Pat Buckley - European Life Network

TV and Radio advertising of abortion in the UK

2012-01-30T10:06:00.000Z

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) have issued a question and answer briefing highlighting the urgency of UK government action to stop TV advertising by Commercial abortion providers. The question-and-answer briefing below sets out all the relevant information needed to help make this happen. Whilst the briefing is directed towards UK citizens we would also encourage that international pressure be brought to bear on the relevant authorities.

Q: What has happened?
A: This week the two bodies which draft the advertising code of practice made changes to allow “commercial post-conception advice services” - in reality, abortion clinics which earn income from performing abortions - to advertise on television and radio, in print and elsewhere. Pro-abortion organisations have welcomed the change; pro-life groups, some columnists and many ordinary people (some not pro-life) have objected to it. The change will come into effect on 30 April.

Q: Who exactly has made this decision?
A: Two committees, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP). These are committees of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). They are not statutory authorities. BCAP draws up the Code of Advertising Practice on behalf of Ofcom.

Q: But aren’t abortion clinics already allowed to advertise? Didn’t Marie Stopes run TV ads a while ago?
A: In early 2010 BCAP decided that there was nothing under existing law or codes to prevent non-commercial abortion centres from advertising on TV and radio, as long as the advertisements didn’t actually offer abortion directly. An advertisement by Marie Stopes International, one of the largest abortion chains in the UK and internationally, was shown shortly afterwards on TV.
The advert cleverly avoided mention of abortion. It was all done by implication. It depicted a young woman worried about her period being late. The advert asked: "Who can help her?" and the answer given was Marie Stopes. Thousands of people complained that advertising abortion in this way was illegal, indecent, dishonest and untruthful, but BCAP approved the adverts anyway. SPUC argued (and still argues) that the decision was wrong, not least because Marie Stopes was (and is) run on a commercial basis, with ‘business development’ managers, millions of pounds put aside for ‘future projects’, lucrative contracts with governments, income from fee-paying clients, and perks for its staff typical of commerce (but rare for charities).
This past week (20 January 2012) BCAP have gone further and actually changed its code to allow commercial abortion centres to advertise on TV and radio. This change gives a clear, added confirmation to so-called charities providing abortion that making money from abortion won’t bar them from advertising on TV and radio. Also, this decision will be useful to Marie Stopes and similar abortion operators if at some point they decide to drop their official status as charities, or decide to split up their operations between registered charities and registered (commercial) companies.

Q: Will abortion centres have to say that they perform abortion or have a financial interest in abortion?
A: No. BCAP considered such a requirement but rejected the need for it.

Q: Will pro-life organisations be allowed to advertise on TV and radio?
A: In principle, yes.

Q: If pro-life organisations are allowed to advertise, what’s wrong with allowing abortion centres to advertise?
A: Commercial abortion providers can afford broadcast advertising; whereas groups which provide objective information about abortion and its impact on women's health will be unlikely to afford to advertise. Most pro-life advice services charge nothing. Abortionists can just add the costs of advertising into their charges. Thus there will be a disproportionate opportunity for abortion providers to advance their cause.
CAP have said that any organisation giving post-conception pregnancy advice must first provide “suitable credentials” before being allowed to advertise. There is a real danger that the credentials of pro-life organisations will not be regarded as “suitable” because they refuse to offer abortion or refer women for abortion, and because they reject “official” guidance, such as the guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), which was drawn up with the help of abortion providers.
CAP have also said that advertisements by pro-life pregnancy centres must make clear that they do not refer women for abortions. CAP have admitted that they have adopted this requirement based on advice from the pro-abortion Department of Health, the pro-abortion RCOG and a pro-abortion parliamentary committee report.

Q: It’s a free country, with free speech. What’s wrong with abortion centres being allowed to promote what they have to offer?
A: Abortion centres mislead women, by telling them that their unborn babies are just 'products of conception', and that abortion is not killing but simply ending a pregnancy. Allowing commercial abortion centres to advertise on television immediately treats abortion as if it was a service or a desirable product.
Also, this move will increase the number of organisations able to advertise abortion. Marie Stopes and similar organisations have a vested financial interest in abortion, which they can now sustain through broadcast advertising. These organisations offer virtually no practical help to women who keep their babies, yet nowhere does this have to be mentioned.

Q: What should we think about the ASA, BCAP and CAP in the light of this decision?
A: The advertising industry is displaying a bias to support the devious and sleazy agenda of abortion operators, who have ideological and commercial interests in promoting abortion. The ASA already demonstrated a bias against pro-life groups when it attempted to ban advertisements which stated correctly that morning-after pills may cause early abortions. As an industry-based group, it is free to reflect the views of the broadcasters and publishers who want lucrative advertising deals. It is a great shame that it has not acted more impartially.

Q: What should happen now?
A: Jeremy Hunt MP, the cabinet minister with responsibility for media, is reportedly “very unhappy” about the decision but apparently lacks the resolve to act. However, Ed Vaizey MP, his deputy, told Parliament on 2 June 2010 that Mr Hunt has the power to order Ofcom, the statutory regulator, to order TV and radio stations not to broadcast certain advertisements. In contrast, ASA, BCAP and CAP are not statutory bodies. They are not answerable democratically or judicially to anyone, nor do they have power to impose any penalties or hold anyone to account. MPs should remind Mr Hunt of his powers in relation to Ofcom, and urge him to use those powers to rein-in ASA, BCAP and CAP, which have acted irresponsibly.

Q: To whom should I write?
A: Please write to your Member of Parliament (MP), asking him/her to write to Mr Hunt on your behalf, reminding Mr Hunt of his powers in relation to Ofcom, and urging Mr Hunt to use those powers to block all advertisements by abortion centres.

SPAIN / New government to roll back abortion legislation - for first time in history

2012-01-27T10:34:00.000Z

LifeSiteNews.com report that SPAIN'S new government, the moderately conservative People's Party, has announced that it will seek to reform the nation's abortion law, which permits abortion on demand during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, and allows minors to obtain the deadly procedure without the permission of their parents.

According to Minister of Justice Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, the previous legislation was approved 'without consensus and with the unfavorable opinion of the agencies that were consulted.'

Although the extent of the reform envisioned is not yet clear, Ruiz-Gallardon raised hopes among pro-lifers of a major rollback by stating that changes would be based on the jurisprudence of the nation's Constitutional Tribunal, which would favor the restoration of greater restrictions on the killing of the unborn.

The news of the new initiative was greeted with cautious optimism by Spain's largest pro-life organization, Right to Life (Derecho a Vivir).

'Although the objective of Right to Life is the absolute eradication of abortion, we must appreciate the fact that, for the first time, abortion legislation might be changed to make it more, and not less, restrictive,' the organization stated in a release through its affiliate Hazte Oir (Make Yourself Heard).

The new initiative is 'good news' because 'it seeks to restore parental authority, which is violated by the current law,' wrote Gador Joya, Coordinator of Right to Life. However, he added, 'the proposal is still very vague, so we will be very attentive to what happens, because we are not renouncing our fundamental objective, which is the complete elimination of abortion.'

'The reference to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal can only be understood in one sense,' said Joya, nothing that it would refer to the restoration of the previous, more restrictive law, which required medical reasons to be given for abortions.

The current abortion law was passed by the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) in 2010 in response to a national scandal involving Spain's 'abortion mogul,' Carlos Morin, who was arrested for performing abortions up to the third trimester for manufactured medical reasons.

In response to the scandal, instead of enforcing the existing law the PSOE eliminated the necessity of a certified medical condition for an abortion for the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, and allowed minors as young as 16 to obtain abortions without their parent's consent. The legislation sparked outrage in broad sectors of society and became a campaign issue for the People's Party in the following elections.

Mariano Rajoy, the new prime minister, has promised to reform the existing law, although he has not specified the extent of such a reform.

Does Council of Europe vote ban euthanasia and assisted suicide?

2012-01-26T11:14:00.004Z

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) yesterday debated and voted on the issue of “Protecting human rights and dignity,” document 12804.

The Parliamentary Assembly reaffirmed that neither, euthanasia or assisted suicide are permissible under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) or any previous decision.

This decision resulted from two Amendments to the original text tabled by Luca Volonte of the European Peoples Party (EPP) and Timothy Boswell of the European Democrat Group (EDG) and supported by the EPP and EDG, groups The Assembly also re-confirmed that, in case of doubt, there is always a duty to act in favor of life.

Luca Volonte chairman of EPP Group in PACE in a statement said,

Last year we obtained a great victory in re-affirming conscientious objection, now we are re-confirming Human and Christian values. Today we also fought a good battle and thank God we have won, against a real ideological tyranny of culture of death. The Socialist left and part of Liberal group lost a fundamental battle, now euthanasia is completely banned from PACE.

Whether this is an accurate analysis remains to be seen, queries have arisen on the phrase in the approved text which says, “This resolution is not intended to deal with the issues of euthanasia or assisted suicide”. I have been advised that this should be interpreted as meaning that this resolution cannot be used to further the cause of those who seek to legalise euthanasia. The principles set forth in the resolution do not apply to euthanasia which shall always be banned.

The personal responsibility of Catholics in public life to offer public witness to their faith

2012-01-25T11:03:00.000Z

Vatican Information Services (VIS) report that Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday last received a group of prelates from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (Regions 4 and 6), at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
The entire text of Pope Benedict's address to the Bishop's published by the VIS is well worth reading and needless to say the issues he deals with are relevant everywhere today not only in the United States can be accessed on the following link.
I would like to highlight some of the points he raised as set out below

[...] "At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation's founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature's God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such.
[...] The legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation
[...] Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.
"Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-a-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would de-legitimise the Church's participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society. [...] In this regard, I would mention with appreciation your efforts to maintain contacts with Catholics involved in political life and to help them understand their personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for God's gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights".

New Hungarian pro-family legislation

2012-01-24T05:37:00.001Z

The Hungarian Parliament on 23 December 2011passed an Act on the Protection of the Family by a huge majority.

The new Hungarian law now in force since the beginning of January (2012) calls for the adoption of a cardinal act on the protection of families. Whilst this act is in preparation guiding principle were laid down as the foundation of a stable, and long-term family policy.

Protection of the family, marriage and childbearing are basic conditions for the sustainability of Hungarian society and since they constitute immeasurable value, and worth to the nation are all reflected in the new law.

The Act not only serves as a legal basis for the protection of families, but conveys important messages on the role of family in the society as well. The Act improves the reconciliation of family and work commitments and ensures long-term security and predictability for parents: in the event of any proposed alteration in family support regulations, a 1 year transition period must be guaranteed to bridge the time span until any new regulations enter into force – unless the change is a positive one, a change for the better.

One of the principles of the Act now the Fundamental Law of Hungary is intergenerational solidarity and the Act therefore pays attention on the elderly members of the family.

The Hungarian Government has stressed the importance of protection and support of the family and has therefore proposed that the European Union should devote 2014 as the European Year of Families during the Hungarian EU Presidency.

The Hungarian Government however have been under pressure from the EU because of the new Act

Supreme Court 'X' case ruling not good basis for abortion law

2012-01-23T07:21:00.000Z

Professor William Binchy, regius professor of laws at Trinity College Dublin last week wrote an opinion which was published in the Irish Times setting out his views as to why the Irish Supreme Court ruling in the ‘X’ case is not a good basis for abortion law.

Because of the importance of the issue the full article is set out below but the original article can be found on thislink.

OPINION: THE GOVERNMENT’S appointment of the expert group to address the implications of the European Court of Human Rights decision in A, B C v Ireland gives us all the opportunity to reflect on the issue of legal protection for mothers and their unborn children.

Ireland has the enviable record of being among the very safest countries in the world for mothers during pregnancy – safer than a range of countries with far greater economic resources that have wide-ranging legalised abortion.

The task for the expert group is to recommend legal support for doctors to continue to uphold the principle of doing the best possible for two patients – mother and child – during pregnancy. There are times when this can result in the death of the unborn child, which is not the intended purpose of the treatment of the mother.

The mistake that the Supreme Court made in the X case was to embrace a quite different principle: that it is permissible to target the unborn child and intentionally terminate his or her life.

The Supreme Court heard no expert psychiatric evidence. Over the 20 years since the X case, the international research has shown a different reality: studies have been published that identify abortion as involving a significant increase in suicidal ideation and outcome.

The work of Dr David Fergusson and his colleagues in New Zealand in 2005 is perhaps the most striking example, especially since Fergusson’s own personal value position favours the “right to choose”. Fergusson noted the difficulty he had experienced in getting his research published.

Contrary to sustained misrepresentation by advocates of legalised abortion, the decision of the European Court of Human Rights does not require Ireland to give legislative effect to the Supreme Court decision of 20 years ago. What it does require is that we in Ireland choose a law that is clear.

We could, choose to endorse what the Supreme Court did but, if we took that course, we would be introducing into our hospitals an abortion regime, requiring abortion at all stages of pregnancy up to birth – the Supreme Court mentioned no time limits, in stark contrast to the notorious decision of the United States supreme court in Roe v Wade.

The Supreme Court decision represents injustice to the child, since it requires that his or her life be intentionally terminated. That abortion targets the child is a sad fact we should not ignore, however unpalatable it is to contemplate.

In England, some children – a small number – survive abortion. The Confidential Inquiry into Maternal and Child Health reported in 2007 that 66 babies had survived in one year. The policy in these cases is not to attempt to resuscitate them but rather to ensure that they die. That is not the policy of Irish hospitals but, if abortion was authorised on the principles set out in the Supreme Court decision, it would have to apply.

I do not believe that Irish people would wish to introduce a legal regime where the destruction of a child’s life was the object of the exercise.

We are free to make a different choice: one that ensures that Ireland can continue to be in the forefront of maternal safety and that does not target the child.

If the debate is about medicine, then Ireland, with its world class record on the care and safety of mothers during pregnancy, is a living example of how respect for human rights maximises positive outcomes.

But in truth the debate is really about values – not just about personal autonomy and privacy but about the dignity and equal worth of every human being. It is not easy to justify the intentional termination of the life of another human being, however small, powerless or undeveloped she or he may be. The insight of human rights philosophy is that, regardless of the estimation of others, every human being has inherent dignity and worth.

An unborn child is a distinct human being, with a unique identity different from that of his or her parents. He or she is no more or no less “a lump of cells” than a mature person.

Of course many (though not all) mature people lead lives of impressive intellectual and interpersonal fulfilment that bear no comparison with the experience or capacity of an infant in its mother’s womb or in the care of its parents in the years after birth. To build a lethal distinction on these differences in capacity and experience is not consistent with respect for the core values of human dignity and equal worth.

I hope that the expert group will take a broad view of its mandate and will guide the Government on the range of social supports that parents need in the awesome challenges that they may face in rearing the children who depend on their care.

"Foetus parties"

2012-01-20T04:17:00.002Z

The Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives, in the United Kingdom, has warned about the ongoing effects of ‘the worrying trend towards the commercialisation of pregnancy’ on expectant mothers. But what about the effect on the child?

It appears that in the UK the latest ‘fad’ is to have a party, inviting friends and relatives to view ultrasound scans of the unborn baby. Sometimes, it seems, an actual ultrasound scanner is hired especially for the party, so that the assembled acquaintances can ‘view’ the baby before birth. The concern of the midwives Chief Executive, however – although she does express some doubts about the ethics involved in this scenario – is mostly to do with the effect on the mother in the event that the baby might not survive the pregnancy, or that the baby might be injured in some way. These, without doubt, are very good and sound reasons against the holding of such ‘foetus parties’, as they are called. But there may be one very, very small good point about these events – and that is that people can see the living, unborn, baby, in such a way as pro-life counsellors endeavour to show. Let us hope that the midwives Chief Executive might also look on the practice in this light as, all too often, the abortion providers and promoters are terrified to allow a mother to see a picture of her unborn baby in case she should see and realise that the baby is a living human being.

On the other hand – and it is difficult to weigh the two arguments against each other – the holding of ‘foetus parties’ is a commercialisation of pregnancy. For too long, IVF and other AHR procedures, and surrogacy etc., have contributed to the false, and selfish, idea that anybody can ‘procure’ a baby at whatever the cost to the individual human person. Is this not treating the child as a sort of object to be acquired at the whim of people? Is this not a form of child abuse? And yet governments throughout the world (including Ireland) promote and fund these artificial methods of ‘creating’ human beings, in total opposition to the plan that God laid down for the human race.

Controversial testing of IVF embryos proposed

2012-01-19T04:41:00.001Z

RTE news on Tuesday January 17th reported that a new private fertility clinic has opened in Ireland which will provide pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). to identify human embryos brought into being through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), which are deemed to be at risk of carrying inherited disorders such as cystic fibrosis. See also Irish Times article
Needles to say this type of screening prior to implantation is highly controversial and is carried out for the express purpose of selection of some embryos and the disposal of others. It can only be described as eugenic in nature and intent.
The new Clinic built in Sandyford Co Dublin at a cost of €2.5 million.

This controversial move, which is being lauded by the media, was made despite the fact that the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) do not appear to have not granted permission for it.

According to an Irish Times report on Wednesday January 18th.

The IMB said yesterday it has not issued any licence yet – and an authorisation would be issued only if it complied with legislation on tissues and cells.

It is understood that several IVF clinics in Ireland also hope to begin another form of genetic screening soon involving analysing the chromosomes of embryos.

PGD is also used in other countries to identify chromosomal abnormalities such as down syndrome

I am reminded that Professor Robert Edwards who is regarded as the father of the exploitative practice of IVF, claimed that it will soon be "a sin" for a woman to give birth to a disabled child and 'burden society'. see my previous BLOG

However, with the exception of "No Less Human" I have not heard any disability rights groups denounce Dr Edwards' eugenicist comments, just as remarkably few journalists have the courage to investigate and challenge the public image of IVF practitioners as caring, altruistic and responsible.

Paris March for Life Sunday next January 22nd

2012-01-18T05:59:00.001Z

The pro life marching season is with us once again an apart from the major US march in Washington DC other events and marches have been organised for the same weekend.
The 8th annual pro-life march will be held in Paris on Sunday next January 22nd. If you can be in attendance please convene at 14.30 pm at the Place de la Republique 75010 Paris. The march will make its way Place de l'Opera and will disperse around 17.30 pm

During this March participants are invited to help the organisers to communicate the following instructions and see that they are courteously respected. Let the message of life be the focus of the March, so that every one's approach is respected.

1. The March for Life is a peaceful demonstration. No forma of violence will be tolerated. Should there be a counter-demonstration, we'll not respond to it, we'll remain agreable and respectful of others.

2. The March for Life is pluralistic : people of different philosophies and convictions are invited to defend the preborn child.

3. March for Life is a nonparty citizenship action. No political party is represented in the collective and if any political officials would make us the honor of participating in the demonstration they are kindly invited to respect the universality of the March.

4. The associations, members of the collective, will walk without showing their own logos and they ask the other associations taking part in the March, to do the same and to merge into the procession. Theys réserve the right of asking to remove any placard, banderole or flag going against the spirit and objective of this march.

5. The participants are invited to follow the instructions given by volunteers (in yellow) or by security services and to take up, repeat the slogans announced on the podium. Any political slogans or any slogans attacking individuals are prohibited.

6.Our march has nothing in common with any verbal offence caused to women who have had an abortion. We love those women and wish they could get help and healing.

7. The participants who will answer interviews are invited to express themselves in the spirit of justice and compassion which caracterises this march.

8. "everybody has the right to be well informed and get adequate help" in this way abortion can be prevented. We want to launch an appeal to public authorities, to medias and people working in this specific area.

9. We ask protection for the preborn child without condition, and that every human being should be respected for what he is., from the time of conception to the natural death. We demand the abolition of abortion and to stop all offences on the human being at the embryonic stage.

10. Participants are asked to come if possible with the colours of the march : red = colour of life, white = colour of innocence, do not hesitate, and wear scarves etc ... Members of medical staff should be in white coats.

An 'up-beat' Irish pro-life group

2012-01-17T10:40:00.000Z

The Hermeneutic of Continuity blog recently referred to Youth Defence (YD) as ‘the up-beat Irish pro-life group’. For nearly twenty years, YD has held weekly information sessions in Dublin city centre, and they now happily announce that the 1000th such street session has taken place. In sun and rain and wind, in cold and icy weather, and hot weather, the young YD volunteers have stood patiently and courageously in Dublin’s O’Connell Street, week after week. During the afternoon they hand out information leaflets showing the humanity of the unborn child and his/her development from fertilisation until birth, and they speak to people who – very often – are quite ignorant of the wonderment surrounding unborn life, its sacredness and the dignity that must be afforded to it, and the fact that the right to life is the first and most basic of all human rights. YD are also the organisers of the Irish annual pro-life march which is held in both Dublin and Belfast in successive years.

Congratulations to YD, and may their members increase and remain faithful to the cause of protecting life – born and unborn, mothers and their unborn babies. Please pray for them, and also for the success of their upcoming celebrations to mark twenty years of pro-life witness against all the odds – official and unofficial. Typical of these young people is the fact that Holy Mass is the starting point of their celebrations

Irish Government appoint expert group on abortion.

2012-01-16T10:55:00.001Z

The Irish Health Ministry on Friday Jan 13^th announced the appointment of the promised “expert group” on abortion.

When the coalition government was formed last year it announced as part of its programme for government that it would set up an expert group before the end of November 2011 to evaluate how it should respond to 2010 ruling on abortion from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the A,B and C case.

The newly formed 14 member group (including chairman Mr. Justice Mr Sean Ryan) which includes medical, legal, psychiatric and nursing nominees and which, significantly includes some prominently pro-abortion names, have been instructed to report back to Government within 6 months on the options open to Ireland in order to comply with the ECtHR decision in the A,B and C case. The report of this expert group will be critical in deciding whether or not abortion legislation is introduced in Ireland but the final decision rests with the government.

The text of the statement which can be found on this link is as follows;

As required, Ireland submitted an Action Report to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 13th January 2012 in relation to the A,B, and C- v Ireland judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. In line with Government commitments the Action Report conveys that an Expert Group has been established to examine the A, B and C v Ireland judgment and to report back to Government within six months with options on how to implement the judgment of the European Courts.
The Expert Group will be chaired by Justice Mr Sean Ryan and consist of the following 13 members:

Dr Peter Boylan, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist

Dr Mary Holohan, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist

Dr Imelda Ryan, Psychiatrist,

Dr Ailish Ni Riain, General Practitioner

Dr Mark Walsh, General Practitioner

Ms Christine O’Rourke, Office of the Attorney General

Ms Mary O’Toole, Senior Counsel

Ms Joanelle O’Cleirigh, Solicitor

Ms Denise Kirwin, Solicitor

Dr. Deirdre Madden, Medical Council

Dr Maura Pidgeon, An Bord Altranais

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health

Mr Bernard Carey, Assistant Secretary, Department of Health

MARRIAGE AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

2012-01-13T10:17:00.000Z

A joint letter signed by 39 religious leaders from a variety of religious backgrounds was released this week in support of traditional marriage between a man and a woman. The letter, “Marriage and Religious Freedom: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together”, is a strong statement affirming the traditional definition of marriage; it dismisses the argument that only a few religions object to homosexual marriage; it details how approval of same-sex marriage affects society; and it expresses how acceptance of same sex marriage impinges on existing human rights such as freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

As religious leaders across a wide variety of faith communities, we join together to affirm that marriage in its true definition must be protected for its own sake and for the good of society. We also recognize the grave consequences of altering this definition. One of these consequences—the interference with the religious freedom of those who continue to affirm the true definition of “marriage”—warrants special attention within our faith communities and throughout society as a whole. For this reason, we come together with one voice in this letter.

Among the signatories were four Catholic bishops including the head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan.

The need for public bodies to be caring in adversity

2012-01-12T10:28:00.000Z

A little four-year-old boy who is severely disabled is being refused a ‘homecare package’ by the HSE (Health Service Executive). John’s family, who live in Co. Tipperary, now fear that they may lose their home because of the cutbacks in the health system, as their son needs constant care and attention, which they themselves will now have to fund. While his mother and father have devoted their lives to John there is always the necessity to avail of extra help.

John was born prematurely, and he has cerebral palsy, he has never spoken and has constant, chronic lung infections. He is profoundly deaf, and he has no use of his limbs. His father says that ‘his world is through his eyes’. John’s twin sister, happily, survived without the complications suffered by her brother.

We ask for your prayers and support for this amazing family, and that they may be granted the financial and other assistance that they so rightly deserve.

John’s mother and father are examples of the wonderful and saintly lives of so many parents in today’s world

Significant Texas pro-life victory

2012-01-11T10:57:00.000Z

In a huge victory for US pro-lifers the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted a temporary injunction against the Texas’ sonogram law. The law requires that women seeking to abort their babies be given information on their baby’s stage of development and that they should be offered the option of hearing his or her heartbeat. see reports from LifeSite news and lifenews.com

The federal appeals court ruled that the pro-life law passed last year may now be enforced.

The law, passed in the 2011 Legislative Session had been appealed by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), which also obtained a temporary injunction to stop it going into effect last September.

The three-judge panel of the Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the temporary injunction against the law and dismissed opponents’ claims that the law was an assault on abortionists’ constitutional rights as a form of forced-speech.

According to Chief Judge Edith H. Jones;

“The required disclosures of a sonogram, the fetal heartbeat, and their medical descriptions are the epitome of truthful, non-misleading information,”

The point of informed consent laws according to Jones;

[…] is to allow the patient to evaluate her condition and render her best decision under difficult circumstances,” she wrote. “Denying her up-to-date medical information is more of an abuse to her ability to decide than providing the information.”

Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry, who signed the bill into law last year, praised the court’s decision.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for all who stand in defense of life. Every life lost to abortion is a tragedy, and this important sonogram legislation ensures that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying, and understands the devastating impact of such a life-ending decision,”

US Presidential Election

2012-01-10T08:32:00.001Z

The United States of America may seem a long way away from us – but what happens in that great nation inevitably produces repercussions throughout the entire world.

As we know, one of the many problems in the US at present is the question of who will be the next president there. We know, too, that the present incumbent is probably the most anti-life and anti-family president to have held that office. Should we, therefore, be concerned as to whether Barack Obama will or will not succeed in being elected for another term of office as president of America? Undoubtedly we should be concerned. But what, as non-American citizens, can we do? Well, we can pray – for a start – that someone with concern for the most vulnerable member of the human family, the unborn child, will win the election.

We can keep ourselves informed on events in the US, and we could perhaps encourage friends and relatives in America to follow the campaign messages of, and support, genuinely pro-life and pro-family candidates. After all, the family is universally recognised as the basic unit that is fundamental to the good of society, and the right to life – in particular, the right to life of the unborn child – is the most basic of all human rights.

Brian Burch, of Catholic Online, has provided some material produced by Rick Santorum, who achieved a very credible second place in the recent Iowa ‘primaries’. Here are some extracts from that material:

It’s Now or Never for Conservative voters. We can either unite now behind one candidate and have a conservative standard bearer in 2012, or have the GOP establishment choose another moderate Republican who will have a difficult time defeating Barack Obama in November.

I don’t think that’s what you want. Neither do I. My name is Rick Santorum, and I am the only authentic, passionate conservative who can unite the GOP. […]

We shocked the world last night in Iowa. We did it with a coalition of conservatives, Tea Party members, and values voters who recognized that my successful conservative record gives the GOP the best chance to defeat Barack Obama. […]

I will be the most conservative President since Ronald Reagan. […]

As a conservative U.S. Senator from the swing state of Pennsylvania, I led the overhaul of welfare that moved millions from welfare to work. I authored the bill banning partial-birth abortion, […]

If you want a President who will stand up for conservative values, who is consistent on the issues, and who has a record to back it up, then I need you to join my campaign.

Something to think about.

Alice Glenn, defender of life and family, RIP

2012-01-09T07:12:00.000Z

Another great defender of life and family has, sadly, died – Requiescat in Pace. Alice Glenn was a politician – she was a member of the Fine Gael Party (now in power with the Labour Party, but no longer with the policies and principles that it had when Alice originally joined it).

Alice Glenn’s politics were based on family, faith and fatherland. When she eventually parted company with the Fine Gael Party she described it as ‘a once great party, now going down the road to depravity and defiance of God’s law’. One obituary writer states that: ‘Much to the annoyance of the Fine Gael leadership, she strongly supported the anti-abortion amendment to the Constitution [of Ireland] in 1983. Declaring abortion to be, “the most important issue to come before the nation since the foundation of the State”, she expressed her complete confidence in the electorate to make the right choice.’ The electorate did make the right choice, when the people of Ireland voted to insert a specifically pro-life clause into the Constitution.

Later on, when the government of the day tried to change the Constitution to introduce divorce into Ireland, Alice famously said that women who voted for divorce would be like turkeys voting for Christmas. (The first divorce referendum, in 1986, was defeated, but the second attempt on the part of the government to legalise divorce, in 1995, was unfortunately successful.)

Alice Glenn spent two terms as chairwoman of the Dublin City Council Housing Committee, and she also acted as deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1987/88. In the 1980s, too, she served during two terms as a member of the Dáil (lower house of the parliament).

At her funeral her parish priest remembered Alice as ‘a formidable woman of principle’. Ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís (we will not see her like again).

The President, Michael D. Higgins (formerly Labour Party), was represented by his aide-de-camp, as was the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny (Fine Gael) by his aide-de-camp, at the funeral

Falconer report on euthanasia 'biased and flawed'.

2012-01-06T12:22:00.001Z

Pro-life organisations in the UK have roundly condemned the Falconer report as being biased and flawed.
Lord Falconer's report on assisted suicide is worthless, according to the Society for the protection of unborn children. See John Smeaton's BLOG
The report which was prepared according to SPUC,

"by a self-styled commission funded by pro-death activists amounts to a renewed attack on the legal status of disabled and elderly people. The report's conclusions, due to be published in full tomorrow, were summarised earlier this week by Lord Falconer in the Telegraph newspaper.
The commission has been widely discredited as stacked with supporters of assisted suicide. Over 40 organisations, including the British Medical Association (BMA), refused to give evidence to Lord Falconer's "death-for-the-disabled" group."

Paul Tully, SPUC Pro-Life's general secretary, commented:

"Predictably, Lord Falconer's report calls for Parliament to change the law to allow assisted suicide. His group was set up following Parliament's repeated rejections of attempts by Lord Falconer and his ilk to change the law. This is part of a thoroughly nasty strategy to convince the public that many disabled people want to die - and that they are sensible to want to die. Lord Falconer's cooking-up of a dodgy dossier via a stacked panel shows the lengths to which the assisted suicide lobby will go.

They seek to create a two-tier system: people who deserve a right to life, and those who maybe don't. In fact, this shabby exercise was bankrolled by Sir Terry Pratchett, a patron of Dignity in Dying, formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society. "Disabled people are justifiably frightened when the protection the law gives them against pressure to end their lives is attacked like this. The moves to undermine their right to life are often accentuated by fawning, uncritical media coverage. The assisted suicide lobby represents a mentality of aversion to people who suffer, and it represents celebrities who have more money than sensitivity. We encourage people to show solidarity with disabled people by dismissing out-of-hand Lord Falconer's thinly-disguised propaganda."

Dr Peter Saunders of Care not Killing in a strong statement said:

This investigation was unnecessary, biased and lacking in transparency and its report is seriously flawed. It is being spun as a comprehensive, objective and independent review into this complicated issue. It is anything but.

This private commission was sponsored by Dignity in Dying, formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, and financed by one of their patrons, with panel members being handpicked by Lord Falconer, a leading advocate of changing the law.

Nine of its eleven members were known backers of assisted suicide with a strong ideological vested interest in this as the outcome. Those with a differing view including representatives from the major disability rights organisations and doctors groups were not invited to join the Commission. The overt bias in the structure of the commission is why over 40 organisations including the British Medical Association and many individuals boycotted the inquiry.

Its terms of reference were drafted to ensure that the final report backed a change in the law and ruled out maintaining the status quo. In the commission’s own words they were to, ‘investigate the circumstances under which it should be possible for people to be assisted to die; recommend what system, if any, should exist to allow people to be, assisted to die; identify who should be entitled to be assisted to die and recommend what changes in the law, if any, should be introduced’.

What the commission is proposing is a less safe version of the highly controversial Oregon law, which sees the terminally ill offered drugs to kill themselves, but not expensive life saving and life extending drugs. It’s so-called ‘proposed safeguards’ are paper-thin and have already been rejected three times in the last six years by British Parliaments. These recommendations if implemented will place vulnerable people under increased pressure to end their lives so as not to be a burden on others. This pressure can be especially intense at a time of economic recession when families and the health service are already feeling the pinch. The so-called right to die can so easily become the duty to die.

SPUC issue position paper on "same sex marriage"

2012-01-05T11:41:00.000Z

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has launched a campaign in the UK against the Westminster government's proposals for same-sex marriage. John Smeaton writing in his BLOG states.
We have published today a position paper on same-sex marriage following a resolution by SPUC's Council last month. SPUC has also made available today a background paper to be read in conjunction with the position paper and which provides some additional references and reflections.

The position paper, which can be viewed on this link , states

Marriage - the permanent, exclusive union of one man and one woman - is the basis of the family, the fundamental group unit of society. Upholding marriage is therefore in everyone’s interests.

Marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn. Statistics show that unborn children are much safer within marriage than outside marriage.

Same-sex marriage lacks basic elements of true marriage e.g. the complementary sexual difference between spouses necessary for the procreation and healthy upbringing of children.

Same-sex marriage represents an attempt to redefine marriage, thus undermining marriage. This undermining lessens the protection for unborn children which true marriage provides.

We can't build a true culture of life if we don't defend the truths which connect sexuality to human life. Homosexual unions, whether the existing civil partnerships or the proposed gay marriages, are radically disconnected from those truths. SPUC's Council, elected by SPUC's grassroots volunteers, has therefore resolved to defend human life by defending marriage from the government's proposed redefinition to include homosexual couples.

The background paper can be viewed on this link

Victory for New Jersey Nurses in conscientious objection to abortion case

2012-01-04T11:02:00.000Z

Catholic Culture .org report that (T)welve nurses who say that they were told by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey that they had to participate in abortions have successfully negotiated a settlement with their employer. See article

“It is a victory because the hospital finally agreed to obey the law and not force our clients to do any work on abortion cases in violation of their beliefs,” said the nurses’ attorney, Matt Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund. “The hospital agreed not to penalize our clients in any way because they choose to not help abortions, according to their legal rights. The hospital is required to fully staff all abortion cases so that our clients would never be needed for those cases, and the hospital cannot use pro-abortion staff to replace our clients or reduce their hours.”

“The [US district] judge warned the hospital that our clients could return to his court if they were assigned to work abortion cases or if the hospital claims that routine abortions are emergencies,” Bowman added. “We hope that other hospitals will realize that they should agree to obey conscience laws that protect pro-life medical personnel.”

Shopping at TESCO

2012-01-03T14:13:00.014Z

Do you shop in Tesco stores? If you do, then the next time that you go through their doors you might think about the most recent allocation of ‘charitable’ funding that the Tesco company is making. It appears that Tesco – in the UK at least – has decided to sponsor the 2012 international homosexual and lesbian parade that takes place in London later this year. (The company has already sponsored ‘national’ homosexual parades that marched through London in previous years.)

Tesco has a recognised group devoted to those members of their staff who are homosexual – ‘Out at Tesco’ – and the Head of Research and Development for the company, who is a prominent figure in the group, has stated publicly that Christians who object to the redefinition of marriage to allow for ‘same-sex marriage’ are evil The executive, who is responsible for the Tesco website, wrote that:

‘I’m also campaigning against evil Christians (that’s not all Christians, just bad ones) who think that gay people should not lead happy lives and get married to their same-sex partners.’

The ramifications of various homosexual groups that are related to the Tesco patronage of the practices involved, it seems, are endless.

Whether or not Tesco stores in countries other than the UK have ties with the homosexual agenda is not known, but it might be something to bear in mind when you next go shopping at Tesco.

It has also been reported that due to pressure from concerned Christians, Tesco have apologised and have now decided to refrain from supporting the 2012 international homosexual and lesbian parade. Their letter of apology however still suggests they will find other ways of supporting the so called "gay agenda" rather than supporting the parade.
see the following BLOG post article from the BLOG "Ex Umbris Et Imaginibus" BLOG article

Civic Responsibility for the Common Good

2012-01-03T09:10:00.000Z

Although he wrote his Pastoral Letter on Civic Responsibility for the Common Good back in 2004, Cardinal Raymond Burke’s words are more than ever relevant for us today – for 2012 and for the years ahead of us. Here are some extracts from the document:

‘We are morally bound in conscience to choose leaders at all levels of government who will best serve the common good, “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” “[T]he sum total of social conditions” embraces a wide spectrum of concerns which the Catholic voter must have before his or her eyes, for example, safeguarding the right to life and the sanctity of marriage and the family; securing domestic and international peace; promoting education and public safety; assisting those suffering from poverty; providing sufficient and safe food, health care and adequate housing; eliminating racism and other forms of injustice; and fostering justice in the work place.
‘The “fulfillment” which the common good helps us to attain is not self-fulfillment in the popular sense. It is, rather, the fulfillment of God’s plan and destiny for us and our world. […]
‘In considering “the sum total of social conditions,” there is, however, a certain order of priority, which must be followed. Conditions upon which other conditions depend must receive our first consideration. The first consideration must be given to the protection of human life itself, without which it makes no sense to consider other social conditions. […]
‘The safeguarding of human life is understandably foundational to all other precepts of the natural law.   […]
‘The Church’s teaching on the intrinsic evil of procured abortion forbids the destruction of human beings from the moment of fertilization through every stage of their development. It is intrinsically evil to destroy human embryos, even for some intended good. […]
‘ “This evaluation of the morality of abortion is to be applied also to the recent forms of intervention on human embryos which, although carried out for purposes legitimate in themselves, inevitably involve the killing of those embryos. This is the case with experimentation on embryos, which is becoming increasingly widespread in the field of biomedical research and is legally permitted ink some countries. … [I]t must nonetheless be stated that the use of human embryos or fetuses as an object of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings who have a right to the same respect owed to a child once born, just as to every person.” (Evangelium Vitae)   […]
‘Another intrinsic moral evil which seemingly is growing in acceptability in our society is euthanasia.   […] Our thoroughly secularised society fails to understand the redemptive meaning of human suffering, while, at the same time, it views a human life burdened by advanced years, serious illness or special needs as unworthy and too burdensome to sustain. […]
‘Another moral concern of our time touches both upon the inviolability of human life and upon the sanctity of marriage and the family, in which human life has its beginning and receives its first and most important education. The attempt to generate human life “without any connection with sexuality through ‘twin fission,’ cloning or parthenogenesis” is a grave violation of the moral law. […]
‘Another moral concern touching upon marriage and the family, which is of particular urgency in our time, is the movement to recognize legally as a marriage a relationship between two persons of the same sex. Such legal recognition of a same-sex relationship undermines the truth about marriage, revealed in the natural law and the Holy Scriptures, namely that it is an exclusive and lifelong union of one man and one woman, which of its very nature cooperates with God in the creation of new human life.   […] Likewise, the legal recognition of a homosexual relationship as marriage redounds to the grave harm of the individuals involved, for it sanctions and even encourages gravely immoral acts.
‘Among the many “social conditions” which the Catholic must take into account in voting, the above serious moral issues must be given the first consideration. The Catholic voter must seek, above every other consideration, to protect the common good by opposing these practices which attack its very foundations.   Thus, in weighing all of the social conditions which pertain to the common good, we must safeguard, before all else, the good of human life and the good of marriage and the family. […]’

Time and space have prevented me from quoting at greater length from Cardinal Burke’s pastoral.

I would like, however, to direct you to a recent interview that Cardinal Burke gave to EWTN/CNA News, when he stated that it is ‘critical at this time that Christians stand up for the natural moral law’, especially in defence of life and the family. We should take particular note, too, of the Cardinal’s devotion to and admiration of St. Thomas More, Patron Saint of Lawyers and of Politicians. Referring to St. Thomas’s last words before his execution – ‘I die the King’s good servant but God’s first’, Cardinal Burke said that by these words St. Thomas showed how he served his king best, and served the law best, by serving God. What an example to us today, when we are being bombarded on all sides by immoral laws and practices that are so lethal to the common good of society

A celebration of motherhood

2012-01-02T10:04:00.000Z

The following reflection was brought to my attention recently, and I would like to share it with you. It was written by Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty, who was Primate of Hungary in the 1940s.

The most Important Person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral – a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body … The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature; God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation … What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?

This is in stark contrast to the UN CEDAW Committee which is intent on eliminating all traditional stereotypes without any discernment as to which ones may or may not be beneficial to marriage and which ones may be actually harmful.

This committee has in the past criticised many nations for not abolishing stereotypes for women in the role of "Mother" and they want to abolish "Mothers Day" which they see as a "sex role stereotype".

Pope Benedict's address for World Day of Peace

2011-12-30T09:30:00.000Z

Pope Benedict in his message for World Day of Peace January 1st 2012 addresses the issue of educating young people in Justice and Peace.
In his address Pope Benedict stresses the importance of the family and the parents as the primary educators of their children and he looks at the current threats to family life. We have included some relevant extracts below together with a link to the complete text

Where does true education in peace and justice take place? First of all, in the family, since parents are the first educators. The family is the primary cell of society; “it is in the family that children learn the human and Christian values which enable them to have a constructive and peaceful coexistence. It is in the family that they learn solidarity between the generations, respect for rules, forgiveness and how to welcome others.” (1) The family is the first school in which we are trained in justice and peace.

We are living in a world where families, and life itself, are constantly threatened and not infrequently fragmented. Working conditions which are often incompatible with family responsibilities, worries about the future, the frenetic pace of life, the need to move frequently to ensure an adequate livelihood, to say nothing of mere survival – all this makes it hard to ensure that children receive one of the most precious of treasures: the presence of their parents. This presence makes it possible to share more deeply in the journey of life and thus to pass on experiences and convictions gained with the passing of the years, experiences and convictions which can only be communicated by spending time together. I would urge parents not to grow disheartened! May they encourage children by the example of their lives to put their hope before all else in God, the one source of authentic justice and peace.

There is much in the address which must be looked at in depth and the entire text is available on this link

UN Secretary General sees the UN as “the voice of the voiceless and the defender of the defenceless.”

2011-12-29T12:07:00.000Z

One of my colleagues, Vincenzina Santoro Chief United Nations Representative – American Family Association of New York, writes - Let’s hold UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to his words! and then continues:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s year-end press conference did not exactly make it to the front pages of the world’s newspapers. However, for the occasion, Mr. Ban was keen to remind reporters that he was completing his first five-year term at the end of 2011 and was looking forward to his second mandate. In his remarks, he stated that the world needs the United Nations now more than ever. This is debatable, but he gave us some food for thought. According to Mr. Ban, over the past five years, he tried to “advance a practical, action-oriented vision of the UN as “the voice of the voiceless and the defender of the defenceless.”

Reflecting on his words, who could be more voiceless and defenceless than the unborn? Is this not especially true of the unborn who are to be aborted – their very tiny existence about to be crushed, dismembered and terminated, yet they cannot utter a word or take a stand? They were not part of his “action-oriented vision.” If the Secretary-General were truly sincere about defending the “voiceless and defenceless” he should be a defender of all the unborn. Mr. Ban indicated that in January he would present the outline for his second term, making references to commitments to the rights of women and children with the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development to be center stage among 2012 events. Perhaps he should include the unborn.

While Mr. Ban conducted his news conference, given the season, elsewhere in New York theatre troops were busy presenting the Dickens classic: “A Christmas Carol.” The character of Ebenezer Scrooge early on, in his unrepentant stage, refuses to give alms to the poor and ill so that the “ranks of their populations” could be thinned! Was such an attitude the forerunner of today’s population controllers? Possibly. But Scrooge saw a guiding spirit and soon enough experienced a conversion. Can we be a modern day “ghost of Christmases past” for the Secretary-General and use his very own words to draw their rightful conclusion?

There is something else that could boost a pro-life stance with the Secretary-General. Mr. Ban’s country of birth, South Korea, has the lowest fertility rate among developed countries: 1.15 children per woman, the result of all too successful official family planning policies pursued for decades. Today there is much hand wringing in South Korea about the implications of a shrinking population. Such concern ought to work in favor of the voiceless, defenceless unborn.

Starting with the Secretary-General’s own words, if all pro-lifers – at the UN and elsewhere –began a (massive?) writing campaign and asked him to support the voiceless and defenceless unborn child, would this not be the true meaning of his words and a new, right vision for the UN?

The address is:
Hon. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
New York, NY 10017

Polish freedom and the victory of hope and truth

2011-12-29T11:17:00.001Z

Brian Burch, of Catholic Vote (USA), gives us the following interesting story, by Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College. The story relates to two champions of life:

It was 30 years ago, December 13, 1981, that martial law was imposed upon Poland by the communist government. Poles were aghast, horrified, frightened. And so was the man in Rome, a Polish native named John Paul II, and so was another man thousands of miles away in Washington, DC, President Ronald Reagan.

When word of the communists’ actions reached the White House, President Reagan was furious. He wanted to help the people of Poland in any way he could. At that very moment, Reagan committed to save and sustain the Polish Solidarity movement as the wedge that could splinter the entire Soviet bloc, as the first crack in the Iron Curtain.

One of Reagan’s first responses was to call someone he deeply respected: John Paul II. On December 14, he told the Holy Father: ‘Our country was inspired when you visited Poland, and to see their commitment to religion and belief in God. It was an inspiration. … All of us were very thrilled.’

At that point, Reagan had not yet met John Paul II in person. Reagan had been president only for 11 months. Both he and John Paul II had been shot earlier in the year. Reagan told the Pope that he looked forward to a time when the two men could meet in person. […]

Reagan followed up with two letters to John Paul II […] neither of which was declassified until July 2000. In the December 17 letter, he asked the Pope to urge Poland’s General Jaruzelski to hold a meeting with Lech Walesa and Poland’s Archbishop Glemp. In the second letter, Reagan explained the counter-measures his administration was taking against the USSR; he also asked the Pope to use his influence with the Polish Church to lift martial law, to gain the release of detainees, and to resume a dialogue with Solidarity; and he requested that John Paul II press other Western countries to join the United States. ‘If we are to keep alive the hope for freedom in Poland,’ said Reagan, ‘it lies in this direction.’

Another account given by Professor Kengor tells of a meeting between Ronald Reagan and Romuald Spasowski, the Polish Ambassador, on 23 December 1981. The ambassador and his wife had just defected to the United States.

Michael Deaver, a close Reagan aide, witnessed the meeting. Deaver later recorded:

The ambassador and his wife were ushered into the Oval Office, and the two men sat next to one another in plush-leather wingback chairs. Vice President Bush, and the ambassador’s wife, sat facing them on a couch.

[…] The ambassador […] begged the president never to discontinue Radio Free Europe. […] ‘Please, sir, do not ever underestimate how many millions of people still listen to that channel behind the Iron Curtain.’

Then, almost sheepishly, he said, ‘May I ask you a favor, Mr. President? Would you light a candle and put it in the window tonight for the people of Poland?’

And right then, Ronald Reagan got up and went to the second floor, lighted a candle, and put it in the window of the dining room.

That candle might have brought to mind those lit after Mass by a young Karol Wojtyla. Then and now, they burned bright for Russia’s conversion.

But Reagan did more than that. That evening, with Christmas only two days away, the president gave a nationally televised speech watched by tens of millions of Americans. He connected the spirit of the Christmas season with events in Poland: ‘For a thousand years,’ he told his fellow Americans. ‘Christmas has been celebrated in Poland, a land of deep religious faith, but this Christmas brings little joy to the courageous Polish people. They have been betrayed by their own government.’ He made an extraordinary gesture. The president asked Americans that Christmas season to light a candle in support of freedom in Poland. […]

Thirty years ago, December 1981, the communists tried to turn out the lights in Poland. But like a candle in the White House window, Ronald Reagan and John Paul II and the people of Poland kept a flicker of hope alive.

It may seem like a long time ago, distant to the interests of Americans today. In truth, this was a crucial turning point for the world, for freedom, and for faith. It is a history lesson worth taking to heart, especially this Christmas.

Indeed, that lesson can equally be taken to heart in Western European countries today.

It brings to mind, too, the Irish custom of leaving a candle lighting in the windows of houses on Christmas Eve night to welcome the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph who were looking for some suitable shelter for the birth of the Saviour of the world.

Christmas 2011

Powerful Pro-life video

2011-12-27T11:47:00.000Z

Something well worth watching!

On Saturday, 10 December, Youth Defence presented their new Christmas video on a large screen in O’Connell Street, in Dublin city centre. The video, and its message, attracted a lot of attention from people of all ages who passed by.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djyx2c0V6Bg

A Naoidhe bhig atá mór

A Leinbh óig atá sean

San mainséar níor chuir a lán

Cé nach bhfághann áit ar neamh.

Feast of the Holy Innocents-Croagh Patrick pro-life climb

2011-12-27T11:22:00.000Z

I realise that this may be somewhat short notice, or it could act as a reminder!

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, whose members celebrate Solemn Mass in the traditional Latin Rite, has organised a pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick to take place on 28 December (the Feast of the Holy Innocents). The pilgrimage will be made in reparation for abortion throughout the world, and to ask St. Patrick to protect the unborn. You are cordially invited to take part in the pilgrimage, the details for which are as follows:

Where: Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo

When: Wednesday, 28 December 2011

10 a.m. – meet at the Visitor Centre at the base of Croagh Patrick

12 pm – Holy Mass in the Chapel on Croagh Patrick

Further information can be obtained by contacting limerick@icrsp.org

Website: www.institute-christ-king.ie

Gender Quotas

2011-12-23T08:59:00.001Z

Because of the fact that women tend to choose life-paths other than involvement in politics there are those who insist that gender quotas should be introduced to ensure that a sufficient number of women choose political life.

A recent Irish Times news item, in relation to one of the Irish political parties reads as follows:

‘FF commits to making 30% of its local election candidates women’. I don’t know how FF (Fianna Fáil – the major opposition party) would manage that extraordinary feat!

The news item refers to legislation that is under discussion in the Irish parliament at the moment in relation to the cutting of funding to political parties that do not have a 30 per cent figure of women candidates for election, with the required percentage increasing to 40% in the coming years.
A former Attorney General, Michael McDowell, has described the legislation as being unconstitutional, and a number of smaller political parties, such as the Christian Democrats and the Christian Solidarity Party, together with family groups and other concerned and sane individuals throughout the country, see in the proposed legislation a move towards blurring the natural and necessary distinctions between men and women.

There are, too, other far-reaching consequences related to the proposed legislation, and it is interesting to note that the chief proponents of the measure are the Labour Party and radical feminist groups.

Marriage, the family and traditional values, under sustained attack at the UN

2011-12-22T10:27:00.000Z

The US under President Barack Obama has been waging war against marriage and the family and was the prime motivator behind a resolution on sexual orientation approved by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last June. The resolution called for a report which has just become available and will be debated during the March session of the Council. We are currently analysing this report and will comment on it shortly.

In order to underline the commitment of the current US administration to the issue, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced recently that President, Barack Obama, has delivered a ‘sweeping directive’ to UN diplomats in Geneva in relation to the promotion of homosexual and lesbian ‘rights’ when matters of diplomacy and foreign assistance are under discussion. If the directive is implemented (and it seems that it will be) the outcome will most likely be the elevation of the ‘rights’ of homosexuals and lesbians above the genuine rights of groups, for example, that are persecuted for religious beliefs, for promoting democracy and human rights, ethnic minorities, etc.

Meanwhile, a Bill to protect marriage is being debated in Nigeria, and the Catholic Medical Association of Nigeria has denounced ‘“the coordinated ferocity” by foreign governments and international groups “browbeating” legislators to adopt laws that are premised on “dubious science and ethical mischief.”’

A statement from the National Council of Churches of Kenya declares that ‘God did not make a mistake, being gay is that person’s own perspective. Those who live as gays need help to live right and we should not be supporting them to live in a wrong reality. […] They have not ceased to be God’s children and no one is a gone case.’

Christmas Greetings

2011-12-21T10:17:00.000Z

The Directors and management of European Life Network wish all our readers the compliments of the season

May you all have a happy, peace filled and joyful Christmas this year

and may you also enjoy a prosperous 2012

Tragic HIV/AIDS vote in European Parliament

2011-12-21T09:59:00.002Z

John Smeaton (www.spuc-director.blogspot.com) gives a very lengthy and interesting account of the recent vote on HIV/AIDS that was taken in the European Parliament. It is sad and worrying to note that the resolution, which called for ‘safe and legal’ abortion as a way to prevent HIV/AIDS, was carried, despite rejection of it on the part of a good number of MEPs.

The website of European Dignity Watch reports as follows:

‘Unfortunately, all bad passages were adopted. […] In other words, the European Parliament is of the opinion that in order to contain this epidemic, the abortion of potential carriers of the virus is a legitimate means. Only one out of seven problematic passages was rejected by a majority of the EPP [European People’s Party] group (the group that contains Christian democrats) and about half of the Conservatives, however not enough to ban “safe and legal abortion” from the resolution.’

European Dignity Watch later wrote:

‘ […] on the occasion of World AIDS Day, a solid majority in the European Parliament voted on a resolution declaring that official EU policy for HIV/AIDS prevention should be closely linked to “sexual and reproductive rights” – including safe and legal abortion.
‘Although a resolution to combat HIV/AIDS is indisputably worthy of parliamentary support, the amalgamation of HIV with abortion suggests an alarming underlying eugenic logic that seems to say: Possible carriers of the HIV virus should be preventively aborted in order to prevent further spreading of the disease.
‘Prior to the vote by the European Parliament, no discussion at all was held on the real risk of HIV infection or even on the medical possibilities that exist to reduce its transmission. This is why we think it is important to give a few key facts about the medical reality of HIV in both developed and developing countries. […]’

Meanwhile, the humanist lobby is concerned that ‘several religious organisations launched an aggressive campaign to lobby MEPs and urge them to vote against three key paragraphs in the resolution. Their objective was to create a distinction between the fight against AIDS and reproductive rights and to make sure that MEPs removed contraception and abortion from the resolution. This campaign more generally aimed to limit – if not prevent – women’s sexual and reproductive rights. […]’

The humanists, however, ‘fought back’, but they are very concerned that although 369 MEPs voted in favour of one of the dangerous paragraphs (no. 22), 206 MEPs voted against it, which fact – say the humanists – ‘should keep us mobilised in the future.’

It is reported, too, that a UK Socialist MEP, Michael Cashman, pointed out during the plenary session of the debate that ‘a holistic approach, including contraception and abortion, is therefore necessary to prevent new contaminations.’ It is horrifying to think that in this day and age anyone could consider the killing of unborn babies to be ‘holistic’.

For the interest of the Irish electorate it should be noted that the usual suspects – Prionnsias de Rossa, Nessa Childers, Paul Murphy, et al. – were conspicuous in their support for the resolution in its entirety. However, sad to report, only MEPs Liam Aylward and Pat the Cope Gallagher voted against the resolution in its entirety in the final vote.

Assisted suicide

2011-12-20T04:48:00.001Z

Sky News held an on-line poll in the last few days. The question asked in the poll was: ‘Should assisted suicide be legal?’ This, in my opinion, is the height of irresponsible journalism, people were invited to vote either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the question. However, no matter how many votes were cast the numbers appear to have remained at 86 for ‘Yes’, and 14 for ‘No’. Now, I think that’s rather strange but I also think it shows the danger of such initiatives if they can be manipulated.

The advocacy group ‘Care not Killing’,(CNK) that speaks out against assisted suicide and offers help to those who might be inclined to consider such a situation, is referred to as follows on the Sky website:

‘[…] But the organisation Care not Killing is opposed to any erosion of the law. It says vulnerable people who believe they are a burden on others could feel obliged to die.’

It is at least good to see that CNK gets a mention and thus might be a beacon of hope and consolation to someone.

"Batman" star Christian Bale refused access to blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng

2011-12-19T10:43:00.004Z

Christian Newswire report that "Batman" star Christian Bale traveled nine hours from Beijing to visit blind forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng. Bale said, "What I really wanted to do was shake the man's hand and say 'thank you,' and tell him what an inspiration he is."    see VIDEO on LifeSite News

Bale never got the chance. He was roughed up and forced away from Chen's village, according to a CNN report  Bale was in Beijing, China for the premier of "The Flowers of War," a drama about the 1937 Rape of Nanjing. About his attempt to visit Chen, Bale stated, "I'm not brave doing this . . . This was just a situation -- I can't look the other way."   According to Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, "Christian Bale is right that the true heroes are the Chinese citizens who have been beaten and detained trying to visit Chen, and yet Bale is a hero as well. He is starring in the most expensive film ever made in China, which China hopes will win an Academy Award. Nevertheless, he has the courage to stand against official injustice and has greatly raised the visibility of Chen's case."   Littlejohn contrasted Bale's actions with those of Relativity Media. "Christian Bale has used his star power to shine a light on the unjust treatment of Chen Guangcheng. In contrast, Relativity Media filmed '21 and Over' in Linyi, where Chen is languishing under house arrest. They did nothing to help Chen. I hope that moviegoers will demonstrate their concern for Chen Guangcheng at the box office by boycotting '21 and Over.'"  

Ireland's Gain: The Demographic Impact and Consequences for the Health of Women of the Abortion Laws in Ireland and Northern Ireland since 1968

2011-12-16T11:16:00.001Z

A new report, released in Belfast and Dublin this week by the Pensions and Population Research Institute (PAPRI), compares outcomes for women in Ireland, with those of women in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and clearly shows that Irish women benefit significantly from Ireland's ban on abortion in a number of ways.
The study, compiled by actuary Mr Patrick Carroll M.A., F.I.A. compared statistical data on abortions carried out on women resident in Ireland and Northern Ireland from 1968-2010 with the corresponding data for mainland Britain and discussed the implications for women's health. Significantly it also links Ireland's low abortion rate to low incidences of breast cancer and comparative good mental health among women when compared with those in England Scotland and Wales. The study also showed that Northern Ireland enjoys lower levels of these problems than the rest of the UK.
Mr Carroll in his presentation said that

"Restrictive laws on abortion have enabled the birth rate in the Republic and Northern Ireland to remain much higher than the European average. Today the Irish birth rates are near to replacement level and Ireland benefits from a more youthful demographic profile with less dependence on immigration than other European countries."

He added that there were benefits for both women and children, explaining that:

"it is because abortion rates are low among Irish women that Ireland shows a low incidence of maternal and infant conditions known to be abortion sequelae: still births, low weight births whether in singleton or multiple births, preterm or premature births, cerebral palsy and maternal deaths."

"Ireland also benefits from low incidence of breast cancer and comparatively good mental health among women and a low incidence of certain diseases of the immune system, to which low abortion rates have contributed. Liberalisation of abortion laws in Ireland can be expected to result in higher abortion rates and a corresponding deterioration in respect of these conditions affecting the health of women,"

The report is very timely because of the pressure being put on Ireland following the decision in the A,B and C case last December. It is hoped that this report will help to inform the "expert group" which the Irish Government is about to nominate in their consideration of the issue. Mr Carroll's research is critical in the examination of the impact of any liberalization of abortion laws and their adverse impact on women's health in particular in regard to, premature birth rates, stillbirth rates, suicide rates, mental health, breast cancer rates, and immunological disorders

Whilst it is impossible to give an accurate figure the report implies that the current population would be in the region of 100,000 lower if pro-abortion legislation had existed.

Report Summary
1. Restrictive laws on abortion have enabled the birth rate in the Republic and Northern
Ireland to remain much higher than the European average. Today the Irish birth rates are near
to replacement level and Ireland benefits from a more youthful demographic profile with less
dependence on immigration than other European countries.

2. Liberalisation of abortion laws in Ireland would result in a less youthful demographic
profile with a smaller native population as illustrated for Northern Ireland in the epoch since
1968 and for the Republic for future years.

3. Distinct traditional features of Irish demography are still apparent such as large families for
married couples in the Republic notwithstanding the late age of childbearing in Ireland and
Irish participation in the general trend to smaller families everywhere. The late age of women
at first giving birth in Ireland, in conjunction with higher Irish parity progression, explains a
high proportion of Irish abortions being nulliparous i.e. carried out on women who have had
no previous full term pregnancy.

4. Because most Irish abortions are nulliparous, and therefore especially damaging to the
health of women, it is because abortion rates are low among Irish women that Ireland shows a
low incidence of maternal and infant conditions known to be abortion sequelae: still births,
low weight births whether in singleton or multiple births, preterm or premature births,
cerebral palsy and maternal deaths. Ireland also benefits from low incidence of breast cancer
and comparatively good mental health among women and a low incidence of certain diseases
of the immune system, to which low abortion rates have contributed. Liberalisation of
abortion laws in Ireland can be expected to result in higher abortion rates and a corresponding deterioration in respect of these conditions affecting the health of women.

Forced Sterilisations in Peru

2011-12-15T04:41:00.002Z

Shades of Nazi Germany! It has been reported that under the presidency of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, from 1990 to 2000, there was allegedly a government policy of forced sterilisations carried out on Peruvian women. It appears that there may have been up to 300,000 victims of this horrific policy, which can only be described as a gross human rights violation. The majority of the women subjected to it were poor, and often belonging to indigenous groups who would not have been able to speak any language other than their own particular one. Partly because of this the women would not have understood what was being carried out on them – when they were asked, that is. It seems that in very many cases the women were not even consulted about what was about to be imposed on them. See BBC report

Aurelia Paccohuanca (see photograph) who had 4 children was told by nurses

"You give birth like pigs or hamsters!"

The Attorney General of Peru has just recently re-opened an investigation into the practice of forced sterilisations, and the evidence of many women will contribute to the legal examination into the allegations – so called – that the practice was standard among public health-care providers under the term of office of Mr. Fujimori.

One woman who was sterilised without her knowledge, following the birth of her child (who died soon afterwards), took an action for damages against the doctor who performed the sterilisation on her. She was successful in her action, and she was awarded the sum of approximately €2,400. What an inhuman and derisory outcome. No money could ever replace her inability to conceive and bear children in the future.

Let us hope that the sterilised women (and some men, also) of Peru may be granted some peace in their lives

Myths about pro-lifers and how to refute them

2011-12-14T09:38:00.000Z

Live action.org have published a BLOG post article setting out 5 of the commonly expressed myths about pro-lifers and how to refute them. There in fact many more and it is important for pro-life activists to be aware of them and how to respond in the most effective and non confrontational way
The Following is the Live action BLOG post by Kristen Walker, written with a humourous twist

There are a lot of negative stereotypes about the pro-life movement. I could easily write a list of 20 or more. These five, though, are the ones I personally encounter most often, and in the most capital letters. You’ll probably find them familiar. If you don’t know how to argue against these, you should.

5. We’re all brainwashed.
Since they can’t seem to wrap their brains around how a person might make an intelligent, informed decision to oppose abortion, anti-lifers sometimes like to assume we have all been duped. I have been accused, via Facebook, Twitter, email, and comment, of having been brainwashed by the following people or organizations: the Republican Party, Christians, the Vatican, white men, television, the conservative media, Sarah Palin, and the devil. I am not making any of those up.

Okay, I admit it. The devil made me pro-life.

While I suppose there are those who were raised inside Vatican walls and never heard a dissenting opinion, the truth is that even kids brought up in homes with pro-life parents were probably exposed to pro-abortion ideology somewhere along the way. It may have even happened without their knowledge.
Let me give you an example: I loved the movie Dirty Dancing as a kid. I wasn’t allowed to watch it, but I managed to watch it almost constantly, starting at around age ten. A major plot line in that movie is a main character having an abortion. Everyone is super casual about it, although they never use the word “abortion.” The girl ends up getting hurt by the procedure, but the impression is that this is because the woman had to go to an unsafe doctor with “a dirty knife and a folding table.” Then a real doctor is called and the girl is okay and everyone dances some more. The impression I got as a kid was that abortion was a tragic and sexy thing that pretty girls sometimes had to get because they were so desirable and awesome.
I don’t remember hearing anything about abortion from my church or my mom or my friends. I only heard about it from TV and movies, and it was always portrayed in the same light: a sad but necessary thing that boyfriends should pay for while wearing sheepish expressions. I ended up pro-choice until age 27, when I made a decision, based on little or no Chinese water torture by any Popes or Palins, that abortion was wrong and must be ended.
The best way to combat this stereotype is to share your own story. Let anti-lifers know the sound, rational, scientific and ethical reasons on which you base your pro-life activism. And don’t let your kids watch Dirty Dancing.

Sorry, Patrick.

4. We’re violent.
This is my least favorite myth because it’s the least true. The pro-life movement is by definition an outcry against a violent act.
Eight people have been killed in the United States by anti-abortion protesters. Last I heard, they had all been caught and punished. Fifty million babies have been killed — legally — by abortionists since 1973. Yet we’re the side that gets called violent. Fifty million to eight… Those are pretty dramatic numbers. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say it’s safer to be an abortionist than an unborn baby. Somebody somewhere is probably going to quote that in outrage, never mind the fact that is statistically 100% true.
The pro-life movement as a whole continuously and widely condemns acts of violence, yet anyone who professes a pro-life viewpoint is subject to being called a “clinic bomber.” Eight people — out of hundreds of millions — do not represent the movement, especially when their actions have been decried countless times.
If someone accuses you of belonging to a violent movement, remind them that since Roe v. Wade, every year an average of 1.2 million unborn children have been killed in the U.S., versus an average of two-tenths of an abortionist. The numbers don’t lie.

3. We’re all religious, conservative, and old.
There’s nothing wrong with being religious, conservative, or old, but it’s a mischaracterization. I am a conservative Catholic in my early 30s now, but when I became pro-life, I was a liberal agnostic in my 20s. While many — probably most — pro-lifers believe in some sort of deity, or at least in the human soul, not all of them do. The arguments that made me pro-life were grounded in science, ethics, and human rights. They had nothing to do with religion.
The friend who changed my mind knew better than to use a religious argument with me; I would have stopped listening. I was already wary because she was Catholic. I guess I thought she would sprinkle holy water on me while I wasn’t looking. But she didn’t. She just answered my questions — I had a lot of them — and by the end of the conversation I was, quite against my will, pro-life. I have remained so ever since.
I was also not a conservative, and many — including the friend I mentioned — remain pro-life and liberal or Democrat. The atheist, liberal New Yorker writer Nat Hentoff, after “coming out” as pro-life, experienced a backlash of negativity from fellow writers, intellectuals, atheists, Jews, and Democrats, but he stayed pro-life and a “civil libertarian” for the rest of his career.
A lot of people, when they think of pro-life activists, think of little old ladies saying the rosary outside a clinic. God bless those little old ladies and the work they do, but the truth is the pro-life movement is becoming a youth movement. Despite the fact that society in general seems to get more secular and less conservative, more and more young people oppose abortion. There is no consensus as to why, but it may have something to do with advancing science and technology. We know far more about the unborn human today than we did when Roe v. Wade was decided.

The "products of conception."

If someone tells you all pro-lifers are middle-aged white Christian Republicans, tell them they’re wrong — even if you are a middle-aged white Christian Republican. I have known pro-lifers of every age, color, religion, and political persuasion. If you don’t, try to get to know some. They’re everywhere! Check out Secular Pro-Life, Pagans for Life, or Atheist and Agnostic Pro-Life League. They may have a perspective you haven’t considered, which will help build your arsenal of pro-life knowledge and arguments, and make your parties more interesting.

2. We’re hypocrites if we oppose abortion but don’t oppose (fill in the blank).
Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty? Yes. Can you be pro-life and support the war in Iraq? Yes. Can you be pro-life and eat meat? Yes.
You can’t compare these things to abortion. You can’t compare anything to abortion, except certain instances of euthanasia, which by the way are also covered under the pro-life umbrella.
Abortion is child murder. It’s the intentional killing of an innocent human being. And when I say “innocent,” I mean it in the most literal sense. I don’t mean “innocent” of murder, shoplifting, or appearing on “Jersey Shore,” though all of these are undeniably bad things. I mean completely innocent. The unborn child has never harmed a living soul. He did not cause his own existence. He did not ask to be conceived. He is brought to life and, in an abortion, he is killed, most often for the same reason he was conceived: because his mother made a choice.
No act compares to abortion in its heinousness. So don’t let anyone tell you that you must oppose the death penalty, or war, or meat if you are pro-life. Explain the difference between incidental death and intentional. Explain to them the difference between a cow and a human. Explain to them the difference between a convicted criminal and an unborn baby.

1. We have an ulterior motive.
This is the most common argument you will hear, and it honestly doesn’t even deserve the term “argument.” It is a non-argument. An argument would be, “Abortion is okay because the fetus isn’t human,” or “Abortion is okay because the unborn deserve no rights.” Those are arguments. They’re wrong, but they’re arguments. Instead, I am often accused of pretending to be against abortion when what I really want to do is one of the following: Take all human rights away from women. Stop everyone from having sex. Encourage child abuse. Make promiscuous girls feel bad about themselves.
And so on. So instead of saying, “Abortion should be legal because….,” the presenter of this “argument” says, “Well, you just want to enforce your Puritanical sexual values.” Or, “You just want people to have babies they can’t afford.” And so on.
Look. I’m gonna take this opportunity to come out with it: I am secretly okay with abortion. I honestly don’t mind if women go into clinics and pay doctors to suck their children out of them. What I’m really after, what I’ve really wanted all along, is to engage in “slut-shaming.” Apparently "slut-shaming" is a real thing that people are against. This was taken at the SlutWalk Toronto.... Yeeeeah.

This is my favorite non-argument ever. Written by “freelance journalist and stand-up comic” Amanda Grimes (whose graduate thesis was on “gender and stand-up comedy”), this blog made me literally wipe tears of laughter from my eyes. So she’s got the comedy part down! According to Grimes, pro-lifers aren’t really interested in saving lives. What they secretly want to do — wait for it — is make slutty girls feel bad about themselves. You heard me. The ulterior motive behind the pro-life movement, according to Andrea Grimes, is “slut-shaming.”
Ms. Grimes, if by “slut-shaming” you mean encouraging young women to behave in ways that will result in less pain for themselves, their children, and society, it is certainly on my list of reasons for opposing abortion. However, I hate to break it to you, reason number one is that I am actually nutso enough to believe in the sanctity of every human life. Sorry to disappoint. Now get back to that groundbreaking, totally relevant thesis!
By the way, for the record, you know what changed Grimes’s mind about abortion? I’ll let her say it in her own words:

Well, I got off my religious high horse and on to a sex life I enjoyed and found fulfilling.

That is… profound, isn’t it? She went to college, lost her virginity, and found out sex was fun! So then she discarded all the morals her parents went to the trouble to teach her, and ”went right the f*** out” and got on birth control, which, as it often does, led her to going right the eff out and feeling okay about abortion. “I believe wanting to take that choice away from others is deeply about shame and punishment and judgment, and not about righteousness and love.”
Guess what, Grimes? Just because you believe something about us doesn’t make it true.
So apparently, Ms. Grimes did not believe in the sanctity of life. She was merely having fun “slut-shaming.” But just because she didn’t have strong, factual, righteous, loving reasons for opposing abortion doesn’t mean that’s the case for you, or me, or any other pro-lifer.
Don’t let anyone assign you intentions that aren’t yours. We are pro-life because we care for women and their children. We are pro-life because we believe in human rights. Don’t give an inch when it comes to your reasons for opposing abortion.

If you engage in any kind of pro-life activism you are going to encounter resistance. Not all of it will be honest, pleasant, or fair. If they haven’t yet, people are going to assume things about you and assign you traits and beliefs that don’t belong to you. (We’ll get to the name calling in another article.)
Learn to politely, rationally, tell them why they’re wrong, and bring the issue back to what it’s really about: the reprehensible act of abortion, what it truly is, and why we have to stop it.

March for life Budapest: December 28th, Feast of the Holy Innocents

2011-12-13T11:12:00.003Z

The march is advertised under the banner: PEACE IN THE WOMB! march for abolition of the legalised genocide in Hungary.

December 28th the Feast of the Holy Innocents has been chosen as a memorial day for the unborn babies whose lives have been terminated by abortion in Hungary.

The advertisement for the march tells us that: Anti-life policies have resulted in the killing of more than 6 million unborn children and has thus deeply damaged many millions of families.

The march will commence at 14:00 p.m. and the leaders will mark the losses by citing the children’s names and tolling a bell. The march will commence from Square Március 15. tér (downtown) and will proceed to King Saint Steven Memorial and then to the palace of the state-president (castle-district), asking him to proclaim an act of “amnesty” for the innocent children before birth from 1 January, 2012.

"Human dignity is inviolable. Everyone has the right to life and human dignity, the life of a foetus will be protected from conception.” (II. Article of the Constitution of Hungary, 25. April 2011. )

The programme sets out the following:

PROCESSION

13:00 Church service and holy mass in the nearby churches. Blessing to the roses in the Roman Catholic Main Church in the city center named after Our Lady (Nagyboldogasszony).

14:00 Start from square Március 15. tér to the Chain-bridge („Lánc-híd”).

14:40 Throwing roses into the Danube, we mourn the children-victims killed before their births during the era of the national genocide, we are praying for reconciliation of their parents who felt them as burdens, for the ob-gyns who executed the death-sentences of the genocide, for those who as bystanders were just watching the killing of people without protesting against it, and for the politicians who declared war against the fertility of their own nation.

15:00 Via Clark Ádám tér – Fő u. – Apor Péter u. – Hunyadi János út – Jezsuita lépcső we proceed to the sculpture of King Saint Steven at the square of the Holy Trinity („Szentháromság tér”).

15:20 600 red roses – symbolising the basic, procreative law of nature and the Heavenly Constitution which is fostering our survival – will be put to the feet of King Saint Steven. Singing the Hymn:

Castle once, now heap of stones;
Fled are all its graces,
Death-cries, rattles, sighs and groans
Occupy their places.
Ah but liberty disdains
Veins that death must vanquish,
Red-eyed orphans in their chain.

15:45 Start at Jezsuita lépcső – Csónak u.– Színház u. walk to the palace of the state-president at „Szent György tér” square.

16:00 Speech and prayer: the new constitution can be beneficial if it guarantees the right to life for unborn children. On behalf of the Holy Crown, we ask Pál Schmidt, state-president of Republic of Hungary to use his moral and political clout as he was the one that finished the era of Hungarian genocide on the 4th of June, 1956 and to change the words of the new constitution into an act by declaring „amnesty” for unborn children before 1st of January 2012! We ask the lawmakers that the „law” on the protection of unborn children (from year 1992., Nr. LXXXIX) – which is against life and common good – be adjusted to the basic natural law pertaining to the Heavenly Constitution.

16:30 Singing the Hymn:

With the Magyar take your stand,
Lord, in his vain struggles,
Shield him with your mighty hand
From that sea of troubles.
He whom ill-luck long has cursed
This year grant him pleasure,
He has suffered with the worst
Time beyond all measure!

18:00 – 21:00 Prayer, reconciliation and Holy Mass for Life by bishop (Cave-Church run by Paulins, Square Gellért tér)

The event is hosted by the following organisations, Alliance of Christian Intellectuals, Alpha Alliance, Human Life International – Europe, National Alliance of Large Families, Peace in the Womb, Pro-Life Forum, Society of Catholic Doctors named after Saint Luke, Secular Order of Franciscans, Society of Christian Medical Doctors in Hungary, Union of Large Families

CONTACT Imre Téglásy, Ph.D.

e-mail: alfateglasy@t-email.hu, cellular: +36 30 9226775, www.yesforhungary.eu

INFORMATION! Parking space for coaches and cars at the Pest-side of the bridge called Erzsébet-híd (Elisabeth-bridge). The route is 2.5 kilometesr long, a comfortable walk of 70 minutes. Those joining the event outside the procession can use public transport (a blue bus, nr. „16” starting from the square in downtown („Deák tér”) or from the squre called „Széll Kálmán tér”) You have to get off at the stop called „Szentháromság tér” („Holy Trinity”), or at the stop called „Palota út” („Palace street”). There is an elevator called ”gyorslift” or „sikló” from the „Lánchíd” (Chain-bridge) to the spot, too.

Protest over closure of Ireland's Embassy to the Holy See

2011-12-12T07:12:00.002Z

Despite the icy cold weather and the occasional blustery shower of rain, approximately two hundred people gathered at Dáil Éireann, in Kildare Street, Dublin, on Thursday afternoon, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. Those present travelled from many parts of Ireland in answer to a call from the Christian Solidarity Party to protest against the closure of Ireland’s Embassy to the Vatican by the coalition Government – ostensibly for economic reasons!

Cardinal Sean Brady at the time of the announcement of the closure, expressed his "profound disappointment"about the move and continued

"This decision seems to show little regard for the important role played by the Holy See in international relations and of the historic ties between the Irish people and the Holy See over many centuries,"

The Irish Embassy to the Holy See was established in 1929, and it was one of the first resident missions to be established by the Irish Government. The Papal Nuncio from the Vatican has always been regarded as the Doyen of the Diplomatic Corps here. Ireland’s diplomatic connection with the Vatican has now been downgraded to that of a senior official of the Department of Foreign Affairs being appointed to deal with Vatican affairs. A physical presence in Rome is no longer in existence.

There has been much criticism of this move, which is seen as a snub to Pope Benedict, and to the Church. Both clerical and secular writers have pointed out that in breaking direct diplomatic links with the Holy See the Irish Government has, as the saying goes, ‘cut off its nose to spite its face’, particularly – from a purely worldly point of view – as the Vatican is such an important ‘listening post’ in diplomatic circles worldwide.

According to a Reuters report at the time of the announcement of the closure “Dublin said it was closing its mission to the Vatican along with those in Iran and East Timor to help meet its fiscal goals under an EU-IMF bailout. The closures will save the government 1.25 million euros ($1.725 million) a year.”

It is interesting to note that according to the Irish Aid website the Irish Government through Irish Aid has since 2006 donated almost €30 million to the pro-abortion UNFPA and according to a speech given by Minister of State Jan O'Sullivan at an Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) event to launch the UNFPA 2011 State of Population Report,

"UNFPA will continue to be a priority partner for Irish Aid and we look forward to work ever more closely with them in them in the run-up to the 2015 deadline for meeting the Millennium Development Goals."

It is a very sad day in which Ireland, which has stood for so long against the evil of abortion can find tens of millions to support UNFPA which assists in the termination of unborn lives in developing countries, but cannot find the money to keep the Holy See embassy open.

A Voice for Life: New Pro-life Movie on the life of abortion survivor Melissa Ohden

2011-12-09T14:27:00.000Z

Christian Newswire reports Over 1.2 million children lose their lives to abortion every year in the United States alone. Over 53 million children have lost their lives to abortion in the United States since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Many know the sad reality of these statistics, but most don't know the amazing reality that sometimes children survive failed abortions and exist in our world today. Melissa Ohden, a 34-year-old international pro-life speaker and advocate, wife and mother, is one such survivor.

Melissa's powerful story of surviving a failed saline infusion abortion in 1977, of overcoming the concerns regarding her ability to survive past infancy and go on to lead a "normal" life, of being adopted into a loving family that supported her in her search for her biological family and in her struggle to face the reality of her life as an abortion survivor to ultimately become a voice for the unborn, is featured in the newly released pro-life documentary, A Voice for Life.

A Voice for Life became a reality when Melissa Ohden, Steve Feazel and Gunther Meisse II combined their talents to present a miraculous message of life. This unique film views abortion through the eyes of Melissa Ohden who is an abortion survivor. Producer and writer, Steve Feazel met Melissa when both were appearing on a TV talk show in Pittsburgh. Steve was there promoting another documentary when he heard Melissa tell her story.

Featuring pro-life leaders and advocates including Father Frank Pavone, Alveda King, Dr. John Willke, Kevin and Theresa Burke, and Michael Clancy, A Voice for Life has premiered at events for Heartbeat International and National Right to Life to great acclaim. The Dove Foundation review for the documentary echoes the sentiments of individuals and organizations that have been moved by the film and see its' value in promoting the sanctity of life: "We highly recommend this inspirational and remarkable DVD and gladly award it our Dove 'Family-Approved' Seal in addition to five Doves, our highest level."

A Voice for Life continues to garner awards on an international level, including the Transforming Stories International Film Festival in South Africa, and the Redemptive Film Festival in Virginia Beach, where it received the highest honor. More importantly, to the creative team of A Voice for Life, Steve Feazel, Gunther Meisse, and Melissa Ohden, the pro-life film is making an impact in the world, touching hearts changing minds, and bringing hope and healing to individuals who have been devastated by abortion.

The soul-baring testimonies of numerous women and a man who have experienced an abortion in their lives, the inspirational testimony of a young woman who stood strong in her beliefs about the sanctity of life in the face of a teenage pregnancy, the heart-warming testimonies of a birthmother and adoptive mother regarding their open adoption, and the testimonies of pregnancy center staff and pro-life advocates woven throughout Melissa's miraculous story, provide an in-depth perspective to abortion that is both informing and convicting people around the world.

As one such reviewer, Edwin L. Carpenter, stated, "Women share their emotions from post-abortions and reflect guilt but the value of a life lesson learned. The viewer of this DVD will marvel at God's grace as Melissa Ohden reflects forgiveness and her belief that God spared her for a purpose."

In addition to the 58 minute documentary, a short, 9 minute film, featuring Melissa as narrator, has also been released for pregnancy centers and other organizations that minister to abortion vulnerable women to utilize as a resource in their life-saving, life-transforming work. Melissa's powerful message to women in this video as both a survivor and a mother, herself, is beyond description. To view the trailer of the short resource video, visit www.avoiceforlife.com/trailer.html.

To join the churches, pro-life and Christian organizations and individuals who have been positively impacted by A Voice for Life, please visit www.avoiceforlife.com to view the trailer and purchase the film. For more information on Melissa Ohden and her ministry, please visit www.melissaohden.com.

Attn. Media: To schedule an interview with Melissa Ohden contact Gloria Leyda, Ambassador Speakers Bureau, 615-370-4700; gloria@ambassadorspeakers.com.

Irish Babies being aborted in UK while childless couples in Ireland seek to adopt abroad

2011-12-08T11:10:00.000Z

A feature entitled ‘From the Archives’ that appeared in the Irish Times newspaper recently throws an interesting light on society in general in Ireland over sixty years ago, and particularly on the plight of children born to Irish mothers outside wedlock at that time. The piece, an editorial that appeared in the newspaper in 1949, tells us that

‘The lot of the unwanted legitimate child is hard. That of the unwanted illegitimate child is vastly harder. The charge of infanticide is heard with monotonous regularity in our Irish Courts, but often, when a terrified mother shrinks from so dreadful a crime and consents to carry the stigma of her shame, her unwanted child almost has reason to regret that he had not been granted the mercy of a quick death.’ Three possibilities are suggested for the mother – to ‘farm out’ her child to some family that would be willing to raise him (often a miserable existence); to put her child into an institution (again, not always an ideal solution); and, thirdly, to put her child up for adoption. ‘She may be put in touch with some decent, childless and frequently well-to-do family that is anxious to adopt the child and bring him, or her, up as its own.’

The editorial continues with a remarkable comment that is extremely relevant to today’s world, where childless couples are willing to go to any lengths to obtain a child – be it IVF and the financial and physical cost to the woman – or be it going through all the hassle and expense of adopting a child from Russia, Vietnam, China, or wherever, and the sometimes dubious advantage to the child in question.

The editorial says that the possibility of adoption is ‘infinitely the best solution of the three. It is well known that there are many thousands of childless couples in Ireland who would gladly bring up such a child as their own, give him every advantage within their means, endow him with their name and social position, and leave him their money.’

Why do the childless couples of Ireland have to resort to IVF and other AHR (assisted human reproduction) procedures, or why do they have to go abroad to other countries to adopt a child today? If the thousands of Irish babies who are killed by abortion every year were alive today would they not bring happiness to so many childless couples, and at the same time be allowed to live the life that God intended for them.

The editorial ended by commenting on a problem involved with the process of adoption at that time – the fact that there was no possibility of legally adopting a child. A small matter, but one that has been resolved in the intervening years through appropriate legislation.

Caring for the terminally ill

2011-12-07T09:19:00.000Z

The Dominican Sisters of St. Rose of Lima (also known as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne) in Hawthorne, north of New York City, is a congregation founded around the beginning of the 1900s by a lady named Rose Hawthorne (she was a daughter of the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter). The main purpose in establishing the congregation was to care for elderly, and not so elderly, people, who are terminally ill.

The Sisters provide direct care for their patients, they do not charge a fee, and they do not accept government funds or insurance reimbursements. How do they manage this? ‘We do the best we can and trust the rest to the Lord’, the Superior General says. Approximately one hundred people are cared for by the Sisters, in Hawthorne, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and in Kisumu (Kenya, East Africa). Sister Alma Marie, the vocations director of the Congregation, says: ‘Many come here with the fear of dying, of being alone. When we care for them, we can see the transformation. We help them live the life that God has given them to the fullest. We celebrate life.’

One of the residents, who had previously been cared for in a well known New York establishment, summed up the atmosphere that is present at the homes run by the Sisters when she said: ‘I always wanted to go home with my family when they visited. I don’t feel that way here. I’m already home and my family is content to see me here, because they know I’m happy.’ Would that all people, young and old, who need to be cared for could enjoy such evidently wonderful care, especially towards the end of their lives.

Various peaceful pro-life and other demonstrations

2011-12-06T17:34:00.000Z

REMINDER – peaceful protest about the closure of the Irish Embassy to the Holy See.

The event will take place at: Dáil Éireann, Kildare Street, Dublin 2,

from 2pm to 4 pm,

on Thursday, 8 December

(Feast of the Immaculate Conception)

We hope to see you there!

Sunday Dec 11th and Monday December 12th.
A group of friends who have met for years in St. Teresa's Church Clarendon St. Dublin. 2, praying for the dignity of life at all stages and not affiliated to any group, have organized a number of initiatives in the run up to Christmas:

(see attached flyers Dec 11th and 12th) through your contacts / groups
and place these initiatives in your parish newsletters / include them in this weekend's Mass announcements?

Three Gospel of Life Initiatives: For more info: call: 086 2097330

Sunday December 11th 2011
(1): Jericho prayer walk: Sunday prayer walk for the Vigil of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Gathering at the Dáil Kildare St. D.2: 2.30pm: From 3-6pm: walking in quiet prayer, 7 times around the block to include: Merrion Square, St. Stephen’s Green and Nassau St. Praying for our public representatives, Ireland and for protection of the child in the womb.

Monday December 12th 2011:
(2): Pro Life Mini Vigil: Monday adoration in honour of Our Lady of Guadalpupe: Blessed Sacrament Chapel Bachelor’s Walk D. 2, (near Ha'penny Bridge). 3pm Guided Divine Mercy Pro Life Holy Hour, 4pm silent adoration, 5.15pm Holy Mass.

followed by:

(3):Non-denominational Silent Candlelit Walk of Solidarity with the Unborn to Dail Eireann:

“ Unto us a Child is Born?...Gone but not Forgotten...”.

from 6pm Daniel O’ Connell Statue Lr. O’ Connell St.D.1, to the Dáil, Kildare St. D.2, 7pm Guest speakers at Dáil.

Irish woman almost dies from botched abortion: Abortionist struck off

2011-12-06T10:36:00.000Z

There were various news reports last Saturday on the case of an Irishwoman who was left "fighting for her life" after a botched abortion at London abortion clinic. see this link and this link

The case, which occurred in 2006, emerged as part of a Fitness to Practise Inquiry by the UK General Medical Council into the conduct of a gynaecologist Dr Phanuel Dartey, who was struck off for his treatment of five patients -- including that of the botched abortion -- at the Marie Stopes International Clinic in Ealing.

The inquiry was told that Dartey perforated the uterus of the unidentified Irish woman and left parts of her aborted baby inside her. When she returned to Ireland she was rushed to hospital where she was in a critical condition for two months. It is believed she eventually recovered.

The Ghanaian surgeon, who qualified in the former Soviet Union and did not attend the hearing had no valid medical indemnity insurance at the time.

It is also reported that Marie Stopes Reproductive Choices manager in Dublin, Gabrielle Malone, confirmed that the Ealing clinic was among the recommended facilities on a list given to Irish women seeking pregnancy "counselling". (It should be noted that referral for termination is illegal in Ireland so the fiction of counselling is used by agencies to remain within the letter, if not the spirit of the law .)

Ms Malone also claimed that Marie Stopes clinics had an excellent record and the Dartey case was an isolated one. This claim is in keeping with the notion that abortion where it is legal is supposed to be safe, needless to say it is never safe for the unfortunate baby but in addition such claims are suspect in the light of the generally available evidence but in particular the evidence presented in the European Court of Human Rights, A,B and C v Ireland Case, Grand Chamber Judgement last year, which sets out that the three women in this case all suffered medical complications following abortions in Britain.

According to Ms Malone 498 Irishwomen had abortions at the Ealing centre last year. The number of Irishwomen having abortions in the UK and elsewhere has been falling for nine years, but 4,402 had terminations last year. It would be interesting to discover what percentage of these women suffer some level of medical complications quite apart from the well documented Psychological problems which arise for the vast majority of women who decide to terminate the life of a baby.

Chen Guangcheng alive

2011-12-05T10:46:00.000Z

I have blogged before about the brave opponent of China's one child policy Chen Guangcheng and also previously
Christian Newswire reports that a reliable source inside China told Women's Rights Without Frontiers that forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng is alive. An unconfirmed report went out in early October that Chen had died under house arrest.

According to this source, who requested anonymity, "Now his mother is allowed to go outside to buy food although escorted by three guards, and his health also is getting better."

The source attributed the improved treatment of Chen to the fact that "Chen's situation was exposed and got huge public attention." One campaign that brought considerable visibility to Chen's plight was the flow of concerned citizens attempting to visit him for his fortieth birthday on November 12. Many of these citizens were beaten and detained.

In addition, the "Chen Sunglasses Freedom" campaigns inside and outside of China have raised the visibility of his case. These campaigns post photos of people wearing sunglasses in support of Chen. The source stated, "I think it's great. I think it's very helpful for people all over the world to show they care about Chen through the Sunglasses campaigns. I think it's very important to show support inside and outside the country – we can work together." These campaigns, spearheaded by Women's Rights Without Frontiers and Dark Glasses Portrait, can be found on this link

iPhones pro-life message

2011-12-05T09:39:00.000Z

The London Independent newspaper carried an interesting story on Friday last Dec. 2^nd. (I have seen it elsewhere, too), about that iconic and "essential" piece of modern technology, the latest version of the iPhone, the 4S. It seems that the iPhone 4S, when using a feature called ‘Siri’, produces some information that is not at all pleasing to anti-life so-called ‘liberals’ in the United States. ‘Ask Siri to find the nearest burger restaurant, or to remind you to call a dentist, and she’ll reply with Orwellian efficiency. But, to the dismay of liberals across the land, requests for help dealing with unwanted pregnancies fall on stony ground.’

Asked ‘where it might be possible get an abortion’, the iPhone’s Siri directs the enquirer ‘not to one of the city’s many Planned Parenthood clinics, but instead to anti-abortion “crisis centres” run by the religious right.’ When Siri (i.e., the iPhone) is asked why is she anti-abortion, the voice reply is ‘I just am!’.

The article quotes Brandi Swindell, the pro-life activist, as saying she is delighted with the information provided by the phone, and that the device is ‘embracing a position that promotes the dignity of women and upholds human rights in the womb.’

Unfortunately, however, Apple – the makers of the iPhone 4S – say that the pro-life messages on the phone were ‘the result of an unfortunate software glitch’, and that they are still developing the device and hope to ‘do better’ in the coming weeks by removing the pro-life assistance that can be accessed at present. What a pity!

New expert group on abortion to be announced soon

2011-12-02T14:46:00.000Z

The Irish Government yesterday announced its intention to proceed with the establishment of an expert group on abortion in the next few weeks. When the coalition government was formed it announced as part of its programme for government that it would set an expert group before the end of November to evaluate how it should respond to last year’s ruling on abortion from the European Court of Human Rights in the A,B and C case.

The make up of this group which will include medical, legal and nursing nominees will have14 members and will be critical in deciding whether or not abortion legislation is introduced in Ireland.
The Government has said that the group will be in place by the end of the year or shortly thereafter.

We encourage readers to contact their local TD and Government Ministers to ensure that their is a strong pro-life presence in the group, in particular representations should be made to the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, The Health Minister James Reilly and the Justice Minister Alan Shatter
The relevant e-mail addresses for all government ministers can be found on this link

Sex education as sexual sabotage

2011-12-01T04:43:00.002Z

We have reported on the issue of sex education programmes in the past and the fact that very young children are being given very explicit information. See also BLOGs of Oct. 26 2010

The Daily Mail in a recent article reports that parents across the UK are in revolt at the explicit nature of sex education being taught to very young children. It must be remembered that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights upholds the prior right of parents to choose the type of education to be given to their children. It is good to see that parents are at last fighting back against a nanny state

John Smeaton of SPUC in a recent BLOG highlighted the fight for children's minds and hearts currently being waged in schools and advised readers that SPUC's Safe at School campaign is co-hosting a meeting in Westminster today December 1st, from 11am to 1pm, entitled: "Sex education as sexual sabotage". The other co-host is the Working Party on the Sexualisation of Children under the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group.
The speakers will include

Dr Judith Reisman: the global expert on Alfred Kinsey, creator of the canon of modern sex education. It is his ‘scientific research’ which underpins what our children are being taught under the guise of sex ‘education’.

Mrs Lynette Burrows: a leading commentator on the family. Her published works include “Fight for the Family: The Adults Behind Children’s Rights.”

Famous Tenor expresses gratitude for his mother's commitment to life

2011-11-30T09:57:00.000Z

The famous Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli, said recently in a newspaper interview: ‘It’s not Christian to go against someone. I am in favour of life.’

If you Google ‘Andrea Bocelli – video on abortion’ you will find there a short video of the singer telling the beautiful story of how his mother, when pregnant with him, refused her doctor’s advice to abort him

You can find the wonderful video on this link

Irish Justice Minister considering the publication of official guidelines in order ‘to prevent babies ending up in “legal limbo” following IVF and related procedures?

2011-11-29T10:11:00.002Z

Last week I blogged on the subject of IVF (22 November 2011), and I am now returning to the same theme.

The relentless push for the destruction of human life continues, together with the demystification of the wonder of creation, and the making of children into mere commodities – to be picked off a shelf when and where it suits. This is child abuse – pure and simple. And the Irish Government, in common with other western governments, is aiding and abetting this abuse.

The Government’s ‘special rapporteur on child protection’ is concerned at the lack of legislation to regulate the ‘assisted human reproduction’ industry in Ireland. He worries that a child whose father could be Ukrainian, or Danish, or whose mother might be Indian, or Spanish, or whatever, ‘may never be able to trace their genetic parents or have access to important genetic information.’ It is estimated that there are approximately 500 such children born in Ireland each year.

Now, let nobody accuse me of being unfeeling or uncaring towards those couples that cannot conceive a child of their own. It is a very sad situation in which to find themselves. But the child that they obtain through the involvement of ‘donor’ sperm or eggs is not their biological child, and this very fact is a violation of the child’s rights. Every child is a child created by God – no matter what are the circumstances of his or her conception. But a child is nevertheless the God-given fruit of the love of a man and a woman – ideally husband and wife. Following lobbying on the part of the ‘reproductive’ industry, the Government says that in the current economic climate it will only be possible to provide for legislation either for IVF or in relation to the ECHR decision in the AB&C case.

The Irish Minister for Justice – ironically – is seriously considering the publication of official guidelines in order ‘to prevent babies ending up in “legal limbo” ’ How come? It seems that couples travel abroad from Ireland so that their child (or someone else’s?) will be borne and given birth to by a woman in some other country. Such a baby is considered to be ‘stateless’, and unable to be provided with a passport. So the people who profess to be concerned with the rights of children want to have legislation introduced in Ireland that would negate the fact that a child is a birth child of one woman, while making legal the parental claim of a couple to the child – who may or may not be the biological child of either one of the ‘commissioning’ couple.

The Irish Government would do well to sit back and consider the awful implications of what is involved here – in particular the awful destruction of human life that is involved in the IVF industry, and the denial of their basic human rights to the children who are the so called ‘products’ of such inhuman experiments.

On the other hand a figure of approximately 4,000 is usually quoted for the number of Irish women and girls whose babies are aborted outside Ireland each year. How much more humane it would be if the Irish Government – instead of its policy of encouraging the abortion industry and the IVF industry – were to assist, morally and financially, those who unintentionally become pregnant. Couples who find themselves unable to bear a child of their own could then give a loving home to the child of the mother who for whatever reason is unable or unwilling to raise her child. This may sound a simplistic solution – but when one considers the physical and mental injury caused by abortion, and the trauma and cost involved in the use of IVF, maybe it’s not such a remarkable suggestion.

NaproTechnology

The heart break of infertility on the one hand and the stress of the dehumanising procedures involved in the IVF industry quite apart from the shocking destruction of human embryos need not be inevitable. Many women are completely unaware that there is a natural alternative treatment for infertility. The science of NaproTechnology has been developed to such an extent that not only does it assist in the planning and spacing of pregnancies, it is also used to assist many seemingly infertile women to become pregnant thus making IVF redundant.

NaproTechnology is the first women's health science to network family planning with reproductive health monitoring and maintenance. It is a fertility-care based medical approach rather than a fertility-control approach to family planning and gynecological health.

Spurious survey findings on Irish GP's attitudes to abortion

2011-11-28T17:43:00.001Z

The Irish Times on Nov 25^th reported on a survey of GP’s attitudes to abortion, which was carried out by a County Sligo junior doctor. The report says that the survey findings show that a majority of Irish doctors support legalization of abortion in Ireland.

The study according to the Irish Times report was carried out by Dr Mark Murphy, a GP with the Sligo General Practice Training Scheme and was based on a postal/e-mail survey of randomly chosen family doctors,

The results of the survey are suspect for a number of reasons, first the questionnaire used in the survey appears to have been flawed in that it fails to make an adequate distinction between a necessary medical intervention, which unintentionally causes the death of a baby, on one hand and an induced abortion on the other hand.

Secondly the report also gives the impression that 750 family doctors including some doctors in training responded to the survey, however it appears that considerably less than half of those invited to do so actually responded to the survey. It is understood that as few as 324 actually responded, hardly a statistically significant result.

The survey also claims that 42 per cent of GPs feel that a woman’s healthcare suffers “as a result of the requirement to travel for an abortion which is described as a termination of pregnancy or “ToP”, Significantly Dr Murphy did not ask any questions about possible adverse physical or psychological effects of abortion.

Dr Murphy previously sparked controversy last May at the Irish Medical Organisation AGM when he cited the discredited 18th century advocate of population control, Thomas Malthus, in support of a motion calling on Irish Aid to promote population control in developing countries. See this link. The motion was defeated amid accusations that it was "arrogant" and "racist".

‘Advancing the Culture of Life in Hope and with Obedience’: Address by Cardinal Raymond Burke

2011-11-28T09:35:00.000Z

Cardinal Raymond Burke gave the keynote address at a Prayer Breakfast that took place in McHenry County, Illinois, U.S.A., at the end of October. The title of Cardinal Burke’s address was ‘Advancing the Culture of Life in Hope and with Obedience’, and he started off by honouring Bishop Thomas Doran, Bishop of Rockford, on the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination. The Cardinal quoted from Bishop Doran’s book At the Crossroads: A Vision of Hope:

We accept things in contemporary society that we know in the depths of our being are terribly, terribly wrong, and we do not want to talk about them. If a child is inconvenient before it is born, kill him, kill her, but do not call it killing, call it abortion. If a person lives beyond the years when the doctor and society consider that person to be useful, kill him, kill her, but do not call it killing, call it euthanasia.

Cardinal Burke continued, in his own words:

[…] We are presently experiencing in our nation a period of intense struggle in the advancement of the culture of life. Our government follows openly and aggressively a totally secularist philosophy with its inherent anti-life and anti-family agenda. […] Catholics in public office, who obstinately persist in advocating and providing for the most egregious violations of the natural moral law, are the cause of the gravest scandal; they confuse and lead into error their fellow Catholics and non-Catholics alike regarding the most fundamental truths of the moral law. […] Western Europe, for example, has become pervasively secularised. A culture which is totally Christian in its roots and owes its entire development to the Christian faith now does not want in any way to be associated with the name of Christ. It is a culture which is dying, but there are many faithful Christians who live in Western Europe, who have not given up hope and who work to transform the society. […] Many of our citizens defend the right to observe the dictates of a rightly-formed Christian conscience, against those, even in government, who want to force Christians to violate the dictates of conscience regarding the most fundamental moral truths, that is, the inviolable dignity of innocent and defenceless human life, and the integrity of marriage as the faithful, enduring and life-giving union of one man and one woman. […]

Today, sadly, through a failure of education, first, in the family and then in our schools, many do not understand the nature of human life itself, created in the image and likeness of God, and redeemed by the suffering and death of God the Son Incarnate. They have lost the sense of their own inherent dignity as true sons and daughters of God and, therefore, have lost respect for their neighbors as brothers and sisters in the one family whose Father is in Heaven and loves His children with all His heart. Our mission of promoting respect for all human life must, in a particular way, devote itself to promoting purity of heart, sexual purity. The virtue of purity is fundamentally the disciplined expression of respect for life as God created us, male and female. In this regard, I note the confusion and error diffused through the language of gender, which fundamentally denies manhood and womanhood, and manipulates human sexuality to include a host of immoral activities which are a violation of the relationship of male and female, as God ordained it from the beginning. […]

I refuse to believe that most of our fellow countrymen are in favor of destroying babies in the womb in order to honor the so-called right of a woman to make a choice about pregnancy, as if we are ever free to choose with regard to what nature itself has ordained, in accord with God’s plan for man and woman. I refuse to believe that most of our countrymen are in favor of generating human life artificially and then destroying it at the embryonic stage of development for the sake of experiments, no matter how noble may be the supposed goals of the experimentation. I refuse to believe that most of our countrymen are in favor of the redefinition of what nature has ordained regarding the union of man and woman in marriage for the sake of their salvation and the procreation and education of offspring to include relationships which are contrary to nature and a betrayal of true friendship between persons of the same sex. […]

The manipulation of the conjugal act, as the Servant of God Pope Paul VI prophetically observed, has led to many forms of violence to marriage and family life. Through the spread of the contraceptive mentality, especially among the young, human sexuality is no longer seen as the gift of God, which draws a man and a woman together, in a bond of lifelong and faithful love, crowned by the gift of new human life, but, rather, as a tool for personal gratification. Once sexual union is no longer seen to be, by its very nature, procreative, human sexuality is abused in ways that are profoundly harmful and indeed destructive of individuals and of society itself. One has only to think of the devastation which is daily wrought in our world by the multi-million dollar industry of pornography. Essential to the advancement of the culture of life is the proclamation of the truth about the conjugal union, in its fullness, and the correction of the contraceptive thinking which fears life, which fears procreation. […]

The Cardinal referred to

[…] the hypocrisy of Catholics who claim to be practicing their faith but who refuse to apply the truth of the faith in their exercise of politics, medicine, business and the other human endeavors. These Catholics claim to hold ‘personally’ to the truth of the faith, for example, regarding the inviolability of innocent and defenceless human life, while, in the political arena or in the practice of medicine, they cooperate in the attack on our unborn brothers and sisters, or on our brothers and sisters who have grown weak under the burden of years, of illness, or of special needs. Their disobedience pertains not to some truth particular to the life of the Church, that is, not to some confessional matter, but to the truth of the divine natural law written on every human heart and, therefore, to be obeyed by all men. […]

Cardinal Burke then spoke about the true meaning of the phrase ‘the Common Good’, particularly in the context of what he had already said. His speech is recommended to be read in its entirety.

Although he was speaking to an American audience, his words are equally relevant for and to all of us in Europe today.

Cardinal Burke's full address can be accessed on the Rockford Diocese website by following this link and scrolling down to the relevant news item

Holy See make two important interventions at UN General Assembly Committee

2011-11-25T10:29:00.001Z

The Third Committee of UN General Assembly currently meeting in New York on Tuesday Nov. 22nd approved two resolutions under Item 65A, one on The Girl Child and one on the Rights of the Child. Both resolutions had been under negotiation for the last six weeks.

During the final plenary session the Holy See delegate to the third committee Fr Philip Bené made two excellent statements upholding the right to life of the unborn from conception and in support of parental rights and family values.

Fr Bené in his statement on the resolution on the Girl Child, told the meeting:

"We are grateful that many issues facing girls have been incorporated into this comprehensive Resolution including, inter alia, prenatal sex selection, female infanticide, female genital mutilation and forced marriage."

and he continued,

"Of concern to my delegation, however, is that this Resolution can create a misleading impression that early pregnancy, per se, constitutes a health risk, a fact not supported by the report of the Secretary-General on the girl child (A/66/257) which limited its observations to complications arising during childbirth. In this regard, my delegation emphasizes that what is needed in such cases is prenatal and postnatal healthcare for the mother and her child, especially skilled birth attendants and appropriate emergency obstetric care, as enshrined in Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)."

The full text of Fr Bené's statement can be viewed here

Fr Bené in his statement on the resolution on the Rights of the Child then told the meeting:

My delegation welcomes in this text the inclusion of the role of parents in the upbringing and development of girls, even though the prior and primary responsibility of their parents is not explicitly cited. In matters concerning the upbringing and development of the child, particularly in the area of attitudes and life skills, the measure of the best interests of the child is guaranteed by parental priority, as enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirmed in Article 18, 1, of the CRC. Without these guarantees, what stands between children and the coercive power of the State in those places where serious human rights violations could be inflicted against them?

The Holy See reaffirms its reservations with the Resolution, especially regarding its references to “sexual and reproductive health” since the Holy See does not consider abortion or abortion services to be a dimension of such terms and regarding the term “family planning” as the Holy See in no way endorses contraception or the use of condoms, either as a family planning measure or in HIV/AIDS prevention programmes.

The full text of this statement can be viewed here

Pope Benedict's Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Africae Munus

2011-11-24T10:54:00.001Z

Pope Benedict XVI to close his recent visit to Benin presented a document – Africae Munus a Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, which sets out a charter for the evangelization of the African continent in the coming years.
The document is comprehensive and is worth reading in full but it also contains very powerful recommendations on protecting life from conception to natural death and on the sacredness of the family.
In the new document Pope Benedict praised the Synod Fathers for the concern expressed by them in respect of anti life measures, which use confusing and ambiguous language in international documents on women’s reproductive health, which could suggest support for abortion.

The following is an extract from the document

A. The protection of life

70. Among the initiatives aimed at protecting human life on the African continent, the Synod members took into consideration the efforts expended by international institutions to promote certain aspects of development.[109] Yet they noted with concern a lack of ethical clarity at international meetings, and specifically the use of confusing language conveying values at odds with Catholic moral teaching. The Church is perennially concerned for the integral development of “every man and the whole man”, as Pope Paul VI put it.[110] That is why the Synod Fathers took pains to emphasize the questionable elements found in certain international documents, especially those concerned with women’s reproductive health. The Church’s position on the matter of abortion is unambiguous. The child in his or her mother’s womb is a human life which must be protected. Abortion, which is the destruction of an innocent unborn child, is contrary to God’s will, for the value and dignity of human life must be protected from conception to natural death. The Church in Africa and the neighbouring islands must be committed to offering help and support to women and couples tempted to seek an abortion, while remaining close to those who have had this tragic experience and helping them to grow in respect for life. She acknowledges the courage of governments that have legislated against the culture of death – of which abortion is a dramatic expression – in favour of the culture of life.[111]

71. The Church knows that many individuals, associations, specialized groups and states reject sound teaching on this subject. “We must not fear hostility or unpopularity, and we must refuse any compromise or ambiguity which might conform us to the thinking of this world (cf. Rom 12:2). We must be in the world but not of the world (cf. Jn 15:19; 17:16), drawing our strength from Christ, who by his death and resurrection has overcome the world (cf. Jn16:33).”[112]

72. Serious threats loom over human life in Africa. Here, as elsewhere, one can only deplore the ravages of drug and alcohol abuse which destroy the continent’s human potential and afflict young people in particular.[113]Malaria,[114] as well as tuberculosis and AIDS, decimate the African peoples and gravely compromise their socio-economic life. The problem of AIDS, in particular, clearly calls for a medical and pharmaceutical response. This is not enough, however: the problem goes deeper. Above all, it is an ethical problem. The change of behaviour that it requires – for example, sexual abstinence, rejection of sexual promiscuity, fidelity within marriage – ultimately involves the question of integral development, which demands a global approach and a global response from the Church. For if it is to be effective, the prevention of AIDS must be based on a sex education that is itself grounded in an anthropology anchored in the natural law and enlightened by the word of God and the Church’s teaching.

73. In the name of life – which it is the Church’s duty to defend and protect – and in union with the Synod Fathers, I offer an expression of renewed encouragement and support to all the Church’s institutions and movements that are working in the field of healthcare, especially with regard to AIDS. You are doing wonderful and important work. I ask international agencies to acknowledge you and to offer you assistance, respecting your specific character and acting in a spirit of collaboration. Once again, I warmly encourage those institutes and programmes of therapeutic and pharmaceutical research which seek to eradicate pandemics. Spare no effort to arrive at results as swiftly as possible, out of love for the precious gift of life.[115] May you discover solutions and provide everyone with access to treatments and medicines, taking account of uncertain situations! The Church, indeed, has been pleading for a long time for high quality medical treatment to be made available at minimum cost to all concerned.[116]

Link to the full text of Africae Munus

Humanum quarterly review

2011-11-23T10:16:00.000Z

The Hermeneutic of Continuity blog gives a link to a very interesting website – it’s about a new online review called Humanum, the quarterly review of the Center for Cultural and Pastoral Research.

A note from the editor, Stratford Caldecott, tells us that:

Each issue [of the review] will have a main theme around which the reviews and articles cluster, and these themes will progress over the next two years as follows, with four issues per year. We begin with an issue on THE CHILD, because this reveals the foundation of our perspective on humanity: the child is the purest revelation of man and his relationship to Being. Then, in a cycle of four issues under the heading of “Recovering Origins” we focus on Adult Children of Divorce, Artificial Reproduction, Same-Sex Unions, and Fatherhood. In this way we will examine some of the most challenging developments in modern technological culture and their impact on human life and meaning. In the second year-long cycle of issues we focus on “Home and Family”, including Motherhood, Work, and the Elderly, before moving on in the following year to the theme of “Education”.
The articles and reviews on offer in these electronic pages are intended as a service to help you in your work of research and discernment. We hope you will find them useful, whatever your field of interest or line of work, whether you read as a parent, a health-care professional, a marriage counsellor, a scientist, a teacher, or a student. If you are interested in humanity, then Humanum is for you. We welcome your interest, your involvement, and your advice.

There’s a challenge!

Some other subjects featured on the website are as follows: ‘Child 7 Billion – Are seven billion people too many?’; ‘Caring for the Old – In Britain, concerns keep surfacing about the treatment of the elderly in care homes’; ‘Materialism bad for marriage – A new study confirms the obvious’; ‘MaterCare International – The organization MaterCare International recently held a conference in Rome to draw attention to the urgent plight of mothers around the world’.

There is much, much more reading and study material here too.

IVF: A human life abuse

2011-11-22T10:35:00.000Z

The London Independent newspaper reports (17 November 2011) that: ‘Single women who have given up waiting for Mr Right are increasingly turning to IVF to start a family.’ The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is quoted as stating that a big rise in the number of IVF cycles ‘using donated sperm’ has been noted.

The ‘head of reproductive medicine services’ at St. George’s University Hospital in London is reported as saying: ‘More and more single women are coming for treatment. Every IVF clinic will tell you the same; they are treating more single women.’

Treating?

‘Women know the clock is ticking. The biological clock is different for men and women and women know they cannot afford to wait. They want to go and have their children and if a man turns up later, well fine, they will have their children and a partner.’

The list of wrongs involved in the above account is endless and, beyond any other consideration, to deny a child his or her God-given dignity in being conceived in God’s plan for humanity, is horrendous.

Are children once more being regarded as commodities – accessories – to enhance the lifestyle of many people? What about the child? What about the human right of a child to have and to know his or her own mother and father? Does anyone consider that in later life a child may meet and fall in love with a half-brother or half-sister? Where are all the so-called ‘defenders’ of children’s rights?

The Irish Times appears to be cashing in on the problem of infertility, too. In its weekend ‘review’ section the newspaper makes a huge story about the anguish of those people in Ireland who find that they cannot conceive a child. While not in any way seeming to minimise the disappointment of men and women who find themselves in that situation, at the same time we must recognise that the child, too, has rights over and above those claimed by people who are infertile. It is a lie to say that a child conceived by means of a ‘donor’ – either male or female – is the natural child of the ‘commissioning’ couple. To persist with such an attitude is to perpetuate that lie, and denies a human being the knowledge of who is his or her own mother or father. Apart from the ethics and morality involved in such a situation, the stress and physical and emotional damage caused – particularly to the female – are enormous, a fact actually admitted in the Irish Times feature.

Another extraordinary admission on the part of the Irish Times feature writer occurs when describing the IVF ‘procedure’ (in a very clinical manner) – ‘[…] and there it is: human life in its very first seconds.’ Acknowledgment of the fact that pro-life people have known and teach without compromise – human life starts at the moment of conception.

The feature poses the question – ‘How, in a country where abortion is illegal, do you destroy unwanted embryos?’ How, indeed! It would appear that a purpose of the article is the enacting of legislation around the issue of ‘assisted human reproduction’, which is an issue fraught with moral and ethical difficulties and one which the Irish government might find it hard to present to the people – bearing in mind the pro-life principles held by them as evidenced in the recent poll (see my blog for 18 November 2011).

Population Growth; debunking the myths

2011-11-21T11:12:00.000Z

I Blogged earlier this month on the issue of global demographics and population growth, the announcement by the UN of the birth of baby 7 billion. see this link

The Population Research Institute (PRI) has produced a series of videos explaining in simple terms the implications of population growth and exposes the myths being spread by populations controllers, which sadly are believed by many.

I have linked to three of the PRI videos below. It should be noted that the information presented in these videos is based on solid scientific research.

Good News on the Stem Cell front

2011-11-18T11:31:00.002Z

There have been a number of good news stories regarding the development of treatments using adult stem cells while at the same time attempts to produce stem cells from embryos has faltered.

For the first time, stem cells from patients' own hearts have been shown to battle heart failure. In a small study of 16 patients, cardiac stem cells improved heart function and reduced the amount of tissue damage in patients with heart failure -- a disabling and lethal condition caused by the death of heart muscle tissue.

The research, carried out at the University of Louisville and published in the Lancet, found the heart’s blood-pumping efficiency increased in 14 patients whilst at the same time the amount of dead heart muscle tissue decreased.

By contrast the Geron corporation this week announced that it will cease attempts to produce embryonic stem cells using human embryos. The company cited loss of interest from investors as its reason for this decision. Investment has shifted away from embryonic to adult stem cell research because of the great strides that have been made in the development of treatments using a patient’s own stem cells.

The significance of the progress in the area of adult stem cells is set out in a BLOG post by Dr Peter Saunders which I have included in full below and is accessible on this link

It has been an amazing week in the field of stem cell technology with five big stories hitting the news all at once. New doors of therapeutic promise are opening whilst at the same time other doors are slamming shut.

I recently highlighted a New Scientist editorial, ‘In praise of stem-cell simplicity’ which gives a fantastic overview of exciting new avenues in ethical stem cell research which are opening up. But the speed of new developments has increased by leaps and bounds just in the last few days.

Stem cells are naturally occurring cells in the body which have the capacity to develop into a variety of specialist cells. They have been recognized for well over a decade as having huge potential in the treatment of diseases where is there is tissue or cell loss – such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, spinal injury and heart disease.

The reason stem cells are so controversial is that the harvesting of embryonic stem cells involves the destruction of existing embryos and yet some British scientists have for years maintained that they are essential for research.

On the other hand, other scientists have argued that stem cells derived from ethical sources (adult stem cells, umbilical stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells) are safer than embryonic stem cells and have greater therapeutic potential.

Both adult stem cells (from bone marrow and other body tissues) and umbilical stem cells are already used in treatment for a wide variety of haematological and other conditions. By contrast the first clinical trials using embryonic stem cells have only just recently begun.

In addition to this iPS cells, which appear to have all the characteristics of embryonic stem cells, can now be produced by stimulating ordinary body cells to revert to an earlier developmental stage without having to destroy embryos.

What has happened this week is that there have been some fantastic advances in using stem cells from ethical sources whilst at the same time a huge setback for embryonic stem cell technology. It appears that ethical stem cell research is opening more and more doors whilst unethical research using embryos is foundering. These developments are another nail in the coffin for the misinformation and hype that the British public have been fed by the British press on these issues for so long.

For the first time, adult stem cells from patients’ own heart have been shown to improve heart failure.

In the research, carried out at the University of Louisville and published in the Lancet the heart’s blood-pumping efficiency in 14 patients who responded to the stem cell treatment, increased from 30.3% to 38.5% whilst at the same time the amount of dead heart muscle tissue decreased by 24% percent over four months. Seven control patients who did not receive the stem cell treatment showed no improvement.

Second, the doctors behind the world’s first transplant of an artificial windpipe made from a patient’s own stem cells are to begin clinical trials next year on a stem-cell ‘bandage’ for mending torn knee cartilage.

Professor Anthony Hollander of the University of Bristol, who helped save the life of a Colombian woman, Claudia Castillo, with the transplant of a tissue-engineered windpipe, will lead a team treating patients with torn knee cartilages, a common problem among sportspeople. The doctors aim to transplant stem cells derived from a patient’s bone marrow on to a damaged knee joint, where it is hoped the cells will act like a repairing bandage to mend the tissue.

Third, Embryonic-like stem cells have been isolated from breast milk in large numbers. The discovery raises the possibility of sourcing embryonic stem cells for regenerative medicine, without the need to destroy embryos.

Peter Hartmann at the University of Western Australia in Crawley and his colleagues first announced the discovery of stem cells in breast milk in 2008. Now they have grown them in the lab and shown that they can turn into cells representative of all three embryonic germ layers, called the endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm – a defining property of embryonic stem cells (ESC).

Embryonic-like stem cells have previously been discovered in amniotic fluid and in the umbilical cord, but this is the first time they have been discovered in an adult. Chris Mason of University College London has said, ‘If they are truly embryonic, this would be another way of getting stem cells that would not raise ethical concerns.’

Fourth, Scientists at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine have demonstrated that baby mice in utero can heal their mothers’ heart disease. They found that foetal stem cells from the placenta, which they had marked with green fluorescent protein, travelled to the pregnant mother’s heart and were transformed into a variety of cells to repair cardiac damage. This may help to explain a phenomenon seen in previous studies where one in two women with peripartum cardiomyopathy spontaneously recovered after pregnancy.

The director of cardiovascular regenerative medicine at the institution, Dr Hina Chaudhry, has described it as ‘an exciting development that has far-reaching therapeutic potential’. The findings, which are published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation Research, could help researchers find a stem cell treatment for heart disease.

Finally, the company doing the much-heralded first trial on embryonic stem cell therapy is discontinuing further stem cell work .

Geron, a pioneer in stem cell research that has been testing a potential spinal cord injury treatment, said late Monday that it’s halting development of its stem cell programs to conserve funds. It is seeking partners to take on the programs’ assets and is laying off 66 staff, 38% of its entire workforce.

Those scientists who have been singing the praises of embryonic stem cells most loudly are, perhaps predictably, expressing their disappointment. The firm is claiming that its decision is ‘purely financial’ but John Martin, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at University College London has said: ‘The Geron trial had no real chance of success because of the design and the disease targeted. It was an intrinsically flawed study… The first trials of stem cell that will give an answer are our own in the heart. The heart is an organ that can give quantitative data of quality.’

Josephine Quintavalle from the group CORE (Comment on Reproductive Ethics) was rather more frank: ‘At long last after 10 years of unremitting hype, reality has caught up with embryonic stem cell claims. If Geron is abandoning this project it is because it is simply not working, despite the millions of dollars and hot air that has been invested in the promotion of this research.’

So in summary, this has been a week where ethical stem cell research has marched on whilst embryonic stem cell work has ground to a halt. What were perhaps always blind alleys are now closing but new highways of promise are opening ever and ever wider.

The best and most effective treatments are also ethical treatments. Maybe that is the most important lesson to learn from all this.

New poll shows significant majority of Irish people want protection for unborn babies

2011-11-18T10:17:00.001Z

According to an Irish Times article a Millward Brown Poll carried out on behalf of the Pro-Life Campaign found that over two thirds of Irish people want to see the right to life of the unborn child protected in law.

The poll was based on a national random sample of 984 adults.

To the question: “Are you in favour or opposed to constitutional protection for the unborn that prohibits abortion but allows the continuation of the existing practice of intervention to save a mother's life, in accordance with Irish medical ethics?”

61% were in favour of constitutional protection for the unborn child, with 17% opposed. 22% didn't know or had no opinion.

When the “don’t knows” are excluded, 78% are in favour of legal protection for the unborn, while 22% are opposed.

The survey also asked the following question: “In a recent Supreme Court decision, the judges said that human embryos were not protected by the Constitution but deserved respect and that their protection was a matter for the Government. Do you think the Government should legislate or not to protect human embryos from deliberate destruction either by experimentation or by methods of assisted human reproduction that destroy embryos?

59% were in favour of Government legislation to protect the human embryo, 16% were opposed and 26% did not know or had no opinion.

When the “don’t knows” are excluded, 79% are in favour of legislation to protect the human embryo and 21% are opposed.

US Bishops speak out against same-sex civil unions

2011-11-17T10:05:00.000Z

In recent months, two American bishops have spoken out and made statements in relation to the passage of legislation approving same-sex civil unions in the area of their respective dioceses. When quoting from statements such as these it is often difficult to present the entire message in a condensed form. I shall, therefore, give below a small number of extracts from each of the statements.

In a Decree issued by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, he states:

‘[…] For millennia, civil authority recognized the true nature of marriage. The marital union between one man and one woman was universally accepted by civil law as a constitutive element of human society, which is vital to the human family and to the continuation of human race. In a reversal of this tradition, the New York State Legislature recently enacted a law that recognizes same-sex unions as marriages in the State of New York. This law is irreconcilable with the nature and the definition of marriage as established by Divine law.
‘Recognizing my responsibility as Diocesan Bishop to guide the Faithful by clearly teaching the truths of the Faith with charity and without compromise, I hereby decree the following diocesan policy regarding same-sex civil marriages. This policy is to be followed by all persons whose activities are subject to my moral authority as Archbishop of New York. It is intended to provide instruction for the activities of these persons and for the use of the property and facilities of the Church and Catholic-affiliated entities within the canonical boundaries of this Archdiocese.’

The Decree continues with a detailed list of instructions as indicated by the Archbishop, ending with the admonition that ‘Failure to adhere to this policy may result in the imposition of canonical sanctions.’

Bishop Thomas Tobin, Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, in his statement, says:

‘I am deeply disappointed that Rhode Island will establish civil unions in our state. The concept of civil unions is a social experiment that promotes an immoral lifestyle, is a mockery of the institution of marriage as designed by God, undermines the well-being of our families, and poses a threat to religious liberty.
‘In this context it is my obligation to remind Catholics of the teachings of the Church on this matter. First, the Church continues to have respect and love for persons with same-sex attraction; they are indeed children of God and our brothers and sisters in the human family. We pray for their well-being and offer them spiritual guidance and pastoral care. We also extend our love and support to families of homosexual persons who sometimes struggle with this difficult emotional issue.
‘[…] Because civil unions promote an unacceptable lifestyle, undermine the faith of the Church on holy matrimony, and cause scandal and confusion, Catholics may not participate in civil unions. To do so is a very grave violation of the moral law and, thus, seriously sinful. A civil union can never be accepted as a legitimate alternative to matrimony. […]’

SAVING ONE LIFE CANNOT JUSTIFY DESTROYING ANOTHER: POPE BENEDICT XVI

2011-11-16T10:22:00.000Z

The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI received participants, at a conference on adult stem cells in audience, on Saturday last, Nov 12^th. The three-day conference "Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture", was promoted by the Pontifical Council for Culture in collaboration with the U.S. Stem for Life Foundation.

Vatican Information Services published extracts from the Holy Fathers address and some are included below:

"Since human beings are endowed with immortal souls and are created in the image and likeness of God, there are dimensions of human existence that lie beyond the limits of what the natural sciences are competent to determine. If these limits are transgressed, there is a serious risk that the unique dignity and inviolability of human life could be subordinated to purely utilitarian considerations. But if instead these limits are duly respected, science can make a truly remarkable contribution to promoting and safeguarding the dignity of man".

"In this sense, the potential benefits of adult stem cell research are very considerable, since it opens up possibilities for healing chronic degenerative illnesses by repairing damaged tissue. ... The improvement that such therapies promise would constitute a significant step forward in medical science, bringing fresh hope to sufferers and their families alike. For this reason, the Church naturally offers her encouragement to those who are engaged in conducting and supporting research of this kind, always with the proviso that it be carried out with due regard for the integral good of the human person and the common good of society.

[…] When the end in view is one so eminently desirable as the discovery of a cure for degenerative illnesses, it is tempting for scientists and policy-makers to brush aside ethical objections and to press ahead with whatever research seems to offer the prospect of a breakthrough. Those who advocate research on embryonic stem cells in the hope of achieving such a result make the grave mistake of denying the inalienable right to life of all human beings from the moment of conception to natural death. The destruction of even one human life can never be justified in terms of the benefit that it might conceivably bring to another.[...]

"Yet, in general, no such ethical problems arise when stem cells are taken from the tissues of an adult organism, from the blood of the umbilical cord at the moment of birth".

SPUC one day conference on Maternal Mortality

2011-11-15T10:33:00.000Z

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has announced the holding of a conference on Maternal Mortality to be held in London on March 20th 2012. The Conference titled : "Abortion or Maternal Health: What should we be funding in developing countries?"will be held in Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street, London W1

Millennium Development Goal 5 pledged to cut global maternal mortality by 75% by 2015, but with that deadline looming hard questions need to be asked about why this goal will not be reached and what changes need to be made to reduce the unacceptably high rates of maternal death in developing countries. This one-day conference will bring together medical experts who work to provide live-saving health care to pregnant women in developing countries and legal specialists with expertise in the legislative context within which aid strategies are promoted. Maternal mortality is, in the words of SPUC's Fiorella Nash, the Trojan Horse of the Abortion Lobby. By raising this highly-charged subject, the abortion industry seeks to garner more public support for itself and gain an ever increasing share of international aid, all in the name of humanitarian concern. Yet, as this briefing makes clear, talk of maternal mortality from the abortion industry has less to do with genuine help for women than with an agenda which is in fact acutely damaging to women and the unborn.

In conjunction with the announcement of the conference SPUC has issued a briefing package on Maternal Mortality challenging the pro-abortion mantras that constantly demand more and more access to what they call "safe legal abortion", while at the same time ignoring the fact that more abortion means more maternal mortality regardless of whether it is legal or illegal.

Legislation that offends the objective moral law.

2011-11-14T07:12:00.000Z

‘Given the proneness of our human nature to evil, given the enticement of bodily satisfaction, given the widespread modern incitement to un-chastity, it must be evident that an access, hitherto unlawful, to contraceptive devices will prove a most certain occasion of sin, especially to immature persons. The public consequences of immorality that must follow for our whole society are only too clearly seen in other countries.
‘If they who are elected to legislate for our society should unfortunately decide to pass a disastrous measure of legislation that will allow the public promotion of contraception and an access, hitherto unlawful, to the means of contraception, they ought to know clearly the meaning of their action, when it is judged by the norms of objective morality and the certain consequences of such a law.
‘To add to the confusion, it is being suggested that our society ought to be brought into line with the outlook of other countries. Hitherto, we have endeavoured to legislate according to the established beliefs and standards of our own people. One can conceive no worse fate for Ireland than that it should, by the legislation of our elected representatives, be now made to conform to the patterns of sexual conduct in other countries.
‘It is also being suggested that such uniformity of sexual outlook and practice can, in some obscure way, assist the re-unification of our country. One must know little of the Northern people, if one can fail to realise the indignant ridicule with which good Northern people would treat such an argument. It would indeed be a foul basis on which to attempt to construct the unity of our people.
‘It may well come to pass that, in the present climate of emotional thinking and pressure, legislation could be enacted that will offend the objective moral law. Such a measure would be an insult to our Faith; it would, without question, prove to be gravely damaging to morality, private and public; it would be, and would remain, a curse upon our country.’

Prophetic words! The above is an extract from a letter written by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin, to his priests in 1971, following the announcement by Mary Robinson (former president of Ireland) that she had drafted a Bill which would allow for the provision of contraception to be made legal.

March for Life December 10 - The Hague

2011-11-11T07:55:00.000Z

Cry for Life - Hilversum, The Netherlands have issued the following invitation and hope for a large attendance

Herewith you are invited to participate in the annual March for Life, organized amongst others, by the Dutch Pro-life association Schreeuw om Leven/Cry for Life, Christians for Truth

The March for Life is held annually in order to raise awareness for the protection of the unborn. By participating in the silent March participants ask our Queen and government to turn our liberal laws on abortion and euthanasia, which are a threat to the unborn, our elder citizens and the Christian family values.

The March is organized around the date the Dutch government passed the Pregnancy Termination Law, December 18, 1980; allowing the availability of abortion on demand for any women up to the 24th week of her pregnancy.

The two-and-a-half hour program will start at 13.00 hrs on December 10 on the Square (Plein) with an introduction by drs. L.P. Dorenbos and his wife Mrs. W. Dorenbos. After highlighting the work of the Cry for Life help center Er is Hulp, various participants representing national and international ministries will introduce their organization in support of the March.

The March will lead participants thought the center of the Hague. It is a silent March. Banners and signs will be made available through the March organization.

Women will testify revealing the impact of abortion in their lives. After the March Indian pastor P.P. Job will speak on behalf of the girl child discrimination in India and evangelist Brunt deliver a message from the Bible.

For further information and bus reservations (open until December 1 2011) visit:
www.marsvoorhetleven.nl <http://www.marsvoorhetleven.nl>
www.schreeuwomleven.nl <http://www.schreeuwomleven.nl>

For further information dial +31(0)35 6244351

During the March the following cell phones are available:
+31(0)651199125 / +31(0)638384149 / +31(0)648270406

Pope Benedict's address to new German Ambassador

2011-11-10T11:18:00.000Z

Pope Benedict XVI in his address to the new German ambassador reiterated the vital importance of respecting life at all stages from conception to natural death

Pope Benedict in one of the key passages from his speech says of society;

"We are not qualified to judge - to speak of one particularly important topic - whether an individual is 'already a person' or 'still a person'; even less so do we have the right to manipulate and, so to say, 'to create' man. Only a society, which unconditionally respects and defends the dignity of each human being, from conception to natural end, can call itself a human society. ... If the Holy See enters into the field of lawmaking on fundamental questions that involve man's dignity - such as those that arise today concerning the prenatal existence of man - she does so not as a way of indirectly imposing her faith upon others, but of defending values which are evident to everyone because they concern the truth about human beings".

A synopsis of the text is set out below

VATICAN CITY, 7 NOV 2011 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican the Holy Father received the Letters of Credence of Reinhard Schweppe, the new German ambassador to the Holy See. In his remarks to the diplomat he recalled his own recent visit to the country of his birth which, he said, provided an opportunity "to reflect upon the service the Catholic Church and the Holy See can make in a pluralistic society".

"Many of our contemporaries see the influence of Christianity, and of other religions as a way of imposing a specific culture and lifestyle upon society", the Pope observed. "This view is not incorrect, but it is not a complete understanding of the Catholic Church, ... which has not only formed different kinds of cultural community in different countries, but has herself been moulded by the traditions of individual nations".

"The Church is aware - thanks to her faith - that she knows the truth about man, and thus that she is obliged to protect those values which are valid for mankind as such, over and above individual cultures", the Holy Father went on. "Fortunately, a fundamental part of shared human values became law in the German Constitution of 1949 and in the Declaration of Human Rights after World War II. ... Today, however, certain basic values of human life are again been put into question, values which defend the dignity man possesses simply by virtue of being a man. It is here that the Church sees she has a duty, over and above her faith, to defend truths and values that are under threat".

Pope Benedict went on: "We are not qualified to judge - to speak of one particularly important topic - whether an individual is 'already a person' or 'still a person'; even less so do we have the right to manipulate and, so to say, 'to create' man. Only a society, which unconditionally respects and defends the dignity of each human being, from conception to natural end, can call itself a human society. ... If the Holy See enters into the field of lawmaking on fundamental questions that involve man's dignity - such as those that arise today concerning the prenatal existence of man - she does so not as a way of indirectly imposing her faith upon others, but of defending values which are evident to everyone because they concern the truth about human beings".

Benedict XVI then went on refer to gender discrimination against women, describing it as "a critical problem which, due to materialistic and hedonistic tendencies, seems to be on the increase, above all in the Western world". The Pope highlighted how "a relationship which fails to take account of the fact that man and woman have equal dignity represents a grave affront to humankind. The time has come to take an energetic stance against prostitution and the widespread availability of erotic and pornographic material, also on the Internet. The Holy See will ensure that the Catholic Church in Germany takes clear and decisive initiatives against this form of abuse".

In conclusion, the Pope thanked the German federal government and the governments of the Lander for supporting the Catholic Church "which enjoys excellent openings in Germany", both to announce the Gospel and to help people in need through her social and charitable institutions "the work of which, in the final analysis, is of benefit to all citizens".

Forum on End of Life in Ireland: ‘Think Ahead’ project

2011-11-09T10:10:00.000Z

Followingon my blogs on the Forum on End of Life in Ireland, and the launch of the‘Think Ahead’ project at the most recent meeting of the Forum (see, inparticular, my blog of 17 October 2011) it is interesting to read the commentsof Professor Des O’Neill, who is a consultant in geriatric and stroke medicine,on the subject:

‘[…] Onthinkahead.ie, the latest initiative from the Forum on End of Life, it isdisappointing to see how few people realise the danger of simplistic solutionsto care giving for those who might have impaired intellectual capacity in laterlife, and also the danger of terming these plans largely based on not havingtreatment.
‘For,contrary to popular opinion, the greatest danger at the end of life is not thatyou will be overtreated, but that you will be undertreated, in a system thathas strains of ageism and prejudice against disability, in particular dementia.[…]
‘Theavailability of palliative care for terminal stroke and dementia, whileincreasing, is limited.
‘Asresearch develops into future care planning, there has been a marked cooling ofenthusiasm for the concept of rigidly binding advance directives. Once faced with the realities ofillness, people show huge changes over time in their preferences for thefuture. Indeed, the perceptivenessof age has been shown in the first Irish longitudinal study on ageing […],where older people wish to make any such plans only at advanced old age.
‘Also thepublic and some healthcare professionals often underestimate both a patient’squality of life and their ability to signal their needs and wishes, even withadvanced dementia. […]
I wouldlike to request positive, proactive care, such as specifying that those lookingafter me would have specific training in gerontology and dementia care, so thatmy wishes can be interpreted in a sensitive fashion for as long as possible.
‘Ratherthan binding my healthcare providers into an outdated view of a fast-changingmedical landscape, I would like it to be phrased in terms of advanced carepreferences with a strong moral force rather than a legally binding directive.[…]
‘In thecase of the advance directives currently proposed by the Forum on End of Life,certainty might also foreclose early on your options for a full palette of careat the end of your life.’

[IrishTimes Healthplus, 1.11.11

Thoughts on Baby 7 Bilion

2011-11-08T11:43:00.000Z

Alan Titley, a columnist with the Irish Times newspaper, presented his readers recently with a prayer ‘for the seven billionth person’. It is a sort of wish list of beautiful prayers, and I will do my best to convey in English what Mr. Titley has given us in his original Irish:

May you come safely from the womb, because there are many who do not.

May you come safely from the cradle if you are a girl in India, or in China, because there are many girl children who will not.

May you survive the knife if you are a girl in those countries where it is considered a good thing to destroy your femininity.

May you be spared from hunger if your stomach is swollen with want rather than plenty.

May you have parents who will not abandon you.

May you have some small attribute that no-one else ever had.

[…]

May you see the sun every morning.

May you see the beauty [of nature] that not all can see.

[…]

There are many more deep and thoughtful prayers included in this quiet piece, and the whole is something that should be treasured and acknowledged.

Public consultation for Human Rights and Equality Commission

2011-11-07T09:47:00.000Z

Once again, a ‘public consultation process’ has been advertised. This time, the Department of Justice and Equality (in Ireland) would like to know what you think the most recent quango – the Human Rights and Equality Commission (HREC) – should do. The HREC is an amalgamation of the former Irish Human Rights Commission, and the Equality Authority, and what the Working Group set up to establish the new body wishes to know is (a) what you want the new body to do; (b) what features and functions does it need to do these things; and (c) how should it be structured and what working methods should it use to achieve the above.

The Working Group is made up of members of the former Irish Human Rights Commission (4), the former Equality Authority (4), a representative of the Department of Justice and Equality, and the Special Adviser to the Minister for Justice and Equality.

The first stated purpose of the Working Group is ‘to identify best practice in each organisation and the structure and process through which the HREC can ensure respect for human rights, equality, diversity and the freedom and dignity of the individual and the practices in each organisation, if any, that require change and the recommended changes.’

It is interesting to read the final note in the list of purposes of the Working Group:

‘To advise on the best form of enquiry powers, and, in particular, to consider whether adopting the model used for Cloyne might be more effective than the current enquiry power.’

What’s going on here?

Further information may be obtained from the Secretariat of the Working Group, Department of Justice and Equality, Floor 2, Bishop’s Square, Redmond’s Hill, Dublin 2.

It is important that anyone who is in a position to do so should send in a submission (not more than 1,500 words) – email to info@upr.ie, or post to the address given above – before 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 23 November 2011.

Good Counsel Network Fundraising Ball

2011-11-04T12:57:00.000Z

What a lovely idea! The Good Counsel Network is holding a Fundraising Ball at:

55 Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2PN (nearest tube station is South Kensington)

on 19 November 2011

at 6.30 pm

There will be a three-course dinner, with live music and ‘great dancing’

The cost is £70 person, or a special offer of £630 for a table of 10

Dress: Ladies – Evening Dress; Gentlemen – Black Tie

Booking can be made by phone – 0207 723 1740, or online.

Shock Statistics: Family breakdown in Ireland joint highest in Europe

2011-11-03T12:32:00.000Z

New Eurostat figures published recently week show that Ireland has the joint highest share of children living with one parent in the European Union Eurostat statistics show that 23.2 % of young people in Ireland aged under 18 live in one parent families. This was equalled only by Latvia with 23.3 %.
Greece despite all it current woes has the lowest level of family breakdown at 4.8% while the EU average is 13.6%.

These appalling statistics indicate that current government policies are detrimental to the family based on marriage and are in need of urgent review.

The Irish Times reports;

The research, conducted in 2008, provides a unique snapshot into the differences in living arrangements between children across the 27 member states. It showed that fewer Irish children (67.8 per cent) live with married parents than the EU average of 73.8 per cent. Only 7.4 per cent of Irish children were found to live with cohabiting parents – which included biological parents as well as step/adoptive or foster parents – compared to an EU average of 11.5 per cent.
Living with married parents was most common for children in Greece (91.8 per cent) and Cyprus (89 per cent) and least common for children in Estonia (54 per cent) and Sweden (54.4 per cent). The figures showed that living with cohabiting parents was most common in Sweden (27.3 per cent) and least common in Cyprus (0.8 per cent) and Greece (2.1 per cent). The number of children living without parents in Ireland was 1.6 per cent, compared to an EU average of 1.2 per cent.
Emeritus professor in child development at Trinity College Dublin Sheila Greene commented on Ireland’s standing in the statistics: “Apart from demographic changes to the traditional family form driven by the legalisation of divorce and the increase in children born outside of wedlock, various policies around single-parent allowances and family supplements may be shaping these differences.
“As there is an insistence here that parents be on their own and not cohabit to qualify for certain allowances, this may affect actual living arrangements and, indeed, what people are willing to say about their circumstances.”
The study, which also assessed the living arrangements of people aged 65 and over, found significant differences between men and women. The most common arrangement for men was to live with their partner in a two-person household, while for women it was most common to live alone.
In 2008, 60 per cent of men of this age group lived with their partner only, 20 per cent lived alone and another 20 per cent lived in a household with other persons, such as children or relatives, with or without their partner.
The living arrangements of women aged 65 and over revealed a different picture: 41 per cent lived alone, 37 per cent lived with their partner only and 21 per cent lived with others, with or without their partner.
The specific figures for Ireland were broadly consistent with the EU average; they showed 53.8 per cent of men, aged 65 and over, lived with their partner only, 23.4 per cent lived alone and 22.9 per cent lived with others.
Nearly 39 per cent of Irish women in this category lived alone, 36.4 per cent with partner only and 24.8 per cent with others.

World Population reaches 7 billion

2011-11-02T10:28:00.000Z

Much has been said and written about the arrival of baby seven billion. No one knows exactly how many people there are on this earth however the number crunchers decided that Oct 31st 2011 would suffice as "Baby 7B" day and "hey presto" there are now seven billion human beings on earth.
According to the UN, Danica May Camacho born on Monday, October 31, was declared the world's seven billionth baby. She was born in the Phillipine capital of Manila and weighed 5.5 pounds, however in an effort to be fair the UN also symbolically chose several other babies as the world's seven billionth inhabitant.
So just what are the implications of this news? the answer varies according to who is questioned.
The population controllers see it as a problem and ask questions like can the earth sustain such large numbers. they also point to the continuing population growth and the environmental damage caused by humans. UNFPA use the opportunity to demand more and more access to so called reproductive health services which of course include the full list of contraceptive methods together with abortion.
All of the questions raised by the population controllers are more than adequately dealt with by Stephen Mosher of the Population Research Institute in Front Royal Virginia.
Steve Writes;

As our numbers have grown, incomes have soared. In 1800, when there were only 1 billion of us, per capita income worldwide was a mere $100. By 1927 our numbers had doubled, but incomes had already increased five times to $500. By the time we reached 3 billion in 1960, income had tripled again to $1500. Today, as we pass the 7 billion mark, per capita income has soared to $9,000.

In 2100, when the population will be between 7 and 8 billion (and falling), it is projected to be $30,000 in current dollars.

Driving the so-called "population explosion" has been a real explosion in health and longevity. As late as the 19th century, four out of every 10 children died before reaching age five. Today under-five mortality is under 6 percent and falling. Two hundred years ago, human life expectancy was under 30 years. Today it is 69 years and climbing.

As people live longer, naturally there are more of us around at any given time.

By nearly every measure of well-being, from infant mortality and life expectancy to educational level and caloric intake, life in Africa, Asia, and Latin America has been getting dramatically better. According to the World Bank, the average income in the developing world has quadrupled since 1960.

Enough grain is produced for every person on earth to consume 3,500 calories daily. There is no need for anyone to starve in the midst of this plenty.

Population has more than doubled since 1960, but crop yields per hectare have kept pace. World food and resource production has never been higher.

Economies continue to expand, productivity is up, and pollution is declining. Life spans are lengthening, poverty is down, and political freedom is growing. The human race has never been so well off.

In fact, underpopulation, not overpopulation, is the real threat that much of the world faces today. Some 80 countries representing over half the world's population suffer from below replacement fertilitydefined as less than 2.1 children per woman.

The populations of the developed nations today are static or declining. The UN predicts that, by 2050, Russia's population will have declined by 25 million people, Japan's by 21 million, Italy's by 16 million, and Germany's and Spain's by 9 million each. Europe and Japan are projected to lose half their population by 2100.

Countries with below replacement rate fertility will eventually die out. It's just a question of time.

Even in the developing world family size has shrunk, from around 5 children per woman in 1960 to less than 3 today. And the decline continues.

According to the UN's "low variant projection"historically the most accuratethe population of the world will peak at 8 plus billion in 2040 or so, and then begin to decline.

High fertility rates are becoming rare. The UN numbers for 2010 show only 10 countries with population increase rates at or above 3.0 percent.

By 2050, persons aged 65 and above will be almost twice as numerous as children 15 years and younger. The economic consequences of population aging will be closing schools, declining stock markets, and moribund economies.

Ignoring these facts, the population controllers continue to spread their myth of overpopulation.

The UNFPA and other population control organizations are loath to report the truth about falling fertility rates worldwide, since they raise funds by frightening people with the specter of overpopulation. They tell us that too many babies are being born to poor people in developing countries. This is tantamount to saying that only the wealthy should be allowed to have children, and is a new form of global racism.

We should stop funding population control programs, and instead turn our attention to real problems, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and infectious diseases. As mortality rates fall, so will birth rates.

Let us also join together in celebrating the birth of Baby Seven Billion. He or she is a sign of our future, our hope and our prosperity.

People are our greatest resource. Extraordinarily gifted people have helped to enrich civilization and lengthen life spans. But the fact is, everyone, rich or poor, is a unique creation with something priceless to offer to the rest of us.
Baby Seven Billion, boy or girl, red or yellow, black or white, is not a liability, but an asset. Not a curse, but a blessing. For all of us.

The Irish Presidential Election and Rendering to Caesar

2011-11-01T01:58:00.001Z

The election for the presidency of Ireland is over, and it appears that the votes of one million people of those eligible to vote in the election resulted in the appointment of a former member of the Labour Party Michael D Higgins to that exalted position.

Picture shows president elect Michael D Higgins

On many occasions in the past, I have quoted the words of Archbishop Charles Chaput (now archbishop of Philadelphia, U.S.A.). In August 2010 the Archbishop addressed those attending the 15^th Symposium for the Canon Law Association of Slovakia. He commented that many Catholics in the U.S. and Western Europe today do not understand the costs of Christian witness under fifty years of Nazi and Soviet regimes. He continued:

‘[…] Many are indifferent to the process in our countries that social scientists like to call “secularisation” – but which, in practice, involves repudiating the Christian roots and soul of our civilization. […]
‘The Enlightenment-derived worldview that gave rise to the great murder ideologies of the last century remains very much alive. Its language is softer, its intentions seem kinder, and its face is friendlier. But its underlying impulse hasn’t changed – i.e., the dream of building a society apart from God; a world where men and women might live wholly sufficient unto themselves, satisfying their needs and desires through their own ingenuity.
‘This vision presumes a frankly “post-Christian” world ruled by rationality, technology and good social engineering. Religion has a place in this worldview, but only as an individual lifestyle accessory. People are free to worship and believe whatever they want, so long as they keep their beliefs to themselves and do not presume to intrude their religious idiosyncrasies on the workings of government, the economy, or culture. …
‘In the United States, … government agencies now increasingly seek to dictate how Church ministries should operate, and to force them into practices that would destroy their Catholic identity. Efforts have been made to discourage or criminalize the expression of certain Catholic beliefs as “hate speech.” Our courts and legislatures now routinely take actions that undermine marriage and family life, and seek to scrub our public life of Christian symbolism and signs of influence.
‘In Europe, we see similar trends, although marked by a more open contempt for Christianity. Church leaders have been reviled in the media and even in the courts for simply expressing Catholic teaching. Some years ago … one of the leading Catholic politicians of our generation, Rocco Buttiglione, was denied a leadership post in the European Union because of his Catholic beliefs. […]
‘Downplaying the West’s Christian past is sometimes done with the best intentions, from a desire to promote peaceful co-existence in a pluralistic society. But more frequently it’s done to marginalize Christians and to neutralize the Church’s public witness….
‘In practice, … we see that without a belief in fixed moral principles and transcendent truths, our political institutions and language become instruments in the service of a new barbarism. In the name of tolerance we come to tolerate the cruellest intolerance; respect for other cultures comes to dictate disparagement of our own; the teaching of “live and let” justifies the strong living at the expense of the weak.
‘This diagnosis helps us understand one of the foundational injustices in the West today – the crime of abortion.
‘I realize that the abortion license is a matter of current law in almost every nation in the West. In some cases, this license reflects the will of the majority and is enforced through legal and democratic means. And I’m aware that many people, even in the Church, find it strange that we Catholics in America still make the sanctity of unborn life so central to our public witness.
‘Let me tell you why I believe abortion is the crucial issue of our age.
‘First, because abortion … is about living within the truth. The right to life is the foundation of every other human right. If that right is not inviolate, then no right can be guaranteed. […]
‘From the earliest days of the Church, to be Catholic has meant refusing in any way to participate in the crime of abortion – either by seeking an abortion, performing one, or making this crime possible through actions or inactions in the political or judicial realm. […]
‘In our day – when the sanctity of life is threatened not only by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, but also by embryonic research and eugenic temptations to eliminate the weak, the disabled and the infirm elderly – this aspect of Catholic identity becomes even more vital to our discipleship.
‘My point in mentioning abortion is this: Its widespread acceptance in the West shows us that without a grounding in God or a higher truth, our democratic institutions can very easily become weapons against our own human dignity. […]
‘The Catholic beliefs that most deeply irritate the orthodoxies of the West are those concerning abortion, sexuality and the marriage of man and woman. This is no accident. These Christian beliefs express the truth about human fertility, meaning and destiny. …
‘But we can never render unto Caesar what belongs to God. We need to obey God first; the obligations of political authority always come second. We cannot collaborate with evil without gradually becoming evil ourselves. […]
‘We need to fight the evils we see. And most importantly, we must not delude ourselves into thinking that by going along with the voices of secularism and de-Christianization we can somehow mitigate or change things. Only the Truth can set men free. […]
‘And let us support each other – whatever the cost – so that when we make our accounting to the Lord, we will be numbered among the faithful and courageous, and not the cowardly or the evasive, or those who compromised until there was nothing left of their convictions, or those who were silent when they should have spoken the right word at the right time. […]’

Although this is a fairly lengthy extract from the Archbishop’s address I hope that I have not taken any of it out of the context of the whole. However, I consider that what is quoted above makes for very relevant reading in these times.

Ireland must report to yet another UN Committee

2011-10-31T03:12:00.000Z

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICSECR) is just one of a whole range of like UN covenants and documents that countries – known as ‘states parties’ – sign up to and subsequently ratify. It sounds fine, and there is no disputing the fact that many good proposals and commitments are contained in these documents. But the involvement of so-called states parties doesn’t end there. Each signatory country or state is obliged to submit a report regularly to the committees attached to the covenants. This means that, every four or so years, each participating state must report to the committee of the relevant covenant as to how that state is putting into place changes laid down by a specific committee with regard to a number of areas of legislation where it – the committee – considers that change should be effected.

If such interference were directed at, say, China, in the horrific matter of its notorious ‘one child’ policy, then one could understand and legitimately applaud such action. However, the policies of some United Nations agencies – for instance the UNFPA – are actually in support of the ‘one child’ policy. So, one can well ask – what is the agenda of, say, the committee of the ICESCR when it drags the promotion of abortion into its area of interest? And why does Ireland, in its Draft Third Periodic Report to the Committee of the ICESCR, kowtow to the peddlers of death by including the following:

‘Abortion is illegal in Ireland except when there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother. The European Court of Human Rights heard in December 2009 an application by three women that it is a breach of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights for the Irish State not to provide abortion in circumstances where a woman wishes to undergo an abortion … On 16^th December 2010, the Court dismissed the application of the first and second applicants, Ms A and Ms B. The Court found that Ireland had failed to respect the third applicant’s (Ms C) private life contrary to Article 8 of the Convention, as there was no accessible and effective procedure to enable her to establish whether she qualified for a lawful termination of pregnancy in accordance with Irish law. The Department of Health and Children – in conjunction with its legal advisors is currently examining options for implementing the judgment concerned. …’

The item concludes by directing the reader to the website of an agency the vast majority of whose members offer abortion as a ‘positive option’ to pregnant women and girls.

Abortion has nothing to do with economic, social or cultural rights, and it must have no place in Ireland’s Report.

Students for Life in the US

2011-10-28T12:22:00.000+01:00

This video is well worth watching and gives great hope for the future.
The young people are on fire for life and as they say themselves the tide is turning, there are more and more young people taking the pro-life message to heart leading to the availability of more and more young activists so there is hope.

It is vital that this new awakening becomes really international and there is fresh evidence that it is beginning to be judging by increasing numbers. Huge numbers of young people on both sides of the Atlantic attend pro-life marches and rallies wherever and whenever they are held and nowadays often outnumber the older generation, giving lie to the media perception that young people are "pro-choice" which of course is a euphamism for being pro abortion.

Archbishop Dolan challenges Obama on DOMA

2011-10-27T12:14:00.000+01:00

With attacks on marriage and the family growing day by day, worldwide, it is good to read about any ‘fight back’ on the part of Catholic bishops, in particular.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who is also president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote to President Barack Obama last month, calling on him to stop the undermining of DOMA – the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The Archbishop told President Obama that his (the President’s) Administration will undermine marriage and create a serious breach of Church-State relations if it continues to whittle away at DOMA. The letter to President Obama was accompanied by an analysis of the Administration’s threats to marriage.

Archbishop Dolan wrote:

‘Our profound regard for marriage as the complementary and fruitful union of a man and a woman does not negate our concern for the well-being of all people but reinforces it. […] While all persons merit our full respect, no other relationships provide for the common good that marriage between husband and wife provides. The law should reflect this reality. […] Our federal government should not be presuming ill intent or moral blindness on the part of the overwhelming majority of its citizens, millions of whom have gone to the polls to directly support DOMAs in their states and have thereby endorsed marriage as the union of man and woman. Nor should a policy disagreement over the meaning of marriage be treated by federal officials as a federal offense – but this will happen if the Justice Department’s latest constitutional theory prevails in court.’

Let us pray, and hope, that the Archbishop’s admonition may have some impact on the President of the U.S., and that the Bishops’ Conferences in other countries around the world will follow in the footsteps of Archbishop Dolan by challenging their own national governments in a similar manner

The human dignity of aborted babies

2011-10-26T14:54:00.000+01:00

Although this story relates to an event that took place in 2007 perhaps it is worth re-telling – it is not an old story. The story captures in a very important way the humanity and dignity not only of the 10 babies referred to here but of every unborn baby whose human life is ended by abortion. But there is another reality their immortal souls live on and it is therefore a holy and a wholesome deed to have recognised this and acted upon it. This action is to be admired.

‘I have been on the front lines of the battle to restore respect for human life for over 24 years, and I thought I had seen just about everything. There is not much that can shake me up any more. But on June 11, I did one of the hardest things I have ever done.
‘After I left Schooler Funeral Home, it was a couple of hours before I could focus enough to begin to write what I had seen and experienced: A child-size casket containing 10 preborn babies. The babies varied in age from 25 days to apparently full term. The full term baby has flowing brown hair and the most beautiful little face. …
‘I went to my car and got a Blessing Blanket for these little ones, and back in I went, with Jim [the funeral director] leading the way to the room where the babies lay in state. These babies had been dead for at least 35 years but were preserved by a scientific research firm. Each was encased in an acrylic block, something like a paper weight with a baby inside. I could have been just another curious onlooker. But the babies had been entrusted to us for burial, and it was my job to sign the papers; ten papers for ten babies. Ten babies encased in ten cubes, in one casket.
‘It is impossible to wrap your mind around the cold reality that these children had been deprived of the most basic human dignity for over 35 years, and I wondered if anyone had ever hugged them or loved them. So I did. I picked each one up individually and walked across the room, holding the babies close to my heart. I put each one on the pink baby blanket that says “Wrapped in Jesus’ Love” and I took a picture of these precious little ones.
‘I spiritually adopted them, so that they would have an earthly mother who knows where their bodies will be buried and who loves them, and I signed each of their committal papers. …
‘Tuesday evening, June 12, Bishop John W. Yanta presided at the rosary for the babies at Schooler Funeral Home, assisted by Msgr. CalStalter. More than 75 people came to pray for the souls of the babies and for their parents. Then on Wed., June 13, Bishop Yanta presided at their burial at the Hour of Mercy in Memory Gardens, near the statue of the Holy Family….
‘Msgr. Harold Waldow will celebrate the Mass of the Holy Innocents for the babies on July 7 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Mary’s in Amarillo [Texas, USA]. Please join us in remembering these little children who never celebrated a birthday, never felt a mother’s hug, and who waited so long for a Christian burial.’ May they rest in peace.

[from the blog of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee]