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Have faith - Prayer, Fasting 
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Campaign Life Coalition NS
January/February 2008 Newsletter
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Abortions in NS [FAQ's]
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1. Abortion Is The Worst Abasement In The History Of Humanity – March 14, 2008
Toledo Archbishop to Spanish Government: We will Continue to Fight Abortion is "the Worst Abasement in the History of Humanity" – By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
TOLEDO, SPAIN, March 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, Spain sent a clear message to newly elected socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero this week that the Catholic Church will continue to fight against his regime's pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality policies.
While stating his willingness to cooperate with Zapatero's government, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares made it clear that the bishops would continue struggling "against the widening of the abortion law and against euthanasia." He said that it would be a kind of "treason" to give up the fight.
"The Constitutional Court has recognized the rights of the unborn child," said Cañizares. "We must first demand the full application of the existing law: we are convinced that many of the hundred thousand abortions that occur every year in Spain would be avoided," he said in an interview this week with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Cañizares acknowledged the campaign of Giulano Ferrara, an Italian atheist intellectual, to secure a UN resolution for an international "moratorium" on abortion, and added, "I subscribe to it."
"For the future, I will fight for the abolition of abortion, which is the worst abasement in the history of humanity," the Cardinal said.
He acknowledged also that Europe is experiencing a "cultural revolution, not only in Spain but of all the West", although Spain is "the most advanced in this revolution".
"The Spanish government has passed laws that deny the evidence of nature and reason, that commit to the State the moral formation of young people, which seeks to establish a new culture based on a false conception of freedom."
The Cardinals remarks were apparently made in reference to "Education for Citizenship and Human Rights", a mandatory civics program created by Spain's socialist government regarded by critics as an indoctrination program that promotes the homosexual agenda and a secularist value system.
Spain's abortion regime is one of the most liberal in Europe, and under the Zapatero regime it has also instituted "homosexual marriage", the second nation in Europe to do so after the Netherlands.
The Cardinal acknowledged that, in the recent history of Spain "so far there has been a lack of Catholics in public life, but things are changing, and the future will be different."
2. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who! Play In Dartmouth, Review On Dr. Seuss’ Seussical – March 16, 2008
Saints Alive Dartmouth – SAINTS ALIVE! Theatre Society is proud to present:
SEUSSICAL The Musical Based on the works of Dr. Seuss
'A person's a person, no matter how small' – March 14-20
Alderney Landing Theatre
Tickets available by calling 1-888-311-9090 or http://www.ticketpro.ca.
For further info on our youth theatre please visit http://www.theatresa.org
Sunday, March 16, 2008
RATED: G
DISTRIBUTED BY: 20th Century Fox
DIRECTED BY: Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino
STARRING: Voices of Jim Carrey as Horton; Seth Rogen as Morton; Carol Burnett as Kangaroo; Steve Carrell as Mayor McDodd; Will Arnett as Vlad; Dan Fogler as Councilman; Josh Flitter as Rudy; Charles Osgood as Narrator
REVIEWED BY: Lindy Keffer
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!
"On the fifteenth of May in the jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool," and right smack in the middle of page one of Dr. Seuss' classic book—that's where this story begins. Horton is a friendly talking elephant whose afternoon swim is interrupted by a speck of dust that floats by and ... screams. It's a tiny scream, but a scream nonetheless. And Horton is awakened to the fact that a whole community of very small folks called Whos live on that speck. Theirs is a peaceful world where no news but good news has ever been heard.
Now the Whos have a problem. They're not accustomed to floating through the jungle. The fact that their speck has been dislodged from a secure resting place could spell disaster for their tiny world. But they've found their salvation in Horton, who takes on the responsibility of carrying the speck—pillowed atop a clover—to a sheltered spot high on Mount Nool. If he succeeds, the peace of Whoville will be restored.
Of course, his quest is not that easy. Enter a grumpy kangaroo—the self-appointed queen of the jungle—who doesn't believe in Whos. Her disbelief fuels a vendetta against Horton, whom she accuses of poisoning the minds of the jungle children with lies about creatures who don't exist. She'll go to any length to dispossess Horton of his clover—and his sense of responsibility toward the Whos.
Horton the movie holds hands with Horton the book in terms of one main theme: "Even though you can't see them or hear them at all, a person's a person, no matter how small!" Theodor Seuss Geisel penned this noble premise back in 1954, and the idea of caring for the tiny and powerless is even more meaningful today in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade.
Horton acts as protector and defender of those who can't protect and defend themselves, even in the face of persecution. At one point, he is given the opportunity to escape ridicule and punishment if he will only deny the Whos' existence and end his quest to deliver them to a safe home. He refuses to denounce his small friends. Filmmakers import a line from companion Seuss book Horton Hatches the Egg to reinforce his resolve. It reads, "I meant what I said and I said what I meant: An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!"
Another theme that is plucked from Seuss' pages—and elaborated upon—is the idea that each person is vital to the community. At a critical moment, when the Whos need to make their existence known to the larger world, their cries are not heard until the smallest Who joins in the cacophony. That much is the same in the book as in the film. Beyond that, the film delves into this small Who developing his own gifts—not those that others think he should have.
Whoville's Mayor McDodd ("devoted and fair and a little bit odd") has 96 daughters and one son. Despite the fact that his quiver—and his singular bathroom—are quite full, the mayor attempts to connect with each child on an individual basis. He doesn't always succeed, but he keeps trying. His relationship with his son, JoJo, is particularly challenging, as JoJo refuses to talk. The boy's voluntary muteness is partly due to the pressure he feels from his father to become Whoville's next mayor. In the end, McDodd ends up affirming his son for who he is. The mayor's wife states that she believes him even when no one else in town does.
Finally, the film briefly deals with the conflict between having an idealistic view of life that is out of touch with reality and having a realistic view of life that acknowledges and deals with negative situations. The latter approach is upheld as the better choice.
Though God is never mentioned, Horton Hears a Who! explores the concept of faith in a larger—unseen—being. At first, McDodd is the only Who able to communicate with Horton, so the other Whos think the mayor is delusional. Meanwhile, McDodd is trying to wrap his mind around the idea that his whole world fits on a speck of dust atop a flower held by Horton's trunk. His difficulty in grasping this concept is heightened by the fact that he can't see Horton.
To his amazement, when he begins factoring in Horton's presence, McDodd's own world suddenly makes more sense. When he tries to explain this to his fellow Whovillians, he uses words strangely similar to John 3:8: "Look at the wind! What do you think that means?"
Out in Horton's world, the kangaroo takes a hard-line naturalist view. "If you can't see, hear or feel something, it doesn't exist!" she insists. But her dogmatism is shown to be unfair and motivated by fear of losing control over the other jungle creatures.
Two smaller things that still merit a mention: A painting of a great-great-great-great-great-great-McDodd looks like a caveman. A youngster says that in her imaginary world, everyone worships her.
A comment is made about the mayor and his wife having been "busy," since they have so many children.
Carrying around the speck that houses Whoville, Horton quickly learns that "a small bump above [in Horton's world] is a big bump below [on the speck]." Thus, as Horton makes his way through the jungle, he causes continual earthquakes in Whoville. Many items are broken, and some jolts are scarier than others. No Who is seriously injured by the quakes, but in between them, several Whoizens get slapped by the mayor. One tremor interrupts His Honor's dental appointment and he's left with a wildly flopping anaesthetized arm instead of a numb jaw. (That deadened limb gets caught in a door at one point.)
The mayor angrily throws a stapler; it bounces back and, um, nails him in the face.
Horton's adventures include charging a posse of ornery monkeys, being fired upon by their banana shooters and cautiously traversing a rickety rope bridge. (This last feat must have frightened one of the pint-sized viewers with whom I shared a theatre, because I overheard a dad say reassuringly, "He's going to be all right!" while Horton scrambles for safety.) A couple of times, Horton pantomimes fighting invisible enemies and talks trash to them. ("All right, fat boy, you want some of this!?") Once, he gets hit in the head with a tree branch, and another time he is chased by an angry mob—which proceeds to catch him, cage him, tie him up and poke him.
The kangaroo, for her part, tries to drop the speck into boiling Beezle-Nut oil. Vlad, the nasty eagle bribed by Queen Kangaroo to do away with Horton's speck, talks about devouring the clover, regurgitating it, then devouring it again. Horton's friend Morton warns the elephant that if Vlad gets him, he'll "rip your flesh off." But when Vlad actually goes after Horton, he doesn't use either of these methods. Instead, he runs Horton headlong into a cliff ("I break elephant into million pieces!") and steals the flower.
"Gee," "Jeez" and "darn." McDodd and the Whoville town council chairman are fond of calling each other "boob," "moron" and "idiot." In one of their arguments (during which audiences can see them but not hear them) the chairman points to McDodd, then to a picture of a donkey's rear end, with the clear implication that he sees them as one and the same. The mean kangaroo accuses Horton of turning the jungle children into "a bunch of harebrained half-wits" and other such things.
A quick vignette shows a Whoville construction worker relaxing with a martini glass.
The kangaroo's joey calls his mom "weird." The mayor's JoJo, meanwhile, sneaks out of the house after bedtime. One of Horton's young jungle friends says that she has imagined a world in which everyone "eats rainbows and poops butterflies." Horton does a dance and shakes his ele-rump, a highly imitable move.
Reading Horton Hears a Who! takes all of seven minutes, so I was curious what filmmakers would do with the story to turn it into a feature-length film. After hearing tales about how Mike Myers' The Cat in the Hat and Jim Carrey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas fell flat in more than a few key areas, I was pleasantly surprised by this third stab at a treasured franchise.
Foremost, nobody messed with the pro-life refrain, which anchors the beautifully animated movie as it does the book. To top that off, writers Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul worked pretty hard to add narrative bits in Dr. Seuss' signature anapestic tetrameter—so the details added to the story sound like they came straight from the book. (If you don't think that's quite an accomplishment, try writing your own metered verse sometime!)
Hands down, the addition I was most pleased by was the exploration of faith in things unseen, which gets only a passing mention in the book, but enjoys significant screen time. The interaction between Mayor McDodd and Horton leaves viewers with the distinct impression that faith is not just reasonable, but in this case, makes one more loving and more responsible.
Horton is not a straight allegory, though, with neat connections between every element and a real-life parallel. Sometimes the tables are turned, as with the portrayal of the naturalist kangaroo. Ms. Kangaroo is a preachy, fear-mongering, pedantic control-freak. And she's the one persecuting Horton, the man, or, pachyderm of faith. Besides, Horton himself is not a perfect God-figure. (Too much bumbling.) And rather than landing hard on the moral of the story, the filmmakers chose to end it with a jungle-friends rendition of REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling." How's that for light-hearted?
So moviegoers looking for a Sunday school take-home lesson all spelled out and labelled with circles and arrows won't find it here. But they will be given a chance to engage in meaningful discussion about both faith and responsibility—all because of a lumpy and lovable elephant who's sure to make parents and kids alike leave the theatre waving their trunks and looking around for purple clover to pluck.
Breakaway
You're a teen guy with a lot of questions. Find answers — and a lot more — in Breakaway's high-octane content!
Copyright © 2008 Focus on the Family • All rights reserved • Int'l copyright secured 'Shining a Light on the World of Popular Entertainment' is a service mark of, and 'Plugged In' is a registered trademark of Focus on the Family (800) A-FAMILY (232-6459) • Privacy Policy/Terms of Use
3. Exclusive Interview, Ottawa Archbishop Explains Why Pro-Abortion Politicians Are Denied Communion – March 14, 2008
By John-Henry Westen
OTTAWA, March 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The mainstream media has picked up on comments by Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast regarding reception of Holy Communion for pro-abortion politicians. However, one part of the discussion, which has received little discussion, is the reason why the Church would deny politicians reception of Communion.
"The Code of Canon Law says in #915 that 'those whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin," explains the religious leader of Canada's national capital, "are not to be admitted to Holy Communion'."
"What is at issue is whether a politician who does not himself or herself participate in an abortion but supports 'a woman's right to choose' (or however else shows support for abortion) is guilty of grave sin and then obstinately persists in this state of grave sin."
Archbishop Prendergast stresses that denying Holy Communion is undertaken out of concern for the offending Catholic (politician in the case at hand). "The Church's concern is for anyone who persists in grave sin, hoping that medicinal measures (which is how excommunication and interdict are to be understood) may draw them away from the wrong path to the truth of our faith."
The Ottawa prelate points out how Christians from the beginning were told of the need to be in good standing with the faith before receiving Communion. "(St.) Paul said that before receiving communion a Christian should take part in self-examination and only then receive the Body of the Lord after necessary conversion (1 Cor. 11:28)."
Prendergast has no dislike for politicians, in fact just the opposite. "I deeply admire politicians for their desire to serve the public good and to make the many sacrifices necessary to win public office and to give themselves to public service," he says, adding, "They ought to be motivated by a concern for justice, good order, the public good, etc."
He notes however, that, "One of the greatest areas for effecting justice is the support of life in the womb and through all stages of life. Abortion goes against the Church's understanding, based on the teaching of Jesus, on the inviolability of innocent human life – including the unborn – and of the obligation of public servants to protect the weakest in society. It is hard to see how the support of abortion is not a very grave evil."
The decision to take "medicinal" remedies, says the Archbishop, is not taken lightly, and is simply an attempt at direct intervention with the politicians. "Perhaps politicians embrace the support of a woman's right to choose unthinkingly, following party policy; this is where the church with the help of its pastors and through fellow believers needs to come to the assistance of those who serve the public good," he said.
"It may take time to work with political figures before one can conclude that they are obstinately persisting in manifest grave sin and that, therefore, denial of communion or of encouraging them not to present themselves for communion is reached as the medicinal remedy to draw them back to the way of Christ, Our Lord, the Way, the Truth and the Life."
One other consideration in addressing seriously such grave violations of Church teaching is scandal. "If one were to allow Catholic political (or other public) figures to freely espouse abortion without drawing to their attention that this is a grave evil," explained Archbishop Prendergast, "other believers might be tended to accept this, not knowing any better and be led on the wrong path: that is what 'scandal' is. One must do everything possible to prevent others from falling away from the path of Christ - i.e. from being scandalized."
See related LifeSiteNews articles:
Pope Supports Excommunication for Pro-Abortion Politicians – "Incompatible with Receiving Communion" –
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07050901.html
Second U.S. Bishop Says Vatican Letter on Pro-Abort Politicians Withheld from Bishops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/aug/04080603.html
Cardinal McCarrick Continues to Conceal Rome's Insistence that Pro-Abort Politicians Be Denied Communion – http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06102310.html
4. Friday Five, Exodus' Randy Thomas – March 14, 2008
March 14, 2008
by Devon Williams, associate editor
'Gender identity is very important to God.'
Parents of children who struggle with gender confusion are being encouraged to raise their kids according to the gender they want to be.
Nationally, organizations are adopting gender-neutral restrooms.
And in California, students now can “choose their own gender” when deciding whether to use the boys’ or girls’ restroom and locker room.
According to the American Psychological Association, “transgender” is a term used to describe people whose self-perception differs from their biological gender. This condition is commonly referred to as gender identity disorder.
Randy Thomas is executive vice president of Exodus International, the largest worldwide Christian outreach to those affected by homosexuality. He spoke with CitizenLink about transgenderism and his own journey out of homosexuality.
Family Advocates Defend Homeschool Freedom in California
More than 230,000 people have signed a petition asking the state's highest court to take action.
Michigan Abortionist Tosses Patient Records, Aborted Babies into Trash
'This is obviously part of how this guy operates.'
Focus on the Family Helps Christian University Destroyed by Tornadoes
Washington Governor Increases Domestic-Partner Benefits
Plugged In Movie Review: Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!
Horton first hatched an egg in 1940. Then in 1954, Dr. Seuss sent him to help some very tiny Whos. Fifty-four years after that, it's still anapestic tetrameter to the rescue!
Family News in Focus Weekend Edition
Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family, talks about following in Dr. Dobson's footsteps. Find a station or listen online, beginning Saturday.
Restoring Sexual Identity: How does childhood sexual abuse relate to the development of lesbianism? Can a woman be Christian and a lesbian at the same time?
Paperback: Suggested Donation: $13
"A great man is always willing to be little." — Ralph Waldo Emerson, author, 1841
citizenlink.com | about us | contact us | focusaction.org | family.org
Copyright © 2008, Focus on the Family Action. All rights reserved.
International copyright secured. For information on reprints, forwarding and other information, here.
5. Lifeissues.Net Newsletter (Announcement) – March 16, 2008
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
Fr. Jerry Novotny is recovering from knee surgery and will return to work soon.
Lifeissues.net Newsletter (Announcement) – March 16, 2008
In the meantime, if you haven't had a chance to visit lifeissue.net lately, here are a few of the most recently published articles at the site:
Grief after Abortion: The Devastating Psychological and Social Effects of Abortion on Women – by E. Joanne Angelo
"Every woman who subjects herself to an induced abortion suffers the death of her own child. She is at risk not only for surgical and medical complications of abortion-uterine rupture, sepsis, infertility, increased incidence of cancer. She is also at high risk for pathological grief which often brings with it severe and long-lasting negative sequelae for herself, her partner, her surviving children and the whole of society."
Full Article at: http://lifeissues.net/writers/ang/ang_01griefafter.html
Chemical Abortion and RU-486/PG: Why it is Dangerous and Unnecessary – by Germain Kopaczynski
"Let's be honest. When used as an abortifacient, RU-486/PG is not real medicine. It is part of the culture of death that we are called upon to battle."
Full Article at: http://lifeissues.net/writers/kop/kop_02chemab.html
The Effects of Abortion on Men: Its emotional, psychological and relational impact – by Vincent M. Rue
"Only now are we beginning to see the extent of the harm abortion visits on women, men and the surviving children. It is clear that in addition to the other victims of abortion, men too suffer. They too pay a high price for reproductive 'freedom.' They too lose in the high stakes world of reproductive 'choice' guided only by the self and expediency. Killing hurts the living too. It knows no gender bias."
Full Article at: http://lifeissues.net/writers/rue/rue_01aboronmen.html
You Can Change Society:
1. Be Informed: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues www.lifeissues.net.
2. Pray Daily: for the courage to be God's presence in society and to strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life". "If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
3. Become Involved: "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Universities, Parishes, Hospitals and Family/Pro Life related groups. The lectures place emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges". For inquires about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp . To become a supportive Missionary participant for this project in Asia, kindly send your donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; (or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824).
Contact Editor: Jerry Novotny, OMI; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; Tel/Fax: 088-843-0406; E-Mail: jerry@lifeissues.net
Websites by Editor:
English LifeIssues Site: www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese LifeIssues Site: www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI Site: www.omijapankorea.net-index.html.
6. LifeSiteNews.Com – March 13, 2008
LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information.
Today's bullies – yesterday's feminists – Barbara Kay, National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=368477
The abortion debate isn't over – National Post editorial
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=366112
Germany to Legalize Incest?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,540831,00.html
Peruvian archbishops support each other in fight against abortion lobby
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12050
Michigan lawmakers will soon vote on closing loopholes to parental consent laws
http://www.citizenlink.org/fnif/A000006740.cfm
Calgary Herald Editorial – Real leadership is not about relativism – The nerve of Terrence Prendergast, Ottawa's new Roman Catholic archbishop, to state that he will not give communion to any politician who stubbornly clings to a pro-abortion stand
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=92eb3766-f4b6-4e72-b2c7-ea912fc7f43a
Items considered sinful behaviour by Americans – adultery (81 percent), racism (74 percent); using “hard” drugs such as cocaine, heroine, meth, LSD, etc. (65 percent); not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change (63 percent); abortion (56 percent)
http://www.christianpost.com/pages/print.htm?aid=31504
Safe, Legal, and Dishonest – http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12864
Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells Help Brain Function in Animal Studies – Wesley Smith
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2008/03/umbilical-cord-blood-stem-cells-help.html
Wisconsin Alumni Foundation Owns Embryonic Stem Cell Research – Wesley Smith
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2008/03/wisconsin-alumni-foundation-owns.html
The mothers act must be stopped – your help is urgently needed reclassifying the natural process of pregnancy and birth as a mental disorder
http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron51.htm
The Demographic Winter and the Barren Left By Steven W. Mosher
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=993
Sharp Decline in Births Looms in China
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200803/FOR20080312b.html
China's one-child policy to stay – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/10/china
U.S. State Department Excludes China From Top Human Rights Violators
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200803/FOR20080312a.html
Biomedical waste found in abortion clinic trash – estimated dozen foetuses being held for a spring burial
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/METRO/803110329/1408/LOCAL
For the first time federal authorities have conceded a connection between her autistic symptoms and the vaccines she received – http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1721109,00.html
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell comes to the defence of homeschool families – http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=192792f5-8822-4040-b949-6aae9307a4d4
'Pill to Stop Menstrual Cycle May Kill You'
http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/health/harmful_products/news.php?q=1205189231
CDC study illustrates need for abstinence focus, says advocate
http://onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=69499
Alabama teens defend abstinence education to Washington lawmakers
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/269668.html
National Education Association Donates Millions to Left-Leaning Political Groups
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000006761.cfm
Essay: Eliot Spitzer – A Man Without A Party
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2008/03/12/essay-eliot-spitzer-man-without-party
Reflections on the State of Affairs in New York – Concerned Women for America
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/14849/FIELD/nation/index.htm
Last 'Harry Potter' book becomes 2 films
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_en_mo/film_harry_potter;_ylt=AsCak_LOlI7I8kOVY3GKwkGs0NUE
Court challenged to allow Christians right to pray, too – Appeal seeks to overturn decision eliminating 'Jesus' – http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58721
Cardinal Dulles Urges Faithful Catholic Colleges
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/488/ItemID/52/Default.aspx
BBC to exonerate Judas in Jesus Christ drama
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/10/nbbc110.xml
Actor Ben Stein wants to let real Florida teachers challenge evolution in science classes.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080313/NEWS/803130482/-1/newssitemap
Second Muslim elected to Congress
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1164415020080312
Sarkozy and European Secularism – http://catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0194.htm
The Decline and Fall of Europe: Chapter 3 of 5
http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=MmZkNDk4M2FjNWJmM2M0NzdhMzgyYTRiMjk5NjlhMDg=
Canada Human Rights Commission taking submissions on issue of closed hearing! WRITE!
http://www.freedominion.com.pa/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=96805&sid=5d756fbb7b35ee4f9ebc0ff80eb09e78
U.S. syphilis rate up for 7th year in row, CDC says
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080311/D8VBFTDG1.html
Porn Spammer Settles with FTC – http://www.citizenlink.org/fnif/A000006739.cfm
Gay Porn as Required Reading in Ill. High School, Media Silent
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/03/12/gay-porn-required-reading-ill-high-school-media-silent
Porn-Maker Praises Planned Parenthood's Teenwire Web Site
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200803/CUL20080313a.html
More Gay Men Choose Surrogacy to Have Children
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/OnCall/story?id=4439567&page=1
UPS partners with gay business group
http://washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=17076
The Failure of the Condom Culture – http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU08C07
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7. New Legislation For Assisted Suicide On Horizon – March 13, 2008
March 13th, 2008 as reported at http://www.CanadianChristianity.com
By Deborah Gyapong – Canadian Catholic News
OTTAWA (CCN) – Work is underway on a draft assisted-suicide and euthanasia bill and on a new test case to challenge the Sue Rodriguez Supreme Court of Canada ruling.
In the early '90s, Rodriguez, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), wanted the legal right to doctor-assisted suicide. The Court turned her down by a 5 to 4 ruling. In 1994, she found an unnamed doctor to help her take her life.
News of the draft legislation and possible test case came out on CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup March 2, during an interview with Jocelyn Downie, the Canada research chair in health law and policy at Dalhousie University.
In a telephone conversation March 6, Downie confirmed legislation is in the works, but she declined to give any details. She also would not confirm whether a potential test case has been found or a search for such a person is still going on.
Cross Country Checkup devoted the March 2 program to the recent decision to release Robert Latimer on day parole. Latimer had been serving a 10-year sentence for the second-degree murder of his disabled daughter Tracey. Last fall, a parole board hearing turned down his request for release, because he was unrepentant for the killing. He appealed and won. He will live in Ottawa, where he plans to lobby for clemency and for a change in the law.
Margaret Somerville, the Founding Director, McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law For Margaret Somerville, the founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, one of the big dangers in the looming euthanasia debate is how mixed up and confused the arguments and the cases in question become. This confusion can be "very favourable to the pro-euthanasia side," she said in an interview.
The Latimer case is not a euthanasia case, she stressed.
Initially, the pro-euthanasia people recoiled in horror at the Latimer case, she said, because it was viewed as a father killing his disabled daughter. They said we would never condone anything like that, but only the assisted suicide of a competent adult with informed consent, she said.
"We know that familiarity inhibits our moral intuition, and so now it seems as though they are quite happy to say we should be nice to Mr. Latimer because it was just mercy and compassion," she said. "Obviously what they're saying is that's an ethical justification for what he did and it should be a legal justification."
Somerville said she finds euthanasia "alarming no matter how broad or how narrow" the definition is.
Somerville warned of this confusion when she spoke to a group of conservatives at the Canada Networking Conference put together by the Manning Centre for Building Democracy in Ottawa Feb. 29 in a talk entitled: 'The next contentious ethical issue: Euthanasia and end-of-life issues.'
The danger of the Latimer case is that it shows how the very narrow definition of euthanasia could be expanded to include compassion as an ethical and legal justification for killing somebody, she said.
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) executive director Alex Schadenberg said in a telephone interview he expects a new euthanasia and assisted suicide bill to introduce after the next election. The last such bill was put forward as a private member's bill by Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde.
He said he also expects Robert Latimer will be plying the halls of Parliament Hill, trying to win people over to his point of view. But Schadenberg thinks that Latimer will be as effective as Jack Kevorkian, the so-called suicide doctor, when Members of Parliament get to meet him and get a real sense for motivation.
The March 6 issue of Maclean's magazine profiles Robert Latimer and reports on the underlying rage in his letters to politicians.
"His false idea of mercy seems to have bought him an early release," said Schadenberg. "Normally he wouldn't qualify. He doesn't have remorse; he doesn't see he didn't any wrong."
"His idea is a direct threat to other people," he said, because others might say to themselves if it was okay for Robert Latimer to kill his disabled daughter, maybe there is nothing wrong with my killing a disabled person.
Somerville said she believes that somehow Canadians need to be shocked back into seeing the larger moral context and what it means for the moral context if we legalize it.
Though she usually opposes linking abortion to euthanasia, she said she thinks the normalization of abortion provides one useful comparison.
A third of all pregnancies overall end up in abortion, and one in four women in Canada have had an abortion, she pointed out.
"What if one in four people in Canada ended up being euthanized," she asked. "What would that mean as a society?"
In order to maintain respect for human life, we have to exercise respect for human dignity in general in the form of a restraint when it comes to taking human life, she said.
Another case that has helped confuse the euthanasia debate concerns Samuel Golobchuk, an elderly man on respirator in a Manitoba hospital. His doctors want to remove the respirator and stop treatment. His Orthodox Jewish family wants treatment to continue. They recently won a court injunction. The issue in the Golubchuk case is who should decide. Doctors in Manitoba recently declared they should make the final decision, not families.
Somerville said she does not believe doctors should have the absolute right to trump the rights of families.
"The family has got the basic right to decide, but there can be exceptions when what they want is patently unreasonable," she said.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition also supports the Golubchuk family in their battle.
– Courtesy of Canadian Catholic News. Please do not reprint without permission.
Related stories:
The current fate of Robert Latimer is a national disgrace. By now, the Saskatchewan farmer has been languishing in prison for more than seven years. Recently, the National Parole Board rejected his application for day parole. The stated rationale for the board's decision could serve to keep Latimer behind bars for the rest of his life: According to the judgment, he failed to show sufficient "remorse" for what he did. That's because Latimer reportedly feels no such remorse. He believes that what he did was right. He ran afoul of the law by ending the life of his 12-year-old daughter. He insists that he did so in order to relieve the unremitting pain she was suffering as a result of a severe disability. (No one knows how she felt: Her mental limitations precluded meaningful consultations.)
A. Alan Borovoy, National Post, February 1
Orthodox Jew in Winnipeg hospital stays on life support as dispute goes to trial
A Winnipeg judge ruled Wednesday that an 84-year-old Orthodox Jew will remain on life support until a dispute over whether a doctor can disconnect him without the family's permission can go to trial. Samuel Golubchuk's adult children, Percy Golubchuk and Miriam Geller, looked elated after Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Perry Schulman ordered Grace Hospital to "provide full medical care" to their father until the end of a trial.
Canadian Press, February 13
In the matter of life and death, the family should rule
This is not a "religion versus medicine" issue. It is more a human-rights issue – specifically, the right to live.
Reuven Bulka, Globe and Mail, February 24
Robert Latimer should have been convicted of only "compassionate murder"
With Robert Latimer finally getting parole, it's time to again look at how Canadian law could be changed to deal with instances of mercy killing. I interviewed the Prairie farmer in prison in 2004 and came away convinced our legal system had not been up to the task of dealing with his mercy killing of his daughter.
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, February 27
On Robert Latimer and how Canada just became scarier for the disabled
One of the central reasons why Limiter’s parole was originally declined in December 2007, was because he refused to acknowledge that he did anything wrong. He killed his daughter, he argued, out of love. He was putting the girl out of her misery. Perhaps a more candid explanation was that he was putting her out of his.
Michael Coren, National Post, February 27
Robert Latimer, the Saskatchewan farmer who killed his severely disabled daughter, is set to be released on day parole in a halfway house after the parole board yesterday reversed a decision to keep him behind bars. The Appeal Division of the National Parole Board overruled a December ruling by the Pacific regional office of the board denying Latimer day parole.
National Post, February 28
'Laws are not as important as Tracy was'
The case of Robert Latimer has polarized society, judges and the media. The hearings before the National Parole Board and its reactions to this case are just as conflicted. While Latimer's appeal to a panel for day parole was refused last December, the board's appeal division granted him his freedom yesterday, rejecting many of the arguments made by those at the first hearing.
National Post, February 28
Canada just became scarier for the disabled
One of the central reasons why Latimer's parole was originally declined in December 2007, was because he refused to acknowledge that he did anything wrong. He killed his daughter, he argued, out of love. He was putting the girl out of her misery. Perhaps a more candid explanation was that he was putting her out of his.
Michael Coren, National Post, February 28
8. Reporter Wins National Journalism Award – March 13, 2008
Reporter wins National Journalism Award for Article on Carrying Ill-Fated Pregnancy to Term.
The importance of establishing perinatal hospices all over North America
By a mother who grieves the hospital expedited death of her Trisomy 13 baby (name withheld)
March 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When a woman is told that her unborn baby has a condition, which will likely, result in death soon after birth, the health care system strongly encourages abortion.
There is an abundance of support offered to the family to encourage the decision to terminate such pregnancies. The majority of these pregnancies are in the second trimester by the time the problems are discovered. The resulting abortions usually involved early induction of labour.
In the past, little if any support has been offered for the choice of carrying the baby to term and letting God decide the longevity of the baby's life.
This is changing. There is a tremendous growth in perinatal hospices in the United States. The hospice provides all the necessary medical and social support for the family to prepare for the birth and death of their newborn. The family is guided and supported to write birth plans, which enable them to spend quality time with their newborn according to their wishes.
Lee Hill Kavanaugh, from the Kansas City Star has won the 2008 Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award for a story about a family's decision to carry their son to term, despite a lethal prenatal diagnosis.
The first story of the series was entitled Love to Last a Life Time and documents a family's journey throughout the pregnancy and the birth of their son, Zeke. The baby lived for 35 minutes and was treasured by his loving family for the duration of his life.
Both the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists and the Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists of Canada have recommended an extension of genetic screening for women of all ages. Genetic screening and ultrasounds performed for the sole purpose of looking for defects in the unborn baby are increasingly considered to be part of routine prenatal care.
In Ontario, birth defect surveillance is done by the Foetal Alert Network, which is funded the Ministry of Health. The data provided by this group is decidedly scant. A newsletter laments the fact that 3% of total births involve a serious birth defect, "despite the fact that many birth defects can be identified through prenatal testing." Increasingly, pregnancy termination is seen as a way to "prevent" birth defects from occurring.
Presently, there are 44 Perinatal Hospices throughout the United States. Canada only offers this supportive service in Edmonton, Alberta.
The growth of these hospices is largely attributed to Amy Kuebelbeck, whose son Gabriel passed away due to a serious heart defect that was diagnosed before birth.
Ms. Kuebelbeck has promoted the importance of the perinatal hospice all over North America. Recently, she made a very well received presentation to 1000 genetic counsellors at their national meeting in Kansas City.
The national journalism award for a story about the decision to carry an ill-fated pregnancy to term provides a tremendous boost to encourage awareness and growth of perinatal hospices.
The effect of this encouragement is that more people in society can bear witness to the beauty of these special lives, which, despite their brevity have great purpose and value.
Love to Last a Lifetime – http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/70880.html
Exceptional Video on Baby Zeke's Life
http://www.kansascity.com/static/media/Audio_Photo_Gallery/
More information on perinatal hospices – http://www.perinatalhospice.org/
E-mail to a Friend – http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/sendtofriend.html?articleid=08031304
View Story on LifeSiteNews.com
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/viewonsite.html?articleid=08031304
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