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1. Only a Few Weeks Left Before Parliament Convenes - September 6, 2006
Your Visit to Your MP Will Help Restore Marriage
Dear Friend of Marriage;
There are only a few weeks left until Parliament convenes for its fall session. We expect that sometime during this session Prime Minister Harper will make good on his campaign pledge to bring a bill before the House to reconsider the vote last year to legalize same-sex marriage in Canada.
Even though this vote would not be directly on the issue of same-sex marriage
itself but merely on whether to consider restoring traditional marriage at some
future date, it is nonetheless critically important to our future. If we lose
this vote to even re-consider the action to legalize same-sex marriage, it is
not clear when, if ever, we will have another chance to restore true marriage
to Canada.
This vote will be that important.
Across Canada, thousands of constituents have been telling their MPs that they want them to vote in favor of this measure. We appreciate all who have already called, written, e-mailed or visited with their MP personally. But it is critical that still more constituents contact their MPs. For contact information for your MP, click here.
During this summer recess, it is easier for constituents to talk with their MPs then it will be when Parliament convenes. If you have not yet made contact with your MP and urged him or her to support the bill to reconsider legalizing same-sex marriage at some future date, please do so in the next couple of weeks. It is important that your MP knows how you stand and why you are concerned about restoring traditional marriage in Canada. On our Web site we provide more background information that you can use.
However, I think your message to your MP can be quite simple. You should let him or her know that you believe that restoring marriage is critical, that the previous government did not allow the full, fair and comprehensive debate and analysis of the significance of legalizing same-sex marriage and that you want them to vote with the government to allow this debate to finally take place. Be sure to ask them to tell you how they plan to vote.
During my years of service in the House, I had countless meetings with my constituents on a wide range of issues. I always paid particular attention to what they told me because I and the vast majority of others who serve in Parliament realize that the reason we are there is to represent them and their values, concerns and goals.
Restoring marriage is vital to our future and contacting your MP is something
important that each Canadian can do to help in that effort.
Please contact your MP today and encourage others you know to do so as well.
Sincerely,
The Hon. Dr. Grant Hill, P.C.
P.S. If you have not yet joined the tens of thousands of Canadians who have signed our National Petition to Restore Marriage, I hope you will take a couple of minutes to do so. Just click here.
Please forward this on to others! To subscribe to this e-newsletter,
click here.
2. CLF - July 2006 E-Newsletter
E-Newsletter Summary - Highlights of July 2006 E-Newsletter:
New: Law & Grace Radio Program -
Faith FM 94.3, Kitchener, ON
Praise: Hugh
Owens Positive Court Of Appeal Result Will Not Be Challenged At Supreme Court
Of Canada
Law Watch
Classified Ads
Prayer & Praise
Executive Director Note
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: - 1 Peter 1:7 -
Dear CLF Members & Friends:
Feeling the heat? I'm not referring to rising summer temperatures that spur us to draw on air conditioning or fans. I'm thinking of the mental and emotional pressure accompanying increased responsibility and reduced relaxation. Or maybe its unexpected deaths; financial strain or health problems. Have you ever wondered why God allows us to go through times of distress? It is natural to recoil from the pain source but this internal resistance rather than humble surrender to God's purposes often disorients and causes us to stumble in the darkness longer than we should. I am inspired by the words of a paraplegic, Joni Eareckson Tada: "God is more concerned with conforming me to the likeness of His Son than leaving me in my comfort zones. God is more interested in inward qualities than outward circumstances - things like refining my faith, humbling my heart, cleaning up my thought life and strengthening my character."
Indeed He is.
Together in His Service,
Ruth Ross
Executive Director, CLF
What's God Up To?
Praise God for this God-sized development...
New: Law & Grace Radio Program - Faith FM 94.3, Kitchener, ON
Lowell Hunking is hosting a one-hour, weekly radio show called "Law And Grace" on CJTW Faith FM 94.3 in Kitchener. The show can be heard live on webcast at www.faithfm.org every Tuesday evening from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. In this radio show, Lowell will interview Christian lawyers, by telephone or on site, asking them what it is like to be in their field; what God is doing in their life; how God is moving in their area of law, etc. He will also interview quasi-legal individuals such as members of parliament and people representing organizations with intervenor status in current cases. Periodically there will be a "round-table" discussion with a small group of interviewees featuring issues before the courts and Parliament. CLF is partnering with Lowell on this exciting project. The first show will air on August 1st and Ruth Ross is honoured to be the first guest. Please write CLF with your suggestions or offers, which we will pass along to Lowell.
2006-07 CLF Law Student Directory
CLF's Student Ministry is growing significantly! With a record 108 students, CLF is excited to announce the publication of its third CLF Law Student Directory complete with pictures, personal profiles and contact information of student members. Based on the positive feedback from our members, this has been a very helpful resource for networking, mentoring and career preparations. Plans are quickly progressing to publish the 2006-7 Student Profile Directory this summer. All student members currently attending law school and those who are articling are asked to submit their information for the Student Profile Directory before July 31. Advertising is available as well. Contact Sylvia Wittmaier (sylvia.clf@mts.net) for requirements or more information.
Event Report
CLF Meetings in British Columbia With Tim Stonhouse
Newly appointed Western Director Tim Stonhouse was delighted with the turnout and enthusiasm of CLF members at recent meetings in Vancouver and Victoria as they met to discuss the CLF 2007 National Student Conference (below), mentoring opportunities and ongoing CLF activities. Tim welcomes your comments and suggestions in support of CLF ministry at: tims@telusplanet.net.
Upcoming Events
Date Set: 2007 CLF National Student Conference University of British Columbia - February 15-18, 2007
Plans are steaming ahead for the next national student conference at the University of British Columbia. The confirmed dates are February 15-18, 2007. We encourage students and local lawyers to mark your calendars and plan to join the action. More details will follow.
Postponed: Calgary Church Leadership & the Law September 28, 2007
After prayerful consideration of the potential of hosting a Church Leadership & the Law (CL&L) event in Calgary & an evaluation of the resources available, CLF board and staff have concluded that the timing is not appropriate for hosting this event in 2006 in conjunction with the national conference.
CLIA Training Mini-Academy September 30 - Calgary, AB
The Christian Legal Intervention Academy (CLIA) invites Christian lawyers and upper year law students to attend an intensive, one-day Mini-Academy training event to take place September 30 in Calgary, Alberta in conjunction with the CLF National Conference (see below). CLIA will provide training to practicing lawyers and upper year law students who seek to make a difference in Canadian society by advocating on behalf of truth and life. The day will help participants to proactively prepare for, and provide quality legal representation in important constitutional and human rights cases relating to issues of religious freedom. Click here for more information.
2006 CLF Annual Conference September 28 - October 1
Delta Bow Valley - CLF
2006 National Conference
Here Am I, Use Me: Deciphering the Voice of God - Purposing to Obey -
Don't miss the Calgary action including inspiring speakers, encouraging fellowship,
opportunities to invest in law students and refreshing worship. CLF has arranged
for an optional Friday night Alberta ranch experience in the foothills of the
Rocky Mountains. Many prominent speakers will address CLF guests: Ambassador
Dennis Ignatius, Eugene Meehan, Roger Magnuson, Sam Solomon, Dr. William Bennett
and many more, Click here
to register and see find other conference information, or contact ross.clf@primus.ca.
Interventions
The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission has decided it will not appeal to the Supreme Court over an ad placed by Hugh Owens in a Saskatoon newspaper in 1997. Mr. Owens placed the ad and printed bumper stickers to express disagreement with the homosexual lifestyle. A commission board of inquiry initially found that the ad violated the Human Rights Code, a decision upheld by Saskatchewan's Court of Queen's Bench in 2002. However, the Court of Appeal overturned that lower court's decision in April, saying while the ad was bluntly presented and upsetting to many, it didn't violate the code. CLF is grateful that an important precedent has been established and expresses gratitude for the quality work of CLF member Tom Shuck who was legal counsel in this case.
Click here
to view CLF Press Release, April 13, 2006.
Click here
to view the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Decision
Click here
for CLF's case summary and analysis, April 22, 2006.
Three Parent Family Case Update
CLF was granted intervener status in this case as part of the Alliance for
Marriage and Family. The definition and understanding of "parent"
and "family" as well as the rights of children are at issue in this
case which is of grave concern to CLF. There is no precedent for a child to
have three parents (in this case the biological father and two lesbian mothers).
On June 29, the Ontario Children's Lawyer requested and was granted a court
appointment as counsel for the five-year-old child in the proceeding and has
until August 8 to file its factum.
Click
here for more information
Read
the lower court decision here
Read article "How
Many Parents Can A Child Have?"
Don Spratt & Abortion Bubble Zone Appeal Update
CLF is expected to file its intervention factum shortly having been granted intervener status on May 11. On December 17, 1998 Mr. Spratt was convicted under the B.C. Access to Abortion Services Act, on charges of making a "protest" and "sidewalk interference" and given a 30-day sentence. The issue of expression of one's religious beliefs is directly in issue, and therefore one, which is of serious concern to CLF. Legal counsel is Julie Owen of Vancouver.
Click here to view decision of granting intervenor status.
Law Watch
Due to the high volume of cases, we have changed our format to provide headlines
and links. Please let us have your feedback.
Freedom of Speech
· Opposition To Margaret
Somerville's Honorary Doctorate Award From Ryerson University
(Catholic Civil Rights League - 20 June, 06)
Freedom of Religion
· Camp
Closed Over Gay Worker?
(Canadian Press - 20 June, 06)
Traditional Definition of Marriage & Family
· Harper
Promises Marriage Vote This Fall
(Today's Family News - 7 June, 06)
· More
Than 10% Of Canadians Do Not Believe Pedophilia Immoral
(LifeSiteNews - 7 June, 06)
· Federally
Funded National Tourism Agency Encouraging Homosexuals To "Wed" In
Canada
(LifeSiteNews - 16 June, 06)
· Concern
Over New BC Curriculum - Education Or Pushing A Lifestyle?
(Today's Family News - 21 June, 06)
· Marriage
Issue Won't Go Away - By Bishop Fred Henry
(Calgary Sun - 25 June, 06)
· Ontario
Superior Court Rules in Favour of Parental Rights for Four Lesbian Couples
(Can L II - Ontario Superior Court - 6 Jun, 06)
Parental Rights
· Bill 52 Passes
Second Reading In Ontario - Pushing Compulsory School Age In Ontario To 18
(Home School Legal Defence Association of Canada)
· International
Law Increases Threat To Home Schooling (LifeSiteNews.com - 25 May, 06)
Sanctity of Life
· Late
Term Abortion Bill Tabled - Bill C-338
(Evangelical Fellowship of Canada) Islam
· Curb
Donations to Religious Institutions: Muslim Group
(CBC.ca)
Miscellaneous
· Age
Of Consent Bill Introduced
(Evangelical Fellowship of Canada)
International
· Marriage
Amendment Stopped In U.S. Senate
(World Congress On Families - 7 June, 06)
· Australia
Strikes Down Law Recognizing Same-Sex Unions
(World Congress on Families - 15 June, 06)
Articling Recruitment
Carters Professional Corporation in Orangeville, Ontario, is a full service
law firm with a focus on charity and not-for-profit law. The firm has 14 lawyers
and 26 supporting staff, and is looking for 2 articling students for the 2007/2008
articling term, starting (date to be determined) in 2007, or as soon thereafter
as possible. Interested students should forward their resumes, references, undergraduate
and law school academic transcripts by July 30, 2006 to: D. Ann Walters, 211
Broadway, P.O. Box 440, Orangeville, Ontario L9W 1K4; awalters@carters.ca.
Christian Youth Worldview and Leadership (CYWAL) Conference
July 23-28 - Crief Hills Retreat & Conference Centre, Cambridge, ON
Instruction in apologetics, worldview and leadership training for 16-19 year
old Christian youth.
Contact: gbaribeau@on.aibn.com
or 1-519-268-8531.
Praying for the Justice Gate: Ruth Ross Praying at Global Day of Prayer - Air Canada Centre, Toronto
On June 4th, Ruth was honoured to be asked to participate in the largest prayer meeting in history - The Global Day of Prayer. Scheduled on Pentecost Sunday, the core objective of this event was to see our nation and the world transformed by a powerful move of God as believers come together in unity. It was moving experience to join thousands of people in worship and humble prayer before God.
We ask that you now join your hearts in prayer for the following:
· Canada Day - July 1st! It's time to praise God for our freedom
and our nation's prominence in the world. Let's honour those who fought and
died that we might be free. Pause & pray that God will heal our land and
give us a fresh filling of the love of freedom.
· Please pray for CLF members, Rebecca Chan & Peter Cho (&
daughter Annalisa) as they travel to Pohang, South Korea to co-teach a 30-hour
intensive International Business and Trade Law Seminar at Handong International
Law School (HILS) from July 24 - August 4. HILS is Korea's first English-speaking
law school and is part of Handong Global University, a Christian institution
(www.handong.edu).
· Please pray for Ruth Ross and all those who will be taking religious
freedom advocacy training provided by the Alliance
Defence Fund (ADF) July 3-8 in Dana Point, California. ADF is a legal
alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training,
funding, and litigation. Uniquely, it empowers allies and recognizes that
together far more can be accomplished than alone.
· Please pray for the critical Law Watch & Intervention
issues herein.
Elizabeth F.C. Davis, J.D.
Director of Communications
Christian Legal Fellowship
l'Alliance des chrétiens en droit
Phone: (519) 641-8850
Fax: (519) 641-8866
www.christianlegalfellowship.org
Copyright 2006 Christian Legal Fellowship. Christian Legal Fellowship shall not be liable for any errors or omissions in the content, or for any actions taken or not taken in reliance upon the content of the Christian Legal Fellowship e-Newsletter.
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The Christian Legal Fellowship, founded in 1978, is a national not-for-profit association of legal professionals in Canada. The association, among other functions, explores the complex interrelationships between the practice and theory of law and Christian faith. The Fellowship, while having no denominational affiliation, has more than 475 active members from several dozen Christian denominations and consists of lawyers, judges, law professors, and law students, working in association with many friends, organizations and lay people, to integrate our Christian faith with law. We would be delighted to have you join us. Just click here to do so. Or click here to download an online application form.
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3. Drug 'Reverses' Vegetative State; Terri Schindler Schiavo's Family Comments
The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics Calls For a Moratorium of Ordinary Care Removal From Persons Diagnosed in a Persistent Vegetative State
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, May 24 /Christian Newswire/ - Following reports that the drug Zolpidem can temporarily revive people in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) to the point where they are able to speak, The Foundation is calling for a moratorium of all potential ordinary care removal for persons diagnosed in a PVS condition.
Zolpidem is usually used to treat insomnia. However, South African researchers,
writing in the Neuro Rehabilitation, looked at the effects on three patients
of using the drug for up to six years.
They reported that "All patients were aroused transiently every morning
after Zolpidem."
Their conclusion was that Zolpidem appeared to be effective in restoring some
brain function to patients previously determined to be in a persistent vegetative
state.
Terri's family pleaded for years with Terri's guardian, Michael Schiavo, and
the courts to try and use different treatments or medicines that could possibly
help improve Terri's condition, but were denied. The Foundation has been contacted
by dozens of families with similar stories of patients improving significantly
after being wrongly diagnosed in this PVS condition.
In December 2000, Patricia White Bull, after given the drug Amantadine (used
to stimulate people with Parkinson's disease and brain damage) awoke after 16
years of being in what doctors were calling a persistent vegetative state. Sadly,
we will never know if any of any of these drugs or treatments that were available
would have improved Terri's condition.
This recent finding and other studies in the past demonstrate the dangers of
this subjective and often incorrect diagnosis. A report released by the British
Medical Journal in 1996, found that 43% of the diagnosed cases of PVS they studied
were, in fact, misdiagnosed.
"We at the Foundation are seeing that the PVS diagnosis is being commonly
misdiagnosed. Consequently, it has become very obvious we don't know enough
about this so-called diagnosis, and common sense dictates that the removal of
food and water based on this misclassification must end until further studies
can be conducted." Robert Schindler, Sr.
About the Schindler Family: Mary and Robert Schindler as well as Suzanne Schindler
Vitadamo and Bobby Schindler now work for The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation
Center for Health Care Ethics in St. Petersburg, Florida, an organization dedicated
to ensuring the rights of disabled, elderly and vulnerable citizens against
care rationing, euthanasia and medical killing.
To: National Desk - Contact: Bobby Schindler, The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics, Inc., 727-490-7603, info@terrisfight.org
4. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #283 - July 30, 2006
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
Believe it or not, some abortions are okay in Columbia. Bowing to the drumbeat of pro-abortion pressure from the United States, the United Nations and other major international organizations, the Constitutional (Supreme) Court of Columbia has partially legalized abortion. By a vote of 5 to 3, it approved the killing of pre-born children who have congenital abnormalities, or if they are conceived by rape or incest. This happened after an intense prolonged and heavily financed campaign to legalize abortion in that country. Defenders of human life had sent a petition to the court with 2-1/2 million signatures. In addition, there were thirty thousand letters sent to them from the children of Columbia and hundreds of pro-life Amicus Briefs were filed with these judges. Human Life International, which lead much of the defense of life stated, "Anti Columbia interests seek to destroy our culture, steal our children, violate our women and plunder our heritage".
Depression? After Abortion. The British Medical Journal has published a study by two researchers at Arizona State University. They report on data from 1,247 women. Their conclusion is that post-abortion women do not suffer more from depression or anxiety than those who carry "unwanted pregnancies" to term. This differs directly from over a dozen other studies in recent years. One large study of 11,000 women, published in 2004 by Patricia Coleman at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, showed exactly the opposite. She reported that those who aborted an unexpected first pregnancy were 30% more likely to experience problems of anxiety than those who carried to term. It is of interest to note that both Arizona authors are longtime radical, feminist, pro-abortion activists.
Kindly remember in your prayers post-abortion women and their suffering!
Jerry Novotny, omi
(OMI = Congregation of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate)
(Quote) Lex orandi est lex credendi, translates into English as "The law of prayers dictates the law of belief." In other words, the way you pray shows what you believe; what you exhibit externally reflects what you believe internally. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, "If you don't behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave."
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #283 - July 30, 2006
Table Of Contents:
1. Cohabitation Ends in Separation 90% of the Time
2. Taiwanese families face up to change
3. If Embryos are Human then Fertility Clinics are Death Camps: Pro-abortion
Columnist
4. Bombings Hit Children Hardest
5. Durex Markets Condoms Designed for 13-16 Year Olds
6. RCMP see violent trends in online child porn
7. Ecuadorians oppose abortion even in cases of rape
8. College Students Walk Across America for 12th Summer in a Row
9. Cut-price fertility treatment for women donating eggs
10. National Academies of Science: Abortion Linked to Premature Birth Problems
11. Abortion: The Legacy
12. "Risk of Promoting the Destruction of Human Embryos"
("New" Articles Posted Recently At http://www.lifeissues.net)
- Betty Wickham: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=wic
- Frank Pavone: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=pav
- Daniel Avila: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=avi
- Steven Mosher: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mos
- Doug McManaman: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mcm
- C. Ward Kischer: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kisc
[Website: Program in Human Rights and Medicine] http://www.phrm.umn.edu/. Over the past twenty years, I have had the privilege and challenge of working with several persons who were presumed to be semi-conscious or in coma. Although days, weeks or even months can go by without clear evidence of response from such a patient, I have personally witnessed or learned about spectacular improvements in certain patients who were wrongly judged "hopeless."
This booklet, based on my experiences and suggestions from others, is intended to help you communicate with an apparently unconscious person. Some patients may not respond as we hope; however, our responses to them continue to matter. The French have a wonderful saying: "There is no love; there are only deeds of love." This small book teaches its reader how to recognize and perform the deeds that constitute love for an unconscious or semi-conscious patient.
Item #1. Cohabitation Ends In Separation 90% Of
The Time
(LifeSiteNews.com)
- A study published by the journal, Demography, has shown that cohabitation
is not the road to happy marriage, or even to a happy relationship, but rather
ends in separation 90 percent of the time.
The study's lead researcher, Daniel Lichter a professor of policy analysis at Cornell University said, "The common view of cohabitation as a steppingstone to marriage needs to be seriously questioned."
"Instead, serial cohabitation may be an emerging norm as cohabiting unions form and break up. If marriage promotion programs hope to target poor cohabiting women, our results seemingly suggest that the likelihood of success is not assured."
The study showed that one-half of all cohabiting unions end within a year and 90 percent within five years. The study showed that the common failure of cohabitation affects poor women more severely since they tend to rely financially on their live-in partners.
In the meantime a court in North Carolina has overturned as unconstitutional a 201 year-old law that prohibited couples living together before they were married. The suit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union who sued the state on behalf of Deborah Hobbs, 41, a former sheriff's dispatcher who lost job because she wouldn't marry her live-in boyfriend.
The court cited a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Texas sodomy law in ruling that the law protecting the state's interest in lawful marriage violated Hobbs' right to liberty.
The law stated, in part: "If any man and woman, not being married to each other, shall lewdly and lasciviously associate, bed and cohabit together, they shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."
Item #2. Taiwanese Families Face Up To Change
Western values have been liberating for Taiwan but there is a downside to breaking
with the past.
When East meets West, as it does in Taiwan, collectivism yields to individualism.
Traditions are given up and forgotten, but new values are adopted. In the end,
a new balance must be found.
Taiwanese society is like a sponge that has become saturated with a foreign
culture during its evolution. Since people here had a first taste of western
culture family values have noticeably changed, especially during the past decade
when the island's economy began to expand. A growing appetite for material goods
and other stimulants leads people to spend less time with their family and to
devote themselves to personal pleasures.
"The influence of Western values on Taiwan could be summed up in the word
'individualism'," said Professor Wu Chyi-in, Associate Research Fellow
of the Academia Sinica's Sociology Institute, in an exclusive interview with
MercatorNet. "In the past, children weren't allowed to give an opinion,
no matter how respectfully they expressed it. They could be severely punished.
But now there is no way parents can do that."
View full text at mercator.net: http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=326
Item #3. If Embryos Are Human Then Fertility Clinics
Are Death Camps: Pro-Abortion Columnist
A pro-abortion American columnist has claimed that pro-life campaigners do not
speak out against IVF clinics and are therefore inconsistent in their beliefs.
Michael Kinsley, in his article "Where's the Logic?" published in
the National Post, wrote: "If embryos are human beings with full human
rights, fertility clinics are death camps--with a side order of cold-blooded
eugenics. No one who truly believes in the humanity of embryos could possibly
think otherwise." He alleges that among pro-life activists "no one
objects, or objects very loudly." Pro-life campaigners in America have
pointed out that the pro-life movement has consistently opposed IVF and that
IVF treatment is indeed as destructive as embryonic stem cell research. Judie
Brown, president of American Life League, said, "Playing God by creating
humans in Petri-dishes is simply wrong. The pro-life movement needs to address
the evils of in vitro fertilization with the same diligence with which we denounce
all other forms of abortion."
View full text at LifeSiteNews.com: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072105.html
Item #4. Bombings Hit Children Hardest
About 55 percent of all casualties at the Beirut Government University Hospital
are children of 15 years of age or less, hospital records show.
"This is worse than during the Lebanese civil war," Bilal Masri, assistant director of the hospital, one of Beirut's largest, told IPS Monday.
Not only are most of the patients children, but many of the injured have been brought in serious condition, he said. "Now we have a 30 percent fatality rate here in Beirut. That means that 30 percent of everyone hit by Israeli bombs are dying. It is a catastrophe."
The fatality rate was high, he said, "because the Israelis are using new kinds of bombs which can enter shelters. They are bombing the bomb shelters which are full of refugees."
Masri told IPS that he believed so many children were becoming casualties because of the "widespread and indiscriminate nature of the bombings" and because "children are least able to run away when the bombings commence."
View full text at IPS: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34075
Item #5. Durex Markets Condoms Designed For 13-16
Year Olds
(LifeSiteNews.com) - A condom
manufacturer has set its sights on British youth, intending to market condoms
designed for young teenagers in the United Kingdom as soon as 2007, provoking
outrage from parents and pro-family organizations, according to the Sun, a British
newspaper.
Durex, the condom manufacturer, intends to market a smaller, 49 mm condom to Britain's youth, which it introduced in Germany just last week. The company claims the condom is also easier to put on for those who are inexperienced. "It is aimed at youths between 13 and 16, where a not insignificant number engage in unprotected sex," said a Durex spokesman.
The specially designed condom has garnered the approval of Britain's Family Planning Association which has said, "All initiatives that promote young people to have safe sex should be encouraged," according to the Sun. The company sees the United Kingdom as a market for the condom, since the UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, and British teens on average engage in sexual intercourse for the first time when they are 15.
However, Matthew O'Gorman, spokesman for the pro-life charity LIFE, blasted the deliberate marketing of the condoms to young teenagers as "sick and irresponsible."
"We know that teenagers engage in risky behaviour. If it's messing around on roads or taking drugs, we teach them not to - because it's bad for them," added O'Gorman. "But when it comes to sex, we do the opposite - by throwing condoms at the problem."
A recent expos of condoms by Human Life International indicates that the failure rate of condoms due to bursting, tearing, and slipping off is 8.08%, or 1 in 12. The rate of pregnancy in women with partners who always use condoms is 15% within the first year, a rate that increases to 80% after ten years. Recent research has also consistently dispelled the myth that condoms are effective at preventing the spread of STDs.
Read the HLI expos at: http://www.hli.org/condom_expose.html
See the Sun's report: Outrage at Durex for kids - http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006330430,00.html
Item #6. RCMP See Violent Trends In Online Child
Porn
Online sexual abuse has become a worsening problem in Canada, with a frightening
growth in sexually violent images of very young children on illegal pay-for
view websites, the RCMP say.
RCMP Supt. Earla Kim McColl, who runs Canada's National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC), said the volume of new images is alarming, and so is the violent trend in the content.
"Probably 80 per cent of the images involve some kind of penetration - oral, anal or vaginal - and a significant number, about 20 per cent, also involving torture and bondage," she said.
Even more disturbing, the parties responsible are usually related to the victim.
"It's almost always somebody within the family," Internet safety expert Paul Gillespie told Canada AM Monday.
Source of article at CTV News:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060723/child_porn_060723/20060724?hub=TopStories
Item #7. Ecuadorians Oppose Abortion Even In Cases
Of Rape
A poll carried out in Quito and Guayaquil by polling firm, Informe Confidencial,
reveals that the majority of Ecuadorians in both cities oppose abortion in all
cases, including in cases of rape.
Responding to the question, "If your daughter became pregnant through rape, would you prefer to have or not have the child?" 54% of respondents in Quito said they preferred to have the child, while 36% said they would not. In Guayaquil the difference was even greater, with 61% saying they would want their daughter to carry the child to term while 32% saying they would not.
Likewise, in response to the question of whether or not abortion should be allowed, 45% in Quito said the mother should make the choice while 50% said it should be illegal. In Guayaquil 35% said the mother should be allowed to choose while 64% said abortion should be prohibited.
A ruling last May by the country's Constitutional Court that definitively prohibited sale of the morning-after pill because of its abortifacient nature has sparked a new debate on abortion and the use of contraceptives in Ecuador.
Source at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=7241
Item #8. College Students Walk Across America For
12th Summer In A Row
Over 45 students from colleges across America are walking 3,000 miles this summer
to promote the dignity and sanctity of all human life, from its very beginning
in the womb until natural death. They are with a group called Crossroads, which
has sponsored pro-life walks across America every summer since 1995.
"We've come to realize through these walks that the majority of Americans are pro-life," said Martha Nolan, National Director of Crossroads.
The three groups started in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles and will cover over 10,000 miles collectively. They will pass through 31 states, and bring the pro-life message to hundreds of thousands of people - one step at a time.
"If this issue had been in the hands of voters, instead of anti-life judges, unborn children would be protected and defended against the crime of abortion. We are hoping to help build a Culture of Life, where all human life is welcomed into the world." said Mark Spencer, a walker of Ypsilanti, Michigan. "We can see that hearts and minds are changing on this issue, especially among the youth of America. As a country, we are trending towards a solid pro-life majority, as national polls, and even abortion rights advocates, are beginning to concede."
View full article at Christian Newswire: http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/31242616.html
Item #9. Cut-Price Fertility Treatment For Women
Donating Eggs
Women in Britain are to be offered half-price IVF treatment in exchange for
donating some of their eggs for embryonic stem cell research. Researchers in
Durham and Newcastle have been given permission by the Human Fertilization and
Embryology Authority (HFEA) to go ahead with the scheme, which will take a year
to set up. The eggs will be used to create cloned embryos from which stem cells
will be extracted, thereby killing them. Paul Danon of SPUC described the scheme
as "the commercialization of human life for research." He said: "Here
we have money changing hands in a matter of human reproduction. This must surely
degrade the young lives that will be created."
View full article at The Scotsman: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1093862006
Item #10. National Academies Of Science: Abortion
Linked To Premature Birth Problems
A new report from a committee of the National Academies of Science finds that
a first-trimester abortion, the most common abortion procedure, is linked to
an increasing risk of premature birth. The report comes from the Institute of
Medicine (IOM), a NAS organization.
The IOM published a report this month titled "Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention."
In the report is a list of "immutable medical risk factors associated with preterm birth" and "prior first-trimester abortion" is listed third among other risk factors that increase the risk of having a subsequent premature birth.
The report has huge consequences for abortion because premature birth can lead to a host problems, including cerebral palsy for the child and breast cancer for the mother.
The IOM reported that premature births before 37 weeks gestation represent 12.5 percent of all U.S. births, a 30% increase since 1981. Abortion became legally accessible in 1973 and the number of abortions peaked in the early 1980s as it became more ingrained in society.
The IOM said premature birth cost U.S. society $26.2 billion in 2005.
This isn't the first time a study has found that abortion increases the risk for premature birth. A 2003 article in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons finds at least sixty significant studies published since 1963 report an abortion-premature birth link.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2453.html
Item #11. Abortion: The Legacy
Nine women who had abortions have written about their experiences and the effect
that it has had on their lives in a British newspaper. Writing in the Daily
Mail, the women expressed a variety of reactions and most said that they felt
some kind of regret and guilt. Elaine Jowsey, who had an abortion aged 17 because
her boyfriend refused to support her and the child, said, "My decision
to deny a child a future has in many ways been a personal life sentence for
me... I'm still not over my abortion."
Tina Mills-Baldock had an abortion when she found out that her unborn child had heart and kidney defects. She said, "There are no words to describe the mental anguish and terrible emptiness that swallows you in the days after an abortion... I don't think you ever get over an abortion completely. It's especially hard around the time of what would have been my son's birthday. A friend was pregnant at a similar time to me and when I see her little girl I imagine, if things had been different, having a child the same age."
View full article at Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=397816&in_page_id=1879&in_page_id=1879&expand=true
Item #12. "Risk Of Promoting The Destruction
Of Human Embryos"
In order to complement the agreement reached in the Council of Ministers, the
European Commission added a 12-point declaration which foresees in particular
that the 7th FPR will not fund the destruction of human embryos, but will fund
research on embryonic stems cells resulting from such destruction.
This declaration is most unsatisfactory because European funding of research on embryonic stem cells entails the risk of promoting at the level of the Member States the destruction of human embryos. Therefore the Secretariat of COMECE reiterates its objection to EU funding of research, which implies directly or indirectly the destruction of human embryos. In this respect, it recalls the statement of the Executive Committee of COMECE, May 31, 2006: "Treating the human embryo as an object for research is not compatible with human dignity."
The use of human embryos for research purposes (i.e., their destruction or the research with stem cells derived from these embryos) is not acceptable. Furthermore there is no necessity to undertake this research; according to experts, adult stem cells and stem cells from the umbilical cord, offer an alternative path with interesting and real perspectives for therapy.
The Secretariat of COMECE is perplexed by the contradiction between this decision, which is an attack on human dignity at the beginning of life and the objective of the European Union to promote therapies aiming to save human life. This decision contradicts also the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which states in Article 1: "Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected."
View full text at Zenit: http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=93173
Action:
1. Pray that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and
support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Stay informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Consider participating with a financial donation to help pay travel expenses for Fr. Jerry's Speaking Tours to poorer countries in Asia. (Purpose - Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia. Series of lectures on - The Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges.) Remaining 2006 schedule: August - Sri Lanka; October - Philippines; November - China. Thank you for your active participation for making this missionary project possible. Kindly send donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny OMI, LifeIssues.net, Editor, Akebono-cho 1-15-9, Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072.
4. All past issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available online. Click here: http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0. (These newsletters are an extension of the Website.)
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 site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
5. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #284 - August 6, 2006
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
On Monday the European Commission decided to deny funds to researchers engaged in the destruction of human embryos to obtain stem cells.
The European Commission engaged in vigorous debate late last week where members of the Commission from Germany, Poland, Austria, Malta, Slovakia, Lithuania and other nations proposed that the EU science budget cease funding for all research that directly or indirectly involves the destruction of human embryos. For years, the EU has funded embryo-destructive stem cell research with few restrictions on the use of such funds.
After negotiations ended on Monday, the only position that a majority of the Commission could agree on was that the actual killing of a human embryo, which is necessary for a scientist to then collect that embryo's stem cells, would not be paid for by EU funds. However, the EU will still fund research on these embryonic stem cells as long the embryos were killed with other than government money. The EU will also fund research on embryonic stem cells taken from cloned, as opposed to fertilized, human embryos. The Commission also decided to refuse to fund research into the cloning of human embryos with the intent to bring those cloned embryos to birth.
In the United States, pursuant to executive action taken by President Bush, the Federal Government can pay for neither research that directly involves the killing of human embryos, nor for research on embryonic stem cells taken from embryos killed after Bush's August 9, 2001 speech announcing his stem cell policy. However, laws in various States, such as California, do explicitly authorize that state funding can go towards not only research on embryonic stem cells, but also towards the actual killing of those embryos.
It should be reiterated that the EU will continue to pay for experimentation on stem cell lines derived from human embryos whose killing was paid for by something other than EU money.
God Bless, Jerry Novotny, omi
(Quote) "Light, as a source of heat, also means love. Where there is love, light shines forth in the world; where there is hatred, the world remains in darkness." Benedict XVI
Lifeissues.net NEWSLETTER #284 - August 06, 2006
Table Of Contents:
1. Argentina Mother With Cancer Refused Abortion To Save Her Life, Gets Prayer
2. Flawed Facts On Stem Cells
3. Death Penalty: Japan Needs Public Debate
4. India: Government Says No To Legalizing Euthanasia
5. India Bans Child Domestic Labour
6. British Scientists: Embryonic Stem Cell Research Cures "Years Away"
If Ever
7. Pregnancy And Pot Don't Mix
8. Stem Cells Without Moral Corruption
9. The Battle For Purity
10. The Perils Of Cloning
11. Embryo Is The Beginning Of Life, International Expert Tells Irish Court
12. Survey Shows Women Unaware Of Morning After Pill, How Plan B Works
("New" Articles Posted Recently At http://www.lifeissues.net)
- David Reardon: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=rea
- Barbara Kralis: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kra
- Betty Wickham: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=wic
- Daniel Avila: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=avi
- Steven Mosher: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mos
- Doug McManaman: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mcm
[Website: Natural Family Planning, Richmond Diocese] http://www.richmonddiocese.org/nfp/. The good news is that our loving God has given us the means to exercise prudence in a way that enables us to give our spouse the total gift of ourselves in the marital embrace and still respect His design for our life-giving fertility. The tool God has given us to achieve this is called natural family planning.
Item #1. Argentina Mother With Cancer Refused Abortion
To Save Her Life, Gets Prayer
A prayer campaign has been launched for a mother in Argentina who was stricken
with cancer but refused to have an abortion to spare her life. Laura Figeroa
is in the terminal stage of her illness, a brain metastasis that is considered
irreversible.
Figeroa could have had an abortion so she could obtain chemotherapy to address her cancer, but she refused to take the life of her unborn child to save her own.
Two weeks ago, Figeroa gave birth to her son, Pedro, who was born early at 27 weeks into the pregnancy. Pedro weighed just 2.4 pounds and was immediately placed in intensive care and struggles with kidney and heart problems.
Now the Catholic weekly "Cristo Hoy" in Argentina is launching a prayer campaign for mother and child.
"We are all very united in this struggle and praying hard," Figeroa's mother told the newspaper.
Pedro's grandmother says Figeroa's other children "are anxious to know the newest member of their family and hope to soon have in their hands the picture promised to them by the pediatrician."
Laura Figeroa is 39 and her story has captured the hearts of the people of Argentina.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2462.html
Item #2. Flawed Facts On Stem Cells
Proponents of H.R. 810, the bill to federally fund more embryonic stem cell
research, made amazing claims in the Senate and House last week.
The statements were amazing not just because they want U.S. taxpayers to pay for research requiring destruction of human embryos. Or their claims that those embryos are only "left over." Anyone who saw pictures of the snowflake babies at the White House can see that "unwanted" embryos need not be discarded or destroyed in research. According to a Rand report, only 2.8 percent of 400,000 frozen embryos are designated for research; the vast majority are wanted by parents for later use. Rand says those embryos could produce at most 275 new cell lines, far fewer than proponents claim, or say they need.
But possibly the most amazing part of the debate was how they addressed the science - and how they deviated from the facts. Some senators parroted the oft-heard complaint that human embryonic stem cell lines currently approved for federal funding are insufficient, because only 22 lines are eligible. Actually, all 78 approved lines are eligible for federal funding, but only 22 different lines are currently being grown and shipped to researchers. The argument continues that current lines are becoming unstable, and that their growth with mouse cells makes them unusable for potential future human therapies.
This contradicts a claim they make about the uniqueness of embryonic stem cells, that they can grow "indefinitely." While any cell cultured long enough will show changes, standard laboratory practice freezes cell samples as a hedge against just such changes. It is inconceivable that those in charge of maintaining cells at National Institutes of Health would not follow good lab practices. NIH noted in 2004 that they had 3,500 samples of approved cells frozen and ready to ship. And fully half (39) of the original 78 have yet even to be thawed and grown for research use.
View full text at Family Research Council: http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PV06G02
Item #3. Death Penalty: Japan Needs Public Debate
A rare essay posted on the web by a crime victim who does not call for the death
penalty for the culprit has become a potent symbol for activists who face an
uphill battle to abolish Japan's capital punishment laws.
Yumiko Yamaguchi who was slashed on her face by a 16-year-old boy when he went on a rampage on a public bus six years ago is now over 50 and in a contemplative mood. After reflection, Yamaguchi says she does not seek retribution, but an apology.
"While I am not yet an advocate of abolishing capital punishment, what victims of crime deeply wish for is for the criminal to repent what he has done and apologize to the people he has hurt, a process that will stop heinous crimes in the long run. This can not be achieved by sentencing him to death," she wrote on her website.
View full text at IPS: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34163
Item #4. India: Government Says No To Legalizing
Euthanasia
The government on Monday said it had no plans to give legal status to euthanasia
or "mercy killing" and would not consider any such application.
"Government is not considering to give legal status to euthanasia. Till date law has not permitted it and application for the same cannot be entertained," Minister of State for Law and Justice K Venkatapathy said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
View full text at HindustanTimes.com: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1757248,0008.htm
Item #5. India Bans Child Domestic Labour
The Indian government has announced a ban on children working as domestic servants
or in roadside food stalls.
The order, which applies to children under 14, will come into effect in October, officials say.
It also bans children from teashops, restaurants, hotels, motels, resorts, spas or other recreational centres.
There are estimated to be more than 12.6 million child workers in India, many of whom work as domestic helps or in small roadside restaurants.
View full text at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5235614.stm
Item #6. British Scientists: Embryonic Stem Cell
Research Cures "Years Away" If Ever
Two leading British scientists say that any potential cures from embryonic stem
cell research are many years away, if they ever occur. They said that some of
the hoopla created by the media and lawmakers who want to fund the controversial
research has distorted the public view of it.
Professor Colin McGuckin, a specialist in regenerative medicine at the UK's Newcastle University, says the potential for embryonic stem cell research to cure diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease had been exaggerated.
"What we're going to see is one or two patients being helped in some way and people are going to hail it as the end of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's," McGuckin told CNN.
"But it's going to be a slow process. We hear an awful lot of hype about what stem cells can do but in reality there's still a lot of work to do," he added.
McGuckin said that it was more likely that stem cell research would have a beneficial effect for those suffering from disorders affecting major organs, such as those with heart or liver disease. Adult stem cells have already shown some progress in those areas.
Source of article at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/bio1682.html
Item #7. Pregnancy And Pot Don't Mix
Using marijuana at the time of conception or in early pregnancy can result in
pregnancy failure, a new study in mice suggests.
"Marijuana exposure may compromise pregnancy outcome," said Sudhansu Dey, the corresponding author of the study, published in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Marijuana's active ingredient, THC, can disrupt the body's finely tuned signaling system and interfere with a fertilized egg's ability to implant in the lining of the uterus, the study found.
Source at Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/08/01/hscout534145.html
Item #8. Stem Cells Without Moral Corruption
Instead of engaging in fraud and cover-up, or conducting experiments that violate
the moral principles of many citizens, we should look to scientific creativity
for an answer. Since the cloning fraud, many scientists - such as Markus Grompe
at Oregon Health & Science University and Rudolf Jaenisch at MIT - have
been doing just that. And others, such as Kevin Eggan at Harvard, may have found
a technique, called "cell fusion," that would create new, versatile,
genetically controlled stem cell lines by fusing existing stem cells and ordinary
DNA. Scientists in Japan just announced that they may have found a way to do
this without even needing an existing stem cell line.
In other words: all the benefits of research cloning without the ethical problems. Looking ahead, it is becoming increasingly likely that reprogramming adult cells to pluripotency, rather than destroying human embryos, will be the future of regenerative medicine. It offers both a more efficient and far more ethical way forward.
View full article at CERC: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0094.htm
Item #9. The Battle For Purity
Our hearts were made to love, but since the Fall, they have been tainted by
a desire to use others. This effect of original sin is seen perhaps most dramatically
in our encounters with the opposite sex, wherein our hearts often are drawn
to the other person more for the emotional or sensual pleasure we may derive
from them than for any true commitment to what is best for them and their true
value as a person. In this reflection, we will see that chastity is so much
bigger than simply saying "no" to certain sexual actions we may commit
in the body. In the end, chastity is a matter of the heart.
View full article at CERC: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0132.htm
Item #10. National Academies Of Science: Abortion
Linked To Premature Birth Problems
A new report from a committee of the National Academies of Science finds that
a first-trimester abortion, the most common abortion procedure, is linked to
an increasing risk of premature birth. The report comes from the Institute of
Medicine (IOM), a NAS organization.
The IOM published a report this month titled "Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention."
In the report is a list of "immutable medical risk factors associated with preterm birth" and "prior first-trimester abortion" is listed third among other risk factors that increase the risk of having a subsequent premature birth.
The report has huge consequences for abortion because premature birth can lead to a host problems, including cerebral palsy for the child and breast cancer for the mother.
The IOM reported that premature births before 37 weeks gestation represent 12.5 percent of all U.S. births, a 30% increase since 1981. Abortion became legally accessible in 1973 and the number of abortions peaked in the early 1980s as it became more ingrained in society.
The IOM said premature birth cost U.S. society $26.2 billion in 2005.
This isn't the first time a study has found that abortion increases the risk for premature birth. A 2003 article in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons finds at least sixty significant studies published since 1963 report an abortion-premature birth link.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2453.html
Item #11. Embryo Is The Beginning Of Life, International
Expert Tells Irish Court
An Italian doctor involved in new developments in IVF treatment has told the
Irish High Court it is "really difficult" to find a scientific reason
to support the destruction of embryos created during such treatment. Dr Eleonora
Porcu said it was her view that an embryo is the beginning of human life and
it was "totally arbitrary" and unacceptable to draw any type of distinction
in the development of an embryo, such as distinctions between a pre-embryo,
an embryo, a foetus, a newborn and an infant. "We should not play with
words."
Giving evidence in the continuing action by a 41-year-old mother of two aimed at having implanted in her uterus three embryos, frozen in a Dublin clinic four years ago, Dr Porcu said that, when a single cell arrived from an egg and sperm, there was a new biological entity. "An embryo is the beginning of human life, no one can say any different. The first cell is the beginning, the first cell of the new individual."
View full article at Family and Life: http://www.familyandlife.org/newsview.php?id=192&cat=8&subcat=18
Item #12. Survey Shows Women Unaware Of Morning
After Pill, How Plan B Works
A new survey of women finds that just a small percentage of women are aware
of the availably of the morning after pill and fewer still know how the mechanism
of the Plan B drug works. The morning after pill may cause an abortion in some
instances and pro-life groups oppose the use of the drug for that and other
reasons.
Conducted by North Carolina-based AllPoints Research, a national Web survey of 300 women found that only 20 percent of women are aware of Plan B, and less than 8 percent really understand how the morning after pill works.
Although the Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will work with the maker of the drug, Barr Laboratories, to make it available over the counter to women over the age of 18, the survey shows most women don't know much about it.
AllPoints reports that most of the 20 percent of women who are aware of the morning after pill understand that it is a high dosage of birth control pills meant to prevent pregnancy.
But the poll found nearly one-third of that group of 20 percent believe the Plan B drug always causes an abortion in the same way as the RU 486 abortion drug, also known as mifepristone. That drug is meant to cause an abortion in an early-term pregnancy.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2473.html
Action:
1. Pray that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and
support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Stay informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Consider participating with a financial donation to help pay travel expenses for Fr. Jerry's Speaking Tours to poorer countries in Asia. (Purpose - Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia. Series of lectures on - The Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges.) Remaining 2006 schedule: August - Sri Lanka; October - Philippines; November - China. Thank you for your active participation for making this missionary project possible. Kindly send donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan 780-8072.
4. All past issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available online. Click here: http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0. (These newsletters are an extension of the Website.)
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 site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
6. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #285 - August 13, 2006
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
Next week on the 16th, I will be going to Sri Lanka for a five-day Pro Family / Pro Life Seminar. There I will be joined by two speakers from the Philippines, that is, if their Visas to Sri Lanka are granted. Following the Seminar, I will stay one more week for Post Seminar lectures throughout the Colombo area. I should be back to Japan by the 28th. During this time I have asked my Webmaster to continue sending the weekly newsletter (Issues #286 and #287). Kindly say a prayer for the success of our Pro Life Seminar. Thank you.
God Bless, Jerry Novotny, omi
(Quote) The strength of our faith convictions and the guidance of Scripture are powerful tools that can foster the peace and harmony in our families and communities we aspire to have. - Bishop Ramirez
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #285 - August 13, 2006
Table Of Contents:
1. Aussie Union Leader Calls Human Cloning "Nazi-like" Experiments
2. Ethical Row Over World's First 'Made To Order' Embryos
3. Babies Hit By Binge Drink Brain Damage
4. Daughters At Higher Risk
5. Investment Analyst Recommends Adult Stem Cell Research Firms, Not Embryonic
6. Morning After Pills Given Out In Schools
7. He Died Of Thirst: NHS Accused By Widow Over Care
8. Scientists Call For A Ban On Some Embryo Experiments
9. Catholic Teaching On Embryonic Stem-Cell Research
10. Clinics Use Tissue From Babies Killed In Abortions For Cosmetic Injections
"New" Articles Posted Recently At: http://www.lifeissues.net)
- C. Ward Kischer: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kisc
- Hank Mattimore: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mat
- David Reardon: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=rea
- Barbara Kralis: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kra
- Steven Mosher: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mos
[Website: BeNotAfraid.net]. http://www.benotafraid.net/. Benotafraid.net is an online outreach to parents who have received a poor or difficult prenatal diagnosis. The family stories, articles, and links within this site are presented as a resource for those who may have been asked to choose between terminating a pregnancy or continuing on despite the diagnosis. The benotafraid.net families faced the same decision and chose not to terminate. By sharing our experiences, we hope to offer encouragement to those who may be afraid to continue on.
Item #1. Aussie Union Leader Calls Human Cloning
"Nazi-Like" Experiments
(LifeSiteNews.com) - A prominent
senior official of Australia's largest trade union has denounced attempts to
legalize human cloning for embryonic stem-cell research and compared the practice
to human experiments made by Germany's Nazi doctors, reports the Australian.
"Therapeutic cloning is the creation of human life for the express purpose of destroying it so you can obtain the stem cells and do research," stated Joe de Bruyn, the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Union secretary. De Bruyn told the Australian, "That's no different to what Hitler's doctors used to do during the last century. They experimented on human life, and that's what this is."
Earlier this week, Australia's Health Minister Tony Abbott had also condemned efforts to pressure the government to lift its ban on human cloning for the sake of stem-cell research, calling it "a bridge too far", and told the National Press Club that there is "very little evidence embryonic stem cell research is the health nirvana".
The Victorian and Queensland premiers have been the principal leaders in pressuring Prime Minister John Howard's Government to reconsider its ban on human embryo research. Both leaders indicated their state governments are considering their options for financing experiments in therapeutic human cloning, despite the federal government's ban.
Next Monday, August 7, members of Howard's coalition government will debate on lifting the ban on human cloning in a special party room meeting before Parliament reconvenes. Howard, speaking ahead of the party room debate, repeated yesterday his conviction that the laws on stem cell research should not change.
Related LifeSite Coverage:
Australian Health Minister Warns Cloning, Embryo Research: "A Bridge Too
Far". Cloning/Embryo research a slippery slope that will only lead to more
and more sordid human experimentation.
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06080302.html
Item #2. Ethical Row Over World's First 'Made To
Order' Embryos
The world's first human embryo bank has been launched in the US allowing infertile
couples to buy ready-made embryos matched to their requirements for around $5,000.
The embryos are created from eggs and sperm from two donors who have never met.
Couples can choose what eye and hair colour they would like their child to have.
British women are expected to fly to the bank in Texas for treatment. Pro-lifers
said the move was an "absolute commercialization of human life."
View full text at Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=399142&in_page_id=1774
Item #3. Babies Hit By Binge Drink Brain Damage
AT LEAST nine babies are being left permanently brain damaged every year by
their binge-drinking mothers.
Figures obtained by The Sunday Times reveal for the first time the extent of foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in Scotland.
The incurable condition - caused by mothers drinking heavily during pregnancy - causes mental retardation, facial deformities, hearing loss, abnormal growth and walking difficulties in children.
It is caused by alcohol disrupting the formation and survival of nerve cells in a developing brain, particularly in the final three months of pregnancy.
View full text at Times Online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2301261,00.html
Item #4. Daughters At Higher Risk
The daughters of women who took a common pregnancy drug reportedly face a higher
risk of developing breast cancer.
Researchers in the US say the drug DES increases the risk in the mothers - and their daughters.
The danger increases as the women approach menopause, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
The drug was prescribed to women until 1975 to protect against miscarriage and combat morning sickness.
According to the newspaper, scientists at Boston University said women whose mothers took DES - diethylstilboestrol - had a 40% increased risk of breast cancer.
View full text at Sky. COM: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1757248,0008.htm
Item #5. Investment Analyst Recommends Adult Stem
Cell Research Firms, Not Embryonic
Though politicians are criticizing pro-life groups and lawmakers for opposing
taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research, one investment relations analyst
says investors wanting to put money into biotech firms should focus on those
working with adult stem cells because they show better prospects.
Based in California, SmallCap Sentinel has been issuing investment information for 23 years and analyst D.R. Clark says adult stem cell research firms are a better buy.
"As the headline-grabbing battle regarding embryonic stem cell research rages, adult stem cell sources continue to provide an ever-broadening array of life-improving possibilities," Clark said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained.
"Researchers are using the far less controversial adult stem cells to attack enormous medical problems and are confident enough in their successes thus far to seek the protection of U.S. Patents," he added.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/bio1693.html
Item #6. Morning After Pills Given Out In Schools
Schoolgirls are being given the morning after pill following lessons as part
of an initiative to reduce the number of unwanted teenage pregnancies.
Pupils at two schools in Norwich and five others in Great Yarmouth are being given access to contraception by family planning workers, even if they are below the age of consent.
Source of article at Evening News24:
http://new.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED08%20Aug%202006%2010%3A10%3A38%3A810
Item #7. He Died Of Thirst: NHS Accused By Widow
Over Care
A Coroner investigating the death of a woman allegedly starved and deprived
of fluids in hospital has been asked to hold an inquest into the death of a
patient on the same ward.
Relatives of Harold Speed believe that he died of dehydration, not pneumonia as his death certificate says. The 84-year-old former music teacher had been examined by the same doctor who treated Olive Nockels, who died after her drips were removed.
"The whole of my husband's stay in hospital was a nightmare," Kate Speed said. "They put bronchopneumonia on the death certificate, but I believe his death was from the effects of dehydration." She has asked William Armstrong, the coroner, to examine her husband's death.
Source at TimesOnline: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2301896,00.html
Item #8. Scientists Call For A Ban On Some Embryo
Experiments
Instead of engaging in fraud and cover up, or conducting experiments that violate
the moral principles of many citizens, we should look to scientific creativity
for an answer. Since the cloning fraud, many scientists - such as Markus Grompe
at Oregon Health & Science University and Rudolf Jaenisch at MIT - have
been doing just that. And others, such as Kevin Eggan at Harvard, may have found
a technique, called "cell fusion," that would create new, versatile,
genetically controlled stem cell lines by fusing existing stem cells and ordinary
DNA. Scientists in Japan just announced that they may have found a way to do
this without even needing an existing stem cell line.
In other words: all the benefits of research cloning without the ethical problems. Looking ahead, it is becoming increasingly likely that reprogramming adult cells to pluripotency, rather than destroying human embryos, will be the future of regenerative medicine. It offers both a more efficient and far more ethical way forward.
View full article at news.scotsman.com: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1147322006
Item #9. Catholic Teaching On Embryonic Stem-Cell
Research
I wish to reaffirm my own statement released in the aftermath of President Bush's
decision on the matter. "Any embryonic stem-cell research is an affront
to human life for those who believe that human life and human personhood begin
at conception. The Catholic teaching is that human life and human personhood
begin at conception. We do not support the funding of research that depends
on the destruction of human embryos."
View full article at The New Catholic Miscellany: http://www.catholic-doc.org/miscellany/2001/0823cell.HTM
Item #10. Clinics Use Tissue From Babies Killed
In Abortions For Cosmetic Injections
Women from around the world are traveling to clinics in various locations that
are now offering face lifts and cosmetic surgery using tissue from babies who
have been killed by abortions.
Pro-life advocates are strongly condemning the practice and saying the taking of human life is never warranted - especially for such a self-serving purpose.
Women like Susan Barrington, a 52-year-old housewife from England, are heading to places such as Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Moscow and Rotterdam to obtain the treatments.
She has been given the final go-ahead form a local clinic to travel abroad for the treatment that promises to make her look 10 years younger and doesn't mind that lives have been sacrificed to enhance her beauty.
To produce the treatments, clinics are using tissue from babies killed in abortions from 6 to 12 weeks into pregnancy and stem cells obtained from destroying human embryos to inject into a client's face. The fetal cells then begin a supposed rejuvenation process that makes the skin look younger.
To obtain the cells, women in underdeveloped nations are paid up to $200 dollars to carry a baby up to the optimum eight to 12 week period when the fetuses are "harvested" for their stem cells which are then sold to exclusive cosmetic clinics.
Both pro-life advocates and scientists who favor stem cell research are upset by the promotion of these injections.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2486.html
Action:
1. Pray that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and
support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Stay informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Consider participating with a financial donation to help pay travel expenses for Fr. Jerry's Speaking Tours to poorer countries in Asia. (Purpose - Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia. Series of lectures on - The Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges.) Remaining 2006 schedule: October - Philippines; November - China. Thank you for your active participation for making this missionary project possible. Kindly send donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan; 780-8072.
4. All past issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available online. Click here: http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0. (These newsletters are an extension of the Website.)
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 site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html.
7. MPAA Places Christianity In Same Category As Sex, Violence, Profanity
Be sure to forward this to your friends and family!
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is now warning parents of movies which contain a reference to the Christian faith, equating Christianity as being on the same level of sex, violence and profanity when it comes to objectionable material.
The MPAA is controlled by Hollywood moguls known for their bitter opposition to Christianity.
A new family film featuring miracles and a pro-God theme has earned the PG rating because it would offend non-believers. The MPAA refuses to give movies which promote the homosexual lifestyle a similar warning. In other words, MPAA warns parents if a movie has Christianity presented in a positive manner but refuses to warn them if homosexuality is presented in a positive manner.
Facing the Giants is the story of a Christian high school football coach who uses his undying faith to battle the giants of fear and failure. Due to the Christian content, the MPAA rated it PG, placing it in the same offensive category as sex, violence and profanity.
Click Here to read a good Scripps Howard News Service article about this issue. http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RELIGION-FAITH-06-07-06
The plot includes several prayers being answered, a medical miracle, and a mystic who delivers a message from God. The scene which MPAA found most offensive was a discussion between the football coach and a boy named Matt. The coach says the boy needs to stop bad-mouthing his father and get right with God.
The boy replies: "You really believe in all that honoring God and following
Jesus stuff? Well, I ain't trying to be disrespectful, but not everybody believes
in that."
The coach responds: "Matt, nobody's forcing anything on you. Following Jesus Christ is the decision that you're going to have to make for yourself. You may not want to accept it, because it will change your life. You will never be the same."
That, says the MPAA, is very objectionable and parents need to be warned.
Take Action
Send an e-mail to the MPAA asking them to stop their anti-Christian bigotry.
Click
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8. National Post Confirms Tories Sank Benoit Bill Over Abortion Issue Fears
Freedom of Information enquiry reveals real reasons unborn victims of violence type bill stopped - By Steve Jalsevac
OTTAWA, August 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The National Post, in an article today by Peter O'Neil, confirmed what many had suspected was the real, withheld reason the Conservatives killed Conservative MP Leon Benoit's Bill C-291 in May. The revelation has Campaign Life Coalition's national coordinator Mary Ellen Douglas fuming about what she believes has been Prime Minister Stephen Harper's deviousness in the affair.
C-291 proposed making it a separate offence to kill or injure an unborn child while committing a violent crime against its mother. A Freedom of Information enquiry by the Post revealed that Justice Minister Vic Toews was warned in an unsigned briefing note on C-291 from government bureaucrats that, "Any change to the definition of a 'human being' in the Criminal Code could have the effect of criminalizing abortion."
The note goes on, reports the Post, to state, "The government has no plans to propose any reforms in this area of the law." O'Neil links the latter sentence to Harper's Jan. 17 statement, "I'll use whatever influence I have in Parliament to be sure that such a matter doesn't come to a vote."
Toews' instruction to the parliamentary committee that subsequently declared
the bill unvotable, however, did not mention abortion, despite that being the
real reason the government wanted the bill killed. Instead the Justice Minister's
written advice vaguely stated that the bill "clearly" violated the
Constitution including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It gave
no indication how the pro
posed
bill violated the Charter.
Benoit's bill was drafted in response to the violent deaths of two pregnant Edmonton women, 19-year-old Olivia Talbot and her unborn child Lane, who were shot and killed when the Edmonton woman was 27 weeks pregnant with baby Lane, and Liana White, who was killed along with her unborn child. In both cases the deliberately murdered babies were treated during sentencing as non-entities by the courts.
Mrs. Mary Talbot, the mother of Olivia Talbot who was six months pregnant when
her assailant shot her once in the head and her child in utero three times,
traveled from Alberta to speak to the committee, but was denied the opportunity
to do so. She was also denied the opportunity to have the committee consider
a powerful photo of her deceased daughter together with her also murdered granddaughter
who appeared as much of a baby as many newborns.
Photo of Olivia Talbot and her baby Lane
together in casket after their murders
Olivia Talbot was six months pregnant when her assailant shot her once in the head and her child in utero three times.
Campaign Life Coalition's Mary Ellen Douglas told the Post's Peter O'Neil that the government's reasons for scuttling the bill were "legally flawed". She also indicated that the Conservatives were acting in a "devious" way in trying to kill C-291 to appease Prime Minister Harper's determination to totally avoid the abortion issue, while also trying not to offend his substantial social conservative base. "It's all Harper pulling strings," Douglas told the Post.
In an interview today with LifeSiteNews.com Douglas emphasized that Leon Benoit had thoroughly done his homework on the bill to make sure it was constitutionally sound. She charged that "Harper was protecting himself and didn't have the courage to say that, in his opinion, this (the bill) is just the social conservatives trying to slip in abortion through the back door."
Douglas emphasized that "C-291 was not about abortion. It was about justice for victims of a crime. This was not about a woman on the way to an abortion clinic. The Alberta murders had absolutely nothing to do with abortion. Olivia Talbot was well on her way to having a baby."
Douglas continued that C-291 was not a "pro-life" bill per se. She emphasized it rather addressed the legal discrimination of unborn murder victims being treated in law as non-entities, thereby denying justice to next of kin over the violent loss of their young relatives.
Vic Toews' parliamentary secretary Rob Moore argued during the one hour debate on C-291 that the law would be ruled as unconstitutional by courts because a killer might be unaware of a woman's pregnancy and, therefore, have no idea he was ending two lives. Douglas responded to LifeSiteNews that in the case of Olivia Talbot and similar murders, the unborn child was in fact clearly targeted. As well, Douglas, noted, "when someone shoots through a door and kills an intended victim and/or others, the killer is charged for every death, regardless of intent. Why should it be so totally different because one of the victims is not yet out of the womb?"
See related LifeSiteNews.com reports:
The Inside Story on the Kibosh of the Canadian Unborn Victims of Violence Bill: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06062804.html
Canada Unborn Victims of Violence Bill Loses Appeal to be Declared Votable: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06060608.html
Canada Unborn Victims of Violence Bill to be Resurrected in Coming Months Says MP: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06061608.html
Canadian Prime Minister Big Improvement Over Liberal PMs But Clearly Not Pro-life: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06062702.html
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Not Pro-Life - The Evidence: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/060627a.html
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9. Not A 'Mercy' Killing? - August 31, 2006
This how my letter appeared in the Globe and Mail today. - Alex Schadenberg
Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
London, Ont. - On Aug. 29, an elderly man shot and killed his wife, who was diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer Patient Shot Dead At Hospital - Aug. 30). Two of your letter-writers (The Real Tragedy - Aug. 31) saw the murder-suicide as a loving act by a husband who did not want his wife to suffer.
The reality is that homicide-suicide deaths are rarely "mercy" killings.
A study published in the March, 2005, issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry by Julie E. Malphurs and Donna Cohen concluded: "In fact, this 'mercy-killing' perception is a myth. The husbands in such cases are often abusers, and the wives are rarely complicit. In many such cases, defence wounds indicate that the wife fought for her life."
The authors of the study indicated that many of these terrible incidents could be avoided by providing good care to both the ailing spouse and the otherwise healthy spouse. Many "healthy" spouses suffer depression and mental breakdown due to the demands and changes related to the care of an ailing partner.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060901.LETTERS01-4/TPStory/Opinion/letters
10. PM Adviser Sees 'Have Nots' As The New 'Haves' In Court System - By Tonda MacCharles
The Toronto Star - May 13, 2006
Most Canadians probably don't know or don't care about Ian Brodie's view of the country's top court. He is not an MP. He is a political scientist, a tenured one at that. But his opinions are far from academic. In fact, they may warrant more attention than any of the musings of MP Maurice Vellacott or others seen as on the fringe of this new Conservative party. Because Ian Brodie is right at the centre. He is on leave from academia, and is chief of staff and top adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In writings before he took leave from the University of Western Ontario - he organized the Draft Harper campaign to replace Stockwell Day as Canadian Alliance leader - Brodie showed he is a tough-minded observer not just of the Supreme Court of Canada, but also of the way "traditionally disadvantaged groups - official language minorities, feminists and homosexual rights advocates" - have gotten their way when they appear before it. In a 2003 paper, Brodie wrote with Ted Morton that those "have-nots" are the new "haves" in Canadian society. The two argue that official language minorities, feminist groups and gay rights activists are the ones who acquired the money (courtesy of federal funding) and the political clout to advance their cause. And they say central governments, from Pierre Trudeau on, helped the courts become political actors when it furthered their own political prospects.
Sound familiar? It's not put as indelicately as Harper did when he said Liberal governments pushed gay marriage rights "through back channels" by appointing judges to do it for them. Brodie doesn't say the courts are stacked. But he argues the odds are. And those odds don't favour socially conservative groups or those who dispute liberal interpretations of rights in the Constitution, and its Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It is a view shared by other political scientists and law professors who think judges go too far, are too "activist" in drawing on principles underlying the law that are not explicitly written in legislation, and using those unwritten principles to overturn or invalidate democratically enacted laws. It is a view popular among the "Calgary School" of conservative academics who mentored Brodie and Harper at the University of Calgary. (It is, however, a view disputed by many who argue that Charter rights litigants are losing far more challenges to government legislation than they win.)
But it's a view Brodie has developed in several publications. In Political Dispute and Judicial Review, a 2000 compendium of essays, Brodie writes that before Trudeau gave the Supreme Court more control over its docket, appointed reform-minded law deans to the bench, and brought in the Charter, "Canadian Supreme Court judges did not think of their role as 'creative.' They did not make new law. They thus avoided having to decide whether government policies were advisable, since they could accept the law as it was established by legislatures or other courts." In the Canadian Journal of Political Science in 2001, Brodie argued Trudeau consciously set about enlisting the courts as allies in his fight to institute bilingualism at a provincial level. In a piece for the Fraser Forum in 2002, Brodie wrote "Pro-life and traditional family groups ... have been consistently denied (federal) funds" to take their arguments before the Supreme Court, calling it "strange" and "unfair."
Now that Brodie is in a position of power, will his theory - about how central governments use the courts or federal funding to advance a political agenda - be put into practice, in this case to advance a conservative one? Brodie declined a request for an interview for this article.
No surprise after last week's furor over the views expressed by Vellacott. On the political left, Vellacott's comments re-awakened suspicions that the Conservative government has its sights on eroding the independence of what it sees as a too-activist, too-liberal judiciary. Vellacott denounced the "God-like powers" judges take upon themselves, attributing the description to Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin - wrongly, as it turned out. He called for "judicial restraint." The federal Liberal party says there's a trend. "The Prime Minister himself has expressed similar disdain for the Supreme Court," MP Anita Neville said in a news release. But in an interview with the Star's Bruce Campion-Smith yesterday, Harper denied having an agenda for the role of the courts beyond the recent introduction of parliamentary scrutiny for judicial appointments.
11. Post-Abortion Images Prompt Outrage - July 26, 2006
Today's Family News
An Ontario pro-life group is making no apologies to people in the Maritimes
who are angry at being forced to view enlarged, graphic pictures of aborted
babies.
"We're called Show the Truth (link contains graphic images that may not be suitable for children) and that's exactly what we're doing. It's the visual truth of abortion," executive member Rosemary Connell told Canadian Press.
"There are no pretty pictures of abortion," she added. "Everyone is into reality television, well this is it. This is what it looks like to murder babies. People should be appalled that stuff like this happens every day."
Fredericton was Show the Truth's first stop on what Connell described as "a mission to go across the Maritimes to show people the reality" of abortion.
For several days, about 60 Show the Truth members and local residents lined
some of Fredericton's main streets holding up large placards so passing motorists
could see for themselves what abortion does to unborn children.
Yet it appeared that more people were upset with the messengers than the message,
including Fredericton Mayor Brad
Woodside. He told CBC
that he had received about two-dozen calls at home and that police had received
hundreds of calls from angry residents demanding that action be taken to halt
the demonstration.
But while conceding that since no laws had been broken, there was nothing anyone could do, Woodside nonetheless told the Daily Gleaner that the images "were not much worse than pornography."
"I don't know what the moral standards are in the community where these people come from, but they've certainly crossed a moral line here," he said. Woodside also told CBC that "it's time for them to get back on their bus and get back to Ontario."
During Show the Truth's stay in Fredericton, the Gleaner also reported, four front windows of the New Brunswick Right to Life Mother and Child Centre were smashed in and a large sticker with the single word "choice" stuck on the door.
Peter Ryan, the centre's executive director, said he believed the vandalism "most likely was triggered by the Show the Truth demonstration."
At a demonstration in Halifax last Friday, the Daily News reported that staff from a women's health centre attempted to block the images from passing motorists by holding "umbrellas, blankets and cardboard signs in front of Show the Truth protesters."
But apart from "a few bad reactions," Connell said she "got a call from a woman who said our sign saved her unborn child's life."
In fact, Connell describes the public reaction as being for the most part positive.
"Many people driving by are honking their horns in support," she
told LifeSiteNews.
"Many are even lining up and waiting until they get their pamphlets, or
stopping on the streets and thanking us."
Canadians prefer stay-at-home childcare
Today's Family News - July
26, 2006
Once again, Canadians have expressed a clear preference for having one parent
stay home to look after his or her pre-school children.
As a new survey done for the Ottawa-based Institute of Marriage and Family Canada discovered, over three-quarters (77.9 per cent) said that was their preferred option. Just one in five (20.5 per cent) said they preferred to let a "competent caregiver" take on that responsibility.
The results were much the same regardless of whether the respondents were male or female, old or young, urban or rural, or whether or not they had a university degree.
Those similarities also held true regardless of marital status. Support for
the stay-at-home option was highest among respondents who were married (85.6
per cent). But it also garnered strong support from those who lived common-law
(76.1 per cent), were separated or divorced (75.1 per cent) or had never married
(75.6 per cent).
Across the country, support varied from a high of 90.7 per cent in Alberta to a low of 74.7 per cent in Quebec, despite that province having its own government-subsidized childcare system.
"Without a doubt," IMFC executive director Dave Quist told Today's Family News, "it is abundantly clear that a vast majority of parents would prefer to have a parent stay at home with their children."
For those families where the stay-at-home option was not viable, more than half (52.7 per cent) said they preferred to have a relative look after their children. By contrast, the daycare option received little support, regardless of whether it was in a neighbour's home (20.4 per cent), non-profit (16.6 per cent) or for-profit (6.9 per cent).
Only in Quebec did respondents favour by a very slight margin a neighbour's daycare (35 per cent) over a relative (33 per cent).
Carried out in May 2005, just weeks after the federal government had announced plans to spend $5 billion over the next five years on a national childcare and early education program, the survey also asked Canadians how they would "instruct the government" to spend this money.
In reply, two-thirds (67 per cent) said they would prefer some other option.
A majority said they would favour giving every parent either a tax deduction
(62 per cent) or a cash payment (57 per cent), while a minority endorsed either
lower taxes in general (45 per cent) or government subsidies for childcare centres
(38 per cent).
And when offered some policy alternatives for helping families raise young children, seven in 10 said they thought that giving all parents of newborns three years' paid leave was either a good idea (33 per cent) or a very good idea (36 per cent). Support was highest in Quebec (46 per cent) as well as among women (42.1 per cent) and those living common-law (42.9 per cent).
"The overall results," Quist said, "clearly indicate that parental choice is paramount in the minds of Canadians. They prefer to either take care of their children themselves or have a family member do it for them."
The survey was conducted for IMFC Canada by GPC Research, now known as Fleischman-Hillard
Canada.
VLT restrictions working: Nova Scotia
Today's Family News- July 26, 2006
The Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation is claiming that new measures to make it harder for people to spend excessive amounts of time and money on video-lottery terminals (VLTs) have been a success, the Daily News reported Saturday.
"The combined impact . . . appears to be quite positive," according to an independent study undertaken on behalf of the corporation. "There have been some initial declines in both terminal accessibility and over VLT play activity."
The four initiatives were phased
in a year ago in response to concerns about the growing number of problem
gamblers. They included reduced hours of operation, the removal of 1,000 VLTs,
disabling the "stop button" - which gave players a false sense of
control over their machine - and a 30 per cent reduction in the play speed.
Based on telephone interviews with 4,324 Nova Scotians, Corporate Research Associates found that players, especially problem gamblers, are spending less money and time at the machines now compared to before the restrictions were put in place.
"Not only are [problem gamblers] the most likely to have reduced their spending, but they have reduced their spending by the largest amounts," the report stated.
"We're on track to see a $60 million drop in revenue," corporation
spokeswoman Margaret McGee told the Daily News.
"[The researchers] are absolutely confident.
Forbidden Grief:
The Unspoken Pain of Abortion
By Theresa Burke with David C. Reardon
Dr. Burke has counselled hundreds of women for abortion-related emotional
problems. From that experience, she writes about the obstacles to healing, discusses
the full range of post-abortion adjustment problems, and offers personal and
societal solutions. This sensitively written resource will help minister to
post-abortive women and men.
Support a Local Pregnancy Resource Centre
Pregnancy resource centres are located in towns and cities across the country,
providing care and resources to help women choose life for their unborn child.
These centres rely on volunteers and financial support from their communities.
Click here to find
a listing of these centres across Canada and contact the one in your community
to find out how you can help them.
Hiding the Truth
"I was totally uninformed of available alternatives to abortion. I never recommended adoption or keeping the child. Furthermore, I was completely unaware of the medical facts, including the development of the fetus. I received no training in factual matters - my job was just to keep women happy and make sure they went along with an abortion."
[Source: Quote from a former abortion clinic counsellor
included in the book ProLife
Answers to ProChoice Arguments by
Randy Alcorn, accessed from Eternal Perspective Ministries, epm.org]
TFN welcomes your feedback on our stories and the new look. Click
here to send us a comment.
Today's Family News; TFN Archives; Institute of Marriage and Family Canada; Focus on the Family (Canada)
Phone: 1.800.661.9800
Mail: Box 9800 Station Terminal, Vancouver BC, V6B 4G3
E-mail: research@fotf.ca
12. Pro-Life Boot Camp Equips Teens and Young Adults for Activism
LOS ANGELES, May 26 /Christian Newswire/ - Soon young people from across the
nation will travel to Southern California for what is best described as the
Pro-Life Boot Camp. Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, a pro-life youth organization,
will hold their 9th annual Leadership Training Camp, featured in such magazines
as Jane and Teen People. This high-energy, ten day camp beginning June 26th
is for high school and college age young people who want to be trained to be
effective and courageous in their pro-life efforts.
"I have always felt that abortion is wrong," says 14- year-old Angelique
Guaraneri, who will be attending the camp for the second time this year. "But
until I attended the camp last year, I didn't feel like I could articulate why."
"Survivors have helped me to see that my age is not an obstacle to my
voice being heard on critical issues such as abortion. Instead I feel that my
age is an asset. Who better to speak about abortion than someone who had a 1
in 3 chance of being a victim themselves? Because of Survivors Camp, I now feel
confident enough to speak to anyone about this controversial issue. Whether
it's to a professor at Harvard or a passerby on the street, the truth about
abortion remains the same and I am ready to share it with them."
The Survivors utilize the first few days of camp to equip themselves with the
tools they will need for effective activism. Students complete basic and advanced
training from nationally recognized pro-life advocates, engaging in challenging
seminars and skill- building exercises.
The extensive training includes learning the basics of the scientific issues
behind the question of when life begins, how to speak to women who find themselves
in a crisis pregnancy, using the media to get out your message, planning and
executing a successful activist event, and knowing your rights in the public
square.
James Conrad, a Survivor veteran and current camp leader, speaks about its
unique purpose, "Survivors camp is not your average nature hike, water
balloon games, hotdogs and fireside songs camp experience. The purpose is to
take 50 young people and give them the training and tools needed to go back
to their communities and take an active stand against the worst evil of our
day, the slaughter of innocent children through abortion."
The second part of the camp is the hands-on portion of the learning experience.
With the encouragement of experienced advisors, the Survivors are placed in
leadership positions at camp activism events. All Survivors are given opportunities
to practice their skills, whether as event leader or media spokesperson. The
goal is to prepare the Survivors for their own events and activities back at
home.
"We believe that it is not enough to know that abortion is wrong, but
we are called to expose the horrific truth to the world," said Cheryl Conrad,
Director of Survivors. "The Survivors ministry was founded to educate and
equip young people who have a heart for the pre-born and are willing to be used
by God to defend those unjustly sentenced to death."
Christian
Newswire - Forward
this press release to another reporter or news producer.
To: National Desk
Contact: Arianna Grumbine, Public Relations Coordinator for Survivors of the
Abortion Holocaust, 909-744-7283, arianna@survivors.la
Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust
13. The Calgary Congress - September 3, 2006
With summer over, it's time to register for the Calgary Congress, so you can help set a new direction for Canada.
And if you register now (http://ccfd.ca/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=187) you can still enjoy the special rate of $285. After Friday, it rises to $310. So act now. Registration is filling up. (Special rates for students and families.)
The Calgary Congress is a major national project of the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy. It's stirring big interest across Canada (see speakers list below).
It's a grassroots event - similar in some ways to the historic 1987 Western Assembly that launched the Reform Party. This time the aim is not to start a new party. It's to create a national vision that can release the incredible potential of this country and get Canada back on track.
This citizens' assembly will debate and resolve whether there should be constitutional limits on federal spending, provincial control of a reformed Senate, and greater democratic influence over the Supreme Court.
The purpose is to shift 's political focus from national entitlements and handouts to principles of limited government, greater provincial responsibility, and more effective democratic control of governments.
For more details, visit www.CalgaryCongress.ca, or email us at contact@ccfd.ca
Calgary Congress Co-chairs:
Danielle Smith, executive director, Alberta Property Rights Initiative
Link Byfield, chairman of the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy
Moderator:
Andrew Crooks, Calgary lawyer.
Constitutional consultant:
Burton Kellock, Toronto lawyer with Blake, Cassels and Graydon
Political/Constitutional speakers:
Premier Ralph Klein (keynote address Saturday evening)
Preston Manning (Saturday lunchtime address)
Jason Kenney, Calgary MP, parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister (Friday
evening greetings)
Ian MacDonald, editor Policy Options Magazine, Montreal
Barry Cooper, U of Calgary political philosophy professor
Ted Morton, Alberta MLA (Foothills - Rockyview)
Bert Brown, Alberta senator-elect
Vincent Polio, businessman and lawyer, Verdun, Quebec
Lorne Taylor, businessman, former minister Alberta Environment
Leon Craig, political philosophy professor emeritus, U of Alberta (Sunday lunchtime address). (In addition to the main program, there will be a one-hour Alberta PC leadership bear-pit session on federal reform with candidates Lyle Oberg and Ted Morton at 4 p.m. Saturday.)
Economic speakers:
Tasha Kheiriddin, the Montreal Economic Institute
Jason Clemens, the Fraser Institute, Vancouver
Brian Crowley, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, Halifax
Peter Hole, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Winnipeg
David MacKinnon, Ontario consultant on issues of fiscal federalism, Toronto.
14. Russia's First Pro-Life Maternity Ward A Stunning Success - Three More in the Works - By Peter J. Smith
Balashikha, Russia, July 25, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The successful beginning of Russia's first pro-life maternity hospital may hold the answer for saving Russia's dying population from plummeting into a demographic catastrophe and finally reversing the culture of abortion in Russia, claims a story in Crisis Magazine.
According to Tom Murray, the author of the Crisis article, an experimental pro-life hospital in Balashikha, a city near the Moscow area, has won the support and encouragement of President Vladimir Putin's government, which is facing the problem of Russia's alarming decline in population. Russia's low birthrate (1.28), staggeringly high abortion to birth rate of 2-1, and a life-expectancy rate hovering just beneath 60, have caused an alarming annual population decline of 700,000 persons per year.
Murray, a Catholic who has worked in Russia in the past 20 years, approached the Russian government with the possibility of American collaboration in encouraging an increase in the birthrate. His solution was a test-pilot pro-life maternity hospital that would provide Russian mothers with modern health facilities that would promote birth and discourage abortion, and offer a pro-life model for the nation in maternal health care.
Speaking to Health Minister Dr. Yuri Chevchenko, Murray said, "Although your government is committed to improving these causes of the problem, we believe that the best strategy in the long run is to substantially increase new births above replacement levels; and that will require a radical reduction in abortions."
Dr. Chevchenko conveyed to Murray that Vladimir Putin, whom he described as "a man of deep religious faith," even during the Soviet period, keeping a crucifix belonging to his mother next to his heart, also desired to discourage abortion in Russia. He said Putin gave him his personal assurance of the government's complete support for the project.
Murray's project owed its success to the joint effort between Americans and Russians in establishing the pro-life hospital. Murray and his wife Anne founded the Future of Russia Foundation (FOR) in 2002, a not-for-profit group which raised money for the pilot program. The Russian government provided them with a dilapidated 220-bed Soviet-era maternity hospital, which was serving a region about the size of Ohio. The hospital was reputably the best in the area, although Murray says the birthing suites looked more like "torture chambers." Nevertheless they developed an unused 5,000-square-foot wing of the hospital into an antenatal clinic, and provided renovated birthing suites and nurseries with state-of-the-art medical equipment.
The health ministry selected a team of Russian doctors, nurses, and technicians for special training in the United States. FOR established an education fund for training this team, which now in turn has trained 300 Russians to serve in the region's health care system.
Today the Balashikha maternity hospital has become the foremost model in renewing Russia's maternity-care system, and has enjoyed tremendous success in increasing the birthrate in the area. The number of live births at Balashikha has nearly tripled, and hundreds of women per week, including many women from the Moscow area, visit the hospital for its maternal care. In addition, the adjoining abortion clinic, which used to perform more abortions than births at the hospital, has been closed.
The success of the hospital has so encouraged the Russian authorities that the government established a new health-care district, extending the project to serve the 700,000 people in the area surrounding Balashikha. The pro-life model developed at the Balashikha hospital will be implemented in three other district hospitals. It is the hope of Tom Murray that the continued success of the pro-life model at the Balashikha hospital will become the model for Russia, and help Russia emerge from "the valley of the culture of death - to lead the world to a culture of life."
To learn more about Future of Russia Foundation, or how to support the pro-life work in Russia, contact Tom Murray at the following address: Tom Murray; 111 Shoreline Dr.; Sandusky, OH 44870. http://www.futureofrussia.org/
Read the original story by Tom Murray in Crisis Online: "Saving Lenin's Children: Russia's First Pro-Life Maternity Ward": http://www.crisismagazine.com/may2006/murray.htm
15. Sample Of News That Sometimes Gets Noticed By Web News Services But Not The Mainline Media
This is a sample of news that sometimes gets noticed by Web News services but not the mainline Media. This is a picking from my recent inbox. - Herm
· Mother Teresa Nuns Arrested By Hindus
· Christianity Under Attack - Soon Coming Here?
· Judge; Navy Right To Punish Chaplain For "Exclusive" Prayer
· School's Jesus Portrait Challenged
· Vatican Worried That Speaking The Truth May Become Illegal
· Getting The Brush Off - Christians?
· Catholic Misunderstood Do-Gooders
· Mother Teresa Nuns Arrested By Hindus
UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum
Hyderabad, June 30 (UPI) - A crowd of Hindus set upon four sisters of Mother Teresa's order in a hospital and had them arrested for allegedly trying to convert patients.
The four Missionaries of Charity were attacked earlier this week as they went about their weekly visit in a hospital in the city of Tirupati, a Hindu pilgrimage place, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, AsiaNet reported Friday.
The four sisters, all aged around 35, were in the government hospital of Ruia, where they usually spend time with patients who are terminally with AIDS. A group of around 50 members of the Hindu Dharma Parirakshana Samithi, which is a group for the defense of the Hindu religion, broke into the hospital, blocked the four sisters and accused them of trying to convert patients.
The crowd swelled rapidly and soon there were around 300 people. They forced the sisters to remain in the hospital until 8.30 p.m. Then police officials arrived and took the women to the local police station. The women were released about two hours later, but only after Catholic officials intervened with authorities. The sisters denied trying to convert anyone.
Christianity under Attack:
Attorneys Scramble to Defend Historic Symbols of Faith - by Pete Winn, Associate
Editor:
http://vocusgr.vocus.com/GRSPACE2/dotnet/WebPublish/controller.aspx?SiteName=FOTF&Definition=Home&XSL=Home&SV_Section=Home.
Judge: Navy Right to Punish Chaplain for 'Exclusive' Message, Prayer
A Navy judge has ruled that Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt should not have quoted from the Gospels when he preached a funeral message at a Navy chapel 18 months ago - and that his protest of the punishment was "without merit."
The judge, Anita K. Baker, endorsed a decision reached earlier by Rear Adm. F.R. Ruehe, who ruled that the chaplain's commander was right to reprimand Klingenschmitt in March 2005 for preaching a 2004 message that was "exclusive" - meaning it excluded people of other faiths.
Klingenschmitt told CitizenLink he preached the message in a chapel, with voluntary attendance, which mentioned salvation and Jesus Christ at the funeral of a believer. His main text was Romans 8.
"I quoted the Bible in the chapel, and I quoted it in a memorial service," Klingenschmitt said. "I also quoted John 3:36 - 'If anyone has the Son, he has eternal life. If anyone does not have the Son, he does not have eternal life, because God's wrath remains upon him.'"
Klingenschmitt said his commanding officer, Capt. James R. Carr, took umbrage at both the message and the fact he prayed "in Jesus Name" - and took measures to punish him.
School's Jesus Portrait Challenged
School officials in Clarksburg, W.V., have been sued for refusing to remove a portrait of Jesus that has hung in Bridgeport High School for at least three decades.
Vatican Worries Speaking Truth May Become Illegal
The Vatican has expressed concern that taking a public stand on moral issues may one day lead to legal trouble, The Associated Press reported.
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, noted that the church's position on abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and same-sex marriage are in direct opposition to laws in many countries.
"We worry especially that, with current laws, speaking in defense of life and the rights of families is becoming in some societies sort of a crime against the state," he said. "The church is at risk of being brought before some international court if the debate becomes any tenser."
Getting the Brush-Off
http://www.christianity.ca/news/weblog/2006/6.28.html
Since the change in Canada's definition of marriage, religious freedom has not been respected. What is the Christian response when our concerns are brushed off?
Compiled by Janet Epp Buckingham | Posted 6/28/06
Have you ever felt that your concerns are just not being heard? I think we all have.
The basic message seems to be that religious people are discriminatory…
When Bill C-250, the bill to add "sexual orientation" to the hate propaganda section of the Criminal Code, was being debated, Evangelicals sent huge volumes of mail and email to their MPs but it did not seem to make a difference.
When Bill C-38, the bill to redefine marriage to "between two persons," was being debated, Evangelicals sent huge volumes of mail, signed thousands of petitions, attended numerous demonstrations, met with the MPs but it did not seem to make a difference.
And for the past several months, I have been in correspondence with several
provincial Ministers of Justice asking them to legislate protection for religious
freedom with respect to the change in the definition of marriage.
The province of Ontario is the only one to date that has legislation specifically to protect religious freedom for clergy and churches in relation to the change in the definition of marriage. Ontario passed this legislation in 2005, in advance of Bill C-38 passing. It was part of an omnibus bill in which gender, as in husband and wife, were entirely eradicated from Ontario law.
But who knew at the time that other provinces would be so reluctant to protect even clergy in legislation?
In 2005, the province of New Brunswick introduced a bill, Bill-76, that would have protected all marriage officials, religious or civil, from being required to solemnize a marriage if it violated their religious beliefs. The bill died on the order paper and was not reintroduced in the current Parliament although the Minister of Justice promised to do so.
Even in Alberta, MLA Ted Morton was stonewalled when he tried to pass a private members bill, Bill 208, to protect religious freedom. Remember that Bill-202 passed in 2000 in Alberta that invoked the notwithstanding clause to protect the definition of marriage in that province.
The more troubling provinces are Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which have categorically refused to protect religious freedom. In fact, these two provinces sent notices to civil marriage commissioners ordering them to solemnize same-sex marriages or their commissions to marry would be revoked.
These provinces take the position that marriage commissioners are "statutory office holders." This means that they forfeit any right of conscience and must provide their services to all without distinction. While I do not agree that anyone should be denied a right of conscientious objection, I at least understand the argument.
What concerns me, though, is the underlying tone of the response I received to my inquiries. The Minister of Justice of Saskatchewan, Frank Quennell, writes:
The sad reality is that in the past, religious beliefs have sometimes been invoked to justify discriminatory treatment against others, for example, based on their race, religion or sex. To be sure, such beliefs are not as prevalent as they once were, however, it would be naïve to assume they no longer exist. If the Government permits public servants to stand on their religious beliefs and refuse to provide public services to an individual because of his or her sexual orientation, it would have to tolerate other religiously based refusals by public servants to provide public services.
The basic message seems to be that religious people are discriminatory and we can't allow that.
But hang on a minute. Isn't the whole reason we have protection for freedom of conscience and religion in the Charter so that people's various beliefs will be respected?
Generally, the courts have been very generous with employees, granting them a broad right of conscientious objection. In Newfoundland, a hospital was required to accommodate a clerk who was a Pentecostal and did not want to sell tickets to a social event at which liquor would be served. In British Columbia, a Shoppers Drug Mart could not require a clerk who was a Jehovah's Witness to arrange a display of poinsettias because it violated his beliefs about Christmas.
The message is getting pretty clear… "You are not welcome in our society."
If employees have such a broad right of conscience, it seems very hypocritical to deny the same rights to certain types of employees.
When I asked to meet with Mr. Quennell, thinking that perhaps a personal meeting might dispel some of his rather stereotypic views of Evangelicals, I received a reply that it would "not be productive."
Nice brush off.
The message is getting pretty clear, both from people like Mr. Quennell and from those who turned their backs on Dr. Margaret Somerville as she received her honorary doctorate at Ryerson: "You are not welcome in our society."
When the marriage cases were being heard in the courts, when Parliament was considering Bill C-38, we argued that those of us of deep religious convictions would be marginalized and excluded from society. "Oh no, not so," we were assured. What, did they have their fingers crossed?
But we are in a Catch 22. If we sit back and take the discrimination that is being dished out, we will get more. And if we push back, they will say, "See, we were right about you." So what do we do? How do we respond when we get the brush off?
The best we can do is to point out the hypocrisy. Would it be acceptable for the Ryerson faculty to turn their backs on someone receiving an award on the basis that the person was gay?
And we can point out our rights guaranteed in the Charter and in human rights codes. When we get the answer back that they don't apply in this situation, we can point out the hypocrisy.
And we can take courage from the examples of those who came before us. Jesus was judged and condemned under two of the best, and fairest, legal systems of the day, those of Rome and Israel. And the apostle Paul was wrongly imprisoned for more than two years by Felix, who was hoping for a bribe. Clearly, Christians do not always receive fair treatment.
Paul is a very helpful model for us today. He used every legal means available to him. He defended himself at every opportunity. But when he was treated unjustly, he used it as an opportunity to share the Gospel. But he never urged retaliation, either in word or deed.
We would do well to follow this model, and there are many legal means available
to us. But even if we do not receive justice, and even if nothing seems fair,
we must continue to follow Paul's model in grace and humility.
Janet Epp Buckingham is director of Law and Public Policy and general legal
counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada in Ottawa.
Used with permission of author. Copyright © 2006 Christianity.ca.
Copyright © 2003 The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, All Rights Reserved.
Catholicism's misunderstood do-gooders - Barbara Kay
National Post
Published: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Opus Dei, the real-life Catholic fellowship Dan Brown mauls to fictional shreds in his novel The Da Vinci Code, has profited from the public's fascination with the Code phenomenon by opening its "secret" chambers to journalists, revealing the group's benign modern face.
A slew of media interviews with candid, urbane numeraries has done much to roll back the negative stereotypes - not altogether undeserved in the past - of an inward-dwelling cadre of ultra-conservative spiritual elites.
I've been interested in Opus Dei for a while - not because of The Da Vinci Code, but as the result of a friendship with Monique David, director of the Canadian women's branch of OD. I interviewed Monique and five of her colleagues at their Montreal headquarters last week.
Most of them have been numeraries for many years. (Numeraries are Opus Dei members committed to celibacy for apostolic reasons, as opposed to usually married supernumeraries.) Monique is 46, and she embraced OD when she was 18. Like the others, she comes across as mature and self-assured, a far cry from the unhinged, pathological Silas of Brown's invention. They spoke enthusiastically about their faith, and their sense of vocation for mentoring spiritual growth in others.
The core concept of OD is the fusion of religious and secular life into an organic whole. Monique says explaining OD remains tough slogging amongst Catholics, who understand traditional Catholicism and lapsed Catholicism, but not this seemingly paradoxical marriage of religion and secularism.
(Curiously, Monique reported, Jews seem to understand OD's mission easily. That's no coincidence. Judaism is a holistic moral system: There may be a dichotomy between the observant and the non-observant, the believing and the agnostic, but the imperative to seek holiness through righteous behaviour - Opus Dei's purpose in microcosm - cannot be compartmentalized.)
With its approximately 85,000 members, Opus Dei represents just a tiny slice of global Catholicism. Here in Canada, there are but 600 members, of which only 150 - 60 men, 90 women - are numeraries.
The group's centres serve the dual function of numeraries' living quarters and teaching forums. The three centres I have visited - two in Montreal, one in Jerusalem - are all mansions in affluent neighbourhoods, in which the public spaces are opulent, while the private quarters are monastically Spartan. Such disparities make it difficult for outsiders to understand the nature of this unique institution.
What's known as a "personal prelature," OD might be called Catholics Without Borders. It is the only Catholic diocese with no geographical boundaries. Apart from the 2% who are priests, OD members are all laity. Most numeraries work for pay at some other job. As they see it, no employment is so lowly it can't be sanctified and made holy through the pursuit of excellence.
Additionally, as spiritual "coaches" continuously seeking greater "friendship" or "filiation" with God themselves, numeraries work one on one or in small groups with potential recruits - or anyone else - striving to realize their spiritual potential. They're doing what they consider to be "God's Work" (English for the Latin Opus Dei).
The optics, however, do not favour OD. Numeraries' lives are humble, but the outsider sees only their elegant homes. They are lay people, but because they live together in one house, hold to a daily routine of mass, corporal mortification and frequent group activities, numeraries present superficially like nuns or monks. Women and men are spiritual equals, but only women serve as domestic numerary assistants, and only women sleep on boards all the time. Finally, numeraries are consecrated to a life of spiritual sharing with others, but seem curiously passive about outreach, relying principally on word of mouth for new contacts.
In responding to the calumnies of The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei has proved communications-savvy, opening a window of opportunity for a more permanent reciprocal relationship with the public. Very soon, their 15 minutes of fame will be up, but they will need to maintain their PR offensive.
For Opus Dei's faith is big, and their mission, helping people integrate their faith in day-to-day life, is noble; yet their signage is small, and even admirers like me are forced to concede that their message, crystal clear to themselves, remains, to the untutored masses, stubbornly opaque.
bkay@videotron.ca
http://www.liquidlewis.com/barb/archive/20060517dogooders.html
© National Post 2006
16. This Is The Information Provided By The Care NOT Killing Coalition
In The UK
This is excellent news. Last year the British Medical Association (BMA) decided
to take a neutral stand on assisted suicide. The BMA tremendously influences
the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). The renewal of opposition by the BMA
gives us great hope in Canada that the CMA will not move to neutralize its position
on assisted suicide.
Alex Schadenberg - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Latest On British Medical Association Vote Opposing Physician-Assisted Suicide
And Euthanasia - June 29, 2006
Today, the British Medical Association voted overwhelmingly to oppose the legalization
of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. Commenting on this result, the
campaign director of Care NOT Killing, Dr Peter Saunders, said:
"This is a fantastic result for the many organizations campaigning against
euthanasia. It is a very important result in terms of political and public opinion.
It means that the medical profession in the UK is now firmly united in its opposition
to any form of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. This sends a very clear
message to the public and to MPs - doctors who care for dying patients understand
the serious dangers that would arise from legalizing euthanasia. They have come
a clear conclusion today at the BMA conference that legalized killing would
create more problems than it would solve.
"Their verdict - that we need better palliative care for the terminally
ill - sends a clear message that what we need to do is to kill the pain and
not the patient. The argument that decided this vote and the similar vote in
the House of Lords last month is a simple one. For sick and vulnerable patients
the danger is that the right to die could become a duty to die as they feel
pressure, whether real or imaginary, from family, carers and society at large
to request early death.
The BMA vote has rescued patients from embarking upon the slippery slope towards
full blown euthanasia in the UK".
ENDS
Motions
That this Meeting:
Notes for Editors
Care NOT Killing is a new UK-based alliance bringing together human rights groups, healthcare groups, palliative care groups, faith groups and concerned individuals.
Care NOT Killing has three key aims:
· To promote more and better palliative care
· To ensure that existing laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide
are not weakened or repealed during the lifetime of the current Parliament
· To inform public opinion further against any weakening of the law
Care NOT Killing seeks to attract the broadest support among health care professionals, allied health services and others who are opposed to euthanasia. It is campaigning on the basis of powerful arguments underpinned by the latest, well-researched and credible evidence.
Key groups that have already signed up to join Care NOT Killing include: The
Association for Palliative Medicine, the British Council of Disabled People,
RADAR, the Christian Medical Fellowship, the Catholic Bishops Conference of
England and Wales, the Church of England and the Medical Ethics Alliance. 32
organizations have joined the alliance.
For more information, broadcasting bids and media inquiries
Nick Wood of Media Intelligence Partners
07889 617 003 or 0203 008 8146
Katie Perrior
07958 459 398
17. United Mothers, Fathers & Friends Newsletter - August 9, 2006
Please Print Or Forward This Newsletter Along To Others
I) Key to Winning the Fall Vote for Marriage
- You!
II) "Golden" Contact with Your MP
III) Marriage Toolkit - Powerful information to share
with others
"I haven't had a single person
come up to me to talk about it."
- Conservative MP, Peter MacKay -
"I'm getting very few letters
or cards on this. I think those who were opposed fought the good fight, but
it is over."
- NDP MP, Tony Martin -
I) Key to Winning the Fall Vote for Marriage - You!
Imagine over 500,000 Canadians speaking out to their MPs in support of marriage over the next few months.
That's our goal!
If each of our 50,000 supporters contacts their MP in a meaningful way and engages 10 others there won't be a single MP able to say marriage is a "non-issue."
Most importantly, we will have a much stronger chance of winning the fall vote to re-visit marriage in Parliament, and take our first critical step towards restoring marriage.
II) "Golden" Contact with Your MP
Have you made a golden contact with your MP this summer? (Remember, the most effective means of communicating with politicians are a personal visit, direct telephone discussion, or short, legible, handwritten letter.)
Your voice matters! Most politicians do listen to their constituents. Let your MP hear from you today!
III) Marriage Toolkit
We have joined forces with www.PreserveMarriage.ca to put together a comprehensive toolkit to help you in your efforts to become informed and inform others.
To help us reach our goal of mobilizing 500,000 Canadians, we need you!
Download, or order, a toolkit today!
What's in the toolkit? Powerful information that most Canadians and MPs have not yet considered in the marriage debate - information that will strengthen on side MPs, and which may give undecided MPs and those supportive of same-gender marriage sufficient reason to change their position.
In addition to valuable resources, the toolkit contains two different flyers for you to share with friends, family, colleagues, and neighbours. One is specially designed for supporters of marriage; the other is for you to share with those who are undecided or supportive of same-gender marriage.
How much time is involved? It only takes a few minutes to inform others by sharing these flyers. It is as easy as keeping a few on hand in your kitchen, car, briefcase, or purse and sharing as opportunities arise.
How can one person make a difference? Not only will you inform others, but also chances are you will share it with someone who, in turn, will download or order a toolkit and your efforts will be multiplied exponentially!
How do I get a toolkit?
i) Download Option: Select and print the portions of the toolkit that will assist you at www.PreserveMarriage.ca/eng/posters.htm (English) or www.PreserveMarriage.ca/fr/posters.htm (French)
ii) Ordering Option: We would also be happy to mail you a free toolkit. (Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.)
Simply write to: kits@UnitedMothers.ca, (or if you would prefer the kit in French, E-mail your request to info@PreserveMarriage.ca)
Please send us the following information to ensure that we send the toolkit that is right for you.
1. In the subject line of the E-mail please type your Province & Constituency, followed by the Kit size that would best meet your needs:
i) Small (25 flyers, plus additional resources)
ii) Medium (100 flyers, plus additional resources)
iii) Large (400 flyers, plus additional resources)
Sample Email Subject Line: "Québec: Outremont - Medium Kit"
2. In the body of the E-mail please provide your:
i) Name
ii) Mailing Address
iii) E-mail Address
iv) Phone Number (and best time of day to reach you.)
Although not necessary, if you are able to make a donation to help our efforts and cover the cost of the toolkit and postage, it would be greatly appreciated. Support can be made through our secure on-line server at http://www.unitedmothers.ca/donate.php
Cheques can be mailed to:
United Mothers Inc.; P.O. Box 234; 339 10th Avenue S.E.; Calgary, Alberta; T2G 0W2
Thanks to all of you who have responded so generously to our campaign. To date we are a quarter of the way towards our goal of $80,000.
Kind regards, Michele Dow
President
United Mothers, Fathers & Friends
18. We Need Your Help
It is a known fact that some MPs who once voted against the re-defining of marriage are now leaning the other way and want the issue to go away during their stay in Ottawa. It is estimated that we are about 20 votes short. In Nova Scotia, it is reported that Bill Casey and Peter MacKay who voted against redefinition are listed as two MPs who are leaning the other way.
During the election it was assumed from all the rhetoric that the Conservative Party would have a free vote on the same-sex marriage issue, however it seems that the wind has shifted and now the question is: "Is the house in favour of opening the issue for debate and vote?" Because the last parliament was not, is the opinion of many, a free vote, since ministers and their parliamentary secretaries had to vote with the government or lose their jobs, it was a vote full of duress and intimidation and not free.
We need to ask our MPs to vote in favour of opening the discussion, debate and vote to ensure that Parliament is allowed to be democratic and allow the freedom of conscience without intimidation from the Prime Minister's Office or the ruling party of the day.
Please call your MPs today and ask them to support any resolution that would allow a free, open debate and vote, without strings attached. The future of Canada depends on it.
PS: I am adding a note from RealWomen and will be sending more information on talking with your MP.
In their latest July-August 2006 magazine, in an article to prep their readers
for lobbying and addressing the upcoming marriage vote, provided an article
on "Some Common Objections and Possible Responses," where
they wrote:
OBJECTION: "You would be fine with the whole thing if they just called it something other than marriage because you don't think you should be in the same category?"
RESPONSE: No. It's not just a matter of terminology ...the relationship between a man and a woman in a married relationship is qualitatively different from two men or two women living together and engaging in a sexual relationship. Marriage - one man and one woman, excluding all others - is intended at its core for the bearing and rearing of children. That makes it quite different! Taking away a business enterprise's ability to make a profit means it ceases to be a business. Require a charity to make a profit and it's no longer a charity. In a similar way, taking away the heterosexual character of marriage causes it to cease being a marriage.
With Thanks and hoping you are having a good summer. - Herm Wills
19. Woman Surgeon Stresses Abortion & Breast Cancer Link
at Ottawa Press Conference - By Gudrun Schultz
OTTAWA, May 16, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- An expert in the field of breast cancer presented strong evidence linking
breast cancer to abortion, in a press conference held by members of the Parliamentary
Pro-Life Caucus last Thursday.
Dr. Angela Lanfranchi is clinical assistant professor of surgery at Robert
Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey and co-founder of the Breast Cancer
Prevention Institute.
"The link between abortion and breast cancer is simply the result of a
woman's biology," said Dr. Lanfranchi, citing multiple scientific studies
that link induced abortion with a significant increase in breast cancer rates.
Breast cancer rates have increased by 40% over the 30 years since abortion was
legalized.
"It's the women of the Roe v. Wade generation that account for most of
this increase. Dramatic lifestyle changes brought about by the sexual revolution
and the women's liberation movement are largely responsible for the rampant
breast cancer we see today," she said, reported the Globe and Mail.
Liberal MP Paul Steckle and Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott invited Dr. Lanfranchi
to speak in an effort to raise awareness of the dangerous effects of abortion
on women's health.
"Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women, according
to the Canadian Cancer Society, yet that organization is not telling women about
a well-documented preventable risk-factor," said Mr. Vellacott, Conservative
co-chair of the PPLC, in a press release. "Women have a right to be told
about this increased risk."
Since 1957, over 40 studies worldwide have shown a link between induced abortion
and breast cancer. A 1996 meta-analysis conducted by Dr. Joel Brind, professor
of endocrinology at Baruch College, City University of New York, established
abortion as a significant independent risk factor for developing breast cancer.
(See Dr. Brind's review of studies conducted over the last 9 years at: http://www.jpands.org/vol10no4/brind.pdf)
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, 102 Canadian women will die of breast
cancer every week. "Withholding from women information about this preventable
risk factor could literally be a matter of life and death," said Steckle.
"This is an important women's health issue," said MP Paul Steckle,
Liberal co-chair of the PPLC. "We are doing women a disservice by ignoring
the epidemiological and biological evidence that shows women who have had abortions
are at an increased risk for developing breast cancer."
Despite mounting well-documented evidence, leading cancer research centres
such as the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, the Canadian
Cancer Society and the Canadian Breast Cancer Network, (along with their U.S.
counterparts), have refused to acknowledge a connection between the effects
of abortion on women's bodies and their subsequent development of breast cancer.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
U.S. Breast Cancer Foundation Funding Abortion Provider Planned Parenthood:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05022203.html
Canadian MP says Cancer Society Withholding Pill/Cancer Link: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06031707.html
20. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #286 - August 20, 2006
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
There is massive Human Organ Transplant Industry in China. Canada's pro-life newspaper, the Interim, reporting with details from a story in the Epoch Times 4/19/06, has broken open a large secret organ transplant industry in China. Liver transplants there rose from a national total of 78 in 1998 to 3000 in 2003. Prices for westerners coming in for transplants include, for a kidney $62,000 USD, heart $170,000 USD, cornea $30,000 USD. But due to traditional Chinese beliefs very few Chinese willingly donate their organs or those of their family members. Who then are these donors? This source reports that the organs come from Falun Gong practitioners whose religion has been ruthlessly suppressed by the Chinese Government and whose leaders have been imprisoned for years.
The government reports thirty thousand transplants a year. Epoch Times says the number is more than a hundred and ten thousand. In China a fresh organ can be obtained in as little as two days. In the US such a candidate must often wait years for an available properly matched donor organ. Considering this rapid availability, the article assumes that there must be thousands of potential donor prisoners in order to be able to select a matched organ that quickly. This article and another from GeneEthique, 4/28/06, details the procedure. The prisoner is given an anesthetic, the organ is removed, and then the prisoner's body is cremated within 72 hours. A Chinese minister of health is alleged to have said, "95 percent of organs transplanted in China are harvested from executed prisoners". If the above detailed reporting is true, the organs are taken from live prisoners, who then are cremated.
God Bless, Jerry Novotny, omi
(A thought) "As individuals, and as members of communities, we have the power to take steps to prevent child abuse."
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #286 - August 20, 2006
Table Of Contents:
1. India: Doctors Arrested In Sex-Selection Abortion Scheme
2. EU Court Denies Plea To Guarantee Patient's Food And Water
3. Clinics Use Tissue From Babies Killed In Abortions For Cosmetic Injection
4. Selling Death: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide Advocates Market Their Agenda
5. Canada Scientist Gets Permission To Conduct Embryonic Stem Cell Research
6. Made-To-Order Babies For Sale At Texas IVF Facility
7. Need For More Children And A Better Family Life, Says The Indian Church
8. Patient Loses "Right-To-Food" Case
9. UK Schools Handing Out Morning-After Pill To Students Of All Ages
10. "The Carnegie Stages Of Early Human Embryonic Development: Chart Of
All 23 Stages, Detailed Descriptions Of Stages 1 To 6"
"New" Articles Posted Recently At http://www.lifeissues.net)
- C. Ward Kischer: http://lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kisc
- David Reardon: http://lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=rea
- Barbara Kralis: http://lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kra
- Steven Mosher: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mos
[Website: Supportive Care Coalition] http://www.supportivecarecoalition.org/default.htm. Every day human beings move in smaller and larger ways toward the day of their death. Each of us wants that death to be a "good death" for ourselves and for our loved ones. Supportive Care Coalition: Pursuing Excellence in Palliative Care exists to help make that hope a reality.
Item #1. India: Doctors Arrested In Sex-Selection
Abortion Scheme
Police in India's northern Punjab state have arrested a husband-and-wife medical
team for performing illegal sex-selection abortions. The arrests of Dr. Pritam
Singh and his wife Dr. Amarjit Kaur came after staff members at their Ultrasound
Scanning clinic informed police that the couple was performing abortions for
couples who learned that their unborn child was female. After the arrests, police
recovered the remains of more than 50 unborn female children in a pit dug in
the yard behind the clinic. Indian law bans sex-determination tests: a ban that
was put in place after census figures showed that a startling disproportion
of babies were male. However, many doctors continue not only to tell parents
the gender of the fetus, but also perform abortions if the parents are unhappy
- ordinarily, when they learn the child will be a girl. Access to legal abortion
is unrestricted in India.
View full text at CWN: http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=45824
Item #2. EU Court Denies Plea To Guarantee Patient's
Food And Water
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Leslie Burke, a 46 year-old
British man suffering from a degenerative neurological disease, has no reason
to fear that he will be dehydrated to death when his illness renders him unable
to speak. The court has rejected Burke's attempt to ensure that he will not
be dehydrated or starved to death in the final stages of his ultimately fatal
illness. This in spite of the growing number of instances of death by dehydration
in Britain and abroad - most notably the dehydration death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo
in 2005 - and the growth in influence in Britain of the euthanasia movement.
Burke had taken his fight all the way through the British court system, which
ruled last year in favor of the General Medical Council (GMC). The GMC argued
that it must reserve the right to dehydrate patients to death at a doctor's
discretion. Burke argued that GMC guidelines left too much latitude to individual
doctors to decide when a patient's life was no longer worth living.
View full text at CWN: http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=45823
Item #3. Clinics Use Tissue From Babies Killed
In Abortions For Cosmetic Injection
Women from around the world are traveling to clinics in various locations that
are now offering face-lifts and cosmetic surgery using tissue from babies who
have been killed by abortions. Pro-life advocates are strongly condemning the
practice and saying the taking of human life is never warranted - especially
for such a self-serving purpose. Women like Susan Barrington, a 52-year-old
housewife from England, are heading to places such as Barbados, the Dominican
Republic, Moscow and Rotterdam to obtain the treatments. She has been given
the final go-ahead form a local clinic to travel abroad for the treatment that
promises to make her look 10 years younger and doesn't mind that lives have
been sacrificed to enhance her beauty. To produce the treatments, clinics are
using tissue from babies killed in abortions from 6 to 12 weeks into pregnancy
and stem cells obtained from destroying human embryos to inject into a client's
face. The fetal cells then begin a supposed rejuvenation process that makes
the skin look younger. To obtain the cells, women in underdeveloped nations
are paid up to $200 dollars to carry a baby up to the optimum eight to 12 week
period when the fetuses are "harvested" for their stem cells which
are then sold to exclusive cosmetic clinics. Both pro-life advocates and scientists
who favor stem cell research are upset by the promotion of these injections.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2486.html
Item #4. Selling Death: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide
Advocates Market Their Agenda
As someone who has been in marketing and public relations for nearly 20 years,
I know - as well as anyone else in the business - that the success of any marketing
campaign is largely, if not entirely, based on crafting language that makes
the sale of a product seem like the solution to a customer's problem. In advertising,
designers and copywriters assume the posture that the intended customer has
a problem that can be worked out by the use or purchase of their client's product.
If you're thirsty, our beer will hit the spot. If you're lonesome, our website
will introduce you to new people. If you're packing a few too many pounds, our
pill will help you regain your youthful figure. More than stunning visuals,
clever slogans or even word-of-mouth referral, providing someone with soft,
fleshy language that promises a solution to a problem is, by far, the most compelling
and fail-safe form of advertising there is. Upon my second read of "Forced
Exit" by attorney, consumer advocate and author Wesley J. Smith, I noticed
that Smith makes frequent reference to the language used by pro-euthanasia advocates
in their attempts to swoon the public into accepting mercy killing as a medical
response to complicated situations. Smith seems to sit somewhere in the middle
between astonished by the death marketers' spin and disgusted at the intellectual
dishonesty of their campaigns. Calling up terms such as "compassion,"
"choice" and "easy landing," pro-euthanasia and mercy-killing
advocates have crafted out a rather brilliant advertising campaign that has
influenced the general public in a successful and most dangerous way.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/bio1699.html
Item #5. Canada Scientist Gets Permission To Conduct
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
A scientist at the University of Calgary has won tentative permission to destroy
frozen human embryos for their stem cells for studies. This would be the first
time that human embryonic stem cell research will take place in the Canadian
province of Alberta and pro-life groups are disturbed by the development. Dr.
Derrick Rancourt will begin the studies in a few months and will become one
of just a handful of Canadian researchers using embryonic stem cells. Other
scientists, such as those at the University of Toronto, have found tremendous
success using the more ethical and effective adult stem cells, which don't require
the destruction of human life. "We have this expertise and we've been asked
to participate (in this project)," Rancourt told the Calgary Herald. "I
kind of feel like it's our responsibility." But Joanne Byfield of Alberta
Pro Life told the newspaper her group is opposed to Rancourt's research because
days-old unborn children will be destroyed in the process. "They are human
beings," said Byfield. "That should place them above being used and
abused and killed for research."
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/bio1696.html
Item #6. Made-To-Order Babies For Sale At Texas
IVF Facility
(LifeSiteNews.com) - The day many ethicists have long feared and predicted has
arrived as a US "embryo bank" has begun to create and sell embryos
with specific genetic characteristics, matching them to clients' preferences.
Many ethicists have long complained that the use of IVF technology with pre-implantation
genetic diagnosis, combined with recent breakthroughs in understanding of human
genetics, will lead to a nightmare "Brave New World" in which babies
are made to order in labs and sold as commodities. - The Daily Mail reports
that made-to-order embryos are being offered, at a cost of about $10,000, at
an exclusive private IVF facility, the Abraham Center of Life in San Antonio
in Texas. Couples are offered the chance to buy embryos screened for hair and
eye colour along with other characteristics and have them implanted. - The facility
creates the embryos entirely in the lab with donated sperm and ova, boasting
that sperm "donors" all hold PhD's. Demand is high and there is a
waitlist for white, blue eyed, blonde haired babies. Centre director Jennalee
Ryan responded to religious objections saying, "Jesus was not conceived
in the normal way either. I don't lose any sleep over what we are doing."
"We are helping couples and putting good genes back into the universe,"
she said.
Item #7. Need For More Children And A Better Family
Life, Says The Indian Church
Concerned about Catholics' demographic decline in Kerala, Card Varkey Vithayathil
has urged the Syro-Malabar community to have more children and lead "a
life rooted in Christian values". The prelate's appeal is contained in
a pastoral letter that will be read this coming Sunday (August 13) in all of
the parishes of the state and other Syro-Malabar dioceses. For the cardinal,
"there is sin and injustice towards society behind the decision of not
having children by those parents who have the means and normal health."
Source at AsiaNews.it: http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=6910
Item #8. Patient Loses "Right-To-Food"
Case
A Scottish man suffering from a degenerative disease has again been refused
an assurance that, when his condition deteriorates, doctors will give him artificial
nutrition and hydration. The European Court of Human Rights upheld the decision
of the English Court of Appeal last year in the case of Mr. Leslie Burke who
has Friedrich's ataxia. Mr Burke's condition causes lack of co-ordination, thus
a loss of the ability to speak, but it does not interfere with mental faculties.
He said that he was extremely disappointed with the ruling.
View full article at news.scotsman.com: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1151812006
Item #9. UK Schools Handing Out Morning-After Pill
To Students Of All Ages
(LifeSiteNews.com) - UK
schoolgirls are being handed the morning-after pill in an effort to reduce teen
pregnancy rates in a region with one of the highest in Western Europe. According
to a Norwich Evening News report, two schools in Norwich and five in Great Yarmouth
have begun distribution of the abortifacients to girls below the age of consent,
which is 16 years of age in Great Britain. The schools' on-site permanent sexual
health clinics, which employ so-called family planning workers, are possible
because of tax funding through the Norwich Primary Care Trust and are part of
a 10-year plan to reduce teen pregnancy rates. Norfolk teenage pregnancy strategy
unit Lead Officer Becky Oliver said the program is available to girls as young
as 11. "This confidential service is available to young people in all years
at the participating schools and has the full support of the schools management
and governing bodies." New rules introduced in April this year allow girls
as young as 12 to be given the morning-after pill over the counter in pharmacies
across the country without the knowledge of their parents.
See coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/apr/06041008.html
A 2002 study by University of Nottingham professor Dr. David Paton, a leading expert on teenage fertility, suggested that candid sex education and the availability of the morning after pill actually increase promiscuous sex. The study confirmed the findings of studies conducted in 1999 and 2000 which found that use of family planning information did not lead to a decrease in unwanted pregnancies, and that found that young people who were prescribed the morning-after pill were much more likely to have abortions.
See coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/mar/02031803.html
A survey conducted in the 2005 revealed that teenage pregnancy rates are highest in areas that have been most aggressive in promoting sex education. The report revealed that explicit sex education and providing condoms to young girls simply encourages them to become sexually active. Official figures reveal that teenage pregnancies rose in Britain by an annual rate of 800 from 38,439 in 2001 to 39,286 in 2002, despite the 15 million being spent to counter the situation. The pregnancies led to 17,682 of the children being aborted in 2001. The number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases has also risen by an alarming 62 percent between 1997's 25,143 cases and 2002's 40,821 cases.
See coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/mar/04031505.html
Item #10. "The Carnegie Stages of
Early Human Embryonic Development: Chart of all 23 Stages, Detailed Descriptions
of Stages 1 - 6"
In response to an increased awareness of and need and requests for solid and
reliable documented information about the international Carnegie Stages of Early
Human Embryonic Development and the international nomenclature in human embryology,
I am providing that information here so that anyone can find it in the library,
on the internet, or buy it from scientific book stores themselves. It is not
a big "mystery". It goes without saying that the stakes involved in
insisting on using the accurate scientific facts of human embryology are high.
The accurate scientific facts - much of which have been well-known, documented
and published for over a hundred years - have been mutilated over the last few
decades by those interested in promoting abortion, the use of abortifacients,
IVF, prenatal genetic diagnosis, human embryo research, human cloning, human
embryonic stem cell research, human genetic engineering, drug and biological/chemical
testing and development, etc. Indeed, extensive and influential national and
international public policies have already been grounded in such scientific
"mis-information".
[See Irving, "The impact of scientific 'misinformation' on other fields: Philosophy, theology, biomedical ethics and public policy", Accountability in Research April 1993, 2(4):243-272, at: http://www.all.org/abac/dni009.htm;
"When does a human being [normally] begin? 'Scientific' myths and scientific
facts", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy (Feb. 1999),
19:3/4:22-47, at:
http://isacco.emeraldinsight.com/vl=8997774/cl=38/nw=1/rpsv/cgibin/linker?ini=emerald&reqidx=/cw/mcb/0144333x/v19n3/s4/p22
(subscription), http://www.l4l.org/library/mythfact.html,
and: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_01lifebegin1.html;
"What Human Embryo? Funniest Mental Gymnastics from Medicine and Research"
(Oct. 14, 2004), at:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_82whathumanembryo1.html.]
View full text at LifeIssues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_123carnegiestages1.html.
Action:
1. Pray that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and
support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Stay informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Consider participating with a financial donation
to help pay travel expenses for Fr. Jerry's Speaking Tours to poorer countries
in Asia. (Purpose - Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia. Series of lectures
on - The Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges.) Remaining 2006 schedule:
August - Sri Lanka; October - Philippines; November - China. Thank you for your
active participation for making this missionary project possible. Kindly send
donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny OMI, LifeIssues.net, Editor, Akebono-cho
1-15-9, Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072.
4. All past issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available online.
Click here: http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0.
These newsletters are an extension of the Website.)
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 site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
21. Murder-Suicide In Penticton
Yesterday, August 29, an elderly man shot his wife who was diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Media reports have indicated that the act of murder-suicide was possibly a loving act by a husband who did not want his wife to suffer.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition expresses sympathy to the family and asks the media to simply report the facts.
The reality is that homicide-suicide deaths are rarely "Mercy" Killings.
A study published in the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (13:211-217) by Malphurs & Cohen) titled: "A Statewide case-control study of spousal homicide-suicide in older persons" found that most homicide-suicides of older persons are not "mercy" killings.
The study concluded: "In fact, this "mercy-killing" perception is a myth. The husbands in such cases are often abusers, and the wives are rarely complicit. In many such cases, defense wounds indicate that the wife fought for her life."
The study indicated that society needs to not only be concerned with the care of the ailing spouse, but also with the health and mental state of the healthy spouse. Many spouses suffer depression and mental breakdown due to the demands of the care and changes related to an ailing spouse.
Malphurs and Cohen indicated that many of these terrible incidents could be avoided by providing good care to both the ailing spouse and the otherwise healthy spouse.
Comment by Alex Schadenberg,
Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Phone: 519-439-3348 or email: info@epcc.c
22. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #287 - August 27, 2006
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
The Ecuadorian Constitutional Court unanimously upheld a lower court that had prohibited the sale of the morning after pill in that nation. Abort Babies because of Club Feet: Figures from the office of National Statistics in the UK, report that in the last decade more than 20 women had abortions later than mid-pregnancy, because the babies had been diagnosed with club feet. Four more were aborted because they had extra fingers or webbed feet. It is noted that all of these congenital malformations are completely correctable surgically after birth. The Philippine Foundation for Breast Care has publicly announced that it agrees with the link of abortion to breast cancer. Its President, Christina Santos M.D. stated, "We acknowledge the abortion breast cancer link based on the physiologic changes in the breast lobules of women who choose to deliberately interrupt their pregnancies by induced abortion, and the risk for breast cancer that this will pose later to that women".
God Bless Fr. Jerry, omi.
(A thought) "If you could benefit from help with parenting, do not be afraid or embarrassed to seek it. Getting help when you need it is an essential part of being a good parent."
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #287 - August 27, 2006
Table Of Contents:
1. 21st Century Slavery
2. Modern Day Slavery Flourishes
3. Different Forms Of Human Slavery
4. Ethical Row Over World's First 'Made To Order' Embryos
5. Plan B's Second Act
6. Illinois Mandates Signs Telling Women Their Contraceptive Rights
7. Feminists Accused Of Pushing Agenda At U.N.
8. Vegetative State May Be Caused By Brain Cooling, New Study
9. Belgium Palliative Care Workers Unable To Kill Patients Due To Shortage Of
Euthanasia Drug
10. Health Effects Of Egg Donation May Take Decades To Emerge
11. Jonathan Turley And USA Today
Website: Family Life Institute - http://www.familylifeinstitute.com/. The purpose of this site is to serve families within their homes. The site presents a series of articles on topics related to marriage and family as well as excerpts from books and manuals that are made available through the Family Life Institute.
Item #1. 21st Century Slavery
Through research and exclusive interviews with world authorities on human trafficking
and slavery, this writer discovered a shocking world that harbors brothels filled
with kidnapped women and girls enslaved in prostitution, of wealthy households
that victimize women and girls in forced domestic servitude and sex, of young
children living in cages beside their workplace.
View full text at LifeIssues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_32slavery.html
Item #2. Modern Day Slavery Flourishes
Working 18 hours a day, the victims are locked away, sometimes shackled at night,
so they cannot run away. The disposable, reusable, expendable people are uncared
for, and beaten for the slightest disobediences. If they attempt escape, their
punishment is life threatening. When they can no longer produce their quota
of labor, they are simply thrown away, discarded.
View full text at LifeIssues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_33modernsalvery.html
Item #3. Different Forms Of Human Slavery
Despite centuries of struggle, slavery has not been eradicated from our world.
Slavery is readily found on the farms of India, the heritable debt-bondage brick
making kilns of Pakistan, and the cocoa plantations of Cote d'Ivoire.
View full text at LifeIssues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_34humanslavery.html
Item #4. Ethical Row Over World's First 'Made To
Order' Embryos
The world's first human embryo bank has been launched offering 'bespoke babies'
for infertile couples. For around £5,000 couples can buy ready-made embryos
matched to their specific requirements - even down to choosing what eye and
hair colour they would like their child to have. In each case the embryos are
made from eggs and sperm from two donors who have never even met. The moment
of conception occurs in the laboratory and is determined by the genetic combination
the clinic thinks will best meet the needs of the paying couples on its books.
View full text at Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=399142&in_page_id=1774&in_page_id=1774&expand=true
Item #5. Plan B's Second Act
A recent editorial gets to the heart of the battle over so-called emergency
contraception. The editorial notes, "Plan B works primarily by blocking
fertilization or preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb. This
is preventing pregnancy, not ending it." This erroneous rationale relies
on a definition that says "pregnancy" begins when the living human
embryo implants in the wall of the mother's uterus. However, the child's life
begins a week or so prior to this point, at fertilization. Comment
by all: Do not get drawn into a battle over
the definition of "pregnancy." Plan B can terminate a newly formed
human being's life.
View full text at boston.com: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/08/02/plan_bs_second_act/
Item #6. Illinois Mandates Signs Telling Women
Their Contraceptive Rights
Illinois pharmacists will soon be required to post signs informing women they
have a right to buy birth control pills. Gov. Rod Blagojevich proposed the regulation
as a way of forcing pharmacists to comply with his executive order that requires
them to dispense morning-after pills. Pro-life pharmacists are continuing to
fight that order. Planned Parenthood's Chicago affiliate expressed support for
the new requirement.
Source of article at Evening News24:
http://new.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED08%20Aug%202006%2010%3A10%3A38%3A810
Item #7. Feminists Accused Of Pushing Agenda At
U.N.
Feminists are trying to use the United Nations to impose a radical agenda -
including legalized prostitution - around the world, a conservative leader said
yesterday. The U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) has become a weapon in the hands of "socialist feminists,"
Wendy Wright told a women's conference at the Heritage Foundation. CEDAW is
"the Equal Rights Amendment on steroids," said Mrs. Wright, president
of Concerned Women for America. "This is getting the U.N. involved in our
homes, our families, our marriages." Though signed by President Carter
in 1979, CEDAW has never been ratified by the Senate, but activists on the U.N.
CEDAW committee are using the treaty to enforce an agenda of population control
and homosexual rights on other nations, Mrs. Wright said. The CEDAW committee
has "told China they must decriminalize prostitution," and "told
Mexico to change their laws against abortion," and even told the governments
of Muslim nations that they must interpret the Koran according to CEDAW, Mrs.
Wright said at the monthly luncheon of the Conservative Women's Network, co-sponsored
by Heritage and the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. Furthermore, she said,
feminist groups have urged that the International Criminal Court be used "as
a way to criminalize offenses against CEDAW." "Why did (feminists)
get involved with the U.N.? It's a natural fit," Mrs. Wright said, describing
the "top-down" power of the United Nations as a vehicle for nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) to press for the implementation of policies favored by
feminists as "human rights." Feminists "cannot win on their issues
democratically," Mrs. Wright said. "At the U.N., they like to create
rights. ... They operate under the concept that government creates rights."
Source at The Washington Times: http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060811-123451-2280r.htm
Item #8. Vegetative State May Be Caused By Brain
Cooling, New Study
New research suggests that the widespread use of below body temperature air
in breathing tubes, which appears to be common in nursing homes, may produce
small drops in the brain's temperature which may prevent recovery of brain injured
patients. The introduction of cool air directly into the trachea of intubated
patients cools blood to the brain and appears to disrupt its neurochemistry
in ways that may inhibit recovery or cause negative effects. The authors believe
their findings may point to a simple way of increasing the chance of recovery
for thousands of patients.
Note from Ron Panzer: It is interesting this research is coming out and we are encouraged that the medical profession may start to pay attention to this important new understanding of the terribly harmful effects of forcing cooled air to patients who are brain-injured and breathing via trach tubes. George Ford, Sr. forwarded this article to us and tried to notify doctors for a few years about his observation about brain cooling in the case of his own family member. Doctors refused to listen to him, even though he presented them with information about studies in Europe. We hope that people everywhere will bring this study to the attention of ANY doctors who work with the brain-injured. Copy and print out this article and bring it to your doctor for the benefit of patients everywhere. - Ron Panzer, HPA President
View full article at PR Web: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/8/prweb419964.htm
Item #9. Belgium Palliative Care Workers Unable
To Kill Patients Due To Shortage Of Euthanasia Drug
(LifeSiteNews.com) -
Palliative care personnel in Belgium are complaining that a changeover in the
pharmaceutical market has rendered them unable to euthanize their patients,
Expatica reported on Wednesday. The problem occurred after the U.S. manufacturers
of Pentothal, the "euthanasia drug," transferred their license to
another firm. Since then the flow of the drug into Belgium has stopped. According
to The Brussels Journal a changeover in the method of packaging the drug is
the cause of the sudden lack of supply. Palliative care workers are deeply concerned
about the dearth of Pentothal. Without the drug they say it is impossible to
comfortably kill the on-average 30 patients a month who are officially euthanized
in Belgium, as well as the speculated much larger number of patients whose deaths
by euthanasia go unregistered as such. "Our supply (of Pentothal)
is completely finished," said Marc Cornely, a spokesman for a large chain
of Belgium pharmacies. "We have been without (Pentothal)
for weeks now," complained professor Wim Distelmans, a palliative care
professor at the VUB. "The intention of euthanasia is to bring the patient
into an in an irreversible coma in an elegant and reliable manner. Pentothal
is the only drug which can do this." The new producer of the drug, Hospira,
however, has said that the shortage could soon come to an end, as they have
a stockpile of 4,000 bottles of Pentothal which could be pumped into the market
once the proper paperwork is filed. Initially it was feared that it could be
as long as three months before Belgium's palliative care givers were able to
kill their patients, but with Hospira's emergency plan that time could be cut
down to several weeks. Alex Schadenberg the executive director of Canada's euthanasia
prevention coalition, pointed out the dark irony of the earnest concern of Belgium's
palliative care and pharmaceutical agencies. "This proves how the dignity
of the person has been lost in Belgium," he said. "When it is considered
a medical emergency that they do not have the necessary drug to kill people.
People don't need to be killed they need to receive excellent end of life care.
They then die with true dignity, being cared for with proper pain and symptom
management with care to the persons physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual
needs. "Euthanasia is not a medical act and should not be administered
within the framework of palliative care within Belgium."
Item #10. Health Effects Of Egg Donation May Take
Decades To Emerge
Doubts are being cast over the safety of egg removal for IVF and stem cell research.
Scientists have argued that, since egg removal is still in its infancy, it is
very hard to know whether the hormones women are required to take before the
operation cause any long term side-effects. One study has suggested that women
who take the hormone treatment for more than 12 months are 11 times more likely
to develop ovarian or breast cancer than women who have not taken the treatments.
No causal mechanism has been discovered from the drugs to cancers.
View full text at Nature: http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060807/full/442607a.html
Item #11. Jonathan Turley And USA Today
Jonathan Turley is a lawyer and a Professor of Constitutional Law at George
Washington University. He is frequently a guest on television news talk shows
and contributes to analyses and discussions about legal issues. But, he has
written an opinion essay on stem cell research, where he is clearly out of his
element... his mistakes reveal a shallow understanding of the basic Human Embryology,
which is not altogether uncommon when a politico like Turley, who is long on
reputation, but short on knowledge, attempts to beguile a general readership.
View full text at LifeIssues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kisc/kisc_25turley.html
Action:
1. Pray that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and
support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Stay informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Consider participating with a financial donation to help pay travel expenses
for Fr. Jerry's Speaking Tours to poorer countries in Asia. (Purpose - Journey
for Life into the Heart of Asia. Series of lectures on - The Family at Crossroads:
Trends and Challenges.) Remaining 2006 schedule: August - Sri Lanka; October
- Philippines; November - China. Thank you for your active participation for
making this missionary project possible. Kindly send donations directly to:
Fr. Jerry Novotny OMI, LifeIssues.net, Editor, Akebono-cho 1-15-9, Kochi City,
Japan, 780-8072.
4. All past issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available online. Click here:
http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0.
(These newsletters are an extension of the Website.)
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 site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
23. Secular Franciscan Order (SFO)
The First, Second and Third Quarter Newsletters have been posted and the Fourth Quarter will be done soon. Thank you for your patience.
24. Sobey's Receipts Are Valuable
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Amount of receipts collected to date: $485,615.84
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