Recent Catholic News

CHRISTIANITY DISCRIMINATES AGAINST ANIMALS: PETER SINGER

MCLEAN, Va., July 2, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Princeton University philosopher Peter Singer told a national meeting of animal rights activists that “mainstream Christianity is a problem for the animal movement.” Singer, who has won notoriety for his belief that homo sapiens (mankind) has no right to claim superiority over other animals, singled out “more conservative mainstream fundamentalist views” that “want to make a huge gulf between humans and animals”—a form of discrimination he calls “speciesism.”  Singer is also famous for endorsing “consensual” sexual relationships between animals and people, and for arguing that parents should be allowed to kill an unwanted […]
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LIFESITE NEWSBYTES

WOMEN WHO GIVE BIRTH BY CAESARIAN ARE LESS LIKELY TO CONCEIVE   The UK Times reports that women who give birth by Caesarean section are almost twice as likely as those who give birth naturally to take more than a year to conceive again—a standard measure of reduced fertility—according to research at Bristol University. And while the wait may not matter to a woman in her early twenties, it could be most important to the growing number of older mothers.  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-344309,00.html   U.S. JUDGE DECLARES DEATH PENALTY UNCONSTITUTIONAL   A New York trial judge yesterday declared the federal death penalty […]
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JUDGE FINDS AYLMER CHARTER ISSUES

Says “it’s not a spanking case”  ST. THOMAS, Ont., June 28, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The judge in the case of seven Aylmer children abducted by overzealous rookie St. Thomas and Elgin Family and Children’s Services social workers took the unusual step of commenting publicly on the case.  Judge Schnall told enquiring reporters that the case is “a truly wonderful opportunity to be involved in something I think is fascinating … very interesting.”  The children have been returned to their family—for now—but the trial is to find whether they are in danger of physical abuse by their parents and should be […]
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RWANDAN BISHOP OFFERS TO PROTECT FAITHFUL BC ANGLICANS

VANCOUVER, June 28, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The Anglican Archbishop of Rwanda, Emmanuel Kolini, has offered to protect Vancouver Anglicans sideswiped by their diocese’s endorsement of blessing homosexual marriages. Although media headlines said, “Rwanda cleric threatens to split B.C. Anglicans,” in fact it is the Diocese of New Westminster, with the connivance of radical pro-homosexualist Bishop Michael Ingham, that has risked schism by overturning standard Anglican teaching.  Local priests who rely on the diocese’s opt-out clause to avoid having to bless same-sex marriages fear discipline for any refusal to refer them to another parish willing to do the deed. In a […]
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COUPLE REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE SURROGATE AS MOTHER

Says law that defines birth woman as child’s mother is “antiquated”  VANCOUVER, June 28, 2002 (LSN.ca) – A Surrey couple who used a surrogate mother to obtain a child for themselves has asked the B.C. Supreme Court to strip the surrogate mother from their son’s birth certificate. “All I want,” says Terri Rypkema, “is a birth certificate with my son’s name on it and my name and my husband’s name,” and “I want to be able to do it without adopting him.”  They claim that the Vital Statistics Act, which defines a child’s mother as the woman who physically gives […]
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UK BIRTH RATE PLUMMETS

LONDON, June 28, 2002 (LSN.ca) – A British study has found that one in five women has not had a baby by the time they are 40 years of age, with the number of 40-year-old women without children now twice as high as it was 20 years ago. The Office for National Statistics report also shows that those who do start families are having far fewer children. According to this latest report, two out of three women born in the 1970s have yet to have children, compared to women born in the early 1960s, half of whom had families by […]
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LIFESITE NEWSBYTES

U.S. NOMINEE GRILLED OVER ABORTION VIEWS Circuit Court nominee Judge Dennis W. Shedd faced tough questioning yesterday by a Democrat-controlled Senate panel. Nominated by President Bush to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Shedd declined to state his abortion views, saying it would require his recusal in future court hearings on the issue. “I will not do anything but apply the law,” Judge Shedd said in response to questions from Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, who threatened to resubmit his abortion questions to be answered in writing because Shedd’s response “is not acceptable to get my […]
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BROCKIE CASE A LEGAL VICTORY BUT STILL A HUMAN TRAGEDY

Gay activists had expected the court to uphold the ruling of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal   TORONTO, June 27, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Legal experts have a very different perspective on the ruling in the case of Toronto Christian printer Scott Brockie who refused a printing job for a homosexual activist organization.  As LifeSite reported, the Ontario Divisional Court ruling maintained the Human Rights Tribunal fine of $5,000 that Brockie must pay to the homosexual activist group. Over and above significant donations to his defence fund, Brockie has had to personally pay $100,000 for his defence costs.  However, legal experts […]
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SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAM UPHELD BY US SUPREME COURT

CLEVELAND, Ohio, June 27, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The US Supreme Court ruled today that Cleveland’s school voucher program is constitutional.  The 5-4 decision in the case referred to as Zelman v. Simmons-Harris is a major victory for proponents of school vouchers.  Chief Justice William Rehnquist said the program did not violate the separation of church vs. state but rather provided choice.  “It permits such individuals to exercise genuine choice among options public and private, secular and religious. The program is therefore a program of true private choice,” Rehnquist said in the 21-page ruling.  Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth […]
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COMPANY SUES HOSPITAL UNION OVER CONTRACT

Officials cancelled cleaning over pro-life co-owner   VANCOUVER, June 27, 2002 (LSN.ca) – A & A Service Company is suing the B.C. Hospital Employees Union for defamation, after a cleaning contract was cancelled because one of the company’s owners is a pro-life activist.  A & A accuses them of asserting on a TV news program, in the Vancouver Sun, and on the union’s website, “that employees of A & A pose a safety, security and health risk to patients,” because its janitors clean a new part of the B.C. Women and Children’s Hospital apart from a building where abortions are […]
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