Experts skeptical, saddened by Guttmacher report on state of abortion in U.S.
Washington D.C., May 4, 2006 (CNA) - On
Friday, the Alan Guttmacher Institute--the research arm of Planned
Parenthood--will release a new report on the past, present and future
state of abortion in the U.S. and the world. Even prior to its release
however, many are critical of the document, calling it a work of
propaganda aimed at building up the abortion industry.
Mercy Gutierrez,
a columnist for Catholic News Agency who works with the Denver-based
group, ENDOW (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) viewed an
advance copy of the report, and told CNA that while she wasn’t
particularly surprised, she was saddened.
In its section
entitled, ‘Incidence of Abortion’ the report showed that 46 million
abortions take place across the world, while only about 1.3 million of
those are performed in the U.S.
Gutierrez said
this fact convinced her that “’population control programs’ along with
the global dominance of NGOs like Planned Parenthood capitalize on
under-developed third world countries and use these programs as
leverage when conducting foreign policy relations.”
She cited
efforts made by the Bush administration to end these practices but
questioned the specific percentages of third-world abortions.
Likewise,
Gutierrez said that another of the report’s statistics suggesting that
more than half of all abortions in the U.S. are performed on women in
their 20s and two-thirds of them occur among women who have never been
married “convinces me of our society’s ‘crisis of commitment’ and
misunderstanding of sexuality.”
“I know it is
not a surprise since we are living in a hedonistic ‘culture of death’”,
she said, “but seeing the stats to prove it is eye-opening.”
Another of the
report’s sections seeks to expose the relatively high number of
abortions among Christians, and particularly Catholics.
To this,
Gutierrez called it “a sad reality to see that Catholic women are more
likely to have an abortion than other Christians, but again this points
to a lack of catechesis or understanding about the fetus being a LIFE,
about God’s greater plan for our lives.”
Agenda-driven statistics?
Likewise, Ramesh
Ponnuru, a columnist for the National Review who has actually commended
the Guttmacher Institute’s past research called the latest report,
merely an attempt “to put social science behind Planned Parenthood's
agenda.”
He adds that “It
pretends that the latest studies all vindicate the view that
parental-consent laws on abortion, for example, are ‘bad public
policy.’” and claims “that abortion almost never has any adverse
effects on women and suggests that the only way to reduce abortion
rates is to increase access to contraception.”
He points to
questionable statistics about the decline in numbers of abortions since
the passing of Roe vs. Wade, saying that it’s doubtful that numbers
actually fell from as many as 1.2 million before legalization to
899,000 after the practice was made legal.
Ponnuru also
called misleading the statistics which show a drop in the number of
maternal deaths following Roe v. Wade pointing out that the report’s
own charts showed that those deaths were already dropping prior to the
court decision.
Despite questionable statistics, Gutierrez lamented the culture which has grown up around abortion and contraception on demand.
She pointed out
that everything Pope Paul VI (in Humane Vitae) and John Paul II “said
has come to fruition. Contraceptive use has spurred a general
lowering of morality, increased sexual promiscuity, detachment of
consequences that come from sexual activity, and complete ignorance
that intercourse should be committed and should be love-making.”
Overall, she called the report as well as the culture it cites, “Very, very sad.”
Vatican condemns illicit Chinese bishop ordinations, expects excommunications
Vatican City, May 4, 2006 (CNA) - Following
yesterday’s announcement of a second ordination--in the same week--of a
Catholic bishop in China without consent from the Vatican, the Holy See
has announced its profound condemnation and said that excommunication
is now likely for the two illicit bishops as well as their consecrators.
Farther Joseph
Ma Yinglin was consecrated bishop last Sunday in the province of
Yunnan, while Fr. Joseph Liu Xinhong, was ordained to the province of
Anhui on Wednesday.
In a statement,
Holy See Press Office director Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that “the
Holy Father has learned of the news with profound displeasure, since an
act so relevant for the life of the Church, such as an episcopal
ordination, has been carried out in both cases without respecting the
requirements of communion with the Pope.”
He called the
act “a grave wound to the unity of the Church, for which severe
canonical sanctions, as it is known, are foreseen (cfr. canon 1382 from
the Code of Canon Law).”
According to the
current information received by the Vatican, “bishops and priests have
been subjected to - on the part of external entities to the Church -
strong pressures and to threats, so that they would take part in the
episcopal ordinations which, being without pontifical mandate, are
illegitimate and, besides, contrary to their conscience.”
“Various
prelates”, Navarro-Valls pointed out, “have given a refusal to similar
pressures, while others were not able to do anything but submit with
great interior suffering. Episodes of this kind produce lacerations not
only in the Catholic community but also in the internal conscience
itself.”
He said that the
Church now faces “a grave violation of religious liberty,
notwithstanding that it is sought to present the two episcopal
ordinations as a proper act to provide the pastors for vacant dioceses.”
The press
director explained that for some time the Holy See has followed “with
attention the troubled path of the Catholic Church in China and even
aware of some particularities of such a path, believed and hoped that
similar, deplorable episodes by now would belong to the past.”
“She considers
that now it is her precise duty”, he continued, “to give voice to the
suffering of the entire Catholic Church, in particular to that of the
Catholic community in China and especially to that of those bishops and
priests who were seen obligated, against conscience, to take part or to
participate in the episcopal ordination, of which, neither the
candidates or the consecrating bishops want to carry out without having
received the pontifical mandate.”
Citing rumors of
further episcopal ordinations, the Holy See asked for autonomy for the
Chinese Chirch and expressed its wishes that “such unacceptable acts of
violence and inadmissible constrictions are not repeated.”
Navarro-Valls
pointed to the Church’s long-standing desire “for honest and
constructive dialogue with the competent Chinese authorities for the
purpose of finding a solution that would satisfy the needs of both
parties,” but said that “initiatives such as the above mentioned do not
favor such dialogue but instead create new obstacles against it."
Church ‘will not budge one inch’ on issue of condom use, says Cardinal Lopez Trujillo
Vatican City, May 4, 2006 (CNA) - In
an exclusive interview with Colombia’s Radio Cadena Nacional (RCN),
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council
for the Family, said the Catholic Church would not back down from its
long-standing teaching on condoms and the prevention of AIDS.
The cardinal
told RCN that the Vatican “maintains unmodified the teaching on
condoms” and said the recent statements by Italian Cardinal Maria
Martini “are nothing more than his own personal opinions which do not
reflect [Church] teaching.”
Cardinal Lopez
Trujillo said Pope Benedict XVI has not ordered any studies about
modifying the prohibition on condom use. “As a dicastery we do
not have any instruction or any indication to the contrary, to carry
out a study about something new with regards to condoms,” he stated.
The Colombian
prelate said Cardinal Martini “should explain how the condom prevents
AIDS if it is true he said it is a lesser evil.”
The Church
believes the only way to truly combat AIDS, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo
said, is through fidelity and chastity, which are the only morally
acceptable means. Contraception, the Church teaches, damages the
integrity of the full gift of self, which is intrinsic to the sexual
act.
Bishop Tafoya of Pueblo strongly denies charges of misconduct in handling of sex abuse case
Pueblo, Colo., May 4, 2006 (CNA) - Bishop Arthur N. Tafoya of Pueblo, Colorado in an official, statement released today, answered to charges of negligence and misconduct directed against his diocese from lawyers and pressure groups defending victims of sexual abuse.
The issue came to the attention of the diocese of Pueblo through an article released yesterday in the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper, and related by pressure groups, alleging the diocese had documents showing the diocese was aware of abuse in June 2002, way before any actions was formally taken.
To this Bishop Tafoya answered that “as has been stated in recent newspaper articles, records indicate that the Diocese of Pueblo received no complaints or reports of sexual misconduct or abuse against former Brother Mueller until the recent claims.”
Lawyers handling the case insist that a letter from a former Roncalli High School student to church officials alerted them to possible sex abuse by a former Pueblo parochial school teacher more than three years before the local Catholic diocese acknowledged it was aware of any allegations.
“In the light of new complaints being made against former Brother Mueller, I wish to state that I am truly sorry for any harm and pain that has been suffered by victims of sexual misconduct,” Bishop Tafoya followed.
“The issue of clergy sexual misconduct is difficult and painful, not only for the individuals involved, but for the people of the Diocese as a whole.”
Bishop Tafoya concluded his letter reaffirming the commitment of “many priests, deacons and religious who are ministering capably and faithfully to the people of the Diocese of Pueblo; it is important that they know how much they are appreciated.”
Archbishop says justice not served by suing innocent, calls for revision of state bill
Denver, Colo., May 4, 2006 (CNA) - Denver’s
Archbishop Charles Chaput is urging a joint House-Senate conference
committee to broker a “fair” and “reasonable” version of Colorado’s
House Bill 1090, which deals with civil liability in sexual abuse
cases.
The joint committee headed to its conference May 1.
In his column,
published in the Denver Catholic Register, the archbishop warned
against suing current Catholic communities for the crimes of the past.
“The continuing
effort of some lawmakers in the Colorado General Assembly to burden the
Catholic community with retroactive civil liability for past sexual
abuse cases is a textbook example of anger posing as ‘justice,’” wrote
the archbishop.
“The people who
pay for these damaging lawsuits are … average, innocent Catholic
families who had nothing to do with the evil actions of some bad or
mentally ill abusers 25, 35 or 45 years ago,” he wrote.
“No one disputes
the need for tough laws against the sexual abuse of minors. And
everyone — both inside and beyond the Church — agrees that helping past
victims of childhood sexual abuse to heal is a serious and urgent
need,” he said. “But suing the innocent today for sins and crimes in
the past is not justice.”
Archbishop
Chaput explained that the Catholic bishops of Colorado endorsed the
earlier HB 1088, which abolished the criminal statute of limitations
regarding future cases of sexual abuse with minors because it was
revised according to the concerns of the community.
But HB 1090 is
another matter, he said. While HB1090 “passed out of the House this
spring with some modest improvements to its content,” said the
archbishop, “some key senators then essentially rewrote HB 1090 with
the worst punitive and prejudicial elements of Senate Bill 143, pushed
it through the Senate by a one-vote margin, and sent it back to the
House.”
The archbishop
added that all institutions — both public and private, Catholic and
secular — should face the same penalties, financial damages and
reporting standards for the society-wide crime of sexual abuse of a
minor.
After Church complaints, German court calls MTV’s ‘Popetown’ ‘too dumb to be insulting’
Munich, Germany, May 4, 2006 (CNA) - A
Munich court yesterday rejected a call by local Catholic Church
officials to ban MTV’s airing of Popetown, saying the Vatican parody is
“too dumb to be insulting," reported the Irish Examiner.
The court said
though the program has provoked “various reactions” it hasn’t risen to
the level of disturbing the public peace, which it would have to do to
warrant a ban.
The Music
Television Network said last week it would broadcast only the first
episode of the cartoon, and then consider public reaction before airing
other episodes.
But the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising rejected the concession, instead filing a legal injunction against the broadcaster.
"In this way the
Catholic faith and the Catholic Church are exposed to ridicule, which
is justified neither by the freedom of opinion, of art, of the press
nor of broadcasting," the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising said in a
statement.
The bishops also
attacked the television channel for an advertising campaign which
showed Jesus getting down from the cross to sit in an armchair and
watch the program, reported Reuters. The tagline read: Have a laugh
instead of hanging around.
MTV said it had
been prepared for resistance to "Popetown" but was surprised by the
extent of the backlash from the Catholic Church, reported Reuters. The
network also invited Church representatives, a youth political party
and viewers to a broadcasted debate on the merits of the cartoon.
The BBC
originally commissioned the program but decided in 2004 not to show it
after protests from Church leaders. It was aired last year in New
Zealand, despite a Church-led campaign against the broadcaster.
Increasing numbers of immigrants cries out for a just solution, says USCCB president
Spokane, Wash., May 4, 2006 (CNA) - The
mounting U.S. debate over immigration is an opportunity to finally find
a just solution to the problem of undocumented workers, said the
president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last week.
“Heated
political debate, large demonstrations, and the presence of large
numbers of migrants to this country have finally brought to a head the
much-needed discussion, and search for a resolution, of the issue of
immigration,” wrote Spokane’s Bishop William Skylstad in a column,
published in the April 27 edition of the Spokane Diocese Inland
Register.
“It is most
important that we recognize that human beings are involved – people who
have come to the United States to work and to live. They are brothers
and sisters in Christ who deserve respect and support,” he wrote.
The presence of immigrants is integral to U.S. economy, he said, recalling that his father immigrated to the U.S. in 1927.
The bishop
recognized that times have changed and that there are many more
undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. than in the past.
However, they come seeking work that they desperately need, he said.
“The reality of
increasing numbers of undocumented persons cries out for a just
resolution,” he said. “Unfortunately, their presence has occasioned a
certain amount of immigrant bashing, and even some rather mean-spirited
legislation proposed on the national level.”
“We certainly
need to secure our borders,” he admitted. “But we have a need for
workers in the United States, and people have responded to that need,”
he pointed out.
The bishop cited
several pastoral letters and documents the U.S. bishops have written on
the issues surrounding immigration, either as state conferences, as a
national conference and in conjunction with the Mexican bishops (2003).
The documents,
he said, remind citizens and legislators that immigration is not just
about policy and management but about real people crossing borders to
meet their human needs and those of their families by seeking
employment, peace, education and stability.
They urge
Christians to live the Gospel call to “welcome the stranger.” They
affirm the right of a person to migrate in search of a better life and
that the dignity and rights of undocumented migrants should be
respected.
More recently,
the U.S. bishops have embarked upon a special campaign, Justice for
Immigrants: A Journey of Hope, which calls for solidarity among the
faithful and an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system, the bishops
pointed out.
Proposed changes
include more access to family reunification, abandoning border
blockades, restoring due process protections for immigrants and
providing legal pathways for migrants to come and work in a safe,
humane, and orderly manner.
Former Vatican Swiss Guards complete historic march to Rome in time for papal blessing
Rome, Italy, May 4, 2006 (CNA) - A
group of former Swiss Vatican Guards, who arrived in Rome after
re-enacting a historic march from Switzerland undertaken 500 years ago,
will receive a special papal blessings today, reported Swissinfo.org.
Their arrival in Rome launched the 500th-anniversary celebrations that mark the founding of the "smallest army in the world."
On January 21,
1506, 150 Swiss mercenaries marched to Rome in response to an
invitation from Pope Julius II, who sought his own private army for
protection against the Church’s enemies.
This past month,
about 70 former guardsmen, from 25 to 76 years of age, took 28 days to
march the same 720-km route from Bellinzona, Switzerland to Vatican
City, following the historic "Via Francigena" pilgrimage route to Rome.
Fifty other former papal guards walked part of the way.
The former Swiss
guards will be officially welcomed by a delegation of officials from
Rome and the Vatican. They will receive a blessing from Pope Benedict
XVI today.
On Friday, Swiss
President Moritz Leuenberger is scheduled to give a welcome speech on
behalf of the Swiss government during an official ceremony in the
Vatican City. New Swiss guardsmen will be sworn in on Saturday in St
Peter's Square.
A wreath will
also be laid in memory of the Swiss guards who died in 1527 defending
the Vatican against the forces of Charles V.
Today, some 110 papal guards are responsible for the security of the Vatican as well as the person of the Pope.
Austrian diocese sending USB hard drives with Church info as gifts to young people
, May 4, 2006 (CNA) - Since
the start of 2006, the Austrian Diocese of Graz has begun sending a
curious gift to all young people who celebrate their 18th
birthday: a USB hard drive with information about the Catholic
Church.
According to the
Kath.net news agency, the portable hard drives contain information
about the Diocese of Graz presented in a manner that is attractive to
young people, as well as texts about the Catholic faith and a series of
basic Christian prayers.
In a press
release, the diocese said the purpose of the gifts is “to send the
traditional birthday greeting of the Bishop to all those in the diocese
who become legal adults, through the presentation of the aforementioned
information.”
The initiative
is intended to deepen and improve the relationship between young people
and the Church and at the same time promote the acceptance and
understanding of their necessary contribution to the mission of the
Church.
Masons claim compatibility with Christian faith, call for lifting of excommunication
Madrid, Spain, May 4, 2006 (CNA) - The
head office of Masons in Spain is calling on the Spanish bishops’
Committee on the Doctrine of the Faith to review the decree of
excommunication imposed on Catholics who practice Masonry, claiming it
does not contradict Christianity.
In a press
release, the Spanish masons said that the Church is committing an
“injustice” in their case, because the Masonic system to which they
belong—the Rectified Scottish Rite (RSR)—is “totally Christian” and
does not attack “Christianity or any Roman Catholic dogma.”
The masons said
they have turned over the complete texts of the RSR to the Benedictine
Monastery of Montserrat “as sign of our good will and so that they can
be calmly reviewed and studied by the person or persons designated by
the Catholic Church.”
The masons said
the press release was “the continuation of diverse contacts” that have
been made with the Church in Spain. They added that they were
determined to find a resolution to the matter.
The Code of
Canon Law promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1983 states in canon 1374
that, a “person who joins an association which plots against the Church
is to be punished with a just penalty; however, a person who promotes
or directs an association of this kind is to be punished with an
interdict.”
Since the new
code only implicitly mentions Masonry, then-prefect of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, published a
statement on November 26 of the same year in order to clear up any
confusion and reaffirming the Church’s “negative judgment” regarding
Masonry, “because their principles have always been considered
irreconcilable with the teaching of the Church.
Consequently,
membership in such associations continues to be prohibited by the
Church. The faithful who belong to Masonic associations are in a
state of grave sin and cannot present themselves to receive Holy
Communion,” the statement noted.
Likewise it
warned that local Church authorities do not have the competence to
issue pronouncements about the nature Masonic associations that would
imply a repealing of what the Church has already established in the
declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of
February 17, 1981.
Cardinal encourages Catholics, Buddhists to work together in service of humanity
Vatican City, May 4, 2006 (CNA) - The
Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue has sent a
message to the world’s Buddhists, currently celebrating Vesakh, calling
for a mutual respect and cooperation between the two religions in an
effort to reclaim the idea of love, discussed in Pope Benedict’s recent
encyclical.
The feast of
Vesakh marks important events in the life of Gautama Buddha. In the
Mahayana Buddhist tradition (China, Japan and Korea) these events are
commemorated on different days.
The traditional
message, entitled " Buddhists and Christians Serving Humanity" reflects
on the nature of love, addressed by Pope Benedict XVI in his first
encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est".
Cardinal Poupard
said that "The Pope is convinced that this word, so frequently used and
yet so often misunderstood, needs to have its true meaning restored in
order to become a beacon of light for everyday life".
"Through our
dialogue”, he continued, “we have come to appreciate the importance
that you Buddhists give to love for one's fellow human beings which is
expressed in the concept of metta, a love without any desire to possess
but only to help others.”
He called this
“a love which is willing to sacrifice self-interest for the benefit of
humanity. So metta, according to Buddhist teaching, is not confined to
benevolent thought, but extends to the performance of charitable deeds,
to the service of one and all. It is indeed a universal benevolence.”
"In this world
where the word love is so often used and misused”, he stressed, “would
it not be useful for Buddhists and Christians to rediscover its
original meaning according to their respective traditions and to share
their understanding with one another?”
“This”, he said,
“would be an encouragement for the followers of both traditions to work
together to build up relations based on love and truth, to promote
mutual respect, to foster dialogue and to further collaboration in the
service of those who are in need".
Cardinal Pell of Sydney encourages Catholics to read Koran
Sydney, Australia, May 4, 2006 (CNA) - “I recommend that you too read this sacred text of the Muslims, because the challenge of Islam will be with us for the remainder of our lives – at least,” Cardinal Georges Pell of Sydney affirmed at a conference titled 'Islam and Western democracies', in Naples Florida.
The Archdiocese of Sydney published this week the text of a conference given on Islam and Western democracies on February 4, in Naples, Florida. Cardinal Pell sought to answer these following questions: Can Islam and the Western democracies live together peacefully? What of Islamic minorities in Western countries?
Cardinal Pell gave his own personal experience on Islam, particularly in the aftermath on September 11. “ I recognized that I had to know more about Islam” he conceded.
“I decided then to read this book for myself as a first step to adjudicating conflicting claims. And I recommend that you too read this sacred text of the Muslims, because the challenge of Islam will be with us for the remainder of our lives – at least,”, he said at the beginning of his conference.
Pell affirmed that “Most ordinary people, both Muslim and non-Muslim, share the desire for peace, stability and prosperity for themselves and their families.”
“I accept with reservations the claim that Jews, Christians and Muslims worship one god (Allah is simply the Arabic word for god) and there is only one true God available to be worshipped!”
Cardinal Pell also gave a historical survey of the relations between religious communities, clearing the myth of a genuine tolerance of Christian and Jewish minorities under Arab rule: “Arab rule in Spain and Portugal was a disaster for Christians and Jews, as was Turkish rule in the Balkans.”
The Sydney Cardinal wished to underline the fundamental differences between Christian and Muslims in understanding revelation: “In the Muslim understanding, the Koran comes directly from God, unmediated. The Bible, in contrast, is a product of human co-operation with divine inspiration.”
“Above all else we have to remember that like Christianity, Islam is a living religion, not just a set of theological or legislative propositions. Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion and its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited,” Cardinal Pell said.
Though he moderated this view by adding that “It is easy for us to tell Muslims that they must look to themselves and find ways of reinterpreting their beliefs and remaking their societies. Exactly the same thing can and needs to be said to us.”
Cardinal Pell said the West's secularism spawns "meaninglessness." The West also needs to "understand the secular sources of emptiness and despair and how to meet them, so that people will choose life over death."
