Recent Catholic News

LONDON, Aug 17 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Yesterday the British government accepted a recommendation to allow human “therapeutic” cloning but said MPs would be allowed a free vote in Parliament on the issue. The decision also means that the government will permit the destruction of human embryos to obtain “stem cells” that might one day lead to cures for diseases. The embryos may be cloned up to 14 days. Cardinal Thomas Winning of Glasgow commented on the condemned the decision saying “Obtaining stem cells from a human embryo is morally wrong, because it involves the destruction of a human life. Human life […]

*Court upholds 50 candidate election threshold:  A federal law that requires political parties to field at least 50 candidates per election to maintain their official tax-deductible status does not violate the Charter of Rights, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled. In a unanimous decision released yesterday, a three-judge panel overturned a 1999 lower court ruling that had found the candidate threshold discriminatory and reduced it to two.

WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When Roger Cardinal Mahony announced he was to appear at the Democratic convention pro-life leaders were dismayed. The party’s official pro-abortion position has in the past led prominent church leaders such as Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and Cardinal John O’Connor to adhere to a tradition of rejecting speaking invitations to the Convention. However, Cardinal Mahony pleasantly surprised pro-lifers when he addressed the Convention praying for the unborn.  “In you, O God, we trust … that you will keep us ever committed to protect the life and well-being of all people but especially unborn children, the sick […]

Court Reinstates Law With South Carolina Abortuary Regulation In a 2 to 1 ruling, a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel overturned U.S. District Judge William Traxler’s finding that the 1996 regulations violate the Constitution’s due process and equal protection clauses. The regulations apply to clinics that perform at least five abortions a month. Among the many items covered are airflow standards, doorway widths and a requirement that registered nurses assist in abortion.  *FDA Close to Approving RU-486:  The Food and Drug Administration is close to approving a controversial abortion-inducing pill, mifepristone.

KITCHENER, Aug 17 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day has proposed giving a federal tax credit to parents who choose to send their children to religious schools . While noting that funding of schools themselves is “a provincial jurisdiction” he said “providing a tax credit to parents “is constitutionally a role for the federal government in terms of the protection of the rights of minorities. And that is something I feel strongly about.”

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A huge study on nonoxynol-9, the active ingredient in most contraceptive creams, gels, suppositories, foams, films and sponges, has found that the chemical makes women more vulnerable to the AIDS virus and genital lesions. The study involving 990 prostitutes in four African countries found that users of the contraceptive were significantly more likely to contract HIV than those who were issued a placebo. The lead researcher for the study, Lut Van Damme of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, presented the results to a shocked audience at the International AIDS Conference in Durban […]

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a state law requiring minors to notify a parent before getting an abortion. Conservative News Service reports that a senator’s attack on a reparative therapy conference is drawing fire from the Minnesota Family Council, which is accusing the lawmaker of being hypocritical on homosexuality. In a letter to a homosexual advocacy group August 4, Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) denounced what he called the “divisive and hurtful tactics” of the group Focus on the Family, which sponsored a seminar in suburban Minneapolis Saturday about people who left the homosexual lifestyle to pursue […]

MONTREAL, Aug 16 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Professor Jeffrey Asher has just left Dawson College in Montreal after feminist administrators canceled his course on men’s rights. The National Post reports today that Asher, a professor of “men’s studies” and “feminist propaganda”, had his course cancelled and was reassigned because, according to the administration, a “significant number of students” in his classes feel “belittled and marginalized if they voice their opinions or try to substantiate an interpretation of data that may be different.” Interestingly, however, Asher was judged by 85% of his 1999 predominantly female class as outstanding, and 100% rated him as […]

*Threat of Global Warming Downgraded:  The National Post reported that one of the scientists who first raised the alarm on global warming and the greenhouse effect is now admitting that the situation may not be as dire as he had earlier predicted. James Hansen acknowledges that carbon dioxide from burning oil or natural gas was not the main cause of the rapid warming of the Earth in recent decades. He is also more optimistic that global warming can be prevented “without any economically wrenching actions” because of the growing realization that too much emphasis has been placed on the effects […]

PRINCE GEORGE, BC, Aug 16 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Both Bishop Gerald Wiesner of Prince George and Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary have publicly reiterated their support for the pro-abortion World March of Women. Bishop George was interviewed in the Prince George Citizen last week, and Bishop Henry used his column in the Calgary Sun (July 30) to publicize his views on the March. Both bishops acknowledge in their articles that one of the March planks is support for abortion, but they say that they support the March nonetheless for the good that it proposes in terms of eliminating violence against women […]