in this issue:
hot button issue: WHERE’S THE ARCHBISHOP?
abortion: McCORVEY CASE / MIND GAMES
activism: SPEAKING OUT
birth control pill: RISKS
catholic bishops: GEORGE / SERRATELLI
dark side: CFFC
euthanasia: FREE TO GO? / LUKE MUST DIE
human embryonic stem cells: CALIFORNIA / CATHOLIC BISHOPS / DEBATE
lifelines: ARCHBISHOP SHEEN
politics: CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY STAFFS
voting: WORDS OF WISDOM
reflection for prayer: 1 TIMOTHY 6:11-12
hot button issue
WHERE’S THE ARCHBISHOP? Sen. John Kerry said, “I love my church, I respect the bishops, but I respectfully disagree” with the bishops on topics such as legislating against abortion and human embryonic stem cell research. American Life League is asking Boston Archbishop Sean O’Malley to tell Kerry that one may not be Catholic and pro-abortion.
(Reading: “Kerry speaks of faith’s role, Bush touts ‘record of results,'” Washington Post, 10/25/04; “Kerry claims faith, denies Catholic teachings; where is Boston’s Archbishop O’Malley?” American Life League news release, 10/26/04)
abortion
McCORVEY CASE: In the recent federal court ruling that the McCorvey motion to re-open Roe v. Wade was moot, the court raised a new argument that some say is a pro-life must-do in the coming year. In a footnote, the court noted “an exception to this mootness rule exists where there is evidence, or a legitimate reason to believe, that the state will reenact the statute or one that is substantially similar.” Commenting on this, pro-life leader David Reardon pointed out that a technique has to be devised to avoid the conflict that always exists in pro-life political circles over “exceptions.”
(Reading: “Federal court points way for abortion ban,” Elliot Institute, 10/21/04)
MIND GAMES: Chapter Six of Theresa Burke’s “Forbidden Grief” can be read online.
activism
SPEAKING OUT: Operation Outcry is using radio and television to expose the true sorrow experienced by mothers who abort their children with “Voices of Abortion.”
birth control pill
RISKS: Researchers say that estrogen-progestin birth control pills double post-menopausal women’s chances of developing blood clots and the risk goes even higher if the woman is overweight.
(Reading: “Hormone replacement linked to blood clots,” KOLD-TV, 10/6/04)
catholic bishops
GEORGE: Cardinal Francis George of Chicago answers the question of whether a minister of Holy Communion should give the sacrament to a pro-abortion politician: “If a voting record is evidence of ‘manifest and obstinate’ sin, no. The objection is raised that voting for abortion isn’t the only political sin, even though abortion and euthanasia are the moral bottom line. Nevertheless, a firm case can be made that refusing Communion, after pastoral counseling and discussion, is a necessary response to the present scandal.”
(Reading: “Catholic participation in political life, revisited,” Catholic New World, 10/10/04)
SERRATELLI: Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., writes of politicians who say, “I am personally opposed to abortion, but I will not let this influence my vote.” The bishop asks, “Has logic been banished from our land? How can someone personally hold that abortion is murder and yet say, ‘because my constituency wants it, I will support abortion?’ How can anyone logically say my religion does not affect my decisions on these issues of life? Stealing, abusing children, lying are evils that religion prohibits. Laws and courts recognize these as evil not because there are religious prohibitions against them, but because they are against the common good. So too abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.”
(Reading: “Politics and Logic,” Diocese of Paterson, 10/26/04)
dark side
CFFC: The pro-abortion group “Catholics” for a Free Choice has filed IRS complaints against the archdioceses of St. Louis and Denver. The complaints say Archbishops Raymond Burke and Charles Chaput have violated their tax exemptions, having “clearly crossed the line into political intervention.” Both archbishops have said Catholics should not vote for pro-abortion candidates.
(Reading: “Group complains to the IRS about St. Louis archdiocese,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10/26/04)
euthanasia
FREE TO GO? The quarterly newsletter of the Right to Die Network of Canada is something nobody should be dying to read. Copies available upon request.
LUKE MUST DIE: The High Court in London has ruled that while 9-month-old Luke Winston-Jones can receive cardiac massage if his heart stops, no “aggressive” treatment will be given.
(Reading: “Doctors win right to let baby die,” BBC News, 10/23/04)
human embryonic stem cells
CALIFORNIA: Proposition 71 gets good marks from the New England Journal of Medicine in a commentary claiming that the pro-death initiative was necessary because the federal government is not funding enough killing of human embryos to obtain their stem cells. In a related story, an alliance of pro-abortion activists, the “Pro-Choice Alliance Against Prop 71,” argues that while it favors human embryonic stem cell research, it opposes Proposition 71 for economic reasons affecting the poor.
(Reading: “Bankrolling stem-cell research with California dollars,” New England Journal of Medicine, 10/21/04, pp. 1711-1713; “California’s Prop 71 divides debate on stem cells,” Women’s e-news, 10/26/04)
CATHOLIC BISHOPS: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has launched a stem cell ad campaign.
COMMENT: Unfortunately, the online fact sheet contains a few scientific errors such as the erroneous definition of human cloning, but the ads are good.
(Reading: Stem cell ads, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 10/04)
DEBATE: Promoting the “technology” of using human embryonic stem cells, Jeffrey Drazen tells New England Journal of Medicine readers that federal funding is a “prerequisite” for research. Jurek Grabowski comments that a definition of a human being is mandatory prior to discussing human embryonic stem cell research, but he gives no clear argument in defense of the individual human being, saying that scientists cannot know when a living human being is present.
COMMENT: Clearly human embryology is the last thing any of these political types want to recognize or study.
(Reading: “Embryonic stem-cell research — the case for federal funding,” New England Journal of Medicine, 10/21/04, pp. 1789-1790; “Embryonic stem cell research,” New England Journal of Medicine, 10/21/04, pp. 1797-1798)
lifelines
ARCHBISHOP SHEEN: A pagan must always be a pessimist; the Christian is an optimist, believing in the Risen Christ and life eternal.
(Reading: Star magazine, 8/04, p. 5)
politics
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY STAFFS: The Cardinal Newman Society reports that among the top ten Catholic universities, employees donate at a rate of nine to one to the John Kerry campaign versus the George W. Bush campaign.
(Reading: “Political Donations by Catholic university employees,” Cardinal Newman Society news release, 10/21/04)
voting
WORDS OF WISDOM: Peg Luksik of the National Parents Commission writes, “The Christians who faced the lions often faced the ridicule of their neighbors before they ever saw the inside of the Coliseum; the neighbors who decided that it was more practical to compromise with the Empire, worship Christ and the pagan gods of Rome, and thereby avoid death, the neighbors who told them to “be practical” and deal with the political realities instead of throwing their lives away. But those early martyrs decided that political realities were not as important as eternal ones, and the power of their stubborn and impractical witness to their loyalty to Christ and His Church eventually converted an empire. They did not know that their horrible deaths would lead to such an outcome, but they valued righteousness over success, and, in the final analysis, received both.”
(Reading: “Message from a martyr,” 100% Pro-Life PAC, 10/02)
reflection for prayer
1 TIMOTHY 6:11-12: You must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of the faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called.