in this issue:
abortion: MIFEPRISTONE + MISOPROSTOL / BREAST CANCER / PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS
catholic bishops: POPE JOHN PAUL II / VLAZNY / WENSKI
catholic politicians: LETTER FROM CONGRESS
lifeline: A THOUGHT
politics: BETRAYAL
pregnancy care centers: HEARTBEAT
stem cell research: CORD BLOOD / HEART DAMAGE / HUMAN FAT CELLS
voting: INSIGHTS
where they stand: CATHOLIC LEAGUE
reflection for prayer: THOMAS A KEMPIS
abortion
BREAST CANCER: One young physician was discussing a case with her father. She told him of a young woman she had examined, with her mother present. A CAT san showed cancer in most of this young woman’s organs, having metastasized from a tumor in her breast. She had only months to live. Her father inquired about whether or not she had asked the patient if she had had an abortion. She had not asked her patient this question, became quite defensive and said, “After all, her mother was present.” Her father’s reflection on this: “Standard physicals and medical history taken by physicians do not include questions about previous abortions.”
COMMENT: Either doctors are not being exposed to the link between beast cancer and abortion, or they do not take it seriously. Learn about it and share the facts with your doctor, encouraging him or her to spread the word.
(Background: The Coalition on Abortion and Breast Cancer; “Overview: breast cancer and abortion,” Polycarp Research Institute; “Abortion and breast cancer,” Catholic Culture)
MIFEPRISTONE + MISOPROSTOL: Researchers conclude that 200 mg of mifepristone followed 6 to 8 hours later by misoprostol 800 mg vaginally is as effective for abortion and has significantly fewer side effects as compared with regimens using a 24-hour dosing interval.
(Reading: “A randomized comparison of misoprostol 6 to 8 hours versus 24 hours after mifepristone abortion,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 5/1/04, pp. 851-859)
PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS: New research shows that over the long term, those women who have had induced abortion reported “significantly more avoidance of thoughts and feelings related to the event than women who had a miscarriage.”
(Reading: “Psychological impact on women of miscarriage versus induced abortion: a 2-year follow-up study,” Psychosomatic Medicine, 3-4/04, pp. 265-271)
catholic bishops
POPE JOHN PAUL II: In a message to U.S. Catholic bishops, the pope addresses “the crisis of the loss of the sense of sin.” He encourages the bishops to “address this today with particular urgency. While the effects of sin abound – greed, dishonesty and corruption, broken relationships and exploitation of persons, pornography and violence – the recognition of individual sinfulness has waned. In its place a disturbing culture of blame and litigiousness has arisen which speaks more of revenge than justice and fails to acknowledge that in every man and woman there is a wound which, in the light of faith, we call original sin.”
(Reading: “Pope to U.S. bishops on holiness, conversion, penance,” Vatican Information Service, 5/14/04)
VLAZNY: Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland, Ore., writes that if pro-abortion Catholics are denied Holy Communion, “public perception will inevitably weigh heavily in favor of the ‘victim’ of the refusal rather than the church minister trying to be faithful to church policy.” Archbishop Vlazny also said Catholics may vote for pro-abortion office seekers if “other candidates fail significantly in some matters of great importance, for example, war and peace, human rights and economic justice.”
(Reading: “Two bishops, two approaches to issue of politics,” Catholic World News, 5/14/04)
WENSKI: Coadjutor Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando writes, “Those pro-abortion politicians who insist on calling themselves Catholics without seeing the contradiction between what they say they believe and their anti-life stance have to do a lot more ‘practicing.’ They need to get it right before they approach the Eucharistic table.” Bishop Wenski adds that “to fail to rebuke when necessary is to fail in the charity we owe our brethren. “
(Reading: “Wenski: No ‘wafer’ if you ‘waffle,'” Orlando Sentinel, 5/11/04)
catholic politicians
LETTER FROM CONGRESS: A letter from 48 House Democrats claims that denying Communion to pro-abortion political figures could backfire, generating anti-Catholic bigotry. The letter is addressed to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the head of a bishops’ task force examining the question of pro-abortion Catholic politicians. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), told the Washington Post that bishops “are making these statements thinking they’re undermining the candidacy of John Kerry, when what they’re really undermining is the Catholic church.”
(Reading: “48 House Catholics warn bishops’ stance could spark bigotry,” Washington Post, 5/20/04)
lifeline
A THOUGHT: Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to the church for a face-lift.
politics
BETRYAL: Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics analyzes President Bush’s endorsement of pro-abortion Republican Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).
(Reading: “Bush’s betrayal of the unborn,” Life Dynamics, 5/7/04)
pregnancy care centers
HEARTBEAT: The clients who test “negative” at Heartbeat International’s centers are now getting the treat of being exposed to a new program entitled “Sexual Integrity.” To learn how this program can be of benefit, visit Heartbeat International; click on Sexual Integrity.
stem cell research
CORD BLOOD: Canadian researcher Peter Hollands argues that nobody would have to screen embryos in order to find “suitable” matches for already born people in need of tissue matches if umbilical cord blood was used to its potential. “Cord blood banks could easily support the demand for cells for transplantation,” he said.
(Reading: “Umbilical cord blood stem cell expert says designer babies not necessary for treatments,” LifeSiteNews, 5/10/04)
HEART DAMAGE: A study of 20 people with severe heart damage has revealed that “injecting adult stem cells into the damaged heart tissue … significantly improved their heart function.
(Reading: “Stem cells stem heart damage,” Health Day News, 4/26/04)
HUMAN FAT CELLS: Louisiana researchers are calling human fat the newest source of adult stem cells, and have witnessed those cells convert into bone.
(Reading: “Pennington scientists turn human fat cells into bone,” Pennington Biomedical Research Center news release, 5/7/04)
voting
INSIGHTS: Thomas Droleskey makes the following points, at least worthy of prayerful reflection:
Catholics who enable phony pro-life careerist politicians have a grave culpability on their souls for their participation in a cynical political game calculated to achieve only one thing: electoral survival and thus the retention of raw political power. When are pro-life Catholics going to realize the following:
- We need to plant the seeds for the Catholicization of the United States of America.
- We must think and speak and act as Catholics at all times.
- No one who supports one abortion under cover of law is pro-life.
- It is unjust and misleading to call a politician who supports even one abortion under cover of law as being “pro-life.”
- No one who supports contraception and/or funding for same is pro-life or can be called “pro-life.”
- No one who supports sex-instruction (under any of its various guises) and/or funding for same can be called “pro-life.”
- No one who supports “civil unions” while opposing sodomite marriages is pro-family or can be called “pro-family.”
- No one who supports a candidate for public office who supports abortion on demand or who is simply less pro-abortion than other candidates is pro-life or is interested in doing anything substantive to restore complete legal protection to all innocent human life from the first moment of fertilization through all subsequent stages until death.
(Reading: “Why are we so shocked,” Seattle Catholic, 5/3/04; see also Christ or Chaos)
where they stand
CATHOLIC LEAGUE: “The Catholic League takes no position on the question of whether a bishop ought to deny Holy Communion to a Catholic public official who supports abortion rights; it is none of our business.”
(Reading: “Catholic politicians and abortion,” Catholic League news release, 5/6/04)
reflection for prayer
THOMAS A KEMPIS: He is truly prudent who looks upon all earthly things as nothing that he may gain Christ. He is very learned indeed who does the will of God and renounces his own will.
(Reading: “Imitation of Christ,” 1:3:6)