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News Ticker provided by LifeSiteNews.Com
Index of News Items
TOP
Right-To-Die Activists, Opponents Gear Up For Political Fight
… into that good night - Death with dignity, or
"murder"? Right-to-die activists, opponents gear up for political
fight.
The battle lines are drawn, the opposing forces primed for conflict. Words
like "murderers" hang in the air.
During this winter's federal election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper opened
the door to the possibility of a Parliamentary free vote on euthanasia and
assisted suicide. His words have activists on both sides of the issue poised
for a bitter public debate.
On its next edition, the Vision TV current affairs
series 360 Vision talks to people of faith about their views on one of the
defining moral questions of our time.
The program airs on Thursday, March 30 at 10 p.m.
ET and repeats on Monday, April 3 at 10 p.m. ET.
Last year, Parliament debated a private member's bill to legalize assisted
suicide, but the legislation died with the election call. On the campaign
trail, Stephen Harper said he opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide but
would allow a free vote if another private member's bill were tabled.
This worries activists like Jean Echlin, a registered nurse from London,
Ont. and a leader of Canada's Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC). Echlin,
who blends medical expertise and Christian spirituality in her work with palliative
care patients, says that people involved in euthanasia and assisted suicide
are nothing less than murderers.
"My big fear… is that we are going to impose death on people who do
not want to die," she tells 360 Vision 's Andrew Munger. "The duty
to die will be imposed on society."
Munger also meets Ruth Von Fuchs, the president of Canada's Right to Die
Society. Once an aspiring United Church minister, Von Fuchs dedicated her
life to this cause after watching her mother succumb slowly and painfully
to lymphatic cancer. She acknowledges having been personally involved in assisted
suicides.
Von Fuchs says opponents don't fully understand that what right-to-die activists
seek to accomplish: not to counsel suicide, but to make death a better experience
for those who are suffering.
"They say 'caring, not killing,'" she tells Munger. "But they
have a simplistic idea of what it is to care for someone."
TOP
Action Alert - March 28, 2006 - An Urgent Invitation To Help Restore Marriage
In Canada!
Dear Fellow Canadian:
United Families Canada is launching the Restore Marriage
Canada Project with the goal of restoring traditional marriage in our nation.
This will not be easy, and we will need the help of hundreds of thousands of
concerned Canadians like you to accomplish it.
You are receiving this invitation to join in this effort because you have participated
on the marriage issue in one or more of the projects or activities that United
Families Canada has sponsored in recent years. If you do not want to receive
future alerts and updates from us on the marriage crisis, you can easily "unsubscribe"
from our list by clicking here,
but we hope you will decide to join us in this effort to restore traditional
marriage in Canada.
It is essential to understand first of all that there
is nothing more important than restoring traditional marriage in determining
what kind of nation and society we will pass on to future generations of Canadians.
Radically redefining marriage to include same-sex individuals undermines this
vital institution. Throughout history, marriage between a man and a woman has
been essential to forming strong families. Strong families, in turn, have always
been the foundation of all successful societies. We ignore these lessons of
history at our peril.
With the recent election of a Conservative Government,
we have a chance-probably our last chance--to revisit the legalization of same-sex
"marriage" that the Liberal Government rammed through Parliament last
year without holding fair, balanced, honest and adequate hearings to consider
all of the consequences of this radical redefinition of this fundamental institution.
As you will recall, Prime Minister Harper made revisiting the issue of legalization
of same-sex "marriage" a key election issue and he has committed to
at least bring the issue before Parliament for a free vote.
It will not be easy for the government to win this vote, even though opinion
polls consistently show that a solid majority of Canadians oppose legal same-sex
"marriage." One of the reasons he will have difficulty,
of course, is that he was only able to form a minority government.
We all have an opportunity to make a difference, to be heard, and to exercise
our rights in a democracy. For the sake of our future we must do it on this
issue. This is why it is so essential that all of us
concerned about our future pitch in and do whatever we can to help.
We will provide you with information and opportunity to be part of the process.
One critical thing each of us can do to help is to sign the new, on-line National
Restore Marriage Petition we will be sending to Parliament. Click here
to go to the Restore Marriage Canada Website to sign it. It is essential that
our MPs know that the majority of us still feel strongly about restoring marriage
and receiving this petition with tens of thousands of signatures on it will
help!
The second important thing you can do is to help spread
the word to others and encourage them to also get involved in this effort. You
can easily do this by forwarding this alert on to others. Or, if you wish, you
can use the special feature on our Web
site to send a suggested e-mail message from you to others on your e-mail
list.
Our Restore Marriage Web site also has additional background information on
the marriage issue and why it is so vital that we restore traditional marriage
to Canada.
We do not know when the Prime Minister will try to revisit the same-sex "marriage"
issue. He has said only that he will do it "sooner rather than later but
not right away." That means we could be having
this critical vote within the next couple of months, so we must act urgently!
Thank you for joining us in this vital effort!
Sincerely,
Jill Cahoon
President, United Families Canada
TOP
Alberta Judge Rules Explicit Sex Talk To Children Is Legal - April 3, 2006
- By Gudrun Schultz
Time to re-read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
EDMONTON, Alberta, April 3, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Alberta judge has
ruled that adults can legally have obscene sexual conversations with children,
so long as they don't try to meet the child. Justice John Agrios acquitted a
32-year-old man of the charge of Internet luring on Friday, saying the explicit
sexual chatting he carried on with a 12-year-old Ontario girl in 2003 was not
illegal because he did not arrange a meeting with the girl. The accused, Christopher
Legare, said he didn't intend to meet the girl, although he talked to her about
having sex and called her parents' home.
"The conduct, as morally reprehensible as it is, is not caught by the
legislation," said Agrios. "I simply cannot find an indication the
accused was luring the child."
Crown prosecutor Steve Bilodeau, who specializes in Internet crimes, argued
Legare's obscene text conversations with the child were part of a "grooming"
process online predators use to encourage children to meet, reported the Star
Phoenix Saturday.
Justice Agrios did not agree. He said there must be direct questions about
the child's home situation, suggested meetings, or questions about the child
running away before the conversation would constitute luring under the 2002
Internet luring law.
The girl's father, who contacted police after discovering her conversations
with Legare, told the Canadian Press he was sickened by the ruling.
You've got to be kidding me… my stomach is turning," he said.
To express concerns to Alberta's Minister of Justice Ron Stevens: (403) 216-5421(780)
422-6621calgary.glenmore@assembly.ab.ca
TOP
British Doctors Try To Kill A Disabled Baby Against His Parents' Wishes
Perhaps they should meet Lori Martz.
Steven W. Mosher, President
PRI Weekly Briefing
28 March 2006
Vol. 8 / No. 13
A Minnesota Woman's Quality of Life - By Joseph A. D'Agostino
British doctors want to kill children born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA),
even against the wishes of the babies' own parents. When these parents sought
to obtain health care for their sick children, these doctors instead took them
to court. They argue that SMA-afflicted babies have "no quality of life"
and should be denied necessary medical care. In the meantime, here in the states,
34-year-old Lori Martz goes about her life.
Martz has SMA. She also has her own place to live, her own business, and is
active in her local church, a local youth ministry, and a prison ministry. The
Minnesota woman says, "Most people with SMA are not cognitively impaired.
Most of us have average intelligence or above average intelligence." What
she doesn't have is complete control over her muscles. "Spinal muscular
atrophy, the No. 1 genetic killer of children under the age of two, is a group
of inherited and often fatal diseases that destroys the nerves controlling voluntary
muscle movement, which affects crawling, walking, head and neck control, and
even swallowing," says Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The gene for
SMA is recessive and must be carried by both parents for a child to inherit
the disease, and even then there is only a 25% chance of getting it. About 1
in 6,000 people are born with SMA.
Although she lives independently, Martz has a service dog and regular visits
from people to help her. She must use a wheelchair and though she can eat some
food by mouth, she has a feeding tube. During the night, she
breathes through a mask connected to a machine "so the machine can breathe
for me, and give my body a break," she says.
Martz has not allowed any of this to prevent her from having what even British
doctors would likely call a high quality of life. Her business is transcribing
documents into Braille, and she is certified by the Library of Congress as a
Braille transcriber. "I like foreign languages and codes," says Martz.
She attends church regularly and is active in youth and prison ministries, going
regularly to a medium-security prison for men in order to perform good works.
Martz pointed out that different people have SMA with different degrees of
severity, depending on when their symptoms set in. She has the second-worst
kind, type II, which is almost always diagnosed before age 2
because its effects are so noticeable at such an early age.
Doctors in the north of England have a simple solution to Martz' problems.
They just might turn off her breathing machine. That's what they wanted to do
to an 18-month-old boy. They argued that he was in terrible pain and was certain
to die anyway. In the past, eugenics was the justification for such things.
Now, it is quality of life.
The boy's parents had to go to court to prevent the doctors from carrying out
their deadly prescription. They told the judge that their son responded to his
family members and to television. On March 15 the judge ruled in their favor.
The boy, identified publicly only as MB, should live. "I positively consider
that as his life does still have benefits, and is his life; it should be enabled
to continue," the judge wrote.
But it was not as clear-cut a victory as one might have hoped. For he also
ruled that the doctors did not have to restart the boy's heart if it stopped.
They didn't even have to give him intravenous antibiotics if they were necessary
to save his life.
One envisions these doctors, as they make their rounds, stopping by this boy's
bed each day not to ponder how to save or improve his life, but to ask themselves,
"How can I get rid of him?"
MB may be the harbinger of a deadly trend. Another British couple had to go
to court recently to save their daughter with SMA. On the same day the judge
ruled in favor of MB's ventilator, the BBC ran a story about a woman with SMA
who graduated from Oxford and is now a lawyer who owns her home. Her younger
brother died of SMA at 18 months. "It came as a tremendous shock to my
parents because he had been so well, but we comforted ourselves with the fact
that the doctors did everything they could to keep him alive," Ruth Everard
said. She also noted that medical technology has advanced to the point where,
if her brother had been born today, he probably would have lived.
That's why deciding that, separate from the issue of denying health care to
babies because you think they will die anyway, denying health care to babies
because of their supposed lack of quality of life doesn't make sense. No one
can predict with certainty what someone will or will not consider a high quality
of life, nor predict what breakthrough might be made that can change the outlook
of people with SMA or any other affliction. Martz said that she has personally
benefited from advances. "Computers and technology" have made many
disabled people's lives so much easier, she said.
And regarding what severely disabled Englishmen with motor neuron diseases
can accomplish, consider Stephen Hawking, who has Lou Gehrig's Disease.
But as Britain advances in medical technology, it slips backwards in medical
ethics. The country's socialist health-care system is partly to blame. Here
we see illustrated one of the dangers of a single-payer - the current euphemism
for socialist--health care system desired by many in the United States: If euthanasia-minded
government employees decide your life isn't worth living, where do you turn?
Martz said that when she hears about cases such as MB's or of babies in the
Netherlands killed by doctors without their parents' consent, "It makes
me scared. I wonder when I'm going to get a letter in the mail or a
knock on the door, and hear someone say, 'With all the money you're costing
us, it's time for you to go.'" Martz relies on Medicaid for her considerable
medical bills.
I suspect Martz differs considerably from the typical Christian volunteer working
in prisons. I wonder how much society has saved if just one of the criminals
Martz visits is impressed by what she, with all her disadvantages, has made
of her life and with her concern for others--impressed enough to reform his
life. If he, when released, refrains from preying on others, not to mention
avoids re-incarceration at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars a year,
how much will that save society?
Asked if she would ever avail herself of a right-to-die euthanasia law if her
condition degenerated sharply, Martz replied, "My faith is very, very important
to me. So I place my life in God's hands... Quality of life is very, very subjective."
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the Population
Research Institute.
PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, Va. 22630
USA
Phone: (540) 622-5240 Fax: (540) 622-2728
Email: jad@pop.org
Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
(540) 622-5240, ext. 204
Website: www.pop.org
(c) 2006 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted. Redistribute
widely. Credit required.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PRI, please go to http://pop.org/donate.cfm.
All donations (of any size) are welcomed and appreciated.
TOP
Canada's Justice Minister Says Same-Sex "Marriage" Vote To Be
"Sooner Rather Than Later"
By Terry Vanderheyden
OTTAWA, April 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Conservative Justice Minister Vic
Toews said an election promise by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to hold a free
vote on same-sex "marriage" in parliament will be held "sooner
rather than later." According to a CTV.ca report, no action is expected,
however, until at least this fall.
After the Liberals passed the same-sex "marriage" law last June,
Harper commented: "I don't think Canadians will see this as a legitimate
way to settle this debate, and so this will be an issue for some Canadians in
the next
election," as reported by the CBC.
"There will be a chance to revisit this in a future Parliament,"
he added, according to Canadian Press coverage. "Our intention is to have
a free vote."
"Undermining the traditional definition of marriage is an assault on the
beliefs of virtually all cultural and religious communities who have come to
this country," Harper said at a pro-marriage rally he attended in Ottawa
last April. "It is an assault on multiculturalism in any serious sense
of the word."
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage - Harper Calls Changing Definition of
Marriage "An Assault" on Culture and Religion:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/apr/05041207.html
Harper Promises to Revisit Gay "Marriage" Law if he Forms Government:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jun/05062906.html
TOP
Canadian Official at UN Disappoints Pro-life Hopes
This week at the current meeting of the Commission on Population and Development
we learned that the Canadian delegation is still supporting the pro-abortion
agenda. This is disappointing news for those of us who had high hopes for the
new administration in Canada.
Spread the Word.
Sincerely, Austin Ruse, President
Friday Fax - April 7, 2006 - Volume 9, Number 16
Canadian Official at UN Disappoints Pro-life Hopes
- By Bradford Short
In a speech to the Commission on Population and Development at the UN a Canadian
official endorsed language in international documents that has been used in
the past to try to force nations to legalize abortion. The speech was disappointing
news to pro-life and pro-family advocates at the UN who had hoped the new Conservative
administration in Canada would result in a family-friendly delegation in New
York.
Brian Grant, the Director-General of International and Intergovernmental Relations,
Citizenship and Immigration in the Canadian federal government spoke to the
Commission on Tuesday. In five instances Grant called on UN officials to "achieve,"
provide "access" to, or "to address" the "sexual and
reproductive health and rights" of the world's population. In UN parlance
such language is used to refer to abortion, the distribution of contraceptives
to minors and even legalized prostitution. Leading pro-abortion NGOs have long
asserted that documents guaranteeing "sexual and reproductive health and
rights" create an international right to abortion.
The recent election victory in Canada of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and
his pro-life-leaning Conservative party led many to hope that Canada's representation
at the UN would change. But the delegation's acts this past week indicate no
progress has been made in that direction. Also, weeks ago Harper selected Peter
MacKay to be Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs. MacKay is known to be one
of the more pro-abortion and anti-family members of the Conservative Party caucus
in the House of Commons. The Minister of Foreign Affairs will have a great say
in the future direction of the Canadian Permanent Mission to the UN.
Liberal Ambassador to the UN, Allan Rock, has not yet been replaced with a
member of the Conservative Party. But the Canadian Permanent Mission tells the
Friday Fax that it will happen at the end of June.
Copyright 2005 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute). Permission
granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291 E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org
Website: www.c-fam.org
TOP
Children Of Medjugorje - April 2, 2006
Message Given To Mirjana
Dear Children, I am coming to you, because, with my own example, I wish to
show you the importance of prayer for those who have not come to know the love
of God. You ask yourself if you are following me? My children, do you not recognize
the signs of the times? Do you not speak of them? Come follow me. As a mother
I call you. Thank you for having responded.
cobrien@childrenofmedjugorje.com
Forward e-mail
TOP
Discrimination Against Traditional Mothers
How far will discrimination against homemakers and their families go? A Dutch
politician wants to push the envelope by forcing college-educated homemakers
into the workforce.
Steven W. Mosher, President
PRI Weekly Briefing
6 April 2006
Vol. 8 / No. 14
Discrimination Against Traditional Mothers - By Joseph A. D'Agostino
Thus the logic of feminism: A prominent female member of the Dutch parliament
has proposed fining college-educated Dutch women who choose to be homemakers
rather than work. Sharon Dijksma, deputy chairwoman (chairperson?) of the Dutch
Labor Party, provides yet more evidence that feminism was never about giving
women choices but about destroying the family in order to enhance the power
of the state.
"A highly-educated woman who chooses to stay at home and not to work -
that is destruction of capital," Dijksma said, according to the English-language
Brussels Journal (www.brusselsjournal.com)
on March 31. "If you receive the benefit of an expensive education at society's
expense, you should not be allowed to throw away that knowledge unpunished."
In the Netherlands, the state pays for college tuition. Thus, too, the logic
of socialism: The people are taxed heavily, then provided with "free"
services, and then, because the government has deigned to return some of the
people's tax money back to them, politicians and bureaucrats get to run the
people's lives. Just as feminism here in the states has advanced to where feminist
leaders openly criticize the Bush Administration for promoting marriage to single
mothers and the fathers of their children, prominent feminists in Western Europe
are now openly hostile toward homemakers.
Dijksma wants to extract some of the cost of their college education from the
women who love their children more than paid work, and who are fortunate enough
to have husbands who can enable them to stay home. This despite the continued
rise of women's labor force participation in the Netherlands. "Between
2001 and 2005, the number of Dutch women aged between 15 and 65 who were out
on the labour market rose from 55.9 to 58.7%," reported the Journal. And
this despite the cataclysmic drop in Dutch birthrates.
You would think Dutch leaders would want to encourage child rearing, and homemakers
are far more likely to have more than one child than full-time career women.
Currently, Dutch women average 1.7 children over their lives, well below the
replacement rate of 2.1. The large Muslim population of the nation has a disproportionately
large number of children, and given most European Muslims' attitudes toward
women's education, few Muslim wives are likely to be affected by Dijksma's proposal.
Yet Dijksma wants to promote a policy that will drive down the native Dutch
population's birthrate even further.
She might consider that having a relatively small proportion of prolific homemakers
could raise the Dutch birthrate. If 20% of Dutch women had four children each
and the rest averaged 1.5, the Netherlands would be almost at replacement rate
fertility. If the Dutch government made it easier, rather than harder, for women
to stay home and have more children but only a little more than 1 out of 5 women
took advantage of it, the Netherlands could be saved from the nation's suicidal
birthrate.
Our own country has many forms of discrimination against traditional mothers.
Institutionalized discrimination against men (called 'affirmative action for
women') harms not only men, but those homemaking women married to them and their
children, who suffer because the husband and father of the family loses a job
or a promotion because of a quota. It also harms those many women, and their
children, who work part-time and depend on their husbands' careers for their
future security. The federal tax code grants breaks for day care but none for
homemakers. Those who home-school must pay full taxes for public schools anyway.
It's not as if American women didn't want to be homemakers: 77% of working
mothers say they'd rather be home.
Yet feminists, so enamored of choice when it comes to abortion and homosexuality,
aren't trying to help these three-quarters of working mothers achieve their
desires. Quite the opposite. Don't think that Dijksma's plan comes from a marginal
Dutch political faction. "In the municipal elections earlier this month,
the PvdA [Dutch Labor Party] became the biggest party in the Netherlands thanks
to the Muslim vote," says the Journal. "The PvdA is generally expected
to win the general elections next year, when the 35-year-old Dijksma, who has
been an MP since she was 23 and is a leading figure in the party, might become
a government minister." The Dutch Labor Party's website carries a favorable
treatment of her proposal. "If you receive the benefit of an expensive
education at the cost of society, you should not be allowed to throw away that
knowledge unpunished," Dijksma says, according to Expatica News.
Needless to say, having an educated woman with her children all day is not
a waste of anything.
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the Population
Research Institute.
PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, Va. 22630
USA
Phone: (540) 622-5240 Fax: (540) 622-2728
Email: jad@pop.org
Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
(540) 622-5240, ext. 204
Website: www.pop.org/
(c) 2006 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted. Redistribute
widely. Credit required.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PRI, please go to http://pop.org/donate.cfm.
All donations (of any size) are welcomed and appreciated.
To subscribe to the Weekly Briefing, go to: http://pop.org/subscribe-weekly.cfm
or email us at pri@pop.org and say "Add
me to your Weekly Briefing."
The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human rights
abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending counter-productive
social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of "overpopulation."
TOP
March For Life On May 11th
(Herm) Wills wrote: Please circulate. We need to know AS SOON AS Possible.
Trip is open to anyone who wishes to take in the March for Life Canada.
The March for Life is taking place on May 11th and the guest speaker will be
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priest for Life in the US. He will be
speaking at the Rose Dinner.
Don Kelly from Greenwood or myself can be contacted for information for this
five-day trip, leaving on May 9th and leaving May 12 from Ottawa to home on
May 13th. Arriving in Ottawa on May 10th in time for the Candlelight Vigil,
May 11th, march and presentation on Parliament Hill, Rose Dinner Banquet. (Tickets
need to be ordered ASAP), leave on May 12 for Edmunston, NB and home on May
13th.
Four Nights accommodations, taxes, travel, breakfast:
Single $ 629.00
Double $ 429.00
Triple $ 385.00
Four $ 359.00
It is an experience of a lifetime to be with hundreds youth and adults from
many different groups and religious denominations standing up for Life. It is
truly a family affair, when fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, daughters,
sisters, aunts and grandmothers stand up for life it truly and not let me forget
the beautiful young people for life, says something that is all powerful.
Please contact me if you wish, h.wills@ns.sympatico.ca
or don.kelly@ns.symaptico.ca
for details.
The coach is well furbished and will have VCR and Television along with Air
Conditioning.
Herm Wills, President Campaign Life Coalition NS
TOP
Most Holy Rosary Under The Invitation To Prayer And Guidance Of The Marian
Movement Of Priest
Each and every Saturday morning a small group of dedicated Marians meet in
the Chapel at St. John Vianney to pray the Most Holy Rosary under the Invitation
to Prayer and guidance of the Marian Movement of Priest. All are most welcomed.
Sackville Drive / Beaverbank Road, Lower Sackville, NS
Father Andy Goodwin will be arriving in Halifax on April 28.
He will be staying with Fr. Johni, Pastor St. John Vianney Parish - Holy Trinity
Pastoral. The Cenacle will be on Saturday, April 29, 2006 at St. John Vianney
Church beginning at 9:00 am. Priest from the area are most welcomed and encouraged
to attend.
Father Andy will be conducting Cenacles in possibly 3 other churches in Nova
Scotia. The first two are confirmed. He will be at Monastery on April 30, from
1:00pm -3:15pm, Sydney, St. Mary's Polish Church on May 1. Port Hood is also
a possibility for May 2. This has to be confirmed.
Father Geremia plans to come back this way next year, including a trip to Newfoundland.
God Bless
Cyril ccyrilcooke@aol.com
TOP
Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide: An Individual Or A Collective Choice - By Guido De Volder
On April 7th, Bloc Québécois MP Francine Lalonde, the author
of Bill C-407, once again stated that she intends to re-introduce a private
members bill on euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide: An Individual Or A Collective Choice? By:
Guido De Volder, - Montreal
Such was the topic of the debate that took place in Montreal on Friday, the
7th of April, at the Science faculty of the Université du Québec
à Montréal, the UQàM, to celebrate the UN-sponsored International
Day of Health.
Mme Francine Lalonde, MP for the Bloc Québécois in Ottawa and
author of bill C-407 which died on the order table last November, when parliament
was dissolved and elections were called, was assisted by a panel of professors
from the three francophone universities in Quebec: Laval University, the University
of Montreal and the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Panel Discussion
Madame Lalonde re-iterated her intention to re-introduce her Private Member's
bill, sooner rather than later, in the present session of Parliament. Her
opinion on the issue seems to have remained basically the same. Since active
euthanasia is already being performed on a growing number of patients, the
practice should be regulated by law. Palliative care can only be a complementary
solution, at best. People should have the right to die with dignity when certain
conditions are met.
Prof. Hubert Marcoux, MD, MA, FCMF, of the Department of Family Medicine
at Laval University and also Head of the Geriatric Department of the Jeffrey
Hale Hospital in Quebec provided some statistics of decriminalized euthanasia
and assisted suicide practice in Holland, Belgium and Switzerland followed
by a somewhat philosophical analysis of the consequences of moral and physical
suffering for the patient, his family and society.
Prof. Patrick Vinay, MD, PhD., Professor at the Department of Medicine and
medical specialties at the University of Montreal and medical practitioner
at the palliative care unit of Notre Dame Hospital, stressed the need for
more and better palliative care in order to enable patients to live their
life plainly to the end, even while dying. He mentioned a sleep treatment
he has developed for his terminal patients which eventually allows them to
come to terms with their condition thereby improving their quality of life.
Prof. Brian Mishara, PhD., Professor at the Department of Psychology at UQàM
and Director of the Suicide and Euthanasia Research and Intervention Center
(CRISE), was the only one on the panel who openly criticized Mme Lalonde's
bill, on its formulation, first, by expressing serious reservations on the
"apparently lucid" - clause in the bill as one of the conditions
in which a patient could express his desire to die. Secondly, by stating that,
contrary to Holland and Belgium, Mme Lalonde's bill would allow a third person
to participate in the execution of the 'apparently' lucid patient's desire
and finally, by mentioning that no decent palliative care is available in
Canada, yet. He also said that suicide is legal in Canada as well as is refusal
to undergo medical treatment and the possibility to legally administer drugs,
which have the double effect of killing the patient in the process. During
question period, Prof. Mishara was severely reprimanded by one of the interveners
for using the term 'killing' in the execution of a patient through euthanasia
or assisted suicide.
Two more interventions came from Mme Renée Joyal, LL.D., a lawyer
and a political science and law instructor at UQàM and from anthropologist
Luce Desaulnier, Professor at the Department of social and public communications
of UQàM and expert in end-of-life issues, the whole having been moderated
by well-known Quebec journalist Ariane Émond. Mme Renée Joyal
clearly expressed her fear that the right-to-die could eventually become the
duty-to- die. Therefore, all should be done to prevent trivialization of the
right-to-life, of the right to liberty and dignity. Referring to the interventions
of Dr Vinay and Prof. Mishara, she stressed that the quest for a new humanism
had become necessary.
Anthropologist Luce Desaulnier's intervention was a very academic expression
of materialistic determinism and an, at times, economic approach of the problem
in the sense that when, for instance, not enough palliative care is available
at any given time, the law of supply and demand would inevitably call for
more drastic solutions especially in a context dealing with shortages of nurses
and medical practitioners.
Question Period
Revealed the mitigated and sometimes confused opinions of the somewhat 200
courageous participants who showed up for this Friday night debate in cold
and rainy Montreal. A forceful and convincing intervention was made by Mme
St-Amour, Professor of Ethics at the University of Montreal, exhorting the
panelists and the public to think twice before walking down that slippery
slope.
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Informed Medical Consent for Catholic College Students
To Patrick Reilly - Pres., Cardinal Newman Society
We read in LifeNews that some Catholic universities are putting links to
PP (Planned Parenthood, etc.) on their websites, thus encouraging students
to have abortions. In addition to strongly suggesting that these Catholic
institutions drop these links, please also encourage them to have copies of
abortion consent forms on their websites. A copy of a San Antonio, Texas consent
form is in the Appendix to this email; two of the abortion risks listed are:
"(k) Possible increased lifetime risk of breast cancer"
"(f) Incompetent cervix;"
Most college students will not know what 'ICE' (Incompetent CErvix) is; it
means that the 'door' to the uterus (i.e. womb) has been much weakened, thus,
boosting future risk of a premature and handicapped [wanted] newborn.
(I am a medical researcher and writer.)
Cordially,
Brent Rooney
Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition
Vancouver, Canada
Web: http://www.jpands.org/vol8no2/rooney.pdf
Appendix: Texas consent form
First known abortion clinic to acknowledge possible ABC (Abortion-Breast-Cancer)
risk.
Such a form was used on October 30, 2001 at A Woman's Choice Quality Health
Center (First Choice Reproductive Health, Inc., San Antonio, Texas, USA
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DISCLOSURE AND CONSENT TO MEDICAL AND SURGICAL
PROCEDURES
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To the patient: you have the right, as a patient, to be informed
about your conditions & the recommended surgical, medical or diagnostic
procedure to be used so that you may make the decision whether to
undergo the procedure after knowing the risks & hazards involved.
This disclosure is not meant to scare or alarm you; it is simply an
effort to make you better informed so you may give or withhold your
consent to the procedure. I voluntarily request Dr. Dave Kittren &/or
Dr. Marco Lopez as my physician(s), & such other health care providers
as deemed necessary, to treat my condition which has been explained
to me as PREGNANCY. I have been informed, understand & have considered
my other alternatives such as continuing the pregnancy and keeping
the baby or continuing the pregnancy and choosing adoption.
I also understand that the following surgical, medical &/or diagnostic
procedures are planned for me & I voluntarily consent & authorize
these procedures: TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY or SUCTION CURRETAGE or
ABORTION. I understand that my physician may discover other or different
conditions, which require additional or different procedures than
those planned. I authorize my physician(s), the clinic, the staff,
and other such health care providers as deemed necessary to perform
such other procedures, which are advisable in their professional judgment.
I consent to the use of blood or blood products as deemed necessary.
I understand no warranty or guarantee has been made to me as to result
of care. Just as there may be risks & hazards in continuing my
present condition without treatment, there are also risks & hazards
related to the performance of the medications, surgical, medical &/or
diagnostic procedures such as: the potential for infection; blood
clots in veins, heart, brain or lungs; hemorrhage; allergic reactions
& even death. I also realize that the following risks & hazards
may occur in connection with this particular procedure:
(a) Bleeding with the possibility of requiring further surgery &/or
hysterectomy to control;
(b) Perforation (hole in) uterus &/or damage to the bladder, bowel,
blood vessel;
(c) Abdominal incision & operation to correct the injury;
(d) Infection of female organs: uterus, tubes, and ovaries;
(e) Sterility or being incapable of bearing children;
(f) Incompetent cervix;
(g) Failure to remove all products of the conception;
(h) Continuation of the pregnancy;
(i) Depression or "the blues";
(j) Post abortion stress syndrome;
(k) Possible increased lifetime risk of breast cancer.
I understand that anesthesia involves additional risks & hazards
but I request the use of anesthetics for the relief & protection
from pain during both the planned & additional procedures. I realize
the anesthesia may have to be changed possibly without explanation
to me. I understand that certain complications may result from the
use of any anesthesia, including respiratory problems, drug reaction,
paralysis, brain damage, or even death. I have been given the opportunity
to ask questions about my condition, alternative forms of anesthesia
& treatment, risks of non-treatment, the procedure to be used,
& information to give this informed consent.
My signature below certifies that this form has been fully explained
to me, that I have read it or have had it read to me or interpreted
for me, that the blank spaces have been filled in and that I understand
its contents.
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Signature
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Date
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Time
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Witness
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Date
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Washing Of The Feet On Holy Thursday And More On Days Of Abstinence
Rome, March 28, 2006 (Zenit.org). - Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor
of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum University.
Q: I understand that it is in fact liturgically
incorrect to have the main celebrant at the Holy Thursday Mass wash the feet
of women. Correct? - J.C., Ballina, Ireland.
During the Holy Thursday liturgy at our parish,
there are a number of foot-washing stations set up around the Church, and
the people in the pews get up and bring someone else to one of the stations
and wash their feet. Most of the people in Church take part in this, washing
feet and in turn having their feet washed. It takes quite a while. Is this
liturgically correct? Are there any norms for foot washing during the Holy
Thursday Mass? - B.S., Naperville, Illinois.
On Holy Thursday, at the washing of feet, the people,
mostly youth, after having their foot washed, preceded to wash the next person's
foot. Then they placed four bowls of water and four places before the altar,
and the congregation was told to come forward and have their hands washed
by the same people who just had their foot washed. We didn't. Everything felt
out of order. - E.K., Freehold, New Jersey.
A: We already addressed the theme of washing women's
feet in our column of March 23, 2004, and the subsequent follow-up on April
6.
Since then, there has been no change in the universal
norm which reserves this rite to men as stated in the circular letter "Paschales
Solemnitatis" (Jan. 16, 1988) and the rubrics of the 2002 Latin Roman
Missal.
No. 51 of the circular letter states: "The
washing of the feet of chosen men which, according to tradition, is performed
on this day, represents the service and charity of Christ, who came 'not to
be served, but to serve.' This tradition should be maintained, and its proper
significance explained."
About a year ago, however, the Holy See, while affirming
that the men-only rule remains the norm, did permit a U. S. bishop to also
wash women's feet if he considered it pastorally necessary in specific cases.
This permission was for a particular case and from a strictly legal point
of view has no value outside the diocese in question.
I believe that the best option, as "Paschales
Solemnitatis" states, is to maintain the tradition and explain its proper
significance.
This means preparing the rite following liturgical
law to the letter, explain its meaning as an evocation of Christ's gesture
of service and charity to his apostles, and avoid getting embroiled in controversies
that try to attribute to the rite meanings it was never meant to have.
Regarding the place and number of those whose feet
are to be washed, the rubric, which has remained unvaried in the new missal,
describes the rite as follows:
"Depending on pastoral circumstances, the washing
of feet may follow the homily.
"The men who have been chosen are led by the
ministers to chairs prepared in a suitable place. Then the priest (removing
his chasuble if necessary) goes to each man. With the help of the ministers
he pours water over each
one's feet and dries them."
The number of men selected for the rite is not fixed.
Twelve is the most common option but they may be fewer in order to adjust
to the available space.
Likewise the place chosen is usually within or near
the presbytery so that the rite is clearly visible to the assembly.
Thus, the logical sense of the rubric requires the
priest, representing Christ, washing feet of a group of men taken from the
assembly, symbolizing the apostles, in a clearly visible area.
The variations described above - of washing the
feet of the entire congregation, of people washing each other's feet (or hands),
or doing so in situations that are not visible to all - tend to undermine
the sense of this rite within the concrete context of the Mass of the Lord's
Supper.
Such practices, by greatly extending the time required,
tend to convert a meaningful, but optional, rite into the focal point of the
celebration. And that detracts attention from the commemoration of the institution
of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the principal motive of the celebration.
In other circumstances, such as retreats or so-called
para-liturgical services, it can be perfectly legitimate to perform foot-washing
rites inspired by Christ's example and by the liturgy. In such cases none
of the limitations imposed by the concrete liturgical context of the Holy
Thursday Mass need apply.
Follow-up: Why No Chicken on Days of Abstinence
Several readers asked for further clarifications on some aspects of the laws
of fast and abstinence (see our March 14 column).
Some inquired as to the use of derivatives such as chicken broth and the
use of beef and chicken stock and animal fats in preparing foods.
Present canon law allows the use of sauces made from animal fats, as well
as their use in cooking, so the use of beef or chicken stock would enter into
this category.
While the use of chicken consommé (that is just the liquid) might
fall within the law, it would be more in accordance with the spirit of abstinence
to prefer a fish or vegetable soup.
Other readers pointed out occasional incongruities such as when fish is more
expensive than meat.
The purpose of the law of abstinence is to educate us in the higher spiritual
law of charity and self-mastery. Thus, fast and abstinence have always been
tied to almsgiving.
In this way, it makes little sense to give up steak so as to gorge on lobster
and caviar. The idea of abstinence is to prefer a simpler, less sumptuous
diet than normal.
We thus have something extra to give to those less fortunate than ourselves
and also train ourselves in freedom from slavery to material pleasures. Even
a Catholic vegetarian can practice abstinence by substituting a typical, yet
more expensive, element of the diet for something simpler.
All the same, the laws of fasting exist to give clear directions and preserve
us from subjective indulgence in choosing our "sacrifices." But
these laws have always been tempered by the reality of the situation.
For this reason the Church has continually granted indults so that nobody
be involuntarily deprived of necessary foods. In some cases this has meant
suspending abstinence on some days or for some categories of people; in others
it has meant permitting meat when fish is an expensive delicacy or when eating
meat is itself a rarity. In other cases it has meant substituting another
kind of food for meat.
In all of these cases the basic rule of thumb is that the law of fast and
abstinence should never impose a grave or unsupportable burden on an individual
or family.
These indults are still very pertinent in poor countries where the basic
diet varies little and consists of a few basic commodities such as rice, beans,
corn or potatoes accompanied by small quantities of meat and other vegetables.
In the developed world the vast array of assorted foodstuffs available at
the local supermarket make living the laws of abstinence relatively easy.
In most cases one can forgo meat and still maintain a simple yet well balanced
diet.
However, while being faithful to these laws we must always strive to penetrate
the inner reasons for fast and abstinence and not just stay on the superficial
plane of rules for rules' sake.
Readers may send questions to news@zenit.org.
Please put the word "Liturgy" in the subject
field. The text should include your initials, your city and your state, province
or country.
ZE06032820
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United Mothers, Fathers & Friends Newsletter - March
28, 2006
PLEASE PRINT or FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER
ALONG TO OTHERS
I) Victory! Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act Passed.
II) Are Canada's Abortion Laws Extreme?
III) Laughter - "When I was a Fetus, I Loved Dill Pickle Ice Cream."
"In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how
well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society.
"The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is
wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons
in our society.
"I agree with them." South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds.
I) Victory! Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act Passed.
Dear Friend,
Great news!
The nation that introduced abortion on demand through Roe vs. Wade in 1973
is busy revising its abortions laws.
Earlier this month, the governor of South Dakota signed legislation banning
almost all abortions in that state. http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2006/1215.htm
The only exception would be when a pregnancy threatened the life of the mother.
The law comes into effect in July.
Mississippi's House has passed a similar bill, which has now moved to the
Senate for approval. In addition, several other U.S. jurisdictions are discussing
limitations and bans.
II) Are Canada's Abortion Laws Extreme?
"During the recent election campaign, Stephen Harper said his views
on abortion were 'complex.' 'I don't fall into any of the neat polar extremes
on this issue,' he told Global news.
"Abortion-on-demand is said to be either a fundamental Charter right
or a massive violation of the fundamental right to life. Those are the 'neat
polar extremes' Mr. Harper describes. It would appear that a moderate position
would be somewhere in between.
"Except in Canada. Our public policy - no restriction on taxpayer-funded
abortion at any time during gestation - is unmatched by any other democracy.
Save for Chinese-style mandatory abortions, it would not be possible for Canada
to be more extreme in its abortion license. So extreme in fact that even our
polar neighbours, Sweden and Norway, would blanch at our permissiveness. Both
countries prohibit abortion in! Most cases after 18 weeks gestation. In Britain,
it is 24 weeks. In Italy, 13 weeks. In France, Germany and Belgium it is 12
weeks.
"Only the United States matches our abortion-on-demand policy. Even
so, Americans have parental notification statutes, a prohibition on federal
funding and a federal ban on partial birth abortion - soon to be under review
by the Supreme Court. The moderate Canadian position is in fact American-style
absolutism taken to the extreme."
- Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post March 2/06. http://www.christianity.ca/news/commentary/2006/03.000.html
III) Laughter - "When I was a Fetus, I Loved Dill Pickle
Ice Cream" - By Dr. Dave Hepburn.
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/060207a.html
IV) Support Our Efforts.
To continue our efforts to strengthen Canada's laws and uphold the family,
we need your financial support to help pay for our campaigns and technology.
Please consider becoming a quarterly donor of $25 every 3 months. To become
a quarterly donor, or to make a one-time donation of $40, $75, or $100, please
click here for more information: http://www.unitedmothers.ca/donate.php
PLEASE PRINT or FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER
ALONG TO OTHERS
Michele Dow - United Mothers, Fathers and Friends
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Secular
Franciscan Order (SFO)
Please be patient with me while I complete
the Newsletter for the First Quarter of 2006 which should have been completed
by mid-December 2005.
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Sobey's Receipts Are Valuable
Please don't throw away your Sobey's receipts.
Click here and see why!
Amount of receipts collected
to date: $447,327.04
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