in this issue:
hot button issues: ALL CRUSADE WALK / GRISWOLD
abortion: ESSENTIAL / VIRGINIA
adolescent parenthood: BAD OR GOOD?
birth control: KNOWING IS NOT DOING
catholic teaching: FOOD AND WATER / LOGICAL
congress: BROWNBACK
euthanasia: HELPFUL STUDY
web news: DEFENDING THE VULNERABLE
wisdom: POPE BENEDICT XVI
reflection for prayer: IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD
hot button issues
ALL CRUSADE WALK: A documentary showing an inside look at the college students who participated in American Life League’s 2004 Crusade walk will be shown on EWTN. “Living Hope: Stories from the Crusade” will air Saturday, June 11 at 2 am and Thursday, June 16 at 2 pm (EDT). In addition, the 2005 Crusade walk will be featured in a weekly segment on EWTN’s “Life on the Rock” series, which airs on Thursdays at 8 pm EDT. See more about the walk online.
GRISWOLD: While Planned Parenthood celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that crafted a “right to privacy,” American Life League’s STOPP International noted the damage the case has done to society. David Bereit, STOPP’s national director, said, “That decision has been responsible for a tragic moral breakdown in our culture, setting the stage for court decisions that decriminalized abortion, and opened the door for children to engage in sexual activity without their parents’ knowledge and with the help of Planned Parenthood’s products.”
(Reading: “The grim legacy of Griswold v. Connecticut,” American Life League news release, 6/7/05)
abortion
ESSENTIAL: A World Health Organization committee of experts recommended that abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol become part of the essential medicine list, thus putting them in the same category as antibiotics.
(Reading: “Abortion drugs must become WHO essential medicines,” The Lancet, 5/28/05)
VIRGINIA: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled Virginia’s partial birth abortion ban unconstitutional because the law does not contain a “health of the mother” exception. In a dissenting opinion, it is noted, “the majority’s opinion is a bold, new law that, in essence, constitutionalizes infanticide of a most gruesome nature.”
(Reading: Richmond Medical Center for Women v. Hicks, Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 6/3/05)
adolescent parenthood
BAD OR GOOD? Research finds that “perceived quality of life in teen mothers does not appear to be lower than quality of life in teens without children or adult women.”
(Reading: “The effect of parenthood on perceived quality of life in teens,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 5/05, pp. 1465-1468)
birth control
KNOWING IS NOT DOING: Research among the poor in El Salvador has shown that “adolescent contraception use depends on more than just contraceptive knowledge.” They suggest incorporating family planning interventions into “the social context in which adolescents exists”…. access being the key according to scientists.
(Reading: “Predictors of contraception knowledge and use among postpartum adolescents in El Salvador,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 5/05, pp. 1391-1394)
catholic teaching
FOOD AND WATER: An updated, improved analysis from Barbara Kralis about Catholic teaching on non-negotiability of providing nutrition and hydration to those who are severely disabled or ill can be found online.
(Reading: “Catholics supporting the denial of ‘nutrition and hydration’ are not in communion with the church,” Renew America, 5/4/05)
LOGICAL: Theologian Father Anthony Zimmerman writes, “Should sodomists — those who practice homosexual acts — be harbored in seminaries? Out with them, we say. They are sowers of cockle, not just weeds growing alongside the wheat. Should public promoters of abortion, and should divorced and re-married Catholics be allowed to attend Mass? Yes, indeed, but they should not receive Holy Communion unless they first do a public conversion.”
(Reading: “Cockle in the grainfield,” CatholicMind.com e-letter, 5/31/05)
congress
BROWNBACK: Sen. Sam Brownback, a Catholic from Kansas, is calling on his peers to “limit the number of embryos created during IVF.”
COMMENT: Since IVF is itself the problem, why not call for a ban?
(Reading: “U.S. Senator Brownback calls for a limit to the number of embryos created during IVF,” LifeSiteNews.com, 6/1/05)
euthanasia
HELPFUL STUDY: The Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics of the National Right to Life Committee has produced an analysis of “advance directive” laws throughout the country.
(Reading: “Will your advance directive be followed?” Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics, 4/15/05)
web news
DEFENDING THE VULNERABLE: Motivational speaker Kate Adamson, who was herself an alleged “vegetable” at one point in her life, is speaking out. To learn more about her and to order her new book, see her web site.
(Reading: “Kate’s Journey,” Kate Adamson)
wisdom
POPE BENEDICT XVI: The identification of conscience with superficial consciousness, the reduction of man to his subjectivity, does not liberate but enslaves. It makes us totally dependent on the prevailing opinions and debases these with every passing day.
(Reading: “Conscience and Truth,” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 2/91)
reflection for prayer
IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD: The entire life of Jesus is filled with unity and strength. We never see him vacillating. His very turn of phrase, with its ever-recurring “I am come,” “I am not come,” gives expression to the stern, determined Yea and Nay of his life and the inflexibility of his purpose … In the whole of his public ministry not one single instance can be found where He had to reflect on an answer, or when he hesitated in indecision, or when he reversed a statement or an action. Jesus asks his followers for this same firm response. People who are unduly concerned with human respect manifest a superficial formation and an over-all weakness of character. To succumb to human respect is to give more weight to someone else’s opinion than to the teachings of Christ. The warning of Jesus is unequivocal: For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words … of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when He comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
(Reading: In Conversation with God, Vol. 2)