By Father Tony Van Hee Interim special “Father, all-powerful and every-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. You renew the Church in every age by raising up men and women outstanding in holiness, living witnesses of your unchanging love” (Second Preface for Masses of Holy Men and Women). God provides. Even now, in this “wicked and unfaithful [...]
VATICAN CITY- A new Vatican document, prompted in part by the partial- birth abortion debate, describes abortion as a primordial evil that has reached “new depths of depravity” in the United States. Released by the Pontifical Council for the Family July 2, the document also condemned efforts to legalize euthanasia in the U.S. as evidence of a growing contempt for human life. [...]
Interim staff In an effort to promote prayer as a response to the abortion problem in this country, The Interim is considering a plan to reproduce different pro-life prayers in upcoming issues. The purpose of the prayer initiative is simple. In order to come up with a solution to the evil of abortion, we should look to a power higher than our [...]
Christianity isn’t the only religion struggling with the growing tolerance for euthanasia and assisted suicide. Professor Nahum Rakover, deputy attorney general of Israel, recently told a meeting of the American Zionist Movement that traditional Jewish law also forbids any form of assisted suicide of terminally ill patients. Rakover said under Jewish law, it is not necessary to take extraordinary measures to preserve [...]
Interim staff Speakers as diverse as a Catholic theology professor and a rabbinical scholar found common ground in discussing marriage and the family as basic elements in the maintenance of stable societies. And despite overwhelming evidence of the benefits society derives from the family as basic elements in the maintenance of stable societies. And despite overwhelming evidence of the benefits society derives [...]
Conference a major boost for family Fr. Ted Collection Along with about a thousand other people I attended the Second Pan-American Conference on Family Education. It was held at the Regal Constellation Hotel, Toronto. The title for this Conference was: “Building the Civilization of Love.” I thought that the entire conference was an outstanding success and great credit is due to Paul [...]
Opinion Tom Koys As a veteran of many years of church-related battles over the matter of birth control I have come to the conclusion that even the arguments of the “rightness” or “wrongness” of the church’s teaching on artificial contraception is not of interest to most people. I say this, not because such moral correctness is not possible to point out, or [...]
Pro-life and pro-family supporters are surprised with the Catholic bishops’ conference contribution of $2,000 to the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC)to assist a National Women’s March for the Eradication of Poverty. In a May, 1996 letter to outgoing NAC president Sunera Thobani, Catholic bishops conference general secretary Father Douglas Crosby, said the bishops’ conference supports NAC’s aim of [...]
Pro-life and pro-family supporters are surprised with the Catholic bishops’ conference contribution of $2,000 to the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC)to assist a National Women’s March for the Eradication of Poverty. In a May, 1996 letter to outgoing NAC president Sunera Thobani, Catholic bishops conference general secretary Father Douglas Crosby, said the bishops’ conference supports NAC’s aim of [...]
Edited by Brad Stetson, Praeger Publishers. The Silent Subject is a collection of fourteen essays looking at abortion from five perspectives: ethical, cultural, personal, religious and legal. All of these are interesting and informative, while some are so profoundly moving as to almost overshadow the rest of the book. The silent subject is both abortion and the unborn child itself. Brad Stetson [...]
Interim Staff A pro-life supplement in the spring issue of the Roman Catholic Diocese of London newsletter generated favorable response from southwestern Ontario readers. Published by the diocese’s pro-life office, the 16,000-circulation supplement coincided with Pro-Life Awareness Week, April 28 to May 4. It included items on a wide range of interest to pro-life, pro-family supporters, including the Health Care Consent Act, [...]
I have been told that the Catholic Church rejects test-tube babies. Is this true? M. W. Montreal No, it is not true. In 1983, in their submission to the Warnock Committee, the Catholic Bishops of Britain were perfectly clear on the issue: The Church teaches that though in vitro fertilization (IVF) is wrong; the Catholic Church has always welcomed into the human [...]
I have often thought of writing an article under the above title but I thought it might sound too pious. However, I was inspired to do so from reading an article in the “New York Post” on February 5, 1996. The writer was Maggie Gallagher and that is all I know about her. She does not say to what religion she belongs [...]
Christianity is barely addressed in the information and entertainment media these days. When acknowledged at all, it is most often treated as an object of scorn and derision. Christian faith is simply not part of life for the vast majority of those fictional characters portrayed on TV and in films. When Christian characters occasionally get written into screenplay plots, they are almost [...]
My first reaction when I looked at the return address on the envelope was, Oh No! some , parishioner or sister in Christ, has managed to get themselves thrown into the Vanier prison for women. Then as I read the letter, I remembered that just before Christmas when The Interim had suggested that we write to Linda Gibbons, that I had sent [...]