Recent Catholic News

OTTAWA, Mar 3 (LSN) – Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy announced on Friday the agenda for the Canada-China Symposium on Legal Questions Related to Human Rights in a Civil Society taking place today in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia.  Predictably,  the forced abortions arising from China's one-child policy are not part of the discussion.  Yesterday the London-based human rights group Amnesty International said thousands of people in China suffered gross human rights violations last year despite some high-profile UN rights initiatives. Thus contrary to the praise heaped upon China by Canada and the European Union in recent weeks, the facts […]

JUNEAU, Alaska, Mar 2 (LSN) – On Friday, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski ruled against Alaska's law banning same-sex marriage. In his ruling Michalski said choosing a partner is a “fundamental” right that could result in a “nontraditional” choice and is protected by the Constitution. The state is expected to ask the Alaska Supreme Court to review the decision.

CHICAGO, Mar 2 (LSN) – A federal class-action lawsuit filed 12 years ago by the pro-abortion National Organization of Women (NOW) begins today in Chicago with jury selection. Opening arguments will be heard on Wednesday. In the suit, the pro-aborts are accusing the Pro-Life Action League and Operation Rescue of racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. NOW's attorneys will attempt to “prove” that certain violent acts that have occurred at clinics nationwide are part of a pattern of racketeering activity engineered by the defendants.  The decision could have far-reaching effects

WASHINGTON, Mar 2, (LSN) – Today, Prime Minister Jean Chretien accepted a United Nations award on behalf of Canada for efforts to help the disabled. Ironically the news comes only days after the right to life of Canadians with disabilities was brought into question, with the dismissal of a case against suspected “mercy-killer” Dr Nancy Morrison of Halifax.  Evidently, the slap on the wrist Robert Latimer received for the killing of his disabled daughter also did not sway the UN decision away from awarding Canada its praise.

SURREY, BC, Mar 2 (LSN) – Bruce Kuhn, a lawyer for the Surrey school board, released a poll yesterday that shows most Surrey residents back the board in banning same-sex books.  The poll showed that 61 per cent of the 502 Surrey residents polled believe that the “three proposed books dealing with same-sex couples should not be used in kindergarten and grade 1 classrooms under any circumstances.”  Last April, the Surrey board banned the books from all kindergarten and grade 1 classes.  Supporters of the pro-homosexual books were outraged that the poll was taken, exposing the public opposition to the […]

OTTAWA, Mar 2 (LSN) – The Toronto Star reported today that the question of equal treatment of homosexual and heterosexual couples in Ontario would be taken to the Supreme Court of Canada. Ontario is asking the courts to allow these “political” decisions to be made by elected officials rather than the courts.  A ruling in the Ontario Court, general division, by Madam Justice Gloria Epstein declared the definition of spouse in the Ontario Family Law Act which included only heterosexual couples “unconstitutional.” Epstein then went on to substitute a definition of spouse which would include homosexual partners. The province appealed […]

VATICAN, Feb 27 (LSN) – Bishop Elio Sgreccia, the vice-president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, reinforced the pope's condemnation of prenatal screening and killing of embryos,  in an address to the Academy Thursday. He noted that the diagnostic tests were characteristic of the eugenics movement which culminated in the Nazi era.  In Hitler's time, however,  scientists were unable to identify “undesirable” babies before birth.  Modern technology has allowed doctors “to select embryos, and proceed like Hitler.”

MADRID, Spain, Feb 27 (LSN) – On Tuesday, the Spanish Parliament voted on whether to allow debate of two bills proposing to “liberalize” the Spanish abortion law.  The bills would introduce the notion of “psychological harm to the mother” as a condition justifying abortion.  The phrase has been used in countries around the world as a justification for what amounts to abortion on demand.  After three tie votes, however, the Spanish Parliament was deadlocked. According to Spanish Parliamentary regulations, the request for a hearing of the bills was rejected due to the indecisive position of parliament. Providentially, former socialist Prime […]

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb 27 (LSN) – On Thursday the Oregon Health Services Commission voted 10-1 to cover assisted suicide as a medical service for low-income residents under the state's health plan.  Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act” allows doctors to prescribe lethal drugs at the request of terminally ill patients who are deemed to have less than six months to live.  Commission chairman Alan Bates said, “religious opponents have no right to impose their moral views on others.”  Speaking for the law's most outspoken opponent, the Oregon Catholic Conference, spokesman Bob Castagna said, “there would be no more tragic discrimination against […]

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb 27 (LSN) – On Wednesday, Grand Rapids’ Metropolitan Hospital requested permission to hold a 21-year-old in treatment, since he was threatening to kill himself with the help of suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian. A psychiatrist working for Kent County Probate Court denied the hospital's request, and the patient, Roosevelt Dawson, was dead five hours later.  The young man, an Oakland University student from Southfield, had been unable to use his arms and legs and had depended on a ventilator to breathe since a viral infection attacked his spinal cord 13 months ago. Dawson, Kevorkian's youngest reported victim, was […]