IT’S ‘BACK TO SCHOOL’ TIME, A MIX OF NOSTALGIA AND NEW BEGINNINGS. In our family, it’s a first, as our almost-four-year-old son will be off to pre-school two afternoons a week. He’s delighted, of course, but veteran moms out there will laugh to learn that I’m a wreck. Like most mothers in my situation, I already miss the time I won’t be [...]
The following is another horror story of modern education. The Christian apologist, G.K. Chesterton once said: “When somebody stops believing in Christianity, he doesn’t stop believing. From then on, he believes in anything at all.” As the educational system abandons Christianity, any number of harebrained superstitions threaten to take its place. The day that parents could leave their children safely in the [...]
Mrs. Grace MacInnis died in Vancouver in August. In the 1960’s she was the only woman MP in the House of Commons. As the daughter of CCF founder J.S. Woodsworth, a one time United Church Minister, she imbibed the socialist worldview with her mother’s milk. This view interprets Christianity as essentially a social reform movement. Unabashed champion As the NDP member for [...]
In April, Toronto Archbishop Aloysius Ambrozic issued a strongly worded ‘no’ to condoms as a solution to the spread of AIDS or as a contraceptive. Yet, York Separate (Catholic) School Board (YSSB) may place its stamp of approval on a revised policy that will contain an explanation of how condom use may prevent AIDS. Circumvent “It seems like the York Region Separate [...]
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) sprang a surprise at its annual convention. The ethics committee recommended that a fetus be considered a baby after all, sometime around its 20th week of life. Feminists were enraged. Women will continue to be slaves to their wombs, said one. Abortion hearings In November, 1990, at the Senate abortion hearings on Bill C-43, the CMA delegation [...]
What religion is being taught in Catholic schools? This has been a puzzle for many Catholic parents, including myself, for a number of years. At a May 27 meeting of the important Metropolitan (Toronto) separate School Board’s Religious Affairs committee, chaired by Father Ed Boehler, the Religious Ed chicken feathers hit fan. Stonewalling It all started in response to what was perceived [...]
Catholic students get a failing grade Editor’s note The Interim has been examining what is being taught in the schools about sexual-moral-religious values. In the first five issues of 1991 we raised readers’ awareness about the inroads the condom mentality was making among teachers and administrators. We were happy to contribute to a renewed resistance to this so-called solution to AIDS which [...]
Late in 1990, Richard Snyder, chief executive of Simon & Schuster, read a book for which his firm had paid a large advance of $300,000. It was a novel entitled American Psycho by a writer in his mid-twenties, Bret Easton Ellis. Presumable Snyder had not read it before, but he was warned of the book’s contents by a Time article describing its [...]
The Indoctrination of a People By Judith Reissman and Edward Eichel Reviewed by W.J. Douglas Ball The premise of this book is that Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey’s 1940’s and ‘50s research into human sexuality was not only deeply flawed, but also purposely, knowingly engineered to yield the results it wanted: a dramatically liberalized attitude to sex consistent with Kinsey’s own [...]
Bryce J. Christensen, Utopia Against the Family: The Problems and Politics of the American Family. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990, 146 pp. Bryce Christensen is editor of The Family in America, and director of the Rockford Institute Centre on the Faily in America. His book is a must for all those interested in the threats which the family faces in contemporary society, [...]
The Greek philosopher Plato’s ancient question, “Who guards the guardians?” was answered dramatically last month by a Los Angeles plumber and amateur video buff. Video seen around the world As most of the world now knows, plumbing contractor George Holiday glanced out the window of his Lake View Terrace apartment at 12:30 a.m. on March 3, and couldn’t believe his eyes. Fifteen [...]
The funding was communicated privately by telephone to the four Toronto independent abortuaries on June 13. It might never have been made public if it weren’t for the fact that Henry Morgentaler and CARAL (Canadian Abortion Rights Action League) decided to honour, with a press conference on June 18, what they thought was “a historic occasion.” Ontario then learned that the NDP [...]
Catholicism Calgary – The RC Bishop of Calgary, Most Rev. Paul O’Byrne, decreed in February of this year that from now on in his diocese all the faithful must stand during Mass from the time of the Offertory to that of Communion. Whether steps will be taken to physically prevent the congregation from kneeling remains to be seen. Kneeling before God is [...]
A recent pro-life newsletter from the U.S.A. said that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that if Nancy Cruzan had clearly stated that se would have chosen death, then Missouri would have been obliged to starve and dehydrate her to death. Did the Court say that? W.C., Willowdale, Ontario. No. The issue before the Court was whether it was constitutional for Missouri [...]
There is much talk about the values that bind Canadians together. The 12 commissioners of the Spicer Committee claimed “to be amazed” by the similarity of values and ideals shared by Canadians. According to Toronto Star editor John Honderich, they include a widespread acceptance of diversity; the need to accommodate minorities and linguistic groups; a commitment to democratic freedoms and non-violence; a [...]