in this issue:
hot button issues: ROCHESTER / ROCK FOR LIFE / VOTER GUIDE
abortion: PETITION
activism: ALASKA / NEW JERSEY
birth control: WHAT IS A FAILURE?
catholic bishops: CHAPUT
cloning humans: FALSE FACTS
ethics: W. FRENCH ANDERSON
euthanasia: A TIME TO DIE
lifelines: HONESTY
politics: QUESTIONNAIRE
pregnancy: LOWERING THE RISK OF OVARIAN CANCER
schiavo: FLORIDA SUPREME COURT
zinger: NOVELIST PRIEST AND KERRY
reflection for prayer: IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD
hot button issues
ROCHESTER: American Life League salutes the efforts of its associate group, CREDO Rochester (New York) in exposing pro-abortion former city councilman Paul Haney, who wrote in the pages of the diocesan newspaper that he supports a “woman’s right to choose” and agrees with Catholic bishops.
(Reading: “American Life League supports CREDO Rochester in defending faith,” American Life League news release, 8/9/04)
ROCK FOR LIFE: Erik Whittington, director of American Life League’s Rock for Life, is challenging MoveOn.org to tell the truth about abortion. MoveOn.org is sponsoring a series of Vote for Change concerts. “Real change will only come when all Americans — celebrities and average citizens alike — are willing to stand up to protect preborn babies from the violence of abortion.”
(Reading: “Rock for Life challenges MoveOn.org,” American Life League news release, 8/11/04)
VOTER GUIDE: The Crusade for the Defense of our Catholic Church has published the official American Life League voter guide.
abortion
PETITION: Women who are hurting because of their abortions have joined together in petitioning political partiesto address the facts surrounding post-abortion trauma. Pro-life people have been slow to sign on, but it is still not too late.
activism
ALASKA: Gov. Frank Murkowski has signed a bill that will provide accurate information on abortion risks and alternatives to women considering abortion. The new law establishes a state web site with information about fetal development, including photos of developing preborn children.
COMMENT: It would drive Planned Parenthood crazy if every state did the same.
(Reading: “Governor Murkowski signs bill to set up abortion web site,” Associated Press, 7/30/04)
NEW JERSEY: Richard Collier, Jr., president of the Legal Center for Defense of Life, said a New Jersey court has rejected the latest legal maneuver of Metropolitan Medical Associates, the Englewood abortion clinic notorious for admitting to performing 1,500 partial-birth abortions a yea in addition to countless other abortions. Superior Court Judge Gerald C. Escala denied the clinic’s demand for an emergency injunction to prohibit pro-life demonstrators and sidewalk counselors from using the public sidewalks directly in from of the facility.
(Reading: “Englewood abortion clinic loses another round,” Legal Center for Defense of Life news release, 8/6/04, contact )
birth control
WHAT IS A FAILURE? A study involving nineteen developing countries found that faulty contraceptive practice in lesser-developed nations is not what contributes to “unintended” births. Rather it is the total non-use of methods that creates the “problem.” The “failure” rates among those women who do use birth control were similar to those in the United States and other developed nations.
(Reading: “Reproductive consequences of contraceptive failure in 19 developing countries,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 8/1/04)
catholic bishops
CHAPUT: Commenting on the conflicting positions of various bishops with regard to pro-abortion Catholic politicians who receive Holy Communion, Archbishop Charles Chaput stated “Part of that has risen out of the sense that if we are more friendly with the culture it’s going to make the gospel more acceptable to the culture. After several decades of trying to do that we haven’t found the culture falling on its knees before the teaching of God. It seems to be slipping further and further away from what we understand to be God’s will for human dignity.”
(Reading: “Catholic politicians unmoved: won’t abstain from Communion or change abortion stance,” LifeSiteNews.com, 7/23/04)
cloning humans
FALSE FACTS: Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, referring to the somatic cell nuclear transfer method of human cloning, said, “Cloning is just another way to make identical twins.” But as Prof. Dianne Irving points out, the product of cloning is genetically unique. Therefore they are not genetically identical.
(Reading: “Boondoggle,” San Diego News Notes, 7-8/04, p. 8; “Nebraska ‘pro-life’ human cloning ‘ban’ won’t ban any cloning,” LifeIssues.Net, 1/16/04)
ethics
W. FRENCH ANDERSON: The director of Gene Therapy Laboratory, who supports all manner of ghoulish research on human embryos and older fetuses, has been arrested and charged for allegedly molesting a young girl. He has denied the charge.
(Reading: “USC gene-therapy pionmeer arrested on molestation charges,” Los Angeles Daily News, 7/30/04; “Gene therapy pioneer denies child molestation,” Bio-IT World, 8/6/04)
euthanasia
A TIME TO DIE: Discussions are ongoing in the pages of the British Medical Journal regarding when or how it is permissible to deny basic care such as antibiotics to a patient whose family members believe he is better off dead. Said one spouse of her ailing husband, “It would be deemed cruel to leave an animal in his current state.”
(Reading: “A time to live or a time to die?” British Medical Journal, 6/12/04)
lifelines
HONESTY: “There can be no contradiction between the values bestowed by Baptism and the Catholic faith, and the public expression of those values.”
(Reading: “Worthy to receive the Lamb,” Archdiocese of Atlanta, 8/4/04)
politics
QUESTIONNAIRE: The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has produced a 41-question document asking candidates whether they support or oppose a host of issues including redistribution of farm subsidies.
(Reading: “Bishops’ presidential questionnaire object of criticism,” Culture and Cosmos, 8/10/04; the questionnaire is currently not online)
pregnancy
LOWERING THE RISK OF OVARIAN CANCER: The August 6 Communique focused on a reported study by Malcolm Pike. A pro-life physician comments: “His conclusions need scrutiny. Women having a first baby after 35 may intrinsically be healthier than those who ultimately develop ovarian cancer, as the ability to bear live young declines significantly over age 35 and bespeaks perhaps an exceptionally healthy ovary, not a “surge of progesterone.” This research, contrary to the wishes of those who wish to limit population, does not justify delayed childbirth, rather more sophisticated interpretation backed by further nonbiased research.”
(Reading: e-mail from Katherine Schlaerth, MD)
schiavo
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT: The arguments for and against allowing Terri Schiavo to die will be heard, beginning August 31.
(Reading: “Gov.’s attorneys file arguments in Schiavo case,” Associated Press, 8/7/04)
zinger
NOVELIST PRIEST AND KERRY: Fr. Andrew Greeley writes that “Catholics can vote for Kerry. They don’t have to, but it would not be a sin to do so.” Greeley claims that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said so when he wrote, “When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence if proportionate reasons.”
(Reading: “Catholics can vote for Kerry,” New York Daily News, 8/10/04; “Worthiness to receive Holy Communion,” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 2004)
reflection for prayer
IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD: Without simplicity, prudence would easily become cunning.
(Reading: “In Conversation with God,” Vol. 4, p. 105)