My Darling Baby: What a wonderful day. I got to see you for the first time. You are so small yet so perfect. I know it is very early for me to have had the joy of experiencing an ultrasound, however, the doctor offered your daddy and I some choices and our decision led us to today. Awhile back the doctor informed [...]
Focusing on goals, and the tools pro-life activists have to make a difference, were the aims of Alliance for Life Ontario's Witnesses to Life conference, held June 8 at Holy Rosary Church in Guelph, Ont. Hosted with the help of Guelph Right to Life, the conference attracted just under 100 people, and was somewhat "low-key" in nature as it served as a [...]
In an ongoing dispute over Bill Whatcott's insistent anti-abortion picketing campaign, a Saskatchewan Planned Parenthood agency recently launched a lawsuit against Whatcott and his supporters. Citing defamation and harassment, Planned Parenthood Regina filed a statement of claim against Whatcott and all other members of the Christian Truth Activists. The lawsuit, filed on June 21, claimed Whatcott and the Christian Truth Activists are [...]
August 26 will mark 92 years since the birth of Mother Teresa. Her saintly life was wholly devoted to love of God and love of neighbour. Even in life, she was acclaimed a saint. But what made the world take notice of this diminutive lover of the poor? Perhaps it was the founding of her religious order, the Sisters of Charity, which [...]
Evangelical leader complains about silence from the pulpit George Orwell once wrote that he lived in an age when stating the obvious was the first duty of intelligent men. I believe that activists and lay people are rising up and carrying out prophetic work in the culture because pastors and priests by and large are not carrying out a prophetic calling in [...]
On June 15, several dozen academics, students, church leaders and other interested parties met to participate in a one-day seminar entitled "Religious Liberalism and Public Reason" hosted by the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. As an organization grounded in the Reform tradition that offers a host of graduate- level programs to future Christian leaders and academics, the seminar was timed in [...]
One of the keynote speakers at this fall's Creating a Culture of Life international pro-life conference in Toronto will be one of the world's longest serving and distinguished pro-life leaders, Dr. Jack Willke. He is perhaps best known for authoring with his wife Barbara the vital resource book Handbook on Abortion, which has been renamed Love Them Both in its latest edition. [...]
If Svend Robinson has his way, quoting certain parts of the Bible and other religious texts could soon be a crime in Canada. His private member's Bill C-415, a brazen attempt to silence any criticism of the homosexual agenda, will amend the "hate" crime statues to add "sexual orientation" as a protected category. The bill recently passed second reading in Parliament on [...]
On July 1, Madam Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé retired from the Supreme Court of Canada with accolades from a host of feminist lawyers, law professors and fellow judges. The National Association of Women and the Law went so far as to hold a wine and cheese celebration in her honour. What accounts for such elation? Bonnie Diamond, executive director of the NAWL, explains [...]
It is sometimes argued that the only politically correct targets of bigotry these days are white males, evangelical Christians, and Catholics, yet even that might be changing. In June, the Ontario Press Council upheld a complaint made by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada against a column by Michelle Landsberg titled, "Heterosexual family life a source of smug pride," that ran in the [...]
Evelyn Martens was recently charged with counselling Leyanne Burchell of Vancouver B.C., to commit suicide on June 26, and Monique Charest of Duncan B.C. to commit suicide on Jan. 7, 2002. Evelyn Martens is a leading member of the Canadian Right to Die Society, where she assists John Hofsess, founder of the Right to Die Society of Canada. Information as to what [...]
Pro-life leaders are sounding an alarm over the desire of a Canadian distributor and marketer of the only form of abortifacient "emergency contraceptive pills" (ECPs) officially available in this country to have the drug administered over-the-counter without a prescription. An application by Montreal-based Paladin Labs Inc. to have its product, Plan B, taken off prescription was submitted to Health Canada on March [...]
A vote in a Vancouver diocese to bless same-sex unions is threatening to tear asunder not only the diocese but also the Anglican Church of Canada and the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey, has sharply rebuked Bishop Michael Ingham for undermining marriage and for causing schism in the global communion. On June 14, the synod of New [...]
Excitement is building in the world of stem cell research, with breakthroughs being announced regularly, if not daily. But why concentrate on both adult and embryonic stem cell research - or primarily on embryonic stem cells - when adult stem cells are proving to be more promising? Montreal Neurological Institute researcher Freda Miler says cells found in skin can form into nerve, [...]
The day before the Ontario Superior Court ruling allowing same-sex marriages, Statistics Canada noted a marked increase in the number of couples choosing common-law arrangements over marriage. The July 11 report, entitled "Changing conjugal life in Canada," was based on data compiled from the 2001 General Social Survey. The study showed that close to 1.2 million couples were living in a common-law [...]