Recent Catholic News

ST. THOMAS, Ont., July 5, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The legal strategy of the parents’ lawyers in the Aylmer child abduction case is becoming clear after the trial judge’s publication ban was lifted last week by a more senior court. The mother’s lawyer, Valerie Wise, is not aguing the case on religious freedom grounds or the right of parents to spank. Instead, she has argued that social workers and police violated the parents’ Charter rights by entering their home and abducting their seven children without warrant—and that all their evidence is therefore inadmissible.  Family and Children’s Services of St. Thomas and […]

THE HAGUE, July 5, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The newly elected Dutch government, described by observers as a “sharp turn to the right,” will in all likelihood do nothing to change the notorious euthanasia and homosexual marriage laws brought in a year ago by the former leftist government.  The changes proposed so far will slightly alter the country’s liberal drug laws, banning safety tests of ecstasy narcotics at dance parties, and relocating marijuana cafes farther from schools and borders.  Other reforms will tinker with the refugee/asylum system and oblige immigrants to learn Dutch. The notorious one-fifth of Dutch citizens who receive […]

PRETORIA, South Africa, July 5, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The investigation into the abuse of patients undergoing abortions at Philadelphia Hospital near Groblersdal, which started in the last week of June, has placed some much-needed attention on the plight of traumatized healthcare workers pressured into participating in abortions.  Doctors for Life in South Africa published quotes from some healthcare workers, who chose to remain nameless to protect their jobs, in a recent press release, as follows:  Healthcare worker 1: “I never really understood what a TOP [Termination of Pregnancy] was, and didn’t really think to find out, I didn’t ask the […]

OTTAWA, July 5, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Activists who claim to represent victims of abuse by lay officials and clergy in Catholic institutions are hoping to cash in on Pope John Paul’s upcoming visit to Canada. Described by activists and media as “survivors” (presumably to shamefully garner some of the resonance of Holocaust survival), they want a “10-minute sit-down” with the pontiff to “restore some of their lost dignity, if not their faith,” reports Canadian Press.  “The bishops in Canada have been treating many survivors with utter contempt and hatred,” David Gagnon, director of the so-called Survivors Network of those Abused […]

President George W. Bush celebrated a highly spiritual Independence Day, invoking “the wisdom and the blessing of Divine Providence” that he believes have guided the nation “under God” for 226 years, criticizing the recent circuit court decision (now suspended pending appeal) to ban the Pledge of Allegiance from schools. For U.S. media coverage see: http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020705-19828104.htm and: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A25857-2002Jul4

TORONTO, July 4, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Scott Brockie, the Christian printer who was embroiled in court cases over refusing a printing job for a homosexual activist organization, has decided not to appeal the June 17 ruling in his case. In a letter to supporters, Brockie explained his decision saying: “After much thought, prayer, and discussions with many lawyers, we have decided not to appeal the court’s ruling, as the grounds for appeal are fairly thin, and we risk losing the gains that we have made…remember that an appeal needs to be made when it is felt that there are ‘errors […]

Says all religious schools must bow to Human Rights Code on “same sex partnership status” TORONTO, July 4, 2002 (LSN.ca) – At a press conference today, Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Keith Norton took direct aim at religious schooling.  The Canadian Press reports that Norton, said he was deeply troubled by the lack of any regulatory requirement for private schools to comply with the provincial human-rights code.  Singling out publicly funded Catholic education and the proposed Ontario private school tax credit, Norton said, “If public funds are to be used in any way, directly or indirectly, to fund such schools, there […]

WARSAW, July 4, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Polish politicians reacted with indignation to a resolution by the European Parliament calling on all of Europe to legalize abortion.  The BBC reports that the Polish parliament’s European affairs committee rejected what it called pro-abortion pressure.  Poland and Ireland were the main targets of the abortion pushing report.  See related LifeSite coverage:  EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PASSES RESOLUTION CALLING FOR ALL EUROPE TO LEGALIZE ABORTION https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/jul/02070301.html   See the BBC report:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_2092000/2092896.stm

OTTAWA, July 4, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The last two decades have seen Canadian fertility drop to a record low of 1.52 children per woman in 1999, compared to an American rate of 2.08.  In “Trends in Canadian and American fertility 1980 to 1999” Statistics Canada laments that, “For almost a century, Canada’s population growth rate had been higher than that of the United States,” but that “Canada’s growth is now only about three-quarters of the growth south of the border.” Stats Can offers several theories to explain the growing difference:  – Marriage occurs earlier and more often in the United […]

BROOKLYN, N.Y., July 4, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Loretta C. Marra and Dennis J. Malvasi, the Brooklyn pro-lifers who unwittingly put the FBI on the trail of James C. Kopp, are getting a plea deal with the probability of a much lighter prison sentence because they helped persuade Kopp not to fight extradition from France in 2001. One of Marra’s associates—a man who was offered the opportunity to have dinner with Kopp abroad—was an FBI informer masquerading as a member of the pro-life community to track down Kopp.  The report comes from sources quoted by Buffalo News—one of the few media […]