secular Institute for the laity under religious vows

Taken from "The Washington Post"
Revolt Simmers at Church
Race and Catholic Hierarchy Inflame Dispute in D.C. Parish

By Robert E. Pierre
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 18, 2006; Page A01

The order from the archdiocese had been clear: Stop the accusations, the name-calling, the disobedience to the authority of the Catholic Church.

But parishioner Bill Alston, bundled against the cold outside a church, didn't care as he passed out fliers alleging to his fellow Catholics that a leader at his nearby home congregation, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Anacostia, was "disrespectful, insulting and profane" and that the diocese was sweeping it under the rug.



The Rev. Donald Fest greets parishioners after a Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Anacostia. (Photos By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)

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The Rev. Michael Jones poked half of his body out the front door and shook his head disapprovingly. "Shame, shame, shame," he said. "You were told to cease and desist."

"So, everything the bishop says is right?" Alston asked.

"Yes," the priest said. "That's what happens in the Catholic Church . . . . It's not a Baptist church. You obey the priest and the bishop."

"I don't think so," Alston said, turning away to hand out another flier.

The unusual public confrontation last month between priest and parishioner was one more point of friction in a year-long dispute -- Alston calls it a crusade -- in which a cadre of longtime members at Our Lady, one of Washington's historically black Catholic congregations, is in mutiny against the white pastor.

Those members contend that the Rev. Donald Fest has ruled by fiat and has refused to confer about decisions or seek compromise. They don't like the administrator he put in charge, and they don't like the new rules on using the church hall, the famous Panorama Room.

The year has featured shouting matches, a pre-Mass picket line, accusations that Fest is a racist and a petition drive to oust the administrator. A church meeting this month became so heated that one member filed a stay-away order in D.C. Superior Court, accusing Alston of threatening her, an accusation Alston denies.

Fest said he has talked to critics, heard their concerns and has the authority he has been given. He suspended 17 people, including Alston, from usher and church duties -- they can now attend only services -- saying they didn't follow orders or the chain of command. He rejects the contention that he runs the church like a plantation. As a member of an order of priests devoted to black Catholics, Fest has been assigned to black parishes in Baltimore and New Orleans. "This is not a plantation," Fest said in an interview. "If I'm a racist, I have picked some interesting -- well, I didn't pick them -- assignments."

The story at Our Lady is one of clashing opinions and, for Alston and his disgruntled brethren, an attempt to regain control of what they view as their church. Their ancestors built it, and generations since have maintained it, tithed to it, sent their children to its school.

What they have learned is that butting heads with a 2,000-year-old institution is no easy task. People at every level of church hierarchy have told them the same thing: The Catholic Church is no democracy.

Taken from "the Herald Sun" Australia

Where is the respect for the unborn babies and for human life? Glory be!

Outcry at macabre 'art' show
Kate Jones
17jan06

A CONTROVERSIAL exhibition displaying 20 skinned human cadavers will go on show in Melbourne.

Unborn babies are among 20 corpses to be displayed in the Amazing Human Body Exhibition.
Critics have called it disrespectful and macabre but organisers say the exhibition aims to educate and inform.

Exhibition chairman Paul Lui said the show would be particularly informative for students.

"Special education programs will be set up for both primary and secondary school students," Mr Lui said.

"We want to help them understand and appreciate their complex bodies; to inform and motivate them; to help them act in a more healthy way."

Children under 15 must be accompanied by an adult and viewers must be aged 18 or older to view the unborn babies.

But independent family ethicist Bill Muehlenberg called the exhibition a freak show.

"It's a bit rich to pass it off as education -- it's more like shock value," Mr Muehlenberg said.

"It's grotesque to put a fetus on show. I certainly wouldn't recommend it for young children."

Melbourne bioethicist Nicholas Tonti-Filippini said the exhibition crossed the border between science and art.

"Using the human body as an artform raises serious questions," Dr Tonti-Filippini said.

The partially dissected bodies come from China.

Organisers say they were donated to science.

But when the exhibition toured the US last year, there was speculation the bodies were unidentified or unclaimed people who did not consent to their corpses being used in an exhibit.

Under a process known as plastination, the bodies were drained of fluid and injected with liquid plastic, making them more flexible.

The bodies will be posed in various positions to reveal how muscles and bones work.

The exhibition has sparked controversy across the world, but that has not stopped more than 18 million viewing the exhibition across the US, UK, Europe and Asia.

Organisers have not confirmed a Melbourne venue for the exhibition.

It opens in Sydney next month.

That last post makes me feel ill.

Me too, there seems to be no respect for human life. That is why When I post and started this thread I hoped we always respect each other's hearts here! Human life whether born or unborn is so precious!

It is so important to me George! Thanks for posting!

n

My grandmother came over on a boat from Ireland and my grandfather from Germany! They came to America for the opportunities and for their children to succeed! What do you think?

n

Migration Week to Highlight Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees
www.catholicnews.com

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- National Migration Week, taking place Jan. 8-14, will focus on solidarity with immigrants and refugees.

In announcing the upcoming 25th annual weeklong observation with its theme "Journey to Justice," Bishop Gerald B. Barnes of San Bernardino, Calif., chairman of the bishops' Committee on Migration, said all people are called to make a journey "in solidarity with migrants, immigrants, refugees, human trafficking victims and other people on the move seeking justice and peace."

"Never has this call to solidarity been needed more than today," he added. "Too often those who have come to our land seeking a better life for themselves and their families face discrimination and exploitation."

The bishop stressed that National Migration Week provides a good opportunity for parishes and schools to address issues facing immigrants and to find ways to learn more or help others in their community. He suggested that parish and school leaders could increase their awareness of these issues by looking into the Justice for Immigrants campaign launched this year by more than a dozen church organizations and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The campaign is intended to educate the public, and Catholics in particular, about how immigration and immigrants benefit the nation; to improve public opinion about the contributions of immigrants; to advocate for changes in immigration laws and policies; and to organize networks that assist immigrants with legal problems. More information on the campaign can be found online at www.justiceforimmigrants.org.

The campaign's Web site and materials from the bishops' migration committee, on the Web at www.usccb.org/mrs/nmw.shtml, provide resources for parishes and schools to use during National Migration Week.

-- Working with other dioceses and other faiths to help find policy solutions.

Still reading. Your 'dead baby' post above was indeed chilling.

I know Neo for me also! Thanks for posting!

n

From the "Irish Examiner"

Celibacy wasn't always a requirement for priesthood in the Catholic Church you know! Some Bishops have it on the table again as discussion!

n


19/01/06
Celibacy row rages after priest fathers child

By Senan Hogan
THE revelation that a Galway-based priest has resigned after fathering a child by a 31-year-old woman has re-ignited the debate about celibacy in the Church.

Father Maurice Dillane, a curate in the Woodford-Looscaun parish in east Galway, quit the Clonfert diocese after he was confronted by his bishop.

The 73-year-old priest is believed to have first met the 31-year-old mother of his child, a Dublin-based teacher, while serving in the nearby parish of Mullagh and Killoran. The baby was born late last year.

Broadcaster Fr Brian D'Arcy and well-known Manchester priest Fr Denis Maher yesterday both backed Fr Dillane and warned the Catholic Church that it was losing its best priests because they weren't allowed to marry.

"The compulsory celibacy issue has to be addressed. I'm not saying what the conclusions will be but at least it is time that we discussed it," Fr D'Arcy said.




"I really think that some of the absolute cream of the priesthood have been lost and I think it's one of the reasons we are in the huge mess we're in at the moment," he noted.

He estimated that more than 110,000 priests have left around the world, of which 70,000 would have been leaders in the Catholic Church today.

"The man has given over 40 years to the priesthood and if he wants to move in different directions, then that's OK with me.

"I would like to think that somebody, whatever age they are, if they fall in love with somebody who falls in love with them, and they want to have a relationship, I would not stand in the way of that."

Fr Maher said: "Any priest who doesn't fall in love is only half a priest."

Just before Christmas, Bishop of Killaloe Willie Walsh voiced his opinion - which is in direct conflict with the Vatican - that celibacy was meaningless if it had a negative impact on priests and the Church.

"I have known some very fine priests who have left the priesthood because they found the challenge of celibacy not life-giving for them.

"Men like that are a great loss to the ministerial priesthood," he said.

He said the priesthood should be open to both married and celibate priests and urged a full debate within the Church on what he described as a "very serious question".

The Bishop of Clonfert, Dr John Kirby confirmed that a priest had admitted to him on January 6 that he had recently fathered a baby.

Justin O'Byrne, the chairman of Fr Dillane's local pastoral council, said rumours about the baby had been circulating for a few days when he brought the matter to parish priest Fr Pat Naughten last Friday afternoon.

Bishop Kirby said he hoped the priest would be given time and space to plan for the future of the baby and mother.

He said: "On 6th January a priest on loan to the Clonfert Diocese confirmed to me that he had recently fathered a baby with an adult woman.

"Since then, I have met both the priest and the mother.

"I hope the priest, who has ceased to work in the diocese, the mother, and all those involved, be given appropriate time and space to plan for their respective futures.

"I consider this to be a private matter and as such I will make no further comment."

Taken from
cruxnews.com

Pope's failed assassin to star in film of attack
NICK PISA
IN ROME
MEHMET Ali Agca, the man who shot Pope John Paul II, has struck a £4.5 million deal to make a Hollywood film explaining how and why he carried out the 1981 attack, according to an interview with his friend and bodyguard published yesterday.

Agca, 48, has already been given an advance of £280,000 by the unidentified film company which has secured the exclusive rights to tell his story and finally reveal his motivation, according to a report in an Italian news magazine.


The Pope was left fighting for his life after the Turkish gunman shot him twice as he greeted crowds in the Vatican's St Peter's Square in May 1981.

Details of the film deal emerged in an interview Haydar Mengi had given to the news weekly Gente.

Mr Mengi explained that Agca - who was released from an Istanbul jail last week - had gone into hiding to finalise the negotiations.

The bodyguard explained: "Agca has already received $500,000 as an advance on the $8 million deal.

"It was because of the negotiations that Agca went into hiding last week and did not sign on at his local police station as he should have.

"As part of the deal Agca must give a full interview about what happened leading up to the shooting and the shooting itself and he will also play himself in the movie. Other terms of the contract ban Agca from giving interviews and he must keep out of trouble."

Gente added that it was the temptation of the $8 million Hollywood offer that had led him to pull out of a $600,000 (£340,000) deal he had agreed for a television interview on his release.

Mr Mengi added: "The movie will be filmed in Mexico and Agca will fly out there shortly for the production.

"But Agca's life is without doubt at risk - he knows too much. Killing him is the only way of keeping him quiet.

"I'm certain he would be safe if he told his story to as many people as possible."

Agca was arrested immediately following the shooting and later sentenced to life in jail by an Italian court.

Two years later Pope John Paul visited him in his prison cell at Rome's Rebibbia prison, where the pontiff forgave him.

Six years ago, Agca was given a pardon by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Italy's president, and he returned to Turkey to serve an outstanding sentence for the murder of a Turkish newspaper editor.

Last week, a judge decided he had served enough time behind bars and he was released, although Turkey's justice minister has ordered a full investigation into his freedom and not ruled out him returning to jail.

Agca's motives for shooting the pope have never been properly explained: at first he claimed he had acted alone but then he said he had been hired by the Bulgarian secret service.

He later retracted that claim, but many are convinced that the assassination was ordered by the KGB in Moscow, who saw the Polish pope as a threat to communism in the Eastern Bloc.

Mustafa Demeribag, Agca's Istanbul-based lawyer, was unavailable for comment.

Sometimes I feel I was born in the wrong time zone! Why are we in a society were anything goes in hurting human life?

n
Thursday, January 19, 2006

Abortion notification backed

Supreme Court says N.H. abortion law must allow for quick action if minor's health or life is in danger.

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times

The Supreme Court on Wednesday kept alive a lawsuit filed against several customs agents by an upstate New York computer software company driven out of business when the owner's husband was mistakenly targeted in a child pornography investigation. The court had been asked to decide the extent of government immunity in such cases and whether Susan and Richard Hallock of Mohawk, N.Y., can sue individual customs agents for damaging several computer hard drives and other property seized in a raid.



WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous decision on abortion, said Wednesday states may require girls under age 18 to tell a parent at least two days before having an abortion so long as the law also permits doctors to act quickly in medical emergencies.

The ruling resolves, for now, a New Hampshire case without making a significant change in the law.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in what may be her final opinion, set out a compromise solution that gives both sides most of what they asked for.

State lawmakers wanted to ensure that a pregnant girl would speak to her parent and then wait at least 48 hours before going ahead with an abortion. "States unquestionably have the right to require parental involvement when a minor considers terminating her pregnancy," O'Connor said.

Forty-four states have laws on the books that give parents a role in the abortion decision, she noted. Michigan requires the consent of one parent before a girl under 18 years can get an abortion.

However, the New Hampshire Legislature did not provide exemptions for medical emergencies.

"In some very small percentage of cases, pregnant minors, like adult women, need immediate abortions to avert serious and often irreversible damage to their health," O'Connor said. "A state may not restrict access to abortions that are necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for preservation of the life or health of the mother."

However, two lower courts voided the entire New Hampshire law because it did not include the exception for medical emergencies. O'Connor called this a "blunt remedy" that went too far.

The justices sent the dispute back to the lower courts to be reworked.

"The Supreme Court got it right in determining that the appeals court went too far by declaring the parental notification law in New Hampshire unconstitutional," said Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice. "Parents have a critical role to play in the health and well-being of their children, especially when considering an abortion."

"Today's decision tells politicians that they cannot jeopardize women's health when they pass abortion laws," said Jennifer Dalven, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued the case before the court.

I think that a lot of it is a matter of control. If a priest is celibate and living in a rectory, he can be reassigned and moved easily.

George:

Absolutely! I know that I am celibate and I have to be very careful and not put myself in situations where it is compromised! I get asked out at times by people and just politely say "No" or if the people insist I explain my lifestyle! But you are right, people can and have moved to help out the situation. George, next time we meet for A2k, consider the Red Parrot in Hull, Massachusetts. It is on the ocean and we could walk together and it is such a nice place to eat and hang out! Right on the ocean! When is our next meeting, don't let me miss it okay! e-mail me or call me please about the meeting time please! I am not computer smart to look it up somewhere on a2k!

Thanks friend!

n

from The Imitation of Christ
BOOK THREE
INTERNAL CONSOLATION

The First Chapter
THE INWARD CONVERSATION OF CHRIST WITH THE FAITHFUL SOUL
I WILL hear what the Lord God will speak in me."[24]

Blessed is the soul who hears the Lord speaking within her, who receives the word of consolation from His lips. Blessed are the ears that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the murmurings of this world. Blessed indeed are the ears that listen, not to the voice which sounds without, but to the truth which teaches within. Blessed are the eyes which are closed to exterior things and are fixed upon those which are interior. Blessed are they who penetrate inwardly, who try daily to prepare themselves more and more to understand mysteries. Blessed are they who long to give their time to God, and who cut themselves off from the hindrances of the world.

Consider these things, my soul, and close the door of your senses, so that you can hear what the Lord your God speaks within you. "I am your salvation," says your Beloved. "I am your peace and your life. Remain with Me and you will find peace. Dismiss all passing things and seek the eternal. What are all temporal things but snares? And what help will all creatures be able to give you if you are deserted by the Creator?" Leave all these things, therefore, and make yourself pleasing and faithful to your Creator so that you may attain to true happiness.



The Second Chapter
TRUTH SPEAKS INWARDLY WITHOUT THE SOUND OF WORDS
THE DISCIPLE
SPEAK, Lord, for Thy servant heareth."[25] "I am Thy servant. Give me understanding that I may know Thine ordinances[26] . . . Incline my heart to Thine ordinances[27] . . . Let Thy speech distil as the dew."[28]

The children of Israel once said to Moses: "Speak thou to us and we will hear thee: let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die."[29]

Not so, Lord, not so do I pray. Rather with Samuel the prophet I entreat humbly and earnestly: "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." Do not let Moses or any of the prophets speak to me; but You speak, O Lord God, Who inspired and enlightened all the prophets; for You alone, without them, can instruct me perfectly, whereas they, without You, can do nothing. They, indeed, utter fine words, but they cannot impart the spirit. They do indeed speak beautifully, but if You remain silent they cannot inflame the heart. They deliver the message; You lay bare the sense. They place before us mysteries, but You unlock their meaning. They proclaim commandments; You help us to keep them. They point out the way; You give strength for the journey. They work only outwardly; You instruct and enlighten our hearts. They water on the outside; You give the increase.

They cry out words; You give understanding to the hearer.

Let not Moses speak to me, therefore, but You, the Lord my God, everlasting truth, speak lest I die and prove barren if I am merely given outward advice and am not inflamed within; lest the word heard and not kept, known and not loved, believed and not obeyed, rise up in judgment against me.

Speak, therefore, Lord, for Your servant listens. "Thou hast the words of eternal life."[30] Speak to me for the comfort of my soul and for the amendment of my life, for Your praise, Your glory, and Your everlasting honor.



The Third Chapter
LISTEN HUMBLY TO THE WORDS OF GOD. MANY DO NOT HEED THEM
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
MY CHILD, hear My words, words of greatest sweetness surpassing all the knowledge of the philosophers and wise men of earth. My words are spirit and life, and they are not to be weighed by man's understanding. They are not to be invoked in vanity but are to be heard in silence, and accepted with all humility and with great affection.


THE DISCIPLE
"Happy is the man whom Thou admonishest, O Lord, and teachest out of Thy law, to give him peace from the days of evil,"[31] and that he be not desolate on earth.


THE VOICE OF CHRIST
I taught the prophets from the beginning, and even to this day I continue to speak to all men. But many are hardened. Many are deaf to My voice. Most men listen more willingly to the world than to God. They are more ready to follow the appetite of their flesh than the good pleasure of God. The world, which promises small and passing things, is served with great eagerness: I promise great and eternal things and the hearts of men grow dull. Who is there that serves and obeys Me in all things with as great care as that with which the world and its masters are served?

"Be thou ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea speaketh."[32] And if you ask why, listen to the cause: for a small gain they travel far; for eternal life many will scarcely lift a foot from the ground. They seek a petty reward, and sometimes fight shamefully in law courts for a single piece of money. They are not afraid to work day and night for a trifle or an empty promise. But, for an unchanging good, for a reward beyond estimate, for the greatest honor and for glory everlasting, it must be said to their shame that men begrudge even the least fatigue. Be ashamed, then, lazy and complaining servant, that they should be found more eager for perdition than you are for life, that they rejoice more in vanity than you in truth.

Sometimes indeed their expectations fail them, but My promise never deceives, nor does it send away empty-handed him who trusts in Me. What I have promised I will give. What I have said I will fulfill, if only a man remain faithful in My love to the end. I am the rewarder of all the good, the strong approver of all who are devoted to Me.

Write My words in your heart and meditate on them earnestly, for in time of temptation they will be very necessary. What you do not understand when you read, you will learn in the day of visitation. I am wont to visit My elect in two ways -- by temptation and by consolation. To them I read two lessons daily -- one reproving their vices, the other exhorting them to progress in virtue. He who has My words and despises them has that which shall condemn him on the last day.


A PRAYER FOR THE GRACE OF DEVOTION
O Lord my God, You are all my good. And who am I that I should dare to speak to You? I am Your poorest and meanest servant, a vile worm, much more poor and contemptible than I know or dare to say. Yet remember me, Lord, because I am nothing, I have nothing, and I can do nothing. You alone are good, just, and holy. You can do all things, You give all things, You fill all things: only the sinner do You leave empty-handed. Remember Your tender mercies and fill my heart with Your grace, You Who will not allow Your works to be in vain. How can I bear this life of misery unless You comfort me with Your mercy and grace? Do not turn Your face from me. Do not delay Your visitation. Do not withdraw Your consolation, lest in Your sight my soul become as desert land. Teach me, Lord, to do Your will. Teach me to live worthily and humbly in Your sight, for You are my wisdom Who know me truly, and Who knew me even before the world was made and before I was born into it.

Hey Timber, Wher are you, we need you to discipher this? I once read an article that if one lives in a family, after the 10th generation, no one look like the first generation at all anymore!

Could you comment on evolution for us here Timber?

n


Vatican paper: Intelligent design not science

By Nicole Winfield
Associated Press
Published January 19, 2006


VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican newspaper has published an article saying that intelligent design is not science and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms only creates confusion.

The article in Tuesday's editions of L'Osservatore Romano was the latest in a series of interventions by Vatican officials--including the pope--on the issue, which has generated headlines in the United States.

The author, Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, laid out the scientific rationale for Darwin's theory of evolution, saying that in the scientific world, biological evolution "represents the interpretative key of the history of life on Earth."

He lamented that certain American "creationists" had brought the debate back to the "dogmatic" 1800s and said their arguments weren't science but ideology.

"This isn't how science is done," he wrote. "If the model proposed by Darwin is deemed insufficient, one should look for another, but it's not correct from a methodological point of view to take oneself away from the scientific field pretending to do science."

Intelligent design "doesn't belong to science," he wrote.

"It only creates confusion between the scientific and philosophical and religious planes."

Supporters of intelligent design hold that some features of the universe and living things are so complex they must have been designed by a higher intelligence. Critics say intelligent design is merely creationism--a literal reading of the Bible's story of creation--camouflaged in scientific language and say it does not belong in science curriculum.

Facchini said he recognized some Darwin proponents erroneously assume that evolution explains everything. "Better to recognize that the problem from the scientific point of view remains open," he said.

But he concluded: "In a vision that goes beyond the empirical horizon, we can say that we aren't men by chance or by necessity and that the human experience has a sense and a direction signaled by a superior design."

The article echoed similar arguments by the Vatican's chief astronomer, Rev. George Coyne, who said intelligent design isn't science and has no place in school classrooms.

Never fear, I'm an experienced nagger.

George:

Thanks so much! One of our Annunciationist live in Stoneham, Ma. also! Marlene Rancourt! She is making her perpetual vows this year in Boston.
n

As you might gather from knowing me so far, I don't agree with this sort of thing at all:

Do you?

n


From Cambridge Daily News

In Goth we trust

DRESSING in black and listening to rock music may not seem the usual activities of a church congregation.

But at St Edward King and Martyr it is par for the course. The church, in Peas Hill, Cambridge, holds a special service for Cambridge's Goth community known as the Goth Eucharist.

It takes places in the church's Clare Chapel every other Tuesday and most of the church-goers head off to The Calling, Cambridge's Gothic night at the Kambar in Wheeler Street, after the sermon.

The Rev Marcus Ramshaw, who has been a regular at The Calling himself for the last four years, started the service to appeal to people who might not otherwise go to church.

Tuesday's service will mark the Goth Eucharist's first anniversary.

And it is going strong, with 15 regular members of the congregation mostly aged in their twenties.

Mr Ramshaw, St Edward's associate chaplain, said: "From going to the Kambar, I realised a lot of people there were very spiritual and quite religious. The service is very honest about how rubbish life is. It is not stuffy. Goths seem to be quite into depression and this is a way of letting out all your anger and frustration."

Instead of hymns, the congregation listens to Goth music complete with swear words - typical offerings are from bands such as Sisters of Mercy and Nightwish.

Five candles are lit throughout the 45- minute service, and the music becomes more positive towards the end.

Mr Ramshaw, 34, said: "We don't edit any words from songs. We are happy to include swear words.

"There is a short homily which will tackle issues such as suicidal feelings and despair."

He added: "Most of the people who come to the Goth Eucharist don't go to church normally. This is something they feel nonthreatened by and they feel included.

"It has taken a long time to reassure people that you could be a Goth and a Christian. They are not incompatible. It is an area the church can really reach out to.

Christianity is all about finding light in dark places."

Lots of human lives are lost on a daily basis. We need to pray for their souls!

n
Taken from "New York Daily News"


91,700 abortions in city



BY PAUL H.B. SHIN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

For every 100 babies born in New York City, women had 74 abortions in 2004, according to newly released figures that reaffirm the city as the abortion capital of the country.
And abortions for out-of-town women performed in the city increased from 57 to 70 out of every 1,000 between 1996 and 2004, a subtle yet noticeable trend that experts say may reflect growing hurdles against the procedure in more conservative parts of the country.

The new Vital Statistics report released by the city Department of Health this month shows there were 124,100 live births, 11,700 spontaneous abortions and 91,700 induced abortions in the city in 2004.

That means 40 out of 100 pregnancies in the city ended in a planned abortion - almost double the national average of 24 of 100 pregnancies in 2002, estimated by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a Manhattan-based nonprofit group that researches reproductive health issues.

The city's role as a haven for women seeking to end pregnancies may become more pronounced as other states continue to adopt more legal restrictions against abortions - such as laws requiring mandatory waiting periods (25 states), parental consent or notification for minors (35 states) and two visits before an abortion (six states).

"If clinics are hard to get to, or the services are just unavailable, people are going to travel to get what in my mind is a critical public health service," said Joan Malin, president of Planned Parenthood of New York City.

The organization's Margaret Sanger Center in Manhattan is the largest abortion provider in New York, with 11,000 abortions performed a year.

Out-of-towners make up less than 2% of those receiving abortions at the center, but the number has gone up more than 20% in the last year, Malin said.

But abortion opponents called the city's high rate of procedures a "tragic" result of "marketing the culture of death."

"New York City has fashioned itself as being the philosophical center of 'abortion on demand,' and it has a thriving industry to show for it," said Christina Fadden Fitch, legislative director of the New York State Right to Life Committee.

The influx into the city of women seeking abortions could become a deluge - as it was in the early 1970s - if the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortions nationwide is repealed.

"If Roe vs. Wade were overturned and some states outlawed abortions, it's certainly possible we might begin to see more of the interstate travel we saw before," said Lawrence Finer, director for domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute.

That is what abortion-rights advocates feel may happen if Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is appointed to the bench.

At his Senate confirmation hearings this week, Alito refused to describe Roe vs. Wade as a settled precedent. Under grilling from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), he also refused to distance himself from his 1985 opinion stating that women do not have a constitutional right to an abortion.

"The evidence is clear that Judge Alito opposes the constitutional right for a woman to choose an abortion, and were he to be confirmed, I would really be concerned about the future of Roe [vs. Wade] and the future of access, particularly for poor women," Malin said.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion-rights advocacy group, estimates that if Roe vs. Wade were overturned, abortions would likely be banned in 21 states, with the procedure at "medium risk" of being prohibited in another nine states.

Originally published on January 15, 2006

Taken from "The Herald Sun"

Pope Concerned About Fresh Anti-Semitism


By FRANCES D'EMILIO : Associated Press Writer
Jan 16, 2006 VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI, meeting with Rome's chief rabbi Monday, expressed pain and worry over outbreaks of anti-Semitism in the world and called on Jews and Christians to wage a united battle against hate.

Waves of violence and vandalism targeting Jews have hit Europe in the past few years. Last week, worshippers in a Moscow synagogue were attacked by a man with a knife.

Benedict did not mention specific occurrences of anti-Semitism in his speech to greet Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni in an audience at the Vatican.

The rabbi led a delegation from Rome's Jewish community, one of the oldest in the world.

The German-born pontiff said Jews and Christians have the responsibility to cooperate to promote justice, love and freedom.

"In the light of this common mission, we cannot not denounce and combat with decisiveness the hate and incomprehension, the injustices and the violence that continue to sow worry in the soul of men and women of good will," Benedict said.

"In this context, how can one not be pained and worried about the fresh outbreaks of anti-Semitism that are occurring?" the pope said.

Di Segni invited Benedict to visit Rome's main synagogue, noting the approaching 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's groundbreaking visit there, which helped repair centuries of poor Vatican-Jewish relations.

Benedict became the second pope in history to visit a Jewish house of worship -- after John Paul -- when he went to the synagogue in Cologne, Germany, last summer during his first trip abroad since being elected pontiff in April.

The Cologne synagogue visit appeared to help smooth over Israeli-Vatican tensions that were sparked when Israel publicly took Benedict to task for not mentioning attacks on Israelis during a condemnation of terrorism.

Di Segni thanked Benedict for "denouncing anti-Semitism, past and present, for condemning fundamentalist terrorism, for his attention to the state of Israel, which, for all the Jewish people is an essential and central reference."

The rabbi said he was convinced that under Benedict, the Catholic Church's commitment to better relations with Jews would continue.

Benedict said he felt "great joy" over the rabbi's visit.

"The people of Israel have been liberated several times from the hands of enemies, and in the centuries of anti-Semitism, in the dramatic moments of the Shoah, the hand of the Almighty has sustained and guided it," the pope said, using the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.

Catholic church officials in Poland have invited Benedict to visit the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz during a Polish pilgrimage he is expected to make this spring. The exact dates and itinerary of the pilgrimage have not yet been announced.

Jews widely admired John Paul for his unstinting efforts to promote Jewish-Catholic reconciliation, including his 1986 synagogue visit in Cologne and his 2000 visit to Israel. John Paul also won many Israeli hearts by apologizing for Roman Catholic wrongdoing over the centuries.

Have a wonderful and a prayerful day in Jesus!

Gift Me With Passion and Energy
Jesus, give me the courage to live as one touched and changed by your redeeming love. Gift me with the passion and energy to run and tell others how your love has transformed me. Help me discover the mission that you call me to fulfill and let me embrace it with passion.
from What Jesus Said and Why It Matters Now

Friday, January 20, 2006
Taken from
americancatholic.org