In the October 1991 issue of Insight, the author reviewed the Fully Alive text and raised objections to several features of the program. In this issue, she reviews a text which she finds admirable. A few years ago I met Patricia Puccetti, the author of the Faith and Life series, She said that she could not write a family life program because [...]
As our readers will know by now, one of the three main objections to FA is its graphic and explicit nature from Grade one up. Such an approach can only be approved by those who deny the latency period, or as it is also called, the period of innocence in children, ages six to twelve. One such person is the Most Rev. [...]
We invited Joseph Thompson, a retired high school teacher of religious studies and a father of eleven, living in Sarnia, Ontario to examine Fully Alive at its deepest level – namely the principles of theology which under gird it. Mr. Thompson has both educational and theological credentials. In this perceptive article, the author pinpoints the exclusive emphasis on the Holy Spirit as [...]
Editors of The Interim have met with authorized representatives of the Bishops’ Fully Alive program As readers will note from the comments issued in the name of Bishop O’Mara mentioned above, FA representatives accuse The Interim of having completely misrepresented the program. They assert: (a) that there is no separation of sexuality from moral context in FA and that sin is treated [...]
In 1980, during a Mass celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the paper now called the Catholic Register, Cardinal Carter in his sermon urged bishops to enter the public forum and make their views on controversial questions known. But they could not expect merely to lay down the law; inevitably, he said, their opinions would be challenged and controverted, but [...]
This month, Update – Religion brings an update on the U.S. Catholic scene. The source of much of this information is the U.S. Catholic weekly, the Wanderer. Call for discipline On September 3, Chicago pro-life activist Joseph Scheidler, President of the Pro-Life Action League, and 33 other Catholic met in Rome to present a petition to Pope John Paul Ii, requesting disciplinary [...]
In August and September, Fr. McGoey discussed the philosophy of the Family Education Teacher program which held sway in Catholic educational circles in Ontario for some 20 years. He characterized it as “a fiasco” and “poisoned” by secularism. (August Interim, Page 5-of Insight; September Interim pages 13 and 20. In October he analyzed the Foreword to the Fully Alive sex education program, [...]
On day 42 of the now famous Wichita, Kansas, Operation Rescue, Wichita R.C. Bishop Eugene Gerber was one of the several speakers at a rally in support of the event. The Wichita “Rescue” lasted six weeks, led to the arrest of over 2,000 pro-lifers and was seen almost nightly on American TV. Speaking of the last 18 years Bishop Gerber said, “So [...]
Washington (CNS) – The Administrative Committee of the U.S. National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) unanimously condemned legalized euthanasia in a statement released September 12. (See full text below). They urged Catholics and “all persons of good will” to reject euthanasia proposals such as Initiative 119, a referendum facing Washington state voters November 5. The Initiative seeks to legalize “aid-in-dying” as a [...]
ANGLICANS In our October issue the report on the Episcopalian triennial convention in Phoenix, Arizona, last July focused on homosexual permissiveness. It showed how deeply moral issues have divided the Anglican Church in the U.S., with leading spokesmen acknowledging a complete deadlock and a split into “two religions.” The September issue of Toronto-based Anglican Journal briefly notes that abortion, too, was brought [...]
For a mall newspaper like The Interim, it is impossible to cover trustee elections adequately in view of the short campaign and the large number of candidates. In the following story, The Interim reports on the Separate (Catholic) School Board candidates who favour more doctrinal content in religious education and the elimination of secularism in family life (sex education) programs. * * [...]
Moral permissiveness continues to ravage society. It affects religious denominations as well. Nowhere is this phenomenon more visible than in those communities formed in Western Europe of the sixteenth century after separating from the Catholic Church. After undergoing endless schisms and separations themselves (over 26,000 in 400 years), the remaining ‘mainline’ denominations have accommodated themselves to a greater or lesser degree to [...]
Recently I spent a week ‘sitting in’ for a pastor friend and had time to do some extra reading. In the library I came across a pamphlet entitled Birth Control and Christian Discipleship by John F. Kippley of the Couple to Couple League for Natural Family Planning in Cincinnati. It is really a history of contraception through the centuries, and I gleaned [...]
The pro-life issue is the most decisive as well as the most divisive issue of our times. That’s why it pops up almost everywhere even in unexpected places. Take, for example, the Catholic synod being held on Vancouver Island. Synod in Victoria The R.C. diocese of Victoria, B.C., under the Most Rev. Remi De Roo, is holding a diocesan Synod. A synod [...]
Federal Tories voted against a pro-life resolution at their 1991 bi-ennial conference held in Toronto, August 6-10. The vote by the delegates was 341 against and 155 for, with 57 abstentions. The resolution read: “Be it resolved that the federal laws should be amended to safe-guard the right to life of all children before, during and after birth.” Two pro-abortion Tory speakers [...]