued Homosexual Statuto

By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., September 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Obama's “Safe-School Czar” Kevin Jennings has more than once proudly admitted that he ignored the homosexual statutory rape of a high-school sophomore in his care twenty one years ago, but now under public pressure he says he could have “handled the situation differently.” Jennings is a co-founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which targets children in public schools and classroom curricula to embrace homosexuality as a normative behavior. Key to their strategy, GLSEN leaders have said they specifically target children as young as kindergarten in […]
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Editorial: Canadian Bishops Conference Declines Offer of Dialogue with LifeSiteNews at Plenary

Editorial by John-Henry Westen TORONTO, October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Saturday, September 25, Monsignor Mario Paquette, the General Secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, informed LifeSiteNews.com that our offer of dialogue with the bishops of Canada at their upcoming October 19-23 Plenary meeting was declined. LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) responded to the request for dialogue contained in a June 29 report from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishops Martin Currie and François Lapierre, co-authors of the report, stated: “We make an urgent appeal to the leadership of Lifesite News that it establish an open and fruitful dialogue …We […]
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Reducing Abortions: The Untold Story of America’s Pregnancy Resource Centers

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., September 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A groundbreaking report detailing the impact of thousands of pregnancy resource centers across America has been released by the Family Research Council. (Click here to download the .PDF report.)  The report, entitled “A Passion to Serve: A Vision for Life” lays out in detail the manifold contributions of the nation's pregnancy resource centers to their communities, particularly to women, children, and families.  The nature and scope of the pregnancy centers' mission is outlined in statistical summaries, case studies and personal testimonies.  The report includes the accolades of several public leaders of […]
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Breast Cancer Link with Abortion and Hormonal Contraceptives Featured in You Tube Videos

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two videos confronting the disinformation about the link between the skyrocketing incidence of breast cancer, and abortion and hormonal contraceptive use have been posted to You Tube. The first video, produced by Ignatius Productions, features a victim of breast cancer, who states that abortion and hormonal contraceptive use at a young age destroyed her health.  She says she is fighting desperately to beat the disease so she can raise her children. (see the video here) The second video, produced by Ends of the Earth Productions, features Karly Houldsworth, who reports findings […]
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183 Congressional Reps Tell Speaker Pelosi: No Abortion Coverage, or No Health-Care Bill

By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – 183 Congressional representatives have signed a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanding that Congress be allowed a free vote on bipartisan pro-life measures that would truly prohibit government funding of abortion in health care. The House representatives warn that if they do not have their way, they will do everything in their power to make sure that H.R. 3200 “America's Affordable Health Choices Act” does not even reach the House floor for a vote. The letter, signed by 25 Democrats and 158 Republicans, requests Speaker Pelosi and Rep. […]
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Dan Rather to Headline Planned Parenthood Event

October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota recently announced that former CBS anchorman Dan Rather will be its keynote speaker for a fundraiser dinner in Minneapolis, MN on October 13. Planned Parenthood announced Rather as their speaker, saying, “Dan Rather, the voice, heart and soul of American journalism, is one of the most recognized and renowned reporters of our time.” The announcement goes on to chronicle Rather's coverage of significant world events as a reporter: including the JFK assassination, Watergate, and the war in Iraq. However, Rather's coverage of life issues makes the […]
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Cardinal Rigali: “Contraception and Abortion” Have Created a “Cultural Hostility to Children”

By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a statement to mark Respect Life Sunday, October 4, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia said: “Since the advent of widespread contraception and abortion, a cultural hostility to children has grown.” Children, he said, “are often depicted as costly encumbrances who interfere with a carefree adult life.”  In response, however, he pointed out that: “In fact, if married couples were to have more children, Medicare and Social Security would not be hurtling toward bankruptcy.” Cardinal Rigali, who chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops […]
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Tony Blair Shoo-In for President of Europe if Irish Vote Yes on Lisbon

By Hilary White LONDON, October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For some time, Euro-watchers have believed that, should the Irish voters say Yes to the Lisbon Treaty on Friday, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will take the job as first President of the newly constituted state of Europe. Now the Daily Mail newspaper reports today that Blair's appointment “will be rushed through as quickly as possible,” according to government sources. The office of EU president, under the rules of the Lisbon Treaty, will be chosen not by Europe's voters but by the heads of the EU's 27 member states. The […]
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Quebec Family Files Appeal Motion for Exemption from Mandatory Relativism Course

By Patrick B. Craine DRUMMONDVILLE, Quebec, September 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Quebec family whose petition was denied by a Drummondville judge in August to exempt their children from Quebec's mandatory program in religious and ethical relativism, 'Ethics and Religious Culture' (ERC), has filed a motion for leave to appeal that decision. Judge Jean-Guy Dubois of the Quebec Superior Court issued his decision on August 31st.  The parents had maintained that the school program violated their freedom of conscience and religion, saying in a statement before the case that “the course imposes on the student a polytheistic vision of the religious […]
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South Africa Makes Tentative Steps towards Outlawing Child Pornography

By Hilary White JOHANNESBURG, October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Earlier this month, the Department of Home Affairs of the government of South Africa announced its intention to develop an “inter-departmental protocol” on preventing child pornography. “The increase of access to technology and mobile internet, with all its benefits, poses risks such as creation and distribution of child pornography. We need to be proactive in protecting children against this heinous crime,” said Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba. The generally unregulated nature of the internet makes compiling reliable statistics difficult, but it is estimated that China, South Korea, Japan and […]
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Ottawa’s Saint Paul University to Feature Dissidents Gregory Baum and Bishop Remi De Roo

By Patrick B. Craine OTTAWA, Ontario, September 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The faculty of theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa will be hosting an event entitled 'Vatican II in Canada' on October 15-16.  The keynote address will be delivered by Gregory Baum, a former priest, with a response from Bishop Remi De Roo. The event is being advertised by the Archdiocese of Ottawa, both on its website and in a fax sent out from the Pastoral Office.  In particular, the Archdiocese is encouraging adult faith development program participants to attend. Baum and Bishop De Roo would seem excellent speakers […]
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US Homeschooling Hero Close to Death

By Hilary White COLORADO SPRINGS, October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A major figure in the worldwide effort to provide legal protection for homeschoolers is seriously ill with complications related to multiple sclerosis. The family and colleagues of Chris Klicka, an attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), said he is not likely to return to his Virginia home and are asking for prayers after Klicka became critically ill with infections and problems with blood pressure. Klicka's condition has been deteriorating since late August, as he has lost more mobility and the ability to swim, walk or stand, according […]
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