Ice Bucket Challenge raises ethical query

Some participants seek organizations not linked to embryonic-stem-cell research

Reg Harbeck, a local Catholic, is doused by his mother while participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge. Photo submitted.

An international challenge to donate to the ALS Association or face a bucket of ice-cold water is raising tough ethical questions. For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.


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Belgium's assisted suicide law fails a depressed woman

Chicago Deacon Tom Lambert, who co-chairs the Council on Mental Illness of the U.S. National Catholic Partnership on Disability, advocates and works for those with mental illness. If the mentally ill can't get such assistance, assisted suicide may appeal to them. CNS / Karen Callaway, Catholic New World.

Belgium's doctor-assisted suicide laws allowed an unqualified doctor to kill a depressed mother who did not have a terminal illness without notifying her family, the woman's son has charged in a legal filing against them. For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.

Blessed Velychkovsky named patron of prison ministry

An icon of Blessed Vasyl was written to commemorate his being named Patron of Prison Ministry for the Ukrainian Catholic Church. (CCN photo)

On July 20, before a crowd of approximately 200,000 at the Marian Shrine of our Lady of Zarvanytsia in Ukraine, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, solemnly proclaimed Blessed Bishop Vasyl Velychkovsky patron of prison ministry for the Ukrainian Catholic Church. For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.