Recent Catholic News

SAN SALVADOR, Aug 14, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has responded to devastating earthquakes in El Salvador by sending reproductive health kits including abortifacient morning-after-pills and vacuum aspirators used for early term abortions, according to Julia Cardenal, president of “Si A La Vida” (Yes to Life). Cardenal, who heads the Salvadoran group told Cybercast News Service that the UNFPA measures violate the country’s constitution which state that life begins at conception. “We had two major earthquakes in El Salvador in January and February of this year, and instead of sending us food or medicine, or something […]

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug 14, 2001 (LSN.ca) – In a letter published in the New York Times Sunday, President George Bush explained his decision on stem cell research claiming, “There are, however, two ways for the federal government to aggressively promote stem cell research without inviting ethical abuses.” The first with adult cells not from embryos and the second, contends Bush, is from existing stem cell lines created albeit by the previous destruction of human embryos. “While it is unethical to end life in medical research, it is ethical to benefit from research where life and death decisions have already been […]

LONDON, Aug 14, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Similar to China's aborted baby tissue bank, Britain is set to open an embryo stem cell bank next year. Dr. Robert Lovell-Badge, an embryologist at the Medical Research Council, told The Wall Street Journal that initially the bank would serve as a repository for embryonic stem cells from around the world, allowing researchers to study their growth and differentiation in laboratories and eventually generate fresh cell lines from new embryos. The macabre project has the backing of Liam Donaldson, Britain's Chief Medical Officer of Health, according to the Journal. Annanova reports that India is […]

Yesterday’s story regarding the CARDINAL’S DINNER listed an incorrect email for Cardinal Ambrozic. The correct email address for the Archdiocese is:  Office of the Chancellor of Spiritual Affairs: [email protected] See the LifeSite coverage at: http://lsn.ca/ldn/2001/aug/010813.html#1

TORONTO, Aug 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Faithful Catholics in Canada, still reeling from having former US President Bill Clinton give the keynote address at a fundraiser for a Catholic hospital, are very troubled again as former Prime Minister John Turner is set to chair the annual Toronto Cardinal’s Dinner. Turner, while Justice Minister in 1969 under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, passed the notorious Omnibus bill, which included the legalization of abortion and homosexuality. LifeSite has obtained a letter by Turner sent to all Catholic priests in the Toronto diocese asking for support for the dinner, listing himself as “2001 Dinner […]

TORONTO, Aug 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) – After months of speculation, Stephen Harper has given an indication that he may be considering a run for the Canadian Alliance leadership. Today the National Citizens’ Coalition announced that Harper is stepping down as president, “no later than December 31st.” The organization which fights for “more freedom through less government” wished Harper “the best of luck in whatever course he decides to take.” However, NCC spokesman Gerry Nicholls told LifeSite that Harper did not mention what his future plans were. Political rumor suggests Harper is one of the main contenders for the future leadership […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) – A California couple is being sued by a 26-year-old British woman who they contracted to be a surrogate mother. Charles Wheeler and Martha Berman agreed to pay $20,000 to Helen Beasley, if she agreed to be implanted with embryos, created, according to the BBC, with ova from a donor selected by the couple and sperm donated by Wheeler. However, according to Beasley’s suit, the couple backed out of the deal when they found out she was carrying twins rather than a single child. Weeks later, the couple contacted the mother telling her they […]

WASHINGTON, Aug 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Two responses to President Bush’s stem cell decision deserve special mention. One delivered by Mark Pickup, a disabled activist who has chronic, progressive multiple sclerosis. Mark writes, President Bush “crossed a moral line . In seeking compromise, (he) unintentionally drove into America’s conscience the thin edge of an immoral wedge; the wedge will widen as more pressure is applied by special interests to have increased research that relies upon destroying early human life.” Mark explains, “This has been the pattern of human behaviour throughout the ages: That which was previously unthinkable becomes quite thinkable, […]

WICHITA, Kansas, Aug 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) – In a horrific report, WorldNetDaily’s Julie Foster has exposed the macabre practice of late-term abortionist George Tiller. According to his website, Tiller offers abortion of babies up to 38 weeks of gestation diagnosed with various debilitating or life-threatening diseases including kidney disease, spina bifida, Down’s Syndrome and a “variety of other very significant abnormalities.” On the website, Tiller refers to his late-term abortions as, “premature delivery of a stillborn” but ads that “on the first day of the process, an injection of a medication is made into the baby to assure that it […]

Raising the specter of eugenics, human cloning scientist Dr. Severino Antinori is promising that through his cloning method, “I will make perfect children.” He says he will destroy all embryos he finds imperfect.  http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/08/12/stifgneur02002.html An International Planned Parenthood Federation memo leaked to the Catholic Herald shows that IPPF has launched a campaign against parents’ rights. IPPF emphasizes that children should be able to continue to receive abortions and contraception without their parents’ consent.  http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/08/10/wplan10.xml Researchers at McGill University’s Montreal Neurological Institute have extracted stem cells from human skin and have grown them into smooth muscle cells, fat cells and brain […]