in this issue:
activism: TERRI SCHIAVO I, II and III
adolescents: AMERCROMBIE & FITCH / TEEN SEX
birth control: OVCON 35
catholic bishops: HEROIC BISHOP = LAWSUIT
cloning humans: DEFINITIVE PAPER
end-of-life care: CAREGIVERS
euthanasia: AUSTRALIA / UK
health care: RATIONING
morning-after abortion pill: NEW RESEARCH
physicians: CATHOLIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
population: ITALY
targeting: EUGENIC SELECTION
violence: AGAINST PRO-LIFERS
reflection for prayer: ROSE HAWTHORNE LATHROP
activism
TERRI SCHIAVO I: November 30, the first Sunday of Advent, has been named Theresa Schindler Schiavo Day. The Catholic Media Coalition will be doing all it can to raise awareness about her case among Catholics throughout the nation. For information on this project, and your involvement with their work, see Catholic Media Coaltion.
TERRI SCHIAVO II: In the community of man, Terri Schiavo is as much God’s image as are each of us. An excellent commentary by Andree Seu makes this point.
(Reading: “Spitting image,” World Magazine, 11/15/03)
TERRI SCHIAVO III: With all the coverage the Schiavo case is getting, it is wise to recall the 1996 article in the British Medical Journal confirming there are far too many misdiagnoses for anyone to accept a persistent vegetative state diagnosis as accurate.
(Reading: “Misdiagnosis of the vegetative state: retrospective study in a rehabilitation unit,” British Medical Journal, 7/6/96, pp. 13-16)
adolescents
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH: The clothier says, “We don’t just sell clothes, we promote a lifestyle.” According to reports, the ad campaign for this Christmas season focuses on becoming a sexpert.
(Reading: “Abercrombie & Fitch to your kids: Group sex now!” World Net Daily, 11/14/03)
TEEN SEX: Townhall.com has posted a review of a new book by Dr. Meg Meeker.
(Reading: “Epidemic: How teen sex is killing our kids,” Townhall.com)
birth control
OVCON 35: The FDA has approved the use of this birth control chemical in the first flavored, chewable birth control pill.
COMMENT: A flavored, chewable abortifacient.
(Reading: “FDA approves Ovcon 35 as the first chewable oral contraceptive tablet for women,” 11/14/03)
catholic bishops
HEROIC BISHOP = LAWSUIT: Michele Curay-Cramer was fired from her teaching job at an all-girls Catholic high school in Delaware. She claims that she was fired because she refused to recant her pro-abortion views when Bishop Michael Saltarelli asked her to do so. She is now suing the bishop, the diocese and the school, claiming her civil rights have been violated.
COMMENT: Please let Bishop Saltarelli know of your prayerful support for his action. Send your supportive emails to his attention care of , Notary for the Curia, or write him at Most Rev. Michael A. Saltarelli, Diocese of Wilmington, P.O. Box 2030, Wilmington, DE 19899.
(Reading: “Catholic teacher fired over abortion ad sues bishop, diocese,” Associated Press, 11/14/03)
cloning humans
DEFINITIVE PAPER: Prof. Dianne Irving’s “Playing God by Manipulating Mad: The Facts and Frauds of Human Cloning,” a presentation given at the Missouri Catholic Conference Annual Assembly, is available online.
end-of-life care
CAREGIVERS: A study reveals that those who care for persons with dementia exhibited high levels of depression, but showed remarkable resilience after the death of the loved one. According to the study, 72% reported that the death was a relief to them, while 90% reported it was a relief to the patient who died. The conclusion is that more support services are needed for caregivers. An accompanying commentary points out that “One of the greatest frustrations physicians for patients with Alzheimer’s disease is their own sense of helplessness. Providing for the mental health care needs of the second victim of Alzheimer’s disease, the family caregiver, may provide a tangible and cost-effective way to ensure that both patients and caregivers have the best quality of life possible.”
(Reading: “End-of-life care and the effects of bereavement on family caregivers of persons with dementia,” New England Journal of Medicine, 11/13/03, pp. 1936-1942; “Costs to society of family caregiving for patients with end-stage Alzheimer’s disease,” New England Journal of Medicine, 11/13/03, pp. 1891-1892)
euthanasia
AUSTRALIA: Dr. Philip Nitschke has unveiled his most recent death machine, designed to be used to personal acts of suicide. His claim is that basic household items like a Vegemite jar can be used to create the same machine at home.
(Reading: “Vegemite jar among tools in new Australian ‘death machine,'” Agence France Presse, 11/17/03)
UK: A “Mental Incapacity Bill” has been proposed in the British Parliament. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children observes, “The bill offers you a living will which others could exploit to condemn you to a living death by dehydration, starvation and neglect.” SPUC urges massive letter writing campaigns to parliament, opposing euthanasia.
(Reading: “SPUC’s campaign against Mental Incapacity Bill,” Society for the Protection of Unborn Children)
health care
RATIONING: A report from South Carolina confirms that due to skyrocketing healthcare costs, rationing of health care has become more common in the United States. “The United States spends $1.4 trillion, or 13.9 percent of its gross domestic product, on health care. That’s more than any other country in the world. Yet despite such vast sums, there isn’t enough money to provide the same level of care to everybody who wants it, and so while not quite the norm, rationing has become more commonplace.”
(Reading: “Cost-consciousness increasingly determines which patients get what treatment,” Charleston Post and Courier, 11/16/03)
morning-after abortion pill
NEW RESEARCH: Medical journals have recently published three articles regarding emergency “contraception.”
COMMENT: Too many medical journal articles serve as apologetics manuals for the culture of death. The authors of these articles do not admit that the pills abort.
(Reading: “Pharmacists’ knowledge and the difficulty of obtaining emergency contraception,” Contraception, 10/03, pp. 261-267; “Providing emergency contraceptive pills ‘behind the counter’: opinions among Minnesota healthcare providers,” Contraception, 10/03, pp, 253-259; “Sexual partners and the use of emergency contraception,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10/03, pp. 1095-1099)
physicians
CATHOLIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: During the annual meeting, Catholic physicians adopted a series of resolutions, including opposition to discrimination against Catholics who apply to medical school, support for legislation requiring abortionists to inform mothers about the risk of breast cancer associated with abortion, opposition to immediately starving Terri Schiavo and opposition to providing morning after abortion pills in Catholic hospitals.
(Reading: Untitled Catholic Medical Association news release, 10/17/03)
population
ITALY: In Laviano, Italy, the mayor is paying couples 10,000 euros to have children. Mayor Rocco Falivena hopes to increase births by at least 50 percent in the next four years.
(Reading: “Italian town where the mayor pays you to have a baby,” The Observer, 11/9/03)
targeting
EUGENEIC SELECTION: Embryo evaluation, using a process called aneuploidy screening, is “allowing doctors to weed out those with serious chromosome disorders.”
(Reading: “Screen tests: weeding out the unborn,” Zenit News Service, 11/15/03)
violence
AGAINST PRO LIFERS: Mary Quinn has collected a series of news reports detailing how pro-life people have been assaulted by pro-aborts. These stories never make national headlines. To receive a copy, e-mail and ask for the “Police Blotter.”
reflection for prayer
ROSE HAWTHORNE LATHROP: You must not grieve at the hardships we meet, unexpectedly as well as expected. “Death to the world” means more of death than you quite realized; it means that nothing will be our joy but God; that if one loves us we must be separated from that one, and if one dislikes or maltreats us, that one shall be our companion. It means hunger and weariness and martyrdom if it means deep love for Christ. It means that wherever our heart is deep and tender the sword of penance is to enter; that we may in so far resemble Christ as to suffer with him and for him… The more bitterly you suffer now, with a devoted heart for God, the more you will congratulate your soul in eternity.
(Reading: Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne)