in this issue
abortion: STATISTICS
bioethics: EUGENICS
bush watch: CHERTOFF / GONZALES
catholic bishops: CALGARY / SACRAMENTO
catholic education: TEACHER FIRED
infanticide: VIRGINIA
media bias: MARCH IGNORED
reflection for prayer: ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN
abortion
STATISTICS: While researchers claim that the U.S. abortion rate is falling, it is recommended that we ask whether statisticians have figured in the fact that because abortion has been decriminalized for the past 30 years, many women of childbearing age who would have been among us today were aborted by their mothers over the past 30 years. Does that fact skew such statistics? Why don’t they report those figures as well?
(Reading: “Survey finds US abortion rate hits lowest level since 1974,” USA Today, 1/15/03)
bioethics
EUGENICS: Jeremy Rifkin exposes the latest trends in eugenic manipulation being pursued by Celera Genomics, which has recently announced a plan to create the first artificial life form in a laboratory dish.
(Reading: “Dazzled by science,” The Guardian [U.K.], 1/14/03)
bush watch
CHERTOFF: Media reports indicate that President Bush will soon nominate Michael Chertoff, former U. S. attorney, to a federal appeals court position. Chertoff favors abortion on demand, according to New Jersey pro-life leaders.
(Reading: “Bush taps Chertoff for a high-profile appeals court post,” The [Newark] Star-Ledger, 1/17/03)
GONZALES: Questions are being raised about Alberto Gonzales, a former Texas judge and a close advisor of President Bush. Gonzales is mentioned as a potential Supreme Court nominee, but some are now questioning whether he is pro-life.
(Reading: “Conservatives want Bush aide kept off court,” USA Today, 1/27/03)
catholic bishops
CALGARY: Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary, Alberta can’t wait to get his hands on an official copy of the new Vatican declaration on Catholics in political life. “I’m likely going to send it to a select number of politicians for their edification and study,” he told reporters. He says the document is a wake-up call regarding politicians on non-negotiable church teachings.
(Reading: “Bishop issues political ‘wakeup,'” Calgary Herald, 1/27/03)
SACRAMENTO: Bishop William Weigand is considering formal action against Gov. Gray Davis, who backs legal abortion and claims to be a faithful Catholic. “We’re studying that right now,” the bishop told the National Catholic Register. “That time could come. That time could be very near, especially with his statements that say he doesn’t have to give one inch. He has manifested publicly a hardness of heart — an in-your-face hardness of heart response.”
(Reading: “Calif. bishop to Gov. Davis: Pick abortion or Communion,” National Catholic Register, 1/27/03)
catholic education
TEACHER FIRED: Ursuline Academy of Wilmington, Del., fired teacher Michele Curay-Cramer after her name appeared in a Coalition for Choice ad supporting Roe v. Wade. Said Ursuline spokesman Jerry Botto, “This is an area of the church where there is no gray area — it’s black and white.” Curay-Cramer had also done volunteer work for Planned Parenthood. At Ursuline Academy, she had taught language arts and religion.
(Reading: “Ursuline teacher fired after name in ad,” The [Wilmington] News Journal, 1/29/03)
infanticide
VIRGINIA: State legislators are studying a new approach to banning partial-birth infanticide. Delegate Bob Marshall says the Virginia bill, if approved, “will most likely end up in the U.S. Supreme Court and will most certainly influence the outcome of the partial-birth legislation now pending in Congress.” The key to the bill is its definition of “live birth.” Marshall is asking Virginia pro-lifers to encourage Atty. Gen. Jerry Kilgore, who has researched the issue and would be called upon to defend the ban in court.
(Contact: Virginia — phone 804-786-2071, fax 804-786-1991)
(Reading: e-mail alert from Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, 1/26/03; “H.B. 1541 – Partial birth infanticide,” Virginia House of Delegates, 2003)
media bias
MARCH IGNORED: The Media Research Center confirms that while the “big 3” networks aired 26 segments on anti-war rallies, only 9 were aired on the March for Life.
(Reading: “Networks ignored massive March for Life,” Media Research Center news release, 1/23/03)
reflection for prayer
ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN: It is a characteristic of any decaying civilization that the great masses of the people are unaware of the tragedy. Humanity in a crisis is generally insensitive to the gravity of the times in which it lives. Men do not want to believe their own times are wicked, partly because they have no standard outside of themselves by which to measure their times. If there is no fixed concept of justice, how shall men know it is violated? Only those who live by faith really know what is happening in the world; the great masses without faith are unconscious of the destructive processes going on, because they have lost the vision of the heights from which they have fallen.