Recent Catholic News

VANCOUVER, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – As of December 1st, B.C. women of all ages will be obtaining their emergency contraception directly from pharmacists. For the first time in history, a politician, Premier Ujjal Dosanjh changed the pharmacy bylaws so pharmacists can now “prescribe” a product directly to patients without their having to see a physician. Some B.C. pharmacists are petitioning the government to reverse this risky project. “It is not only pro-life pharmacists who are protesting,” says Vancouver pharmacist Cristina Alarcon, who represents B.C. Pharmacists for Conscience. “Our protest is not against choice per se, but against the fact that […]

Abortion, MAP in Schools, and Foetal Tissue Transplants PARIS, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – This week news from France showed an acceleration in the culture of death as the French government voted to extend abortion’s availability up to the 12th week of pregnancy. Catholic World News reported that another portion of the legislation regarding parental permission for minors seeking abortion under debate. The legislature also approved the distribution of abortifacient morning-after-pills to students in schools. Moreover, the current issue of the Lancet journal reveals that researchers in France have used the brains of aborted babies in experiments to treat Huntington’s Disease. […]

LONDON, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – Reacting to plans by the British government to lower the age of consent for homosexual sex down from 18 to 16 despite the fact that the House of Lords has twice rejected the move, religious leaders, politicians and pro-family groups have banded together. In a letter to England’s Daily Telegraph, Most Rev George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Winning, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, the Most Rev Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, and Yousuf Bhailok, secretary general of the Muslim Council […]

CINCINNATI, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – The pro-life community in Cincinnati is shocked and outraged at the antics of a supposed pro-life leader in the community for supporting the campaign of a pro-abortion judge to be appointed to the state Supreme Court. The current issue of the St. Catherine Review relates that Mary Ann Boyd, Respect Life Coordinator for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati publicly endorsed Democrat Tim Black, 47, for a seat on the Supreme Court of Ohio with lawn signs during the recent election season. Black’s ties to the pro-abortion movement run deep and his run ins with pro-lifers have […]

VATICAN CITY, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – Archbishop Javier Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Workers, was speaking on the opening of a two-day symposium at the Vatican on AIDS yesterday. During his press briefing he stressed that the “best prevention” against the deadly disease “is chastity, both within and outside of marriage, even if that means going against the “pan-sexual and permissive” trends that have given rise to the AIDS epidemic. Addressing the recent controversy which pretended that the Vatican was soon to change its stance on condoms, Barragan said, “We are opposed to the use of condoms […]

VATICAN, Dec.1, (LSN.ca/CWNews.com) At a Rome conference, U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law stated that Catholic laity must “not separate the Gospel from their daily life.” That separation is “a great menace” for contemporary society, Cardinal Law said; he cited the posture taken by lay Catholic politicians who claim to be “personally opposed” to abortion and yet vote to allow the procedure. This attitude, he said, advances the “culture of death,” which can only be overcome “by the unambiguous affirmation of the inviolability of every human life.” Following the re-election in Canada of the strongly pro-abortion “Catholic” Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien […]

TOKYO, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – Yesterday Japan’s parliament passed 229-11 a law banning human cloning with penalties on infringement including up to 10 years in prison or a fine of $90,000 (US). AP reports that the law also prohibits creating hybrid human-animal embryos and implanting them in humans or animals. Canada remains one of the only countries in the world without any laws regulating the exploding field of new reproductive technologies. For more see the AP coverage at:  http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500285178-500449855-502932719-0,00.html

Hopefully with a view to establishing order, the Vatican has called together the worlds most prominent Catholic development organizations urging them to get back in touch with their “Catholic identity”. Recent support by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace for pro-abortion initiatives like March of Women 2000 led many Catholics to question the organization’s Catholic identity.  http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=9949 Immediately following the uproar in Canada over the slamming of the Christianity of Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day, the Vatican’s top foreign-policy official, speaking to his European counterparts, has insisted that religious liberty must be seen “in its own right,” rather […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (LSN.ca) – Catholic bishops in the US were urged by the Vatican to tighten regulations governing Catholic hospitals. This followed after several acquisitions and mergers in the US led to Catholic and Catholic-affiliated hospitals providing sterilization, abortifacient contraception and morning-after pills.* However, the November 15 discussion of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (ERDs) document seems to have weakened the directives rather than strengthened them. Tragically, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) in the US has been at loggerheads with the Vatican over the directives. The CHA, under president and CEO Rev. Michael Place, […]

OTTAWA, Nov 30 (LSN.ca) – Following the news that the Netherlands had passed a law legalizing euthanasia, homosexual and euthanasia activist MP Svend Robinson (NDP) promised to push the issue again in Canada. In an interview with the Globe and Mail published yesterday he said he will introduce a private member’s bill early in the next Parliament calling on the House of Commons to “look at the recent developments in the Netherlands and also to look in depth at the whole issue of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and make recommendations to Canadian law.” Meanwhile the move in the Netherlands continues […]