Jewry The reality of anti-Semitism Anti-Semitism is an ugly reality. In Canada it has expressed itself during the last year in synagogue vandalism and the desecration of graveyards in several cities – Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Hamilton. Most, perhaps all of this activity is carried out by members of tiny, but active white supremacist and other racist groups or by skinheads. [...]
Paul Likoudis is an American writer and commentator on Catholic affairs. He has published many articles, principally on the Catholic view of moral and religious education. In the following article, he interviews Anne Roche-Muggeridge, a Canadian author well-known for two books analyzing the state of the Catholic Church in North America: The Gates of Hell: the Struggle for the Catholic Church, (1975), [...]
Criminal Basil Hume, speaking for the bishops of England and Wales, published a statement commenting on the passage of the abortion and embryo research bills. Several excerpts are reprinted here. “This week has seen Parliament take two decisions of the gravest importance for our society. The debates on embryo experimentation and abortion have provided an opportunity unrivaled in recent years for a [...]
Anglicans Detroit and homosexuals The Bishop of the diocese of Michigan in the Episcopal Church of the U.S. made an emotional plea at an annual convention, asking his clergy to stop blessing “same-sex” relationships. For this he was attacked from the floor. Prior to the convention, eleven clergymen has asked the Bishop to uphold the 1979 national ruling that it is inappropriate [...]
On June 14, the archdiocesan weekly Catholic New York, published a 12-page statement by Cardinal John O’Connor stating that Catholic politicians risk excommunication if they insist on supporting abortion rights. Excommunication, states the Cardinal, may be the only option for Catholics who persist in advocating legislation that supports abortion on its public funding. The Cardinal’s comments drew immediate criticism from Catholic Mario [...]
Anglican Church Women ministers Although Canada was among the first of 28 autonomous churches belonging to the worldwide Anglican communion to call women to the clerical ministry, some dioceses have held out against the novelty started in 1976. On June 11, New Brunswick, one of the last of these dioceses, called its first woman, Pat Brittain, to the ministry after first getting [...]
On June 1, Bishop John Myers of Peoria, Illinois, issued what may well become a landmark pastoral letter on abortion. It explains in detail the Catholic teaching on supporting abortion. The bishop states that “striving for legal abortion is radically inconsistent with the Catholic faith.” Catholic politicians, voters, and especially theologians, priests and religious, who help “to make abortion more widely available,” [...]
Statement of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on the passing of Bill C-43. May 29, 1990 Now that Parliament has given this country a new abortion law, all efforts must be directed to the continuing task of building a greater sense of the value of human life, removing any social and economic conditions that may contribute to abortion, and achieving better [...]
In March, a Baptists Church in Salem, NH, denied membership to State Rep. Stephanie Micklon because she sponsored pro-abortion legislation. Rep. Micklon said the church’s action amounted to “religious blackmail.” She stated, “I’m not pro-abortion, and now they’re saying that is a sin.” Explaining his church’s decision, Senior Pastor Clement Sutton III of the First Baptists Church observed, “We feel that if [...]
The ecological crisis and the struggle for a healthy environment is very much a concern for the pro-life movement. On the negative side, environmentalism threatens to become an anti-people movement, as indicated, for example, in two recent Interim stories on the Green Party in Britain. At the same time, a resurgence of pagan religion and worship threatens to bur what is left [...]
Baptists In March, a Baptists Church in Salem, NH, denied membership to State Rep. Stephanie Micklon because she sponsored pro-abortion legislation. Rep. Micklon said the church’s action amounted to “religious blackmail.” She stated, “I’m not pro-abortion, and now they’re saying that is a sin.” Explaining his church’s decision, Senior Pastor Clement Sutton III of the First Baptists Church observed, “We feel that [...]
This brief is submitted on behalf of the Permanent Council (1) of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Council would like to thank the Committee for the invitation to present our position on abortion and to address the particular legislative proposal contained in Bill C-43. Abortion is a complex and sensitive issue. There are scientific, legal, social, philosophical, moral, political and [...]
On March 30,1990, Justice Minister Kim Campbell announced that the government would not entertain any amendments from the House of Commons Abortion Committee. Immediately thereafter, some prominent Quebecors, including the president of Campagne-Vie Quebec, wrote Bishop Lebel, President of the CCCB. They repeated certain objections to the Bill from a natural law and moral point of view. They also pointed out that [...]
On January 30 the Ontario Court of Appeal declared that “mandatory religious education in the province’s public elementary schools [is] unconstitutional.” It struck down the portion of the law that requires religious instruction in the regular curriculum of public elementary schools. This judgment was viewed as a cause for celebration by the Canadian Jewish News and the three principal newspapers. These papers [...]
I remember hearing Bishop Fulton Sheen, the famous TV personality of some years ago, making the following statement: “All one has to do is give twenty-five radio talks and you have a book written.” On the same principle, all you have to do is give one talk and you have an article written. I was invited to be the guest speaker at [...]