Monthly Archives: June 2012

Letters for Life update

A press release from Alexandra Jezierski, who is organizing the Letters for Life initiative. Prime Minister pressures MPs; Teen's campaign puts pressure back on Harper Kingsville, ON, June 20, 2012 - Just as the news leaks out of Parliament that Stephen Harper is putting pressure on his Tory MPs to vote against Motion 312, which would strike a committee to investigate scientific [...]

2012-06-20T10:45:28-04:00June 20, 2012|Soconvivium|

Abortion is always an issue

Writing in the New Yorker Jeffrey Toobin asserts but does not prove that Mitt Romney and the Republicans have an "aborton problem." That argument is not terribly original as it's repeated every four years and then exit polls invariably show that in most battleground states that Republicans generally get a small bump in support because of their pro-life position. What is interesting [...]

2012-06-20T09:06:43-04:00June 20, 2012|Soconvivium|

More on the Carter decision

The B.C. Supreme Court's Carter decision (permitting euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide) has been posted online. Have fun, it's nearly 400 pages. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition hasn't yet provided an in-depth analysis but EPC executive director Alex Schadenberg has posted/linked to a number of commentaries including Will Johnston, Rosie DiManno, Margaret Somerville, and Margaret Dore. All are worth reading.

2012-06-19T11:46:51-04:00June 19, 2012|Soconvivium|

No need for a debate on assisted suicide

Toronto Star columnist Chantal Hebert says that the courts might end the "collegial conspiracy of parliamentarian silence" on the issue of euthanasia and assisted-suicide by forcing the issue back into the public square. Hebert ignores the fact that all-too-often politicians outsource law-making to the courts so they don't have to address so-called controversial issues; rather than being forced to debate euthanasia, parliamentarians will hide behind the [...]

2012-06-19T10:19:18-04:00June 19, 2012|Soconvivium|

The root causes of crime

Radio broadcaster and Toronto Sun columnist Jerry Agar says that instead of banning bullets in Toronto, we need to tackle the real root cause of crime and violence: fatherlessness. Poverty, Agar points out, is connected to missing fathers (and husbands): "money and employment are symptoms of a disease; lack of fathers." Agar doesn't state what he means by "advocate against teen motherhood and [...]

2012-06-19T08:50:47-04:00June 19, 2012|Soconvivium|

BC court finds ban on euthanasia/assisted-suicide unconstitutional

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition responds to the B.C. Supreme Court decision to legalize both euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The EPC will have a full analysis of the 395-page decision* next week and we'll link to it when it becomes available. In short Justice Lynn Smith found not allowing doctors to kill vulnerable patients to violate those people's Charter rights. The EPC has called [...]

2012-06-15T13:59:36-04:00June 15, 2012|Soconvivium|

Fr. Lawrence Abello, RIP

Fr. Lawrence Abello was a Jesuit missionary, working in Canada as a voice for the unborn before relocating to Calcutta where he collaborated with Mother Teresa on life issues. Campaign Life Coalition national president Jim Hughes recalls the first time he met Fr. Abello. “He, accompanied by Fr. Ted Colleton and Fr. Alphonse deValk came into my office for a ‘quiet [...]

2012-06-14T10:22:20-04:00June 14, 2012|Profiles|

Getting the pro-life message to high school students

Two recent events brought the pro-life message to hundreds of Toronto area high school students, educating students to become conversant on the issue of abortion and inspiring them to become more involved in the issue. Toronto Right to Life Association joined the University of Toronto Students for Life, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, and Student Life Link to host [...]

2012-06-14T10:22:53-04:00June 14, 2012|Events, Pro-Life, Pro-life Groups|

Let the (real) debate begin

What accounts for the frenzied reaction by advocates of legalized abortion to the private member’s motion introduced by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth. If passed, M-312 would mandate a committee of the House of Commons to determine if the preponderance of medical evidence is consistent with the declaration in Subsection 223(1) of the Criminal Code that, for the purposes of the law, [...]

2012-06-14T10:32:30-04:00June 14, 2012|Announcements, Columnist, Features, Rory Leishman|

Poll says GSAs popular, Catholic schools are not

A Research Forum poll released May 15 says that the majority of Ontarians favour gay-straight alliances and oppose Catholic school funding. According to the poll, just over half of Ontarians (51 per cent) agree that students in Catholic schools should be able to form gay-straight alliances and that the numbers of people who disagree are gradually declining with 28 per cent are [...]

2012-06-14T10:06:51-04:00June 14, 2012|Sex Education|

First hour of debate for M-312

Government whip gives ‘most stridently pro-choice’ speech On April 26, the private member’s motion of Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth (Kitchener Centre) calling for the creation of a committee to examine the modern medical and scientific evidence of whether the unborn child is a human being and the human rights ramifications of those findings was given its first hour of debate on the [...]

2012-06-14T10:07:21-04:00June 14, 2012|Fetal Rights, Issues, Politics|

Thousands turn out for provincial marches for life

Several provinces broke records for their march for life events held on or near the same day as the National March for Life, but regardless of the numbers in attendance, pro-life groups are excited about the marches as a way to inform and inspire young people to pro-life activism and as a witness to the injustice of abortion for both the [...]

2012-06-14T09:45:20-04:00June 14, 2012|Announcements, Events, Features, March for Life|

Toronto Pro-Life Forum this weekend

Details are available here. Keynote speaker at the banquet this Friday evening is broadcaster Damian Goddard. It is the pro-life event of the year in Toronto. Here's our coverage of last year's Toronto Pro-Life Forum.

2012-06-11T19:39:27-04:00June 11, 2012|Soconvivium|

Waterloo Catholic board backs away from GSAs

But religious school system still flirts with gay activism The Waterloo Catholic District School Board will not establish gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in its schools. after a controversy flared up following Catholic trustee Anthony Piscitelli’s introduction of a motion on April 23 asking trustees to consider creating GSAs. He received support from one other Catholic trustee, Janek Jagiellowicz. The chair of the board, [...]

2012-06-11T08:35:30-04:00June 11, 2012|Society & Culture|

The witness of history

“The Last Judgment,” according to Kafka, “is a court that is always in session.” At first glace, these words may seem menacing and obscure, but, in fact, Kafka confirms an attitude towards history, which we all share. We believe in “last judgements,” in final, irreversible indictments, which no revisionist can recuperate and no apologist can rescind. Our estimation of the evils of [...]

2012-06-11T08:32:56-04:00June 11, 2012|Abortion, Announcements, Editorials, Features|
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