Thursday May 18, 2000
See today’s LifeSiteNews stories
CANADIAN BISHOPS’ ORGANIZATION CONTRADICTS VATICAN POLICY
OTTAWA, May 18 (LSN.ca) – Campaign Life Coalition leader Jim Hughes is shocked by the recent reaffirmation of support issued for the International March of Women 2000 by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), the Catholic Women’s League (CWL), the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP), and the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC). Hughes told LifeSite News that given the irrefutable evidence that the march includes the support for abortion as one of its objectives, the CCCB endorsement is scandalous. Moreover Hughes asserts that the Vatican would disagree with the endorsement.
“Campaign Life Coalition has worked directly with the Holy See at the United Nations for many years lobbying on these very issues,” said Hughes. He noted that the stance of the Vatican on such matters is clearly exemplified by the withdrawal of even token financial support for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). While UNICEF, like the March of Women, has some goals which are commendable, the UNICEF support for contraception and abortion ruled out even symbolic church monetary support for the group.
United Way support has similarly suffered. Mr. Hughes was chair of the Toronto archdiocesan pastoral council under the late Archbishop Phillip Pocock. He was a member of the archbishop’s executive when support for the United Way campaign was withdrawn due to the inclusion of Planned Parenthood, the world’s largest abortion agency. “[ Pocock ] did not want to associate with Planned Parenthood for fear that people would believe them to be worthy of support,” said Hughes. The archbishop scoffed at assurances that Catholic money to United Way would not go to Planned Parenthood saying it wouldn’t matter which pocket they took the money from. “Thank God for him and his leadership,” said Hughes, “he is one of the reasons why I got involved in the pro-life movement.”
The National Post reported yesterday that the CCCB endorsement comes despite the public protest of at least several prominent bishops. Other than the signature of CCCB president Bishop Gerald Wiesner on the original document supporting the march, the only Canadian bishop to publicly defend the funding of the march has been Calgary’s Bishop Fred Henry – the sole Canadian Bishop on the executive of the CCODP. The Post notes that Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic of Toronto, Bishop Anthony Tonnos of Hamilton, Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Sault Ste. Marie, and Bishop Jude Saint-Antoine, the auxiliary Bishop of Montreal, oppose funding to the march.
In related news CCODP has embarked on an intense campaign to discredit the LifeSite News reports exposing the march as being supportive of abortion. A package of information has been created by CCODP and sent to dioceses all over Canada to justify their $110,000 support for the march. The material is also on the CCODP website. Coverage in the Catholic Register quoted CCCB general secretary Msgr. Peter Schonenbach (reportedly the original impetus behind the CCCB endorsement) criticizing Cardinal Ambrozic’s decision to withdraw support for the march. “There has been a very, very quick reaction in Toronto . . . They took that quick action without consulting,” said Schonenbach. “The trouble with the pro-life people is they take everything out of context,” he said.
Both the CCODP information package and the reaffirmation of support letter by the CCCB and others attempt to suggest that the demands for the march do not include abortion. However, both groups also conveniently fail to include the known fact that the full coordinating committee of the World March of Women “unanimously decided that the demand to have a ‘pro- life’ contingent at the World March is unacceptable to us since the anti-choice position defended by your organization is in clear contradiction with the objectives pursued by the march.”
The women’s march is also strongly supportive of various UN Women’s agreements about which the Vatican has expressed serious reservations. For instance, the governing body of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW opposes the recognition of Mothers Day by any nation.
See reports on CEDAW https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/may/00051507.html and https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1998/july/980725.html
For LifeSite’s complete coverage of the March of Women scandal see:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/may/00051601.html https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/may/00050901.html https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/april/00042801.html https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/april/000421.html https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/april/00040301.html https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/april/00040602.html
See the National Post and Catholic Register coverage at:
https://www.nationalpost.com/news.asp?f=000517/291125&s2;=nati… https://www.catholicregister.org/2000/news/051500_2W.html
See the CCODP web site info at:
https://www.devp.org/anglais/wmqanda.htm
BILL AIMS TO PROTECT CANADIAN SOVEREIGNTY FROM UN
OTTAWA, May 18 (LSN.ca) – On April 13, the House of Commons debated a Private Members’ Bill (C-214) introduced by Bloc Quebecois MP Daniel Turp which, if passed, would require the federal government to bring all international treaties to the people’s representatives in Parliament before ratifying them. Private Members’ Bills (PMBs) usually aren’t passed, but the bill is votable and appears to have the support of all the opposition parties. One more hour of debate must take place before a vote on it takes place. Specifically, the bill applies to treaties which govern areas “under the legislative authority of the legislatures of the provinces or in a field affecting an area under the legislative authority of the legislatures of the provinces.”
Currently the Canadian constitution gives the power to conclude treaties exclusively to the executive branch of the federal government. Parliament is supposed to be responsible for passing the legislation necessary to implement those treaties.
A copy of the bill is available at:
https://www.parl.gc.ca/36/2/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/priva…
(with files from Christian News Ottawa)
ONTARIO PROPOSES RICO-TYPE CRIME FIGHTING MEASURES
TORONTO, May 18 (LSN.ca) – Ontario’s Attorney General Jim Flaherty announced Tuesday that the Ontario government is establishing a new law to fight organized crime that will be similar to America’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. Flaherty told the Ottawa Sun that the legislation will allow the province to move against property and other assets of crime figures before or, in some cases, without criminal charges. The paper notes that “the legislation will also allow strike forces — experts such as forensic accountants and special prosecutors — to seize third-party-owned properties like the so-called “mother-in-law’s house” where crime’s profits are shielded.”
Pro-life leaders are concerned with the proposal since in the US, abortionists and pro- abortion groups have successfully exploited the RICO law against pro-lifers, accusing the pro-life groups of organized “crime” for their efforts to curb the business of abortuaries. The successful class-action suit against certain pro-life leaders in April of 1998, has opened the door for massive “damage” claims from the 1,000 abortion mills across the US.
See the LifeSite coverage of the US RICO suit:
https://lsn.ca/ldn/1998/april/980420.html#1
See the Ottawa Sun story at:
https://www.canoe.ca/OttawaNews/OS.OS-05-17-0015.html
EMAIL ACTION ITEM UPDATES
* When contacting Senators with regard to the “Of Life and Death” report, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of Ontario suggests you ask them to:
1. Remove any reference to third degree or “Compassionate” homicide from the “Of Life and Death” five year update especially because its inclusion in the update may cause undue influence amongst the Supreme Court of Canada Judges who will be hearing the Latimer case starting June 14, 2000.
2. Delay the release of the five-year update for the Of Life and Death report until after the Supreme Court has heard the Latimer case.
Please contact the Senators involved with the “Of Life and Death” update committee by mailing to: (Name of Senator), Senate of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A4 or by calling 1-800-267-7362. See background on this item at:
https://lsn.ca/ldn/2000/may/000517.html#1
* Christian activists suggest that complaints against the sacriligious production of “Our Daily Bread” be made to: Harold Redekopp of the CBC and to CRTC standing committee on heritage before whom CBC was demanding money earlier this week.
Harold Redekopp V.P. English Television Canadian Broadcasting Corporation P.O. Box 500, Station “A” Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6 fax 416 205-6980
cc David Bazay , Ombudsman (fax 416 205-2825) Slawko Klymkiw, Acting Executive Director of Network Programming (fax 416205-6919)
Contact the CRTC at: CRTC Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2 1-877-249-CRTC (toll-free) [email protected]
LIFESITE NEWSBYTES
Focus on the Family Canada reported this week that concerned parents in Manitoba’s Interlake region failed Tuesday to persuade their school division to scrap a proposal to allow public health nurses to dispense contraceptives to high school students. Parents did, however, win some concessions from the trustees, who agreed that children would not be able to see the public-health nurse against their parents’ wishes.
Catholic World News reported yesterday that on May 16 the Vatican approvingly called worldwide attention to the fact that the United States bishops’ conference has formally denounced the organization known as Catholics for a Free Choice.
Zenit news reported that as the world wishes Pope John Paul II a happy 80th birthday today, Youth for Life is planning to continue with their remembrance of his 81st “firstday” on August 18. “The first day of a person’s life is at conception, nine months before birth,” said Beth Cavanaugh-O’Keefe, a member of Youth for Life (YFL) in Damascus, MD. https://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=2862
US NEWS ROUNDUP
The Massachusetts Education Commissioner, faced with the irrefutable taped evidence of his (state) employees’ giving graphic descriptions of homosexual sex to children as young as 14, admitted Tuesday that “the participation of our staff in conversations with students about explicit issues of sexuality outside the realm of AIDS/HIV prevention was wrong. The workshops were of prurient nature, and not educational, and what we heard suggests that the discussion contributed absolutely nothing to the students’ understanding of how to avoid AIDS and HIV.” https://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_fosterj_news/20000518_x…
STOPP International, has produced a report indicating how Planned Parenthood has covered up the baby body parts business it has engaged in through its many abortuaries. The just released Ryan Report details how this grisly practice operates from an abortion mill in Kansas City, Missouri. STOPP reports how a Planned Parenthood official confirmed publicly that its abortion mill in Sacramento, California and a “few other facilities,” have delved into the dirty trade with “tissue and organ acquisition companies.” Although Planned Parenthood is at the heart of this business, and everyone who testified before the congressional hearing in March was associated with Planned Parenthood, “our elected officials conspired to keep Planned Parenthood’s name out of the hearing.” https://www.all.org/stopp/rr0005.htm
Focus on the Family reports that a Greenville Texas teacher in the Independent School was told she could only get the position of principal if she removed her own children from a Christian school. https://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/A0011476.html
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) reported today that the Tufts University Committee on Student Life voted unanimously in a May 15 meeting to remand charges against Tufts Christian Fellowship, a chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The prosecution was launched against the group because it chose not to consider a woman for a leadership role because she supported homosexuality. The move reverses the committee’s April 13 decision to effectively ban Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) from the campus. https://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/A0011467.html