The presentations included a wonderful explanation of the work of MaterCare in Africa by Dr Robert Walley its executive director. Dr Walley described his horror at the plight of women in the 3rd world and his development of a “Marshall Plan” for mothers to help reduce maternal mortality and morbidity and his difficulty in getting development aid from first world countries unless he included abortion and contraception services.
Dr Walley told the meeting he has developed a charter of rights for mothers which include the following
Article 1
Every mother must be allowed and enabled to welcome the gift of her child. Every child must be valued as a gift and must not be reduced to being considered as the object of someone else’s alleged right
Article 2
Every mother has a right to respect for her dignity, religious, moral, social, and cultural values, and the right to be free from every form of unjust discrimination or coercion, during pregnancy, childbirth and afterwards.
Article 3
Every mother and every child has the right to the treatment and care needed to try to ensure the survival of each of them during pregnancy and childbirth; nothing must ever be done deliberately and directly which causes or which is intended to cause the death or either of them, nor must anything morally upright be deliberately omitted in order to provoke the death of either; essential obstetrical care must always be provided during pregnancy, in childbirth and afterwards.
Former MEP Kathy Sinnott addressed the conference on the issue of the upcoming children’s rights referendum.
Ms Sinnott told the meeting that the Irish Government signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child without a referendum despite the fact that it conflicts with the Irish Constitution. The basic conflict revolves around the issue the most appropriate way of implementing children's rights and through whom, the parents or the State. The current Irish constitution favours parents however there is much pressure from the UN and EU to be the arbiter of children's rights. Where this has occurred in other countries such as Sweden children are regularly taken into care for spurious reasons and can be given contraception and medical interventions such as abortion without parental knowledge or consent
Dr Eanna Johnson spoke about the current position regarding Catholic Catechises and the fact that a whole generation has gone by without adequate formation in faith and morals despite major expenditure on programmes such as “Alive O” which have proved to be not just inadequate but harmful to children's faith in contrast with the old penny Catechism and apologetics courses which was available to previous generations.
Patrick Fagan PhD spoke about his work and explained that by using official US statistical information in his research he has produced incontrovertible evidence that the most appropriate environment for children is the natural family based on marriage. The statistically validated research shows that outcomes of intact family units exceed all others in so many ways, including areas such as higher educational achievement and family income. The research shows that the intact family which has a strong faith and attend church regularly are the happiest and most fulfilled.
Antonia Tully described some of the milder sex education programmes that are used in Catholic Schools in England and Wales and told the meeting that she would not show some of the more explicit programmes that are available in other schools because they are actually pornographic. Antonia then went on to describe the new “This is my Body” programme which is a school taught programme with the involvement of parents. There was huge interest in this programme as it is clearly a very sensitive and appropriate way of instructing children in the area.
Dr Tom Ward discussed the inalienable right of parents as the primary educators and protectors of their children against the background of two worldwide paradigms or blueprints for the family the Civilization of Love and Life on the one hand based on God and the family and the Culture of Death on the other hand based on the agenda of atheistic, wealthy, aggressive, Western elites.
Dr Ward told the conference that Many families in Spain, Poland, Hungary, Russia and the United States are rebelling against the state imposition of this failed atheistic paradigm and that they wish to replace it with a new Civilization of Love and Life, based on marriage between a man and a woman and their parental love and protection for their children. “We must urgently make common cause with them” he said
