Letters

Life Chain changes hearts

To the Editor:

You stand on the corner and watch the cars go by. You hold your sign diligently, never knowing if the next person is going to smile, give you the thumbs up and a resounding honking symphony from the car horn as they drive by, or be an irrate pro-choicer who shakes their head in anger, and casually flips their middle finger your way to help make their point.

Fortunately, this isn't about you and them. It's all about unborn children. It's about making the silent statement that abortion kills children.

I thought about how Toronto's numbers were down this year, and so were the numbers in several places across the country. How could every secular newspaper (daily and weekly) in the country's largest city miss the fact that 2,500 people were demonstrating against one of Canada's ultimate evils? While this was disappointing, keep in mind that the message was primarily for motorists, not the newspapers.

Across the country, over 26,000 people (not including Alberta, Quebec or Durham region in Ontario) took part in Life Chains this year. A lot of areas had an increase in numbers. A number of captains mentioned how they received more support from passing motorists than they could remember in quite some time. All in all, Life Chain Canada was a great success. Vancouver did a fabulous job, bringing out 4,750 people!

If you find yourself wondering whether your participation in the Life Chain is still important, trust me when I tell you that it is imperative. The life of unborn children can hang in the balance. It could be your sign - number three or 103 - that causes someone to rethink their decision away from an abortion, or assists a friend to look into their options instead of plunging ahead into having an abortion.

Additionally, it is THE one pro-life event that transcends barriers between Christian denominations and Christian and Judaic beliefs. It pulls us together out onto the streets to affirm the value of every child's worth in the eyes of God.

A sincere thank you to everyone who took part in any way, shape or form in this year's Life Chain! Your time and efforts continue to make the difference for the lives of unborn children, and demonstrate your willingness to continue to be a vessel open to God's will!

May God bless each of you in your efforts!

John MacMullen,
Co-ordinator; Toronto Area Life Chain

Fee caps

To the Editor:

When Ontario Health Minister Elizabeth Witmer put a fee cap of $300,000 on general practitioners doing abortions and $380,000 for specialists, loud screams came from abortion advocates who were appalled at the thought of heroic figures being reduced to chill penury. Henry Morgentaler's assistant Cathie Colombo objected to restrictions on doctors providing a service "both legal and necessary." What, however, did she mean by "necessary"?

When the 1969 abortion law was passed, federal justice minister John Turner was careful to specify that the procedure would be performed only when continuation of the pregnancy would be a threat to the mother's life or health. A few years later, however, the Badgley Commission found that many doctors admitted most abortions were being done for vague reasons of mental stress, which could not be regarded as valid assessments of patients' health and needs. In fact, there was good reason for Dr. Harley Smyth to say in 1983 that abortion in Canada was really mass elective feticide for non-medical reasons.

In 1988, even this vague excuse for abortion disappeared - and so ended any pretense of a medical justification for abortion. It could, in fact, be performed for no reason at all, except that a pregnant woman did not want to carry her baby to term. If any semblance of a medical reason was gone, there was no justification for abortion being paid for out of provincial health plans.

Cathie Colombo and Marion Boyd seem to regard it as an essential medical service, "both legal and necessary." They cannot have it both ways; there is nothing to say that a physician must assure himself that a woman's health will be at risk unless she has an abortion, and so there is no reason to regard it as an essential medical service - a service for which the Ontario government ought to provide funding.

I suggest that a cap of $100 for Henry Morgentaler would be appropriate.

Dr. David J. Dooley,
St. Michael's College Toronto, Ont.

War on unborn

To the Editor:

I have been a pro-lifer all my life. I turned 96 on Sept. 16. I was married almost 49 years ago and my wife passed away nine years ago. We had a family of eight children, three girls and five boys. From them, I have 12 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. I come from a family of 15 children, nine girls and six boys, and I love every one of them.

I feel that our country is in need of good governments, federal and provincial, to pass legislation to protect the lives of the pre-born children. We have been at war against our pre-born children since 1969. This war has been approved of by the Supreme Court of Canada. I am almost ashamed to be a Canadian. We were talking about Hitler in the last world war and about all the slaughter that was committed by Hitler's regime at that time. We are no better. We are supposed to be a civilized nation.

Some Roman Catholic bishops and priests are not fulfilling their mandates in our Church. I posted some clippings pertaining to euthanasia and abortion on our church's billboard, but our parish priests don't agree with them and take them down. But I keep posting them up when I can.

We have a very sad situation in our Church. We now have many more modern priests, who claim to have given the church a new face in the 20th century. But how much of this is true?

It is said that by popular demand, after Vatican II, shibboleths of the past were jettisoned. Easier Catholicism took over and, according to a general report, the people were gratified. The fact remains, however, that since the relaxation took place, the Church has been rife with divisional scandal and a catastrophic decline in clergy and lay attendance. Most of the visible signs of Catholicism have disappeared. This was not by public demand. God bless all our pre-born children, and Lord have mercy on us all.

My granddaughter has written this letter for me as my vision is not what it used to be. I lost sight completely in one eye on account of surgery due to a cataract.

Willie Fortin,
Chapleau, Ont.

Ireland

To the Editor:

The Interim's September issue contained an interesting article on Ireland and how - while vigilance is needed - the country is still by belief and law opposed to abortion.

I had always wondered why God had not blessed poor Ireland somewhat more than other countries because of its anti-abortion laws. Well, I had my facts wrong.

While I was interning in Washington D.C. earlier this year, a big fuss was made in the top newspapers there about the rise of wealth and style among the Irish people. I found out that Ireland today is economically successful, as indicated by its standard of living and rate of economic growth. In this, it surpasses most European countries, including Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Indeed, the wealth of Ireland is considered a positive factor in influencing peace talks. Also, it is said that the return of overseas Irishmen in significant numbers attests to Ireland's prosperity.

This is a reversal of the past. I believe and am convinced that this is because God has blessed Ireland a little more for forbidding abortion despite aggressive North American and European pro-abortion activism.

If God blesses people and countries, and if abortion is a serious injustice, then Ireland's stance will be rewarded. Behold, it happens.

Ireland blossoms when, in the eyes of the world, its pro-life "backwardness" should be a symptom of a backward country.

Robert Byers
Toronto, Ont.

Charitable status

To the Editor:

It has come to my attention that Revenue Canada has attacked certain pro-life charities such as Human Life International. Revenue Canada sued to have HLI's charity status revoked; i.e., deregistered.

Any reasonable, good-willed judge would have thrown this case out of court (if he would not have laughed it out of court). HLI is clearly a charity, in its principles and in its practices, as defined by Canadian law.

HLI lost its charity status simply because of the decision of hate-filled bigots. The court's blatant bigotry took the place of Canadian jurisprudence. Even the court itself admitted that there was no case law to support its decision. Naturally. That's because case law as such doesn't support bigotry or hate- filled bigots.

Michael Oman
North Bay, Ont.

Sad scene

To the Editor:

What a sad, sad scene! From the streets of Sodom to the streets of Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and other Canadian and American cities - human beings harnessed like beasts, bare breasted, bare buttocked, with ever-present condoms and paraphernalia for kinky sex, gesturing lewdly, using foul language and slogans ... the gay lifestyle in all its promiscuous glory parading on the streets of our nations and across our TV screens for our innocent children to see.

"Away with the age of innocence!" is the cry of freedom from Sodom and Gomorrah.

"There is no such age. Away with marriage and family! Away with natural law! Away with the law of the Gospel! We recognize only one law; ours and the Gay Manifesto. All other laws are homophobic and discriminatory. Our law is the right to sexual pleasure when and with whom we want - even with your children and your babies if we feel like it."

Such seems to be the spirit of the homosexual activists and the gay-pride parades heralded by the media as a new era of freedom for homosexuals.

Our courts and politically correct leaders seem to be aiding, abetting, and even legislating, such depravity, preparing the formula for the moral destruction of our civilization.

Mayors are now being bullied by fear of fines and legal consequences, and are forced to permit parades against their will. The majority is held captive to serve the whims, fancies and foibles of a few, while other mayors and community leaders go along with the mad flow, even joining in, happily ignoring the will of the people who elected them and who still expect the upholding of common decency. True democracy has been eclipsed so that certain homosexual activists can have a public forum to express their sordid lifestyle and proclaim their "freedom and human dignity."

I am not condemning or judging these people. I am simply objecting to their disordered behaviour and lifestyles. If any other group acted in this way at a parade - be they hooligans, gangs of delinquents or average citizens - they would receive a similar rebuff. In fact, even homosexuals have publicly spoken against these disgusting displays.

Catering to people who want to foist on the public a lifestyle filled with unnatural, HIV-laden, risky, multi-partnered sex, anonymous toilet sex and bathhouse orgies, and putting this lifestyle on a par with ordinary family life, is not the answer. This attitude just serves to poison the rest of society and endangers the future of our families, marriages and children.

When are we going to get it through our heads that homosexuals are not a minority with special rights any more than alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, or other sexually active individuals, are? Homosexuality is a destructive lifestyle, an addiction, a sexual enslavement, a physical and spiritual sickness. It is part of the "culture of death."

We need to pray for the homosexual. No one will ever find the gene for homosexuality, any more than he can find the gene for lust, murder, envy, hatred, sloth, greed and anger. These tendencies come from the heart of man; his spirit, not his chromosomes. They are part of his fallen human nature.

Since the original sin of Adam, every human being on the face of the earth has been a weak and helpless sinner nagged by evil tendencies and tempted by the world, the flesh and the devil. To overcome these tendencies, a human being needs self control and discipline. Just as the human body is subject to natural laws, the spirit or soul is subject to spiritual laws. When both our bodies and our spirits are subjected to the laws of the Creator, we become what we are created to be: children of God. God's grace is there to help us for the asking. The call to holiness is universal. All of us have received that call in one way or another - even the homosexual.

Jesus Christ shows us the way by gently and lovingly calling us to Himself and showing us that happiness and the true dignity of a human being come not from acting out our baser instincts, but by self-mastery and holiness.

Daniel J. Dauvin
Killaloe, Ont.

Old-line parties offer no hope,say FCP leaders

(In its September issue, The Interim featured the article "Key to politics is participation" by Richard Marchak, Campaign Life Coalition's Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont. representative and a Liberals for Life activist. Here, former Ontario Family Coalition Party leader Don Pennell, and current leader Giuseppe Gori, respond to Mr. Marchak's concerns.)

To the Editor:

It must be nearing election time. My political associate, Richard Marchak, brings to our attention the notion that participation is required in order to elect pro-life candidates to public office. I agree with Richard - political participation is key to electing any good person to office. On the other hand, political participation has elected a lot of nitwits as well.

Once again, I will speak as an advocate of a political party, the Family Coalition Party of Ontario, which is not only pro-life and pro-family, but a political party combining a philosophy calling for less government with responsible free enterprise. How soon Richard and others who advocate the old-line parties forget what happened when they attempted to fight in the trenches of the old-line parties, particularly with the Liberals.

Let me explain why I believe practising politics within the old-line parties will never bring protection to the unborn. So long as people (read "politicians") ignore the word of God and the teaching of Christ Himself, there will never be a solution to the abortion holocaust. Since Christians are kneeling before God on Sunday and asking for His blessings and His protection for the unborn, and are then voting for pro-abortion candidates representing pro-abortion political parties, protection will not be forthcoming.

When members of various Catholic and other Christian fraternal organizations openly vote and give money to pro-abortion candidates and the political parties they represent, protection will not be forthcoming.

Many Christians, while standing in my presence, have said they could not vote for the FCP because "it would be a wasted vote." Some said they could not vote for the FCP because we were not going to win. Some said, "I would not want my Liberal or Tory friends to find out I voted for the FCP." Protection will not be forthcoming with this fuzzy-headed logic.

Many have said they could not vote for our candidates because our candidates "lacked experience." Yet, scores of neophytes of other political parties are elected. Once elected, they foul the political nest while we applaud them and continue to re-elect them.

Both the FCP and the CHP have presented candidates for office who were doctors, lawyers, accountants, farmers with college degrees, homemakers with university degrees, and business people with MBAs. This list of credentials was presented to the pro-life movement for its acceptance and was rejected. Even our opponents complimented us on the depth of our quality candidates. "None are so blind as those who do not wish to see."

A Catholic prime minister demands party discipline, demands his ministers and backbench camp followers tow the party line on anti-life legislation. Now we know who wasted their votes. No wonder our unborn have no chance. Again, Richard is right - people will not vote pro-life. Christian people pay lip service to God and His decrees, while paying good, hard cash at a political fundraiser for pro-abortion politicians.

Participation is required, but first we must participate with God as the leader, not Chretien. For too long, we have voted for leaders who are long on promises and short on deed. Unless we live our daily lives, and conduct ourselves, according to the ways of our faith, then we will always have abortion on demand.

Some day, there will be an accounting for our deeds, and it scares me to tears. Many a late night, while returning from a political meeting or rally within the solitude of my car, my emotions welled to the fore. I knew that for every vote the FCP received, another two votes by pro-lifers would be cast for pro-abortion politicians. The proof of what I say is reflected in the voting results at the end of election day.

Will the blood of the unborn be on the hands of few, or on the hands of the many?

The Family Coalition Party and the Christian Heritage Party have been rejected by the majority of pro- lifers. Elect the others at your own risk and to the detriment of the unborn. Debate, anyone?

Don Pennell,
Former Leader
The Family Coalition Party of Ontario

To the Editor:

I read with interest the piece by Richard Marchak in the September Interim.

Mr. Marchak stated that voting results over the last 30 years show that most people do not vote pro- life. This is very true; people in Ontario, and all over the world, do not vote according to principles, but rather, according to press reviews and media interpretations of what the major issues are and where the party leaders stand on those issues.

Mr. Marchak points out two main options: vote for the Family Coalition Party (in Ontario) or "participate in a party that includes people who do not share our belief."

The last statement seems to imply that the Family Coalition Party does not include people who do not share our belief (meaning, on religion or pro-life). On the contrary, the FCP is open to anyone of any belief or religion (this is in our constitution). To become an executive member or a candidate, however, a person must agree with our fundamental principles: the right to life, the right to freedom, and the right to ownership of property. vMore serious, the statement implies that the major parties include pro-abortion and secular-atheist people. In fact, the parties are run BY such people. Jean Chretien, for one, decided to go against the democratic process of nominating and electing candidates in 10 different ridings, and specifically appointed pro-abortion feminists there. So much for "inclusion." So much for new, Tom Wappel-like candidates.

Mike Harris will not stop the funding of abortions, nor will he end the court injunction against pro- life activities. His party's family caucus has come up with a dismal definition of the family, which includes homosexuals. These are the people who run the major parties.

Let's stop blaming each other and start working together. Nothing worked in the past because we pro- life, pro-family Christians were not united. Although we make up probably 40 per cent of the population, we have no representation in government. We are the minority in each of the major parties. Even if good, pro-life candidates were elected within any of the major parties, they would be a minority, unable to get pro-family legislation passed.

We have no power to enforce any decision in any agency, board, commission or court. We have no power to pass legislation in Parliament. We are divided. The media want us to stay that way. They highlight supposed differences between the major parties, when in fact, the major parties are very similar. We end up voting for one of the major parties, as the media proposes to us.

Do we have our own minds? We need to stop voting according to what the media tell us and unite behind one party. With 40 per cent support, we could run Ontario!

Giuseppe Gori,
Leader
The Family Coalition Party of Ontario