Recent Catholic News

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As media experts know, television has been used in the past to open public acceptance to novel or controversial subjects, as the case of gay and lesbian couplings illustrates. Network moguls at ABC may be preparing the way for a female President of the United States – Hillary Clinton. Drudge reports today that ABC’s fall schedule will include ‘Commander-in-Chief’, which it describes as “a drama following the challenges facing the first female President of the United States.” With Clinton gunning for President in 2008, the drama, which casts actress Geena Davis – a Democrat […]

NEW YORK, May 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Through three papacies and thirty years, the US weekly Jesuit magazine, America, has been the intellectual flagship of the leftist dissident movement within the Catholic Church. Three weeks into Benedict XVI’s papacy, however, the editor has announced his resignation after complaints from bishops about its anti-Catholic editorial policies. Thomas J. Reese SJ, according to anonymous Jesuit sources in Rome, has been the subject of complaints from American bishops for his criticism of the new Pope and anti-Catholic statements in recent editorials, especially during the papal interregnum (the time between the death of John […]

NEW ORLEANS, LA, May 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Increasing tension in the United States between local bishops and Catholic educational institutions have now affected the Archdiocese of New Orleans after the President of Loyola University announced that the Landrieu family would receive an honorary degree in part for their exemplary public Catholicism. In a May 5th press release Archbishop Alfred Hughes announced he would not attend the commencement activities at Loyola University. In his statement Archbishop Hughes praised Judge and Mrs. Landrieu for both their remarkable family and for their service to the Church and the community. The Archbishop noted […]

DUBLIN, May 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Diarmuid Martin, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin has asked for an investigation into allegations that a Catholic social service agency has been providing pregnant women with information on how to seek abortions. CURA, pregnancy information and assistance agency and an official arm of the bishops’ conference, has been asked to provide details about its adherence to Catholic moral theology, particularly regarding cooperation with abortion. Irish pro-life groups have complained to the Archbishop that CURA, while not directly sending unborn children to their deaths in abortion facilities, has a policy of giving women the contact […]

STOCKHOLM, May 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sweden’s high court has said it will review the hate crimes acquittal of a pastor convicted last year for so-called hate crimes for preaching against homosexuality in a sermon in 2003. Ake Green, the pastor of a Swedish Pentecostal church in Kalmar, Sweden, was given a 30-day suspended sentence in July by a Swedish court for inciting hatred against homosexuals. Green was prosecuted in January 2004 for “hate speech against homosexuals” for a sermon he preached citing Biblical references to homosexuality. In February 2005, an appeals court overturned the conviction, saying it is not […]

VATICAN, May 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that the Pope of the Catholic Church does not have the authority to alter the church’s constant teaching on the sacredness of human life and thus her teachings on abortion, contraception and euthanasia. During a Mass on the occasion of his taking possession of his bishopric of the city of Rome, Pope Benedict dismissed the false idea that a Pope may rule according to his own wishes and desires. “This authority to teach frightens many people, both within and outside the Church. They ask themselves whether it does […]

MILL VALLEY, California, May 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A homosexual activist student at a California high school has admitted to staging a series of attacks that targeted homosexuals, including “die fag” graffiti scrawled on the school and on the same student’s car. The string of attacks at the Tamalpais High School also included threatening voice mail messages and “fag class” written on the classroom door of a lesbian teacher, according to a marinij.com report. A 17-year-old girl and top wrestler admitted to police that she was the perpetrator of the crimes. She also heads the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. Police say […]

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The US Food and Drug Administration has banned sperm donation from sexually active gay donors, citing the HIV prevalence associated with sodomy. “With an anonymous sperm donor, you can’t be too careful,” said FDA spokesman Eleanor Nicoll, according to a foxnews.com report. “Our concern is for the health of the recipient, not to let more and more people be sperm donors.” Several clinics said they would continue to welcome gay donors despite the new FDA regulations, arguing that the new directive is “discriminatory.” Alameda, California’s, Rainbow Flag sperm bank director Leland Traiman, for example, […]

MANASSAS, VA, May 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At least 13 Catholic colleges and universities are at odds with the U.S. bishops for inviting commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients who are public opponents of fundamental Catholic teachings on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Speakers and honorees under protest by the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) include pro-abortion politicians: California Secretary for Education Richard Riordan at the Dominican University (CA), former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at Loyola College (MD), U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitchell Landrieu at Loyola University of New Orleans, former U.S. Rep. […]

NEW PORT RICHEY, Florida, May 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Florida judge who authorized the killing of Terri Schiavo by starvation and dehydration was honored by his regional bar association last night with a ‘Special Justice Award.’ West Pasco Bar Association member Alan Scott Miller said that the Association decided to honor Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George Greer’s achievements, noting that his “professionalism and integrity was punctuated by the way he handled the Schiavo case,” as reported by CNSNews. Miller added that the award is not just because of how he handled the Schiavo case, but “for all of […]