in this issue:
hot button issues: GONZALES V. CARHART / SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS
abortion: ABORTED ALIVE / MEXICO
anti-catholic bias: CARTOON / PROVOCATION OR TRUTH?
catholic bishops: BURKE
culture of death: AMERICAN IDOL / JACQUES-YVES COUSTEAU
euthanasia: BABY EMILIO
planned parenthood: CHALLENGING PRO-LIFE CENTERS
stem cell research / ethical: CORNEAL PATCH
reminder: BISHOPS PETITION
reflection for prayer: JOHN 6:35
hot button issues
GONZALES V. CARHART: Of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the partial-birth abortion case, ALL’s Judie Brown writes: “this decision is fraught with deliberately crafted language that not only accommodates Roe v. Wade and its progeny but does little to suggest that the justices are even concerned about setting forth adequate protections for a single preborn baby whose body is not 90 percent outside the womb.”
(Reading: “Gonzales v. Carhart: Did anyone actually read it?” American Life League, 4/23/07)
SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS: Of Judie Brown’s Saving Those Damned Catholics, one reader writes, “The good news is the Catholic Church remains consistent in defending life. The bad news is that many within the Church have co-opted with the culture of death by obfuscating the Truth. Your work reconfirms what we in the pews know to be right!”
TO ORDER: “Saving Those Damned Catholics” is available from ALL in hardcover or paperback. Call 866-LET-LIVE or purchase online.
abortion
ABORTED ALIVE: Researchers at the West Midlands hospitals looked at the outcome of 3,189 abortions performed on seriously handicapped preborn children at 20 hospitals between 1995 and 2005. They found that one of every 30 aborted babies was born alive.
(Reading: “One baby in 30 left alive after medical termination,” Evening Standard, 4/20/07)
MEXICO: Lawmakers in Mexico City voted 46-19 to make abortion legal, ignoring pleas from the Vatican to reject the proposal. The president of the College of Catholic Lawyers plans to pursue a challenge with Mexico’s Supreme Court.
(Reading: “Mexico City legalizes most abortions,” Associated Press, 4/24/07)
anti-catholic bias
CARTOON: The Philadelphia Inquirer published a cartoon depicting the five Catholic members of the Supreme Court as bishops, each justice wearing a miter. The five justices voted to uphold the partial-birth abortion law.
PROVOCATION OR TRUTH? Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has taken what can be described as a very unjudicial attitude toward the rights of Catholics to defend Church teachings in public. The Thomas More Law Center challenged the constitutionality of San Francisco’s resolution approving homosexual adoption. “In her written opinion upholding the resolution against the law center’s constitutional challenge, the federal judge defended the City of San Francisco by essentially claiming that the Church invited the attack by publicly expressing its teaching on moral issues.”
COMMENT: Even though this particular case dealt with homosexual adoption, the anti-Catholic trend is troublesome because all Catholic teaching on moral questions, including teaching on abortion, can be characterized in the same way if society permits such outrageous judicial behavior to go unchallenged. Thank God for the Thomas More Law Center.
(Reading: “Judge: Catholic position against homosexual adoption justifies government hostility towards Church,” Life Site News, 4/23/07)
catholic bishops
BURKE: Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis has resigned as board chairman of a Catholic charity because it refused to heed his objections to pro-abortion singer Sheryl Crow’s appearance at the organization’s fundraiser. “It’s very painful for me,” he said, “but I have to answer to God for the responsibility I have as archbishop. A Catholic institution featuring a performer who promotes moral evil gives the impression that the church is somehow inconsistent in its teaching.”
(Reading: “St. Louis archbishop opposes Sheryl Crow’s appearance at children’s charity due to abortion stance,” Associated Press, 4/26/07)
culture of death
AMERICAN IDOL: Life Decisions International reports that the TV program “American Idol” is providing funds to UNICEF and Save the Children, both of which have had strong ties to the population control movement for some years. The organizations also support abortion policies in foreign lands.
ACTION: Contact information for registering your concern:
“>Jasmine Borhan, Bertelsmann AG
, Bertelsmann AG
, RTLGroup
“>Oliver Herrgesell, RTLGroup
“>Tony Cohen, FremantleMedia Ltd.
, FremantleMedia Ltd.
(Reading: “Pro-family Americans asked to contact ‘American Idol,'” Life Decisions International, 4/19/07)
JACQUES-YVES COUSTEAU: In a 1991 interview with the UNESCO Courier, Cousteau said: “It’s terrible to have to say this. World population must be stabilized, and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. This is so horrible to contemplate that we shouldn’t even say it. But the general situation in which we are involved is lamentable.”
(Reading: “Radical reformers: Advocates of population reduction,” Journal of the Spiritual Counterfeits Projects, Fall 1999)
euthanasia
BABY EMILIO: Wesley J. Smith is providing updates on Baby Emilio and the debates surrounding his care. The hearing on whether doctors can remove Emilio’s breathing tube has been postponed until May 8.
(Reading: “Baby Emilio hearing postponed,” Secondhand Smoke, 4/19/07)
planned parenthood
CHALLENGING PRO-LIFE CENTERS: Planned Parenthood is stepping up its campaign against pro-life pregnancy centers, attempting to convince state legislators to deny them public funding. A recent report quoted Ikeita Cantu Hinojosa, Planned Parenthood’s assistant director of government relations: “When women enter CPCs, they are walking into a trap. They are expecting to receive neutral, comprehensive medical care, but they’re greeted with manipulation, designed to coerce and scare them.”
(Reading: “Abortion conflict is shifting to pregnancy counseling centers,” Associated Press, 4/23/07)
stem cell research / ethical
CORNEAL PATCH: The University of Melbourne, Australia reports that a man’s vision has been restored by a corneal patch grown from adult stem cells. The patch was cultivated from a single stem cell taken from a donor eye.
(Reading: “Stem cell patch restores vision,” University of Melbourne, 4/18/07)
reminder
BISHOPS PETITION: An American Life League petition asks Catholic bishops to address the scandal caused by political figures who claim the Catholic faith but support abortion. Church law states that those “who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to communion.”
ACTION: All Catholics are invited to sign the petition that will be delivered to U.S. bishops in June.
reflection for prayer
JOHN 6:35: I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.