LifeSite Daily News for Thursday October 25, 2007

See today’s LifeSiteNews stories

Send news tips

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail Print

107-Count Grand Jury Indictment Against Planned Parenthood Could Open “New Front” in US Abortion Fight

US Pro-life leaders call for suspension of tax funding

By Hilary White

TOPEKA, Kansas, October 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life advocates in the US have asked for the suspension of taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood, the largest and richest abortion organization in the world. Citing a criminal case against the group, pro-life leaders will send a letter to all members of Congress urging suspension of the more than $300 million Planned Parenthood receives as a tax free organization.

A grand jury indictment is pending against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri on 107 counts, 23 felony and 84 misdemeanour, of unlawful late-term abortions and other abortion-connected crimes. The case is set to go forward since a judge ruled there is “probable cause” to proceed. The allegations were brought by Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline.

Robert D. Novak wrote in the Washington Post that the action brings up a “new front” in the US abortion fight and that the case may end by bringing Planned Parenthood under the legal gun throughout the country.

Charges include “unlawful failure to determine viability for late-term abortion,” “making false information” and “unlawful failure to maintain records.” Should the case succeed, pro-life advocates could use it as a means to stop Planned Parenthood throughout the US. Forty other states have laws similar to those in Kansas that say abortion is legal only if it has been established that the child could not survive outside the womb.

Concerned Women for America is among the groups signatory to the letter to Congress that says,“We urge you to act to ensure that our tax dollars are not subsidizing abortion clinics that perform possibly illegal abortions.”

The charges were based on 29 patient’s abortion records dating to 2003 and some Kansas legislators are asking why the same information has not been brought to bear in the last four years. This week, three legislators sent a letter to Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison demanding to know why the same charges were not filed earlier. Morrison had cleared Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri of any criminal wrongdoing earlier this year.

Dr. David Stevens, the head of the Christian Medical Association asked, “If just 29 records from one Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Kansas have produced 107 criminal charges, isn’t it possible that similar abuses are also occurring at other of the 860 Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide?”

Stevens asked, “Why does the abortion industry remain the most unregulated medical operation in this country? Is political correctness stifling investigations and enforcement of the law?”

Cardinal to Deliver Nationwide Pro-Life Address in Dominican Republic

Event is part of massive campaign against abortion decriminalization initiative

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

SANTO DOMINGO, October 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, the Archbishop of the Dominican Republic’s capital of Santo Domingo, will deliver a nationwide address on prime-time television on Thursday denouncing a recent legislative initiative to decriminalize abortion.

The pre-recorded address, which will also be transmitted by radio at 5 pm, is part of a massive campaign being waged by the Catholic Church against the proposed legal changes, which would decriminalize the practice of “therapeutic abortion”, a vague concept likely to establish abortion on demand.

Currently, the Dominican Republic is one of several countries that specifies criminal penalties for all abortions, although life-saving measures that endanger the life of the fetus are not prosecuted. The possibility of decriminalizing abortion was raised recently during hearings on the ongoing overhaul of the nation’s penal code.

The pro-life campaign will continue tomorrow with a mass by the Cardinal and other bishops given at the Congress, which will be surrounded by a “human chain” of pro-lifers. Catholics throughout the island will turn on their headlights during the day to signify their rejection of abortion. On Sunday, October 28th, the campaign will culminate with a “March for Life” through the nation’s capital (see recent LifeSiteNews coverage at https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07100301.html).

The campaign, which began in early October, has shaken the island and has led to assurances given to the Cardinal by politicians that “therapeutic abortion” will not be decriminalized, according to the Catholic news agency ACI Prensa.

Previous LifeSiteNews.com Coverage:

Mexican “Priest” Wages Campaign to Legalize Abortion in Dominican Republic
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07101202.html

Catholics in Dominican Republic Plan Offensive Against Abortion
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07100301.html

Cardinal Denounces Proposal to Legalize Abortion in the Dominican Republic
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/sep/07091002.html

Dominican Republic Protest Against Attempt to Legalize Abortion
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07082409.html ;

American Life League Unveils New Online Map With Location of All US Planned Parenthood Centers

Map coordinators are hoping to encourage peaceful and prayerful protests at all PP sites

By Meg Jalsevac

WASHINGTON, DC, October 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The American Life League (ALL), in cooperation with their affiliate organization STOP Planned Parenthood (STOPP), has launched a highly detailed online map that pinpoints the exact location of each of Planned Parenthood’s (PP) 860 clinics across the United States. The new webpage also provides information regarding any scheduled protests that take place on a regular basis at the PP locations.

The map, which can be found on the ALL website, includes the names and addresses of the PP centers. Where applicable, the contact information of protest coordinators along with protest hours are also included. The abortion facilities are marked with a variety of symbols which indicate the abortion methods that are carried out at that facility.

According to a press release on the ALL website, president Judie Brown says, “Today we are making available an exclusive new web tool that will serve as a guide for pro-lifers across the country who desire to conduct peaceful activities in front of each Planned Parenthood location in the nation.”

“American Life League has been leading the fight against Planned Parenthood for years and the new map project stresses the importance of activism at the local level. To get Planned Parenthood out of our country, we must continue to encourage opposition to its programs at local levels while we fight to take away its taxpayer funding.”

Despite being registered as a non-profit organization, statistics show that in 2005-2006, PP garnered over $340 million in income through their abortion mills. The organization performed 264,943 abortions in 2005.

ALL researcher and Map Room coordinator, Marie Hahnenberg expressed hope that the interactive map would assist and encourage more people to take part in prayerful protests outside the abortion mills. “We have seen a great amount of success throughout the country. Pro-lifers have helped save lives by being present outside of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities and offering help to mothers who do not understand the reality behind abortion. Prayer does work. Their presence outside facilities that do not do surgical abortions also helps educate everyone about the true nature of Planned Parenthood.”

The interactive map has several resource links for individuals who are interested in joining an already established protest or forming a new one. The resources include information on what to take in order to maintain safety during a protest and advice regarding state regulations.

The release of the ALL Map Room project corresponds with a similar pro-life endeavor known as the ’40 Days for Life’ campaign. The 40 days campaign is a national campaign of prayer and fasting, combined with peaceful protesting in front of abortion facilities that is taking place in over 80 cities across the nation.

As previously reported by LifeSiteNews.com, participants in the ’40 Days for Life’ campaign have been able to report many visible and positive effects that have taken place since the commencement of the campaign. Several clinics in various states have either permanently or temporarily closed and, at the last moment before procuring an abortion, several mothers have chosen life and love for their unborn babies.

Commenting at the half way point of the 40 days, national campaign director, Dave Bereit said, “To put it plainly, prayer works. We’re looking forward to hearing many more such reports during the second half of the 40 Days for Life vigils-and beyond.”

See the ALL Map Room page:
https://www.all.org/stopp/maps/

See the ’40 Days for Life’ website:
https://www.40daysforlife.com/

Read Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Halfway Through ’40 Days for Life’ and Planned Parenthood is Already in Crisis Mode
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07101607.html

Two Murders of Pregnant Canadian Women Renew Calls for Unborn Victims’ Legislation

Harper Conservative government has previously strongly opposed such legislation

By Hilary White

October 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of three young men in Winnipeg, Manitoba, charged with murdering a young pregnant woman in February this year after she refused to have an abortion, has pleaded guilty and received a ten year sentence, the Winnipeg Free Press reports. As well, this past Oct. 2nd, in Toronto, 25-year-old Aysun Sesen and her seven-month unborn child were killed by Sesen’s boyfriend after he stabbed her numerous times. The murders have intensified calls for legislation to protect unborn victims of violence.

Two adults and a youth were charged in the Winnipeg extremely vicious beating death of Roxanne Fernando, 24. The youth, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty and was given maximum sentence possible under the Youth Criminal Justice Act: six years in prison and four years of parole.

The court called the killing a “callous, well-planned execution.” Crown attorney Brent Davidson read the facts to the court saying Fernando had discovered she was pregnant a few weeks before her killing. She was pressured to have an abortion but changed her mind, a decision that resulted in her death.

“It would be the foetus that would drive the planned and deliberate killing of Ms. Fernando,” Davidson said. The young man, who was seventeen at the time, was offered money and a television to carry out the plot.

The two adults, Nathanael Mark Plourde, 19, and Jose Manuel Toruno, 19, remain before the courts. They face a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years should they be found guilty.

In the Toronto killings doctors performed an emergency caesarean section but were unable to save Aysun Sesen’s baby. The Toronto Sun reported that if Sesen’s daughter had drawn a breath outside her mother’s womb, she would have been declared a human being and a second murder charge could have been laid against Coceli.

Under Canadian law, it is impossible to charge the murderers of the two unborn children. Unlike the US, Canadian criminal law does not acknowledge the existence of the child before birth.

The legal situation of the unborn has aroused the anger of pro-life activists in the case. Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) demanded that the Conservative government bring forward legislation similar to that of the US.

Hughes said “The murderous acts were directed at both mother and baby. The government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the suffering of the grandparents who have lost both their daughters and their grandchildren.”

Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organizer of CLC said, “Roxanne died to protect her unborn child. Both she and her baby deserve to see justice done to the perpetrator.” The Toronto Sun and CTV.News have both reported that Aysun Sesen’s family has asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister with the goal being a change in the law to recognize unborn victims of violence.

Last year, Conservative MP Leon Benoit put forward a Private Member’s Bill protecting Unborn Victims of Violence that was deemed non-votable by the standing committee on procedural and house affairs.

Benoit had pushed the bill because of two 2005 cases of pregnant Edmonton women being killed – Liana White, 29, and Olivia Marie Talbot, 19. The families both decried the fact there was no recourse to any justice for their grandchildren.

A Freedom of Information enquiry by the National Post revealed that Justice Minister Vic Toews was warned in an unsigned briefing note on C-291 from government bureaucrats that, “Any change to the definition of a ‘human being’ in the Criminal Code could have the effect of criminalizing abortion.”

The note went on, reports the Post, to state, “The government has no plans to propose any reforms in this area of the law.” The Post’s Peter ONeill linked the latter sentence to Harper’s Jan. 17 statement, “I’ll use whatever influence I have in Parliament to be sure that such a matter doesn’t come to a vote.”

Toew’s instruction to the parliamentary committee that subsequently declared the bill unvotable, however, did not mention abortion, despite that being the real reason the government wanted the bill killed. Instead the Justice Minister’s written advice vaguely stated that the bill violated the Constitution including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Justice Minister’s advice was seen as a clear ruse, but the committee buckled to the political manipulation and voted 7-1, with four abstentions, to uphold its original decision.

Fr. Raymond De Souza, a priest who is a regular columnist in the National Post, wrote that the “desire to maintain our permissive abortion regime should not prevent the criminal law from addressing the reality of crimes against pregnant women”.

“A crime against an expectant mother is something different — there is real trauma to the mother, if she survives the violence, resulting from the injury or death to her child — to say nothing of the child,” De Souza wrote. “Without the child” in the Roxanne Fernando case, “there would have been no crime.”

Campaign Life Coalition, in its most recent newsletter, states, “studies have shown that pregnant women are more likely to be victims of abuse, violence and murder than women who are not pregnant, and are indeed targeted precisely because they are expecting. They and their unborn children both deserve greater protection in law. In no way would this legislation infringe on a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion; in fact it reinforces a woman’s right to bring her unborn child to term, and could act as a deterrent to those considering injuring or killing the mother and/or unborn child.”

A recent Environics poll showed 72 per cent of Canadians would support legislation making it a separate crime to injure or kill an unborn child during a criminal act against the mother. Women polled slightly higher at 75 per cent.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Murder of Pregnant Woman in Toronto Ignites Debate on Recognition of Life of Unborn
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07100405.html

Ugandan AIDS Activist’s Facts Trounce UN Official Claim that Catholic Church to Blame for AIDS Crisis

Martin Ssempa states that the opposite is true

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

TEGULCIGALPA, Honduras, October 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A United Nations official charged with overseeing AIDS prevention programs in Central America is blaming the Catholic Church’s condemnation of contraception for the perpetuation of the disease.

Alberto Stella, Coordinator for the United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) program in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica, told Reuters recently that “In Latin America the use of condoms has been demonized, but if they were used in every relation I guarantee the epidemic would be resolved in the region.” He attributed this “demonization” to the influence of Catholicism, according to the news agency.

Martin Ssempa, a Ugandan AIDS activist who has long decried the United Nation’s anti-abstinence position, denounced the statement in an interview with LifeSiteNews.

“There is absolutely no scientific evidence to back up what Mr. Alberto is saying,” said Ssempa. “Condoms have not reduced HIV-AIDS anywhere in the world…in fact, to the contrary, higher condoms across Africa have resulted in higher HIV. If we look across Africa, the countries with the highest condoms, they include Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, these are the countries which also have higher HIV. And if we look at countries with less condoms, such as Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, these are the countries also with less HIV.”

Ssempa noted that “UNAIDS is demonizing the Catholic Church unfairly. In fact, in countries where the Catholic Church is strong, there is lower HIV than places where the Catholic Church is not. Higher condoms have not resulted in lower HIV. In fact, it is the contrary.”

As LifeSiteNews reported earlier this year, statistics bear out Ssempa’s contention. Reporter Hillary White noted on March 5th that “2003 statistics from the World Factbook of the US Central Intelligence Agency, shows Burundi at 62% Catholic with 6% AIDS infection rate. Angola’s population is 38% Roman Catholic and has 3.9% AIDS rate. Ghana is 63% Christian, with in some regions as much as 33% Catholic and has 3.1% AIDS rate. Nigeria, divided almost evenly between the strongly Muslim north and Christian and “animist” south, has 5.4% AIDS rate” (see article at https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07030610.html).

Despite its insistence on promoting condom use over abstinence, Ssempa notes that “UNAIDS has no success story. UNAIDS cannot point at any country where they have given advice and that country has brought HIV down.” Even the World Bank has conceded the problem, he said.

Ssempa speculates that, as with the scandalous oil-for-food program, UN officials may be benefiting from relationships with pharmaceutical companies that produce the condoms.

“I am suspicious of the UNAIDS relationship with condom companies, in light of recent oil-for-food scandals and the corruption that has been exposed in the UN, I am suspicious about…the cause of UNAIDS officials spending billions of dollars on condoms without any evidence to back them up,” he told LifeSiteNews.

Dr. Edward C. Green, a research scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development, has also speculated about economic motives behind the puzzling support for methods that have proven ineffective in preventing AIDS transmission. “It is by no means clear that empirical evidence can overcome ideological blinders or compete with the big business in pharmaceutical products that AIDS prevention has become,” he wrote in a recent article for the Weekly Standard.

Contact Information:

UNAIDS Secretariat:
20, Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
Telephone: +41.22.791.3666
Fax: +41.22.791.4187
Email: [email protected]

UK Christian Couple who Refuse to Promote Homosexuality Forced out of Child Foster Care

Investigation into child services in region revealed bias in favour of homosexuals

By Hilary White

CHARD, UK, October 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Christian couple in Somerset, UK, have been told by child services that they would be required to take teenaged foster children to homosexual support groups and teach the children placed in their care that homosexuality is normal. When the couple told officials at social services that it would violate their conscience to do so, the eleven year-old boy who had been placed with them was removed.

Somerset Council officials cited the recently passed Sexual Orientation Regulations when they decided that people who open their homes to children in need, must also discuss same-sex relationships and promote homosexuality as normal and “equal”.

Vincent and Pauline Matherick have looked after twenty-eight children since 2001 with an untarnished record as care givers. When the couple first started fostering, they took in young single mothers and their babies, but have recently had mostly primary school aged children. They told the Daily Telegraph that officials with the Somerset Council had told them that if a child in their care showed signs of interest in homosexuality, they would be expected to encourage them by taking them to a homosexual support group.

Vincent Matherick, a minister at the South Chard Christian Church and a primary school governor, told the Telegraph, “They were saying that we had to be prepared to talk about sexuality with 11 year-olds, which I don’t think is appropriate anyway, but not only that to be prepared to explain how gay people date.”

While the Sexual Orientation Regulations were being debated in the House of Commons, Christian groups and others warned that they would be used to force believers out of the public services such as adoption agencies.

David Davies, a Conservative Party MP and former contender for leadership of the party, said, “It’s absolutely horrendous that Christian men and women doing their bit for the community are being discriminated against because of their beliefs. I’m quite certain that social services would never dare to ask a member of any other established religion to agree to such a stance on homosexuality.”

Mr. Matherick said, “I simply could not agree to do it because it is against my central beliefs.” The Mathericks asked if they could continue to care for the boy who is with them until he is placed somewhere permanently, but the request was refused and he will be removed this week and placed in a council hostel.

“We have never discriminated against anybody,” Mr. Matherick said, “but I cannot preach the benefits of homosexuality when I believe it is against the word of God.”

The Mathericks are consulting with the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship to decide what legal action to take.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports that the UK is experiencing a shortfall of about 8000 placements for children in need of care.

In September, an investigation into child services in Wakefield revealed a bias in favour of homosexuals that resulted in one case in years of horrific sexual abuse being allowed to continue.

Ian Wathey, 40, and Craig Faunch, 32 were convicted in May 2006, of molesting and filming eight-year-old twins and two 14 year-old boys placed in their care by the Wakefield council child services.

An independent investigative panel found that the council’s fear of offending the homosexual movement or being labelled homophobic allowed the two men to continue to sexually abuse the boys, even while social workers harboured suspicions.

The Telegraph quoted one social worker in Wakefield saying, “You didn’t want to be seen discriminating against a same-sex couple.”

To express concerns:
Somerset County Council
Child Services
County Hall
Taunton
Somerset, UK
TA1 4DY
[email protected]
Phone: 0845 345 9122

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Oppressive Sexual Orientation Regs Pass in UK Parliament; House of Lords Tomorrow
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07032004.html

Investigative Panel: “Gay” Status Helped Couple Get Away with Sexually Abusing Foster Children
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/sep/07090607.html …;

Harry Potter Author Plays Dumb: Acts Surprised at Reactions to Gay Character

By Meg Jalsevac

TORONTO, October 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an interview with media in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday, Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling said that she has been surprised by the scope of reactions that have surfaced from her announcement that one of her lead characters is gay. “It has certainly never been news to me that a brave and brilliant man could love other men.”

As previously reported by LifeSiteNews.com, Rowling surprised a large audience at a recent book reading in Carnegie Hall by announcing the ‘good’ wizard of her storyline was gay. Reaction to the announcement has been mixed with even some Potter fans accusing the author of using the politically correct declaration for publicity.

Rowling said that she had known for a long time that Dumbledore was gay but had not revealed the fact in order to be able to focus her attention on the plot line and character development. Rowling said that she shared the information about Dumbledore only after being directly asked by a young audience member if Dumbledore ever found true love.

Rowling told the Toronto media that the revelation was very “freeing” for her and that only certain people will view Dumbledore differently in light of the new detail about his character. Referring to Dumbledore’s boyhood friendship with the evil Grindelwald, Rowling said, “I think a child will see a friendship and I think a sensitive adult may well understand that it was an infatuation.”

The author lauded her own admission saying, “I know that it was a positive thing that I said it, for at least one person, because one man ‘came out’ at Carnegie Hall.”

Rowling refused to answer when asked if she was concerned that the ‘revelation’ might solidify critics in their dislike of the internationally popular children’s book series. “[Dumbledore] is my character. He is what he is and I have the right to say what I say about him.”

In the past, Rowling has been known to disparage critics of her books referring to them as “lunatic fringes” of Christianity.

According to an article on WorldNetDaily, Linda Harvey, the president of Mission America, has been a long time critic of Rowling’s works and asserts that this latest ‘revelation’, in itself, reveals Rowling’s ability as a “master manipulator.” Mission America is an organization that combats the forces of the homosexual and pagan agendas particularly when these forces are directed at children.

Harvey says, “The affiliations have taken hold. No matter how you try to shield kids, they are sure to learn online or at school or somewhere that the admired headmaster of the Hogwart’s school, professor Dumbledore, has been pronounced “gay” after the series is complete.”

Harvey cautions that Rowling’s decision will now force all parents to address the issue of homosexuality with their young children. “Will we allow our kids to believe it would be perfectly appropriate for the headmaster of any school to be homosexual?”

Harvey warns that if parents do not react to Harry Potter now the consequences will be dire. “If only [parents] could see down the road to the compromise of morality this will produce as their children grow, not to mention the detour directly away from authentic Christian faith, they might think differently.”

Read the entire WorldNetDaily article:
https://www.worldnetdaily.com/news…

Read the extensive LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Harry Potter Fan WebSite Lauds Rowling Stating a Main Character Is Gay
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07102204.html

Harry Potter Feature Page:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/features/harrypotter/

Pope Opposes Harry Potter Novels – Signed Letters from Cardinal Ratzinger Now Online
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05071301.html ;

Traditionally Christian Anglicans Ask to Join Catholic Church En Masse

Homosexuality the flash point

By Hilary White

PORTSMOUTH, UK, October 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The splits in the Worldwide Anglican Communion over the church’s secularising trends and growing enthusiasm for homosexuality has led some to seek reunion with the Catholic Church after nearly 500 years apart.

The bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC)are reported to have met in Plenary Session in Portsmouth, England, in the first week of October 2007 and “unanimously agreed” to send a letter to the Pope seeking full, corporate, sacramental union” with the Catholic Church. The group has agreed not to give interviews until the Vatican has responded to their request.

The TAC boasts of some 400,000 members worldwide with at least 100 parishes in the US. It has been estimated that the TAC could have as many as 500 parishes supporting its goals in the UK.

TAC has been seeking for some years to establish some agreement with Rome that would see the entire body into the Catholic Church. In 2005, shortly after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the TAC, Archbishop John Hepworth of Adelaide, Australia, said, “We are looking at a church which would retain an Anglican liturgy, Anglican spirituality and a married clergy.” The TAC has retained a positive relationship with Pope Benedict since, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, he was head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In related news, a group of traditionally minded members of the Church of England has warned Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that they would continue to resist the slide of the church towards secularisation. The group, called Reform, said that dozens of Anglican parishes in Britain will start ordaining their own clergy in defiance of their bishops who are overwhelmingly in favour of normalising homosexuality in the church.

Reform, a network within the evangelical wing of the Church of England is setting up structures to allow it to operate as a resistance movement within the Church. The Rev. Rod Thomas, Reform’s chairman, cited his church’s “increasingly pro-gay” agenda when he told members they must be prepared for “courageous action” in defiance of established systems. The Church of England is the officially established religion in Britain and as such, its head since the 16th century has been appointed by the Crown. A small number of its bishops still retain their seats in the House of Lords, a position that is widely opposed among the British public.

David Virtue, a conservative Anglican in the US who maintains an Anglican news service, wrote that the developments come at a time when the Church of England has made itself “largely irrelevant to British life”.

“A mere 2 million (out of 60 million) consider the church part of their life.” This is roughly the equal of the number of Muslims living and practising their religion in Britain.

Virtue wrote, “The C of E is a pale reflection of a once proud and vigorous church…New laws being implemented are increasingly and stridently anti-Christian and intolerant of any talk about the dangers of sodomy both medically and spiritually.”

Fr. Euteneuer sees ‘Irony’ in Archbishop of Canterbury’s Abortion Statement

FRONT ROYAL, VA, October 25, 2007 (HLI.org) – The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International (HLI), today remarked on an op-ed appearing in the British publication The Observer on October 21, entitled, “Britain’s abortion debate lacks a moral dimension” by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.

Father Euteneuer said, “While not agreeing with everything Dr. Williams said, I certainly appreciate his comments on the tragedy of abortion in commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the British Abortion Act. He is certainly correct about the moral ‘slippage’ that has occurred, where abortion is viewed far more casually today than was foreseen in 1967.”

“However,” Fr. Euteneuer said, “As a Roman Catholic priest I see a genuine irony in his comments. At one point Dr. Williams asks, ‘We may well ask what has happened’ in regard to this slippage. For a Roman Catholic what has happened is all too clear: in 1930 The Church of England was the first Christian church to allow the separation of procreation from the marital act in the Lambeth decision on contraception and gave endorsement, even if unwittingly, to future policies which would allow the killing of children. It’s a small step from excluding children from sex to expelling children from the womb,” Fr. Euteneuer said.

“The ‘slippage’ Dr. Williams speaks of is precisely what Pope Pius XI warned of in the Papal encyclical, Castii Conubii, issued in response to Lambeth, and what Pope Paul VI reiterated in his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. These popes said that the widespread use of contraception would lead to ‘a general lowering of morality’. By now we see this in our entire society. On the social as well as the personal levels, contraception and abortion are two sides of the same bad penny,” Fr. Euteneuer said.

He continued, “If you think it through, Dr. Williams’s comments on our current moral climate tend to vindicate the Roman Catholic position on birth control as still the only realistic position if we hope to restore moral sanity. HLI hopes that all good-willed people will take a hard look at how we got where we are today and recognize the role contraception played in it. It is my prayer that the centuries-old Christian consensus on the sin of contraception, which all but vanished at Lambeth, will be restored.”

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail Print