Joy Smith urges Canadians not to turn a blind eye to human-trafficking
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| Conservative MP Joy Smith spoke at the Justice Summit in Ottawa, May 5, about her experiences battling human trafficking. Deborah Gyapong / CCN. |
The B.C. Catholic has story from CCN's eye on Ottawa Deborah Gyapong about the efforts from the government and organizations to stop human-trafficking:
Conservative MP Joy Smith told the May 5 Justice Summit her work in
combatting human trafficking has brought her into places that have horrified
her. "I've been in brothels," she said, describing them as "awful places."
"But something comes over me," she said. "I get have get those kids out of
there."
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Anti-abortion groups to congregate for Calgary conference
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| The Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform have gained a lot of exposure by using large trucks with abortion images to spread the pro-life messages around their home base of Calgary. The organization hopes to educate pro-life groups on activism ideas at their "Crash Course" in pro-life activism, Aug. 13-17. BCC file photos. |
The B.C. Catholic's Culture of Life week continues with Alistair Burns' latest article about the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform's upcoming Crash Course:
On Canadian university campuses the battle over abortion continues to be a flashpoint. The Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform (CCBR) is offering to help pro-lifers unsure how to fight for their cause. Their annual Crash Course in Pro-Life Activism will return to Calgary Aug. 13-17.
John Hof, a CCBR board member, said the crash course gives pro-lifers the "tools they need to engage the [culture] of anti-life, and it trains them for the apologetics of abortion."
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
State votes for constitutional amendment that will define matrimony as only between a man and a woman
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| Parishioners of St. Ann Catholic Church in Charlotte, N.C., form a prayer chain in front of the church May 6 to voice support for the proposed statewide constitutional amendment to protect marriage. George Hoffman Jr. / CNS. |
The B.C. Catholic has story from Patricia L. Guilfoyle of
Catholic News Service about the work Catholics in North Carolina have done to inform the public about the true definition of marriage:
North Carolina voters headed to the polls May 8 to decide whether to define traditional marriage in the state constitution -- an issue on which the state's two Catholic bishops have been vocal in urging people in their dioceses to support.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh and Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte have spent months educating the faithful about church teaching on marriage and encouraging people to vote for the constitutional amendment, ever since the measure was placed on the ballot by the Republican-led state legislature last fall.
Read the fulls story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Nursing conference features multi-faith public panel
An evangelical university in Langley is hosting their third International Symposium on Faith and Nursing on May 10-12. Trinity Western's School of Nursing has planned a tribute to the May 12 anniversary to the birth of Florence Nightingale, the English nurse who founded modern medicine is scheduled.
Also, the public can attend a discussion featuring the topic of Diversity and Health Care services on May 11 at 7 p.m. in the Northwest Auditorium.
Speakers include Dr. Evelyn Voyageur, President of the Aboriginal Nurses Health Assoc. of Canada, Dr. Rani Srivastava, from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, and Trinity's own Dr. Sonya Grypma.
To register, visit the Nursing Symposium
website.
Intl. Theological Commission studies Catholic theology's 'genetic code'
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Painting of the Holy Spirit's descent on the Apostles, allowing them to preach in any language.
Photo credit: Catholic Home. |
Father Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP, has published an article in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican City newspaper, detailing the work of the International Theological Commission (ITC) in new evangelization efforts. The ITC, approved by Pope Paul VI, helps the the Holy See on doctrinal questions of major importance. It's made up of 30 theologians.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Church is focusing all her energy on the “new evangelization”. But, Catholic theology risks being fragmented. Because of specialization, the various disciplines within theology tend to move away from one another. Biblical scholars and dogmatic and moral theologians all too often live on different planets.
Theology no longer has the monopoly on religious questions. Furthermore, it must defend its right to exist in front of the philosophy of religion and religious sciences.
It is therefore vital for Catholic theology to repeat to itself what it is and what it must be and to show itself to those with whom it collaborates within the scientific community.
Read the full story here.
The Holy Father asks American bishops for compliance with canon law
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| Pope Benedict celebrates Mass in Washington, D.C. in 2008. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press. |
The
B.C. Catholic has an article from Francis X. Rocca of the
Catholic News Service on the Pope's recent efforts to steer American post-secondary institutions back to a wholly Catholic view on theology and moral teaching:
Pope Benedict XVI called on America's Catholic colleges and universities to reaffirm their Catholic identity by ensuring orthodoxy in theological studies and accepting the oversight of bishops. He made his remarks May 5 to U.S. bishops from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming at the Vatican.
While the Holy Father acknowledged recent efforts by America's Catholic institutions of higher education to "reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideals and the church's mission," he said that "much remains to be done."
Read the
full story here.
High school student faces 12 day suspension
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| The offending T-shirt in question. |
The B.C. Catholic has an article from Deborah Gyapong, a correspondent for the Canadian Catholic News on William Swimmer, a high-school student, and his struggle to politely express his opinion by wearing a pro-Christian t-shirt.
A vice-principal at Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin, N.S. told William Swimmer, 19, the T-shirt was offensive. The grade 12 student continued to wear it with the encouragement of his pastor, evangelist Varrick Day of Jesus the Good Shepherd Church in Bridgewater, N.S. an independent Pentecostal Church.
The student has Charter rights on his side, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC).
“It is lamentable that a student has faced 12 days of school suspension for wearing such a t-shirt and that school officials have expended valuable resources on managing this situation,” the EFC’s legal counsel wrote in an open letter to Nancy Pynch-Worthylake, Superintendent of the South Shore Regional School Board (SSRSB), who told various news media she was seeking the opinion of a human rights expert.
Tory private member's bill calls for Criminal Code review
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| Conservative M.P. Stephen Woodworth put his bill forth on April 26. |
Stephen Woodworth's motion to change a 400-year old definition of when a human being becomes a person has Tories, Liberals and the NDP in heated debate. His bill, concerning sub-section 223 (1) of the Criminal Code, faces a up-hill battle; the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has said he will not support the motion. Nathan Rumohr has more:
Woodworth said Canada's 400-year-old definition is out of date and unethical. He compared it to an early 20th century Supreme Court decree that ruled women were not 'persons' under Canadian law.
Female MP's from the opposition parties accused Woodworth's motion of being a Tory attack on women's rights. Liberal MP Hedy Fry said the motion would make women's rights comparable to the characters in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.
Read the
full story at The
B.C. Catholic website.
Chen Guangcheng fights for the rights of women in his homeland
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| U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, right, holds the hand of blind activist Chen Guangcheng as they talk in Beijing May 2. Chen has focused attention to the country's forced abortion and sterilization practices, leading to a crackdown by the government on his movement and prohibitions on contact with foreigners and the media. CNS photo / US Embassy Beijing Press Office handout via Reuters. |
The B.C. Catholic has an article from
Catholic Register reporter and
Catholic News Service contributor Michael Swan about the diplomatic struggles of Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer who has unveiled the forced abortion horrors in China caused by the country's one child policy:
As Chinese and U.S. diplomats sought a resolution to the diplomatic crisis surrounding Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, many Chinese-Americans turned their attention to the nature of Chen's dissent.
Without challenging any fundamental tenet of China's constitution or its 1949 revolution, Chen has focused attention to the country's forced abortion and sterilization practices, leading to a crackdown by the government on his movement and prohibitions on contact with foreigners and the media.
The prominence of the self-taught, blind lawyer rose when he escaped from house arrest in Shandong province April 22 and arrived at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing several days later. As Chen went from the embassy to a hospital, the U.S. sought assurances that he would be released from house arrest and that he and his family would not be harmed. Chen told reporters police were in his home waving clubs in front of his wife.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Articles dealing with pro-life issues lead up to the March for Life rally May 10
You won't hear about this from the mainstream media, but May is a big month for Canada's pro-life movement. Starting today, May 4,
The B.C. Catholic will feature an article relating to The Culture of Life in anticipation for the March for Life rally, May 10 in Victoria. Alistair Burns starts the week off detailing some of the plans the Archdiocese of Vancouver has for the province's pro-life gathering:
MLAs at the B.C. legislature will soon have some company speaking up for life. On May 10 the fifth annual March for Life will bring Catholics together from all over the province.
Michele Smillie, coordinator of the Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, says groups from as far north as Prince George will be joining others from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Ten buses packed with students will also sail on the 9 o'clock "pro-life ferry" headed for Swartz Bay.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Edmonton's city officials and business leaders gather for the annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
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| Retired mining executive Jack Klemke spoke to fellow business and political leaders about the power of forgiveness. Ramon Gonzalez / WCR / CCN. |
The B.C. Catholic has a story from Edmonton's Ramon Gonzalez of the
Western Catholic Reporter who covered a civic and business event with a focus on prayer:
We must confess our sin when we do wrong and must forgive others when they do wrong.
That’s the message evangelical leader and former businessman Jack Klemke brought to the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast at the Shaw Conference Centre April 25.
Forgiveness, he said, is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person’s sin. “We need to accept God’s forgiveness. It is the cross that makes forgiveness legally and morally right. He died once to break the power of sin.”
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Holy Father says scientific pursuits without God weaken the understanding of reality
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| Pope Benedict XVI shakes hands with Gianfranco Fini, president of Italy's Chamber of Deputies, during a visit to Sacred Heart University in Rome May 3. L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters |
The B.C. Catholic has an article from
Catholic News Service's Carol Glatz about
Pope Benedict XVI's praise of scientific discovers, but also a warning that without transcendent truth scientific progress could be hindered:
Excluding truth and the transcendent from scientific debate and research has impoverished modern thought and weakened the intellect's ability to understand reality, Pope Benedict XVI said.
True intellectual and scientific progress requires an openness to dialogue with opposing views, rather than settling with the "mere repetition" of what one already knows, he added.
The Pope made his remarks May 3 in an address to faculty, doctors and students at Rome's Sacred Heart University, one of the biggest Catholic universities in the world.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Harbour Centre hosts two heavyweights on the physician-assisted suicide issue
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| Dr. Williard Johnston, president of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of B.C, debated Dying with Dignity's Wanda Morris April 12 at Simon Fraser University's Harbour Centre Campus. The two sides debated the question, "Should physician-assisted suicide be legalized in Canada?" Alistair Burns The B.C. Catholic. |
Alistair Burns recently attended a linguistic battle-royal between two experts on the euthanasia issue:
Two heavyweights battled it out in a debate over physician-assisted suicide April 19. Dr. Williard Johnston, president of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of B.C., faced off against Wanda Morris, executive director of Dying With Dignity, at SFU's Harbour Centre campus.
They debated the question, "Should physician-assisted suicide be legalized in Canada?" with Morris taking the affirmative. A lively crowd of 80 spectators ranged from students to seniors.
Morris, a chartered accountant, began with an emotional plea, outlining cases that explained her group's goal. "Poisoning a father, that's not what we stand for." With tears in her eyes she passionately continued into her first major argument: the Sue Rodriguez case.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Stephen Woodworth notes House of Commons has discussed person-defining motion in a civil manner
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| Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth introducing motion M-312 to the House of Commons April 26. The motion asks parliament to set up a special committee to investigate the definition of a human being. Special to the B.C. Catholic. |
While it may not have played out this way on T.V, Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth says his controversial person-defining motion has been treated with respect by members in Parliament. Deborah Gyapong's report is featured on
The B.C. Catholic website:
Contentious issues about human rights, even those of unborn children, can be discussed in public in a civil, intelligent way, said Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth, and the recent debate in the House of Commons on his private member’s motion M-312 proves it.
On Apr. 26, Woodworth was the only MP who spoke in favor of his motion that would establish a Parliamentary Committee to examine the latest medical evidence on whether a child in the womb is a human being. Other MPs—from the NDP and Liberal Parties and even from his own Conservative Party, spoke against it.
But he did not mind the pile-on in the House or any of the media coverage surrounding the debate, which many argue reopens the debate on abortion.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Pop company stops use of aborted fetal cells for flavour testing
Steven Ertelt of the Lifenews.com website writes on Pepsi's
about-face. He reports from Washington, D.C.
Pepsi Co. has bowed to pro-life pressure. The
soft drink conglomerate and second largest beverage company in the world
will end a $ 30 million contract with biotech firm Senomyx Inc., which
uses cells from an unborn child killed in an abortion to conduct flavour
testing.
Culture Guard president says B.C. parents are losing input into what their children are learning
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| Culture Guard president Kari Simpson speaks to a reporter about the Out in Schools anti-bullying program, which she alleges is a ploy to turn students into sex-activists. BCC file photo. |
In my latest article on
The B.C. Catholic website, I talked to Culture Guard president Kari Simpson who claims the gay activist website Out in Schools is out to lunch:
Kari Simpson is on the front lines of a culture war for the hearts and minds of B.C. students. Her organization, Culture Guard, has focused on Lower Mainland school boards that she says are indoctrinating students with sex activism.
"Governments have been put on notice that parents don't want their rights trampled," Simpson declared. "Any program with the word 'homophobic' is sending a clear political message."
Simpson believes parents are losing the right to educate their children, in favour of the state-mandated propaganda of homosexual "acceptance."
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Prime Minister and high ranking Conservatives promise to vote against M-312
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| Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth won't have a lot of support in the House of Commons over his definition of a human motion, especially within his own party. Deborah Gyapong / CCN. |
The uphill battle pro-life MP Stephen Woodworth faces to get Motion M-312 passed in the House of Commons is featured on
The B.C. Catholic website. CCN's Deborah Gyapong reports the "culture of death" is alive and well in Ottawa, as members of all three political parties show strong opposition against revisiting abortion:
Abortion took centre stage in the House of Commons Apr. 26 as Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth’s Motion M-312 to re-examine Canada’s 400-year old legal definition of a human being received its first hour of debate.
Accused by Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair of violating his promise not to reopen the abortion debate, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Question Period “every member has a right to move a motion” and “Party Leaders have no control over that.”
An all-party committee deemed the motion votable, something the Prime Minister called “unfortunate.”
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
I will also have a story about the debate in the May 7 edition of
The B.C. Catholic.
Vanderbilt Catholic student organization readies for unofficial status
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| Father John Sims Baker, chaplain of the Vanderbilt Catholic student organization, talks with Vanderbilt University students. |
This Catholic News Service story shows the necessity of being discriminating in matters other than choosing fine foods and the wines to go with them.
As the fight over Vanderbilt University's nondiscrimination policy continues to make national news, members of Vanderbilt Catholic are hoping their "15 minutes of fame" are almost over.
For most of the school year, Vanderbilt Catholic and other on-campus Christian organizations have been at odds with the school's newly enforced nondiscrimination policy, which requires leadership positions in all registered student organizations to be open to everyone, regardless of their beliefs.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
2012 Catholic Cup for Senior Girls Soccer featured familiar ending
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| The STM Knights pose with their championship banner on April 27. |
Eight teams came in but there could be only one champion. Led by Samantha Dresher's most valuable player performance, the Saint Thomas More Knights won the 2012 Catholic Cup by a 3-nil score on the road at Archbishop Carney. STM also defeated Carney last year in the final.
For the home-side Stars, this marks the fourth consecutive year they've made the final without walking away with a championship.
Other individual player awards: Kassia Hayek was awarded the Golden Boot for her goal-scoring prowess and Moral Desormeaux back-stopped her way to Top Goaltender.
Doctor became Catholic after watching church workers fight cholera
This story is particularly interesting because it tells of the conversion of a man who was very much an intellectual, but who was first moved to conversion by the example of the Catholics around him rather than by an intellectual appeal.
William Edmonds Horner, who as a medical student and doctor treated soldiers wounded in the War of 1812, was so impressed with the work of Catholic priests and nuns during a cholera epidemic that he became a Catholic himself.
This year's bicentennial of the War of 1812 provides a time to remember Horner, dean of the Medical School of Pennsylvania for 30 years, who wrote the first pathology textbook printed in America and discovered a muscle in the eye that is named for him.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
