Interim StaffMorten Rostrup, president of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), has said the Vatican was responsible for spreading AIDS "by not supporting the use of condoms and not advocating the use of condoms as one of the preventative measures." He added, "I would say that the Catholic church is helping the spread of a deadly disease." On Nov. 30, the Vatican [...]
Editor's note: In order to accurately report on the event in question, and provide a picture of the thought patterns behind some current-day sex "educators" of young people, this article contains some graphic references to sexuality that may be offensive to some readers. Please use discretion in deciding whether to read it. It was more of the same when this year's Women's [...]
I was going to write a column about family when I read the most recent issue of Catholic Life and Family, a publication of Priests for Life, Canada. Fr. Jim Whalen, PFL Canada's president, put into words much better than I what I wanted to say, so I received his permission to reprint his column here in The Interim. Becoming a pro-life [...]
A sex survey, deemed too graphic for students at various public school boards across Canada, has been accepted by at least eight Catholic school boards in Ontario alone. Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board voted 6-4 to allow participation in the national study entitled Canadian Youth, Sexual Health & HIV/AIDS Study. Regis O'Connor, Huron-Superior chair, defended the board's decision, saying, "We have not [...]
Like a lot of other kids, my sex education began with an older sibling, my sister, slyly telling me her version of it, while we played Barbies one afternoon. I could not look at Ken and Barbie, or my Mom and Dad, the same way for a long time. A few years later my mother slipped me a glossy brochure, pink because [...]
The topic of sex education is a battleground of competing studies, clashing values, and alarming statistics with all the combatants sincere in their beliefs that they alone fight for the good of the young. On one side of the ring stand the religious and social "conservatives" who want abstinence in and condoms off. And on the left side of the ring are [...]
Public sex-health nurses in Catholic schools: are they benefitting the students or doing harm? As a part-time supply teacher at the secondary level, I get to see things from a unique perspective, how schools vary in principals' and teachers' and students' approaches to teaching and learning. I am also the coordinator of Kitchener-Waterloo and Area Right to Life Association. The K-W RTL [...]
Landmark case will decide whether homosexual 'rights' trump freedom of religion By Paul Tuns The Interim On November 9, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCOC) heard oral arguments in a case that may have a profound impact on freedom of religion in Canada. The British Columbia College of Teachers (BCCT) is appealing to the country's top court for the right to discriminate [...]
B.C. appeal ruling seen as crucial victory for parental authority, religious freedom By Ted Gerk The Interim School Board chair Heather Stilwell is confident that the recent battle over books is over. She's comfortable talking about the agenda she says took precedence over common sense, when pro-homosexual activists challenged the rights of parents to make decisions affecting their children's learning environment. "They [...]
By Tim Bloedow The Interim "Condom use is the best ways to combat sexually transmitted disease." While this is definitely not the kind of message one would expect in a pro-life publication, it is no more shocking than reading that condoms are a useless defence against sexually transmitted disease in a mainstream publication such as the National Post. But that's what you would [...]
By William Gairdner The Interim For years we have been told that condom use is the best way to contain the spread of AIDS. But is that true? It would seem utterly sensible to ask whether or not the latex condom will in fact do what we are told. We can certainly thank it for a degree of protection against some ordinary [...]
‘The choice Games' shows that every action has its consequences By Maria Vandenberg The Interim The Choice Game is a new interactive computer game developed for young people, placing them in a variety of life situations. The topics of these scenarios range from dating and romance, to drugs and teen pregnancy. These might not be considered realistic or ordinary day-to-day situations by [...]
A few weeks ago Planned Parenthood was found on the front page of my daily newspaper crying crocodile tears about the scandalous rate of abortion in Canada, which it seems has increased every year between 1985 and 1997, when it stood at 33.5 abortions for every 100 live births. This is very interesting in light of the fact that one of Planned [...]
‘I thought feminists were pro-woman, not angry, hurt people whose logic I can't understand' By Cathrina Keet The Interim A battle over women's rights was fought at the United Nation Headquarters in New York. My concept of justice, democracy, and reality was shattered during the portion of the Beijing+5 PrepCom which I recently attended. I expected the United Nations to attack violence [...]
The hangover from a 30-year binge An English friend of mine commented recently that "there are some liberals over here who are starting to get a hangover from their binge." Indeed, what began with idealized hopes for the perfectibility of man has ended in a near-total cave in of public morality and civility - something even liberals are finding it a challenge [...]