Recent Catholic News

VANCOUVER, June 3 (LSN) – The Vancouver Province reported yesterday that the Vancouver General Hospital   (VGH) paid out an undisclosed settlement to the adoptive parents of a child disabled by an attempted abortion   in order to avoid a pending medical-malpractice suit. Twelve-year-old Ximena Renaerts has profound mental   and physical disabilities resulting from an attempted abortion at a clinic in Washington state. She was born   alive at Vancouver General Hospital three days three days later, on Dec. 17, 1985.  Ximena’s birth mother went to VGH for complications with her abortion, and court documents indicate that a   […]

TORONTO, June 3 (LSN) – Ontario NDP health critic Marion Boyd demanded in the legislature yesterday that the   government must guarantee the St Michael’s-Wellesley hospital takeover will not result in fewer abortions.  Since the government-mandated takeover, St Michael’s has announced abortions and some other “services” will   no longer be available at the Wellesley site.  “Can you guarantee that this [restructuring plan] means the 1,300 or more abortions that were performed last   year at the Wellesley will be performed in the next year at the Toronto East General?” Boyd asked Health   Minister Elizabeth Witmer.  Boyd’s devotion to […]

TORONTO, June 2 (LSN) – NDP MPP Frances Lankin is fuming over the stoppage of abortions at St. Michaels Hospital’s   newly merged Wellesley site. Today’s Toronto Sun reports her as saying, “That’s 1,000 to 1,500 abortion procedures   per year that will no longer be available to this community.”  Outraged that the Tory government has allowed St.  Mike’s the choice not to commit abortions Lankin said, “the silence (from Health Minister Elizabeth Witmer) is   deafening.”  The NDP has called on the Tories to force the Catholic hospital to violate its principles and permit abortions at   its Wellesley […]

TORONTO, June 2 (LSN) – Two weeks ago, Bishop Roman Danylak, of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Toronto, issued a press   release calling for the “restoration of Catholic teaching” in the Canadian Catholic School system The bishop   notes that, despite dedicated teachers and expensive programs, children are not adequately instructed in moral   issues and recognizes much of the blame is due to “gravely flawed” instructional material.  One such program is the Ontario Fully Alive “family life” series which Bishop Danylak says “is woefully deficient   in its treatment of moral principles.”“The Fully Alive program is not a program […]

LONDON, ON, June 2 (LSN) – Delegates at a Reform Party biennial convention last weekend passed resolutions   mandating a “Family Assessment test” for pertinent legislation and also a resolution demanding accountability to Parliament by all official Canadian delegations to the UN. The measures were the result of hard work by the   pro-life, pro-family community and the unwavering commitment of Reform's family critic, MP Eric Lowther.  The Family Assessment test would ensure that all pertinent proposed legislation would be assessed for its impact   on the family.  Criteria such as whether or not it replaces the responsibility of parents […]

OTTAWA, June 2 (LSN) – The current issue of Alberta Report magazine warns of a coming change to Canadian Criminal   Code “Sections 318 and 319, adding ‘sexual orientation' to “colour, race, religion or ethnic origin' as statutory   grounds for hate-crimes prosecutions.”  The article reported on a government funded survey of “gays, lesbians and   bisexuals” being undertaken by the gay activist group Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE) which is   expected to cost Canadian taxpayers almost $400,000.  Numerous indicators of a coming change in the law to persecute pro-family Canadians were presented:  —Secretary of State for […]

WASHINGTON, June 1 (LSN) – On Thursday, President Clinton signed an executive order granting “minority” status to   homosexuals, by adding the term “sexual orientation” to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in federal   law. “Individuals should not be denied a job on the basis of something that has no relationship to their ability to   perform their work,” Clinton said. While Clinton’s measure is restricted to the public sector, he urged Congress to   pass similar legislation across the board.

WASHINGTON, June 1 (LSN) – At the recent “Values Summit” with Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, several staunch   pro-life leaders appeared to take an “incrementalist” approach to the abortion issue, says an article in today’s U.S. News and World Report. Apparently, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum,  and Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition focused on plans to ban partial-birth abortion, rather than   their ultimate goal of full legal protection of the right to life from conception onward. While such an approach may   be pragmatic, it is controversial […]

PROVO, Utah, June 1 (LSN) – In a concise and illuminating article released Friday, Brigham Young University Law   Professor Richard G. Wilkins detailed potential abuses of the United Nation’s proposed International Criminal Court (ICC). Using quotations from ICC documents, Professor Wilkins demonstrates how the UN plans to make the “denial   of abortion” a “war crime,” and how certain “crimes” as defined by the ICC may “criminalize the denial of marriage to   homosexuals.” He notes that the proposed court runs the “risk of expanding to condemn (and eventually eliminate)  traditional cultural and religious values.”  Please see the article […]

OTTAWA, June 1 (LSN) – The 1998 Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, released   last week, indicates the grim consequences Canada faces for its anti-life, anti-family policies at home and abroad.  One section of the report, Population Aging and Information for Parliament: Understanding the Choices, details   economic implications of Canada’s dismal demographic situation, especially how the country will soon face grave   difficulties caring for a disproportionately large number of senior citizens.  “Unless our productivity somehow increases significantly or patterns of work and retirement change substantially,  the current demographic trends suggest that the growth […]