Catholic journalist and apologist Mark Shea is a good acquaintance, really, but when he gets a bug in his bonnet, the results are rarely pleasant. Lately, on his immensely popular website, he's taken to railing against the "blasphemous individualism" of libertarianism - an ideology for "selfish people with no kids." When readers of a laissez faire bent protested the generalization by pointing [...]
Their voices were heard loud and clear among the more than 100,000 people who attended this year's 31st annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. From all across the United States - and even from Canada - they came, the latest vanguard in a growing movement that seeks to end an almost conspiratorial silence about the myths of "safe and legal" abortion. [...]
The National Citizen's Coalition, a pro-free market, pro-individual liberty organization, goes to court in February to oppose the federal "gag law." Its fight is for freedom of speech and freedom of expression during election campaigns. Its fight is also our fight. The law limits how much money an organization or individual can spend to put out issue ads or other political activities [...]
Once again, a new year is upon us ... we look back to the old at the same time we glance forward. There are some interesting developments. On Nov. 27, the Planned Parenthood Association of B.C. changed their name. I have no idea why they felt that the name "Planned Parenthood" no longer warranted a letterhead. That is for others to speculate. [...]
By Donald DeMarco The InterimKyrie and Brielle Jackson were born on Oct. 17, 1995, a full 12 weeks ahead of their due date. The standard practice, that time, at the Medical Centre of Central Massachusetts in Worcester, where the twins came into the world, was to place them in separate incubators in order to reduce the risk of infection. Kyrie's birth weight [...]
By Ann Wilson The Interim"The amazing thing is, we had awards money left over at the end of the school year!" reported Bryana Straker, admissions counsellor at Pacific Redeemer College in Langley, B.C. For a cash-strapped student checking out colleges, this should sound like good news. Furthermore, not only can students apply for awards from Redeemer, but also from the parent college, [...]
By Gillian Long The InterimPro-lifers were very concerned after the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute's third annual Connie Heng Lecture in Bioethics on Nov. 14, with keynote speaker Fr. Kevin O'Rourke, O.P., who presented the topic, "The Nutrition-Hydration Debate: Various Options." Following his address, a panel of experts discussed the paper. O'Rourke is a well-known advocate for the removal of food and fluids [...]
By Tony Gosgnach The InterimAs we take a look at the latest goings on among corporations and organizations that put themselves forth to be "charitable" in nature, let us keep in mind the saying with which we began The Interim's Corporate Watch feature: "Money doesn't talk. It screams." American retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is learning that lesson, as it saw sales at [...]
Pro-lifers suspend judgement By Paul Tuns The Interim Pro-life reaction to Paul Martin's cabinet has been muted, with leaders taking a wait-and-see approach to the coming months. As LifeSite Daily News noted in an analysis, "For the first time in many years, there are some pro-life MPs in the Liberal government cabinet." Four socially conservative Toronto-area MPs made the cabinet or sub-cabinet: [...]
Same-sex 'marriage' Without a doubt, the biggest news story of 2003 is the June 10 Ontario Superior Court decision granting marriage rights to homosexual couples. This decision, in which three judges ignored millennia of tradition and replaced the law with their personal wishes, has serious implications for the family, our society, national politics and the future of our democracy. The first and [...]
On Nov. 6-8, pro-lifers from across Canada gathered in Edmonton for the Canadian national pro-life conference, Life 2003. Co-sponsored by Life Canada, Campaign Life Coalition and the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, and hosted by the Alberta Pro-Life Alliance, the conference had representation from both the political and educational arms of the pro-life movement in every province. A notable aspect of the conference was [...]
Recently, Amelia was travelling on a streetcar in downtown Toronto, when she passed the Aid to Women office. Immediately, she had a flashback. It was here, nine years ago, that her life took a turn for the better. With her twin boys beside her, she quickly exited the streetcar, telling them that they were going to visit good friends who lived nearby. [...]
Let Terri die! No doubt, you find this exclamation surprising. It certainly surprised me when I first read it as the subject heading of an e-mail I received. Along with my wife who was nine months pregnant at the time, our family had spent the past week at a prayer vigil for Terri Schindler-Schiavo. What particularly shocked us was that this e-mail [...]
The deal announced on Oct. 16, wherein the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties would work to merge and present a united right alternative - the Conservative Party of Canada - to the governing Liberals is both a concern and an opportunity. It is a concern, in part, because listed among their 19 core principles is no mention of protection for innocent [...]
Bringing some of life's essential truths to a wider audience was a key motivator for Sister Lucille Durocher in her decision to devote a large portion of her adult years to pro-life education and communication. Durocher, president of St. Joseph's Workers for Life and Family, and the former director of Human Life International-Canada, died Sept. 22 at the Ottawa General [...]