From Associates

• Houston Coalition for Life—HCL's Annual Benefit is scheduled for February 21 at the Downtown Aquarium, beginning at 7 p.m. Guest speakers include David Bereit and Phill Kline. For more information and reservations, call 713-395-1330 or visit the website at http://www.houstoncoalition.com/custom_page.cfm?category=3&page=231.

• Pro-Life Wisconsin—Father James Kubicki will be the keynote speaker at Pro-Life Wisconsin's Spring Awards Dinner on April 19. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the Apple Creek Inn located in De Pere. Fr. Kubicki is the national director of the Apostleship of Prayer, an organization that promotes prayer for the pope's two monthly intentions and devotion to the Sacred Heart. For more information and reservations, call 262-796-1111.

• Life Center of Long Island—The Knights of Columbus Councils of the New York Eighth District have chosen the Life Center of Long Island as the beneficiary of their 10th annual Celebrate Life spaghetti dinner fundraiser, to be held on Sunday, April 6. For more information, call 631-243-2373.

Tip of the Month – More on television
From Pro-Life Media Handbook by Judie Brown

Interviews

If you have not already done so, identify all of the interview shows that are carried in your area, both local and national, and on network and cable television. While you are identifying these programs, you should also make note of the contact person or booking agent who arranges for all guests.

Letters, phone calls and personal visits to the producer and/or booking agent will facilitate arranging for that guest appearance that you desire for the particular person in your group who is going to represent your interest. The person chosen to act as a pro-life spokesperson on television should be well-versed in the arguments and latest occurrences in the struggle and able to maintain his or her cool in an emotional setting. Dress should always be moderate and jewelry and makeup at a minimum.

Always make certain, when the show is featuring a pro-abortion representative as well, to find out who this person will be and research this person as much as you can. It will then be easier for your group to choose someone who can best argue the points with the opposition's representative. Always try to match credentials: doctor versus doctor, lawyer versus lawyer, etc. and try to have representatives of the same gender.

Specials and Documentaries

Television producers are always looking for that award-winning concept when considering a special or documentary. Local producers are as prone to this interest as national ones. It is important to remember that every contact made with a member of the television trade can be a positive contact. If we always remember that they are professionals and cooperate continually with them, we have made their job easier and perhaps grown to be looked upon by them as professionals in our area of concern—the pro-life concern.

Most stations employ a community affairs producer whose primary duty is to develop programming that accents and highlights the various social, ethnic or economic dimensions of a given area.

Activist organizations find it relatively easy to acquire time on a community affairs program. A phone call or letter to the community affairs producer, announcing a meeting, event or rally, may be sufficient to acquire a spot on the air.

News

• Pope Benedict: "It is, in fact, everyone's duty" to protect life before birth

Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of the world's one billion Catholics, said that it is up to, "each according to his or her possibilities, profession and responsibilities, to feel in themselves an obligation to love and serve life, from its beginning to its natural end.

"It is, in fact," he continued, "everyone's duty to welcome human life as a gift to be respected, protected and promoted, even more so when it is fragile and in need of attention and care, either before birth or when it is in its final stages."

• Bone disease could be treated in utero

Babies born with a disabling brittle bone disease may soon be able to get treatment to improve their condition while they are still in the womb, breakthrough research on rats suggests. Scientists have successfully used stem cells to treat unborn rodents suffering from the debilitating condition known as osteogenesis imperfecta (OI).

• Patient's own stem cells provide a tailor-made jawbone

Scientists in Finland have replaced a 65-year-old patient's upper jaw with a bone transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen. Researchers said the breakthrough opens up new ways to treat severe tissue damage and makes the prospect of custom-made spare parts for humans a step closer to reality.

"'Female sperm,' 'male eggs' and 'same-sex reproduction'—whether these terms fill you with hope or disgust, a reproductive revolution is already in progress," begins a recent New Scientist report on some of the most bizarre and disturbing scientific research being conducted by stem cell scientists.

"In a handful of labs across the world, biologists are trying to make genetically male cells develop into eggs, and female cells into sperm. If successful, their efforts might one day allow lesbian and gay couples to have children that are genetically their own," the report continues.

• Pope condemns in vitro fertilization: "barrier protecting human dignity has been broken"

Addressing a plenary session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently, Pope Benedict XVI asked the Congregation to focus on "the difficult and complex problems of bioethics."

In his remarks he explained the Church’s prohibition on artificial procreation.

Artificial procreation, such as in vitro fertilization, he said, has given rise to "new problems," such as "the freezing of human embryos, embryonal reduction, pre-implantation diagnosis, stem cell research and attempts at human cloning." All these, he said, "clearly show how, with artificial insemination outside the body, the barrier protecting human dignity has been broken."

Closing thought

The Lord says: "Do not be afraid—I will save you. I have called you by name—you are mine. When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you. For I am the Lord your God, the holy god of Israel, who saves you."

–  Isaiah 43:1-3