JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC

A blog launched on the 41st anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the first pro-life organisation in the world, established on 11 January 1967. SPUC has been a leader in the educational and political battle against abortion, human embryo experimentation and euthanasia since then. I write this blog in my role as SPUC's chief executive, commenting on pro-life news, reflecting on pro-life issues and promoting SPUC's work.

Monday, 20 October 2014

Synod’s final report “fails to resolve confusion”, says pro-family coalition

The final report issued by the Extraordinary Synod on the Family fails to resolve the confusion caused by the Synod, says Voice of the Family http://voiceofthefamily.info an international coalition of pro-family groups.

Paragraphs containing controversial ideas on sexual morality remain in the published document, even though these paragraphs did not receive the required two-thirds majority of Synod members. The Vatican’s spokesmen made clear that these paragraphs remain subject to discussion at next year’s Ordinary Synod. Although the final report contains some significant improvements on the original draft, the voting numbers reveal that most Synod Fathers remain open to proposals contrary to Catholic teaching, such as Holy Communion for Catholics in invalid ‘second’ marriages.

Maria Madise, Voice of the Family’s coordinator, said:

“The architects of the Extraordinary Synod are responsible for deepening the confusion that has already damaged families since the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s. This confusion will now continue from today through to next year’s Ordinary Synod.

There has been much talk about ‘welcoming’ and ‘accompanying’ people, but this is impossible without the clarity of the truth.

Several Synod Fathers protested openly in the past days against manipulation by liberals among the Synod’s officials, such as Archbishop Bruno Forte. Gratitude and admiration is due to those Synod Fathers who – despite manipulation – voted to uphold Christ’s doctrine on Holy Matrimony and sexual purity.

We thank the many concerned Catholics who have told us that Voice of the Family is speaking up for them. We urge all those concerned to defend the family to join us as we start the long preparation for next year’s Ordinary Synod on the Family.”

Related press releases by Voice of the Family:

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Voice of the Family is an international lay coalition of major pro-life and pro-family organizations that has formed to offer expertise and resources to leaders of the church, the media, NGOs, and governments before, during, and after the Catholic Church’s Synod on the Family.

Voice of the Family consists of 18 member organizations from nine nations on five continents. Members include:

The following truths are at the heart of Voice of the Family’s work:

Sacramental marriage, binding parents together in an indissoluble union, is the greatest protector of children both born and unborn.
The artificial separation of the unitive and procreative dimensions of the sexual act is a major catalyst of the culture of death.
Parents are the primary educators of their children and it is through the education and formation of parents, and future parents, that the culture of life will be built.

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Monday, 13 October 2014

Extraordinary Synod mid-way statement is "one of the worst official documents in church history" says Voice of the Family

Voice of the Family has published a very strong statement opposing the mid-way statement from the Extraordinary Synod on the Family here in Rome. We have called it "one of the worst official documents drafted in Church history".

Pat Buckley, Voice of the Family's Irish representative says:

“The Synod’s mid-way report represents an attack on marriage and the family. For example, the report in effect gives a tacit approval of adulterous relationships, thereby contradicting the Sixth Commandment and the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the indissolubility of marriage."

Fortunately, many Synod Fathers - albeit not widely reported by the media - are standing up for the Catholic position on marriage and are courageously seeking to protect our families in their interventions at the Extraordinary Synod. For full reports and commentaries go to Voice of the Family and subscribe for our future posts.

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Friday, 10 October 2014

Why the pro-life movement needs leadership from Catholic bishops

Last Tuesday I addressed the Lepanto Foundation in Rome.

My talk, which was well-received, addressed the following three key points:

– Pro-life movements must defend marriage

– Leading Catholic officials are cooperating with the ‘culture of death’

– The pro-life movement can only defeat the ‘culture of death’ when Catholic leaders join the pro-life battle

The full text of my talk can be found on the Voice of the Family website.

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Michael Voris of Church Militant TV pops into Voice of the Family's Rome HQ

It was good to have Michael Voris of Church Militant TV and his team pop into our Voice of the Family headquarters at the Salvatorian Motherhouse close to St Peter's in Rome where we're serving the Synod Fathers on the basis of the truths: that sacramental marriage, binding parents together in an indissoluble union, is the greatest protector of children both born and unborn; the artificial separation of the unitive and procreative dimensions of the sexual act is a major catalyst of the culture of death; parents are the primary educators of their children and it is through the education and formation of parents, and future parents, that the culture of life will be built. From left to right: John-Henry Westen of LifeSite News, Matthew McCusker and Maria Maria Joanna Madise of SPUC, Michael Voris, Matt and Charlie, of Church Militant TV and Patrick Buckley of SPUC.

Fortunately, many Synod Fathers - albeit not widely reported by the media - are standing up for the Catholic position on marriage and are courageously seeking to protect our families in their interventions at the Extraordinary Synod. For full reports and commentaries go to Voice of the Family and subscribe for our future posts.

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Thursday, 9 October 2014

Archbishop Kaigama attacks anti-family population control lobby at Synod

Bishops march for life in Abuja, Nigeria

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama (pictured to the right in the photo) President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria and Archbishop of Jos, has made a landmark intervention in the Synod here in Rome in which he emphasised the sacredness of marriage and of life - and powerfully opposed the agenda of the population control lobby.He said:

"Now you come to tell us about reproductive rights, and you give us condoms and artificial contraceptives. Those are not the things we want. We want food, we want education, we want good roads, regular light, and so on. Good health care."

His Excellency's strong intervention echoes what he said in June this year at a pro-life conference organized by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria in Abuja when I had the honour of addressing a private meeting of the Catholic bishops. At their pro-life conference, Archbishop Kaigama said that Nigerians refuse to be terrorised by the abortion lobby.

Archbishop Kaigama's full intervention at the Synod was as follows:

We are confronted with some issues, and sometimes [they are] quite perplexing. We recently had a big conference on pro-life issues, and in that conference, we came out very clearly to ascertain the fact that life is sacred, marriage is sacred, and the family has dignity.

We get international organizations, countries, and groups which like to entice us to deviate from our cultural practices, traditions, and even our religious beliefs. And this is because of their belief that their views should be our views. Their opinions and their concept of life should be ours.

We say, "No we have come of age." Most countries in Africa are independent for 50, 60, 100 years. We should be allowed to think for ourselves. We should be able to define: What is marriage? What makes the family? When does life begin? We should have answers to those [questions].

We are wooed by economic things. We are told, "If you limit your population, we're going to give you so much." And we tell them, "Who tells you that our population is overgrown?" In the first place, children die -- infant mortality -- we die in inter-tribal wars, and diseases of all kinds. And yet, you come with money to say, "Decrease your population; we will give you economic help."

Now you come to tell us about reproductive rights, and you give us condoms and artificial contraceptives. Those are not the things we want. We want food, we want education, we want good roads, regular light, and so on. Good health care.

We have been offered the wrong things, and we are expected to accept simply because they think we are poor. And we are saying poverty is not about money. One can be poor in spirituality, poor in ideas, poor in education, and in many other ways.

So we are not poor in that sense. We may be poor materially but we are not poor in every sense. So we say no to what we think is wrong. And time has gone when we would just follow without question. Now, we question. We evaluate. We decide. We ask questions. This is what we do in Africa now.

Our Voice of the Family team had the great honour of meeting His Excellency Archbishop Kaigama and Bishop Osei Bonsu, the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ghana and Bishop of Konongo-Mampong, last weekend in Rome just before the Synod began.

Fortunately, many Synod Fathers - albeit not widely reported by the media - are standing up for the Catholic position on marriage and are courageously seeking to protect our families in their interventions at the Extraordinary Synod. For full reports and commentaries go to Voice of the Family and subscribe for our future posts.

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Archbishop Fisichella promotes false understanding of conscience once again

Once again, Archbishop Salvatore 'Rino' Fisichella (pictured, right), President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, employs a false understanding of conscience to justify a position which is contrary to Catholic teaching.

I have written previously about the archbishop's article in L'Osservatore Romano in 2009, which implied that there are difficult situations in which doctors enjoy scope for the autonomous exercise of conscience in deciding whether to carry out a direct abortion. On that occasion, Archbishop caused irreperable damage to the cause of protecting unborn children, the weakest, most vulnerable members of the human community.

Today in La Stampa, he uses a false understanding of conscience to cause damage to the integrity of marriage - and once again, it's children who will be the principal victims, including unborn children, since children conceived outside of marriage - the exclusive, permanent union of one man and one woman - are 4-5 times more likely to be aborted than those conceived inside marriage

Matthew McCusker, an SPUC researcher, and a spokesman here in Rome for Voice of the Family, commented:

"Archbishop Fisichella does not sufficiently distinguish between a well-formed and an ill-formed conscience. The Church would not be acting mercifully or pastorally if she changed her teaching or practice to accommodate ill-formed consciences. Her pastors would in fact be neglecting their clear duty to assist Catholics to form their consciences in accordance with the truth."

In his interview in La Stampa, Archbishop Fisichella responds as follows:

*Would you readmit remarried divorcees to the Eucharist in certain cases?*

"I don't want to start judging and theorising based on specific cases. But who in today's world can say they have not had cases of members of their own families living together or divorcing? Unfortunately, we are immersed in a reality in which the beauty of marriage has been wounded. There has been too much emphasis on the Canonist, or legal, dimension of marriage, which has led us often into the waters of legalism. Recuperating the sacramental dimension would make it easier to find different solutions, in continuity with original doctrine. Here we return to the primacy of conscience. Nothing and no one can intervene in this. Of course, it must be a conscience that is illuminated by the Word of God, that is reflected upon and that accepts the obedience of a path."

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

We will protect disabled children in Northern Ireland, vows pro-life movement

The pro-life movement in Northern Ireland has vowed to oppose any attempt to remove the Province’s existing protection for children diagnosed before birth with serious disabilities. Responding to the announcement that David Ford, the Justice Minister, wants to legalise the abortion of disabled children, SPUC predicted that the public would overwhelmingly reject his proposals.

Liam Gibson, SPUC’s Northern Ireland development officer told the media today:

"Abortion advocates alway seek to use so-called hard cases to advance their agenda of abortion on demand. They try to present abortion as a compassionate response for parents who learn their unborn baby is seriously ill. While every case is unique, each one is a tragedy.

Unfortunately, while some women in Northern Ireland receive help and support from their obstetric team, others do not. Some women have been given inadequate or even inaccurate information about their baby's condition, which can leave them feeling that abortion is their only option. Others have spoken publicly about the pressure placed on them to consent to an abortion.

It is important to note that, decades after the passage of the Abortion Act in Britain, there is no research to support the popular assumption that abortion is easier on the mother psychologically. In fact, there is compelling evidence that a significant percentage of women are damaged emotionally by abortion and can suffer extreme stress, anxiety or depression. Women who choose abortion because their babies are disabled are particularly at risk of serious post-abortion depression.

Abortion is not a genuinely compassionate response to a crisis pregnancy. That is why the pro-life movement has in recent years attempted to highlight the desperate need for perinatal hospice care for families who need help and support when facing a very difficult and heartbreaking time in their lives.

Perinatal hospice care applies the principles of palliative medicine to babies diagnosed before birth with life-limiting conditions.

This type of care allows parents to grieve properly for the loss of their child by ensuring that their baby's life, no matter how short, is not meaningless. Parents who have experienced perinatal hospice care speak of it in overwhelmingly positive terms.

Unborn children are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. This is especially true if they are disabled. Unlike Britain - where disabled babies can be aborted right up to birth - the law in Northern Ireland does not place any less value on the life of a disabled child, even if that life is tragically short. The pro-life movement is committed to protecting all children from abortion, regardless of their disabilities.

It is vitally important that as many people as possible take part in this consultation exercise to ensure that this lethal form of discrimination against the disabled is kept out of Northern Ireland."

Voice of the Family, co-founded by SPUC, meets Synod Fathers

Archbishop Stankevics from Riga, Latvia, with Maria Madise

Maria Madise, SPUC's international, UN and research officer, and director of Voice of the Family, co-founded by SPUC, sends the following report from our team's headquarters here in Rome, 100 yards from St Peter's Square:

Dear Colleagues,

We are now three days into the Extraordinary Synod on the Family and have grown to 15 pro-life and pro-family groups from 8 different countries and 4 continents. Voice of the Family is undoubtedly becoming louder -recognising marriage as the strongest protector of children, both born and unborn; the contraceptive mentality separating love and life as the major catalyst for the Culture of Death; and parents as the primary educators of their children.

Here are some highlights of the past few days.

On Saturday Voice of the Family team had the honour of dining with Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama from Nigeria, Bishop Joseph Osei Bonsu from Ghana and our pro-life friends in Italy gathered together by Obianuju Ekeocha, of Culture of Life Africa. Both bishops were very attentive to all ideas and inputs from everyone present and received the Voice of the Family position paper as well as the response to the Bishop Bonny proposal with great interest. We hope to meet them again at one of our receptions with their brother bishops.

Video interviews will appear on Voice of the Family website later today.

On Monday we had our first reception where we had the pleasure of welcoming Archbishop Stankevics from Riga, Latvia. His Excellency, a former sportsman and engineer, addressed the gathering as follows:
- The Culture of Death starts the destruction from introducing contraception, then abortion, then euthanasia. When they destroy the family, they have destroyed the Church.
- He mentioned a specific law of overtones -- that makes absurd laws seem normal. He had seen homosexual groups following this approach very specifically and reached a point where it seemed to him that their agenda could never be defeated. It was then when he had realised that the scientific approach is what we can depend on in defending the faith.

Having acquainted himself with SPUC's research, the Archbishop thought that we are moving very much in the direction that he wants to take when addressing the Synod. Later he shared his personal story with us. His mother had chosen life for him, when his own aunt, a doctor, had wanted to abort him. This deeply moving interview will be available on LifeSiteNews as well as on Voice of the Family. Our culture has become the culture of abortion survivors. With countless lives lost to abortion, abortifacients and IVF, it has become a privilege to be born, once conceived. That fills one with sadness, but also with great desire to at least in some way turn this privilege –life – into a hymn of joy and gratitude, prudence, justice and fortitude. Archbishop Stankevics is a beautiful example of that.

Yesterday John Smeaton and John-Henry Westen from LifeSiteNews spoke at the Lepanto Foundation at a monthly conference organised by one of the most distinguished Catholic thinkers and historians today Professor De Mattei. It was Professor De Mattei, who pointed out something very clear for us: truth can tolerate the evil. But evil cannot tolerate the truth. It has to destroy the truth in order to exist.

Both speeches were received very warmly. Should the Synod Fathers speak with the same insight and zeal for families as John did, the flock would be firmly led on the narrow path of goodness and truth. The powerful ending of John-Henry's address highlighted that every child has a right to be conceived in the loving union of a married husband and wife.

We are having our second reception tonight.

Please follow our news, articles and interviews via voiceofthefamily.info.

Our latest stories:

Pro-family coalition condemns bizarre Synod proposal by Algerian bishop
http://voiceofthefamily.info/wordpress/?p=169

Synod: radical Bonny proposals rejected comprehensively in response by pro-life coalition
http://voiceofthefamily.info/wordpress/?p=164

Synod is time to remember, not abandon, Church teaching on homosexuality
http://voiceofthefamily.info/wordpress/?p=180

Cardinal Brandmüller says family care must conform to doctrine
http://voiceofthefamily.info/wordpress/?p=193

Catechesis, not confusion, needed to reclaim families for Church, says Cardinal Burke
http://voiceofthefamily.info/wordpress/?p=196

Key extracts http://voiceofthefamily.info/wordpress/?p=205 from Familiaris Consortio, the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II promulgated following the 1980 Synod of Bishops, stating that:

"At a moment of history in which the family is the object of numerous forces that seek to destroy it or in some way to deform it, and aware that the well-being of society and her own good are intimately tied to the good of the family, the Church perceives in a more urgent and compelling way her mission of proclaiming to all people the plan of God for marriage and the family, ensuring their full vitality and human and
Christian development, and thus contributing to the renewal of society and of the People of God." (Familiaris Consortio, 3)

Synod testimony on welcoming gay couples is 'damaging', says pro-family coalition
http://voiceofthefamily.info/wordpress/?p=216

Yours sincerely in Christ,
Maria

Monday, 6 October 2014

Zenit news agency reports on Catholic bishop who appears to back IVF

Johan Bonny, Bishop of Antwerp

Zenit news agency reports today on the work of our pro-family and pro-life coalition, Voice of the Family, and in particular our criticism of the Bishop of Antwerp and the fact that he appears, totally contrary to Catholic teaching, to endorse the use of IVF which typically involves the destruction of human embryos.

Click on the Voice of the Family link to receive updates of our work in Rome.

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Saturday, 4 October 2014

Guardian report of school parents meeting "false and misleading" says SPUC Safe at School

SPUC Safe at School has accused The Guardian newspaper of publishing a false and misleading report about a meeting of parents and staff at Welford Primary school in Birmingham ("Police called after reports of disorder at ‘Trojan horse’ school in Birmingham", Guardian, 4 October 2014).

Safe at School told the media today:

"The Guardian's report exagerrated events and linked them to the 'Trojan Horse' fears, but Safe at School has eyewitness evidence that the meeting was attended by parents from a range of religious and ethnic backgrounds - including Christians and Muslims.

The key concern for parents was to protect their primary-aged children from premature sexualisation, a concern that was highlighted in the 2011 Bailey report.* That report, published by the government, found that parents were 'particularly unhappy with the increasingly sexualised culture surrounding their children, which they feel they have no control over.'

Safe at School believes that parents should be encouraged to make their voices heard, as Sir Reg Bailey argued, and this applies especially in schools.* Schools must allow children to be children. They should connect with parents and should be family-friendly places.

These are British values, and have nothing to do with 'radicalisation'."

* The Bailey report is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bailey-review-of-the-commercialisation-and-sexualisation-of-childhood-final-report-published

Sir Reg Bailey is quoted on that page: "Society has become increasingly full of sexualised imagery. This has created a wallpaper to children’s lives. Parents feel there is no escape and no clear space where children can be children. I want to put the power back in parents’ hands so they can better manage the pressures on their children and make it easier for them to bring up their children the way they want. Parents need encouragement to feel they can change things and that their voices will be heard. Regulators, businesses and broadcasters should do more to connect with parents - it’s not enough for them to work out what is acceptable from what people complain about afterwards. I hope that they see that it’s good business if you look out for families. Then we can all help to make Britain a more family friendly place."

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CORRECTED Extraordinary Synod on the Family: Report from Rome

Voice of the Family team
at work in their HQ in Rome

(Some readers experienced broken links in the original version of this blogpost. These link have now been corrected. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience.)

Maria Madise, SPUC's International, UN and Research officer, and manager of the Voice of the Family team here in Rome, reports yesterday:

The beginning of the Extraordinary Synod is only two days away. Voice of the Family team has settled into the daily routine of ora et labora, prayer and work in our Rome headquarters at the Salvatorians' Motherhouse just a few metres from St Peter's Square. We have acquired our press passes from the Holy See Press Office, met with a few Italian pro-life leaders and made preparations for our receptions next week to host prelates and fellow pro-lifers present here in Rome.

By taking a leading role in forming this international coalition of pro-life and pro-family groups, SPUC has brought together already 12 organisations and the alliance is growing. To date, Voice of the Family includes:

Yesterday a joint press release was sent to European and American media, and published on LifeSiteNews.com

New stories are published every day on Voice of the Family website. Please subscribe, if you have not done so yet, to follow the news and reflections from Rome during the Extraordinary Synod on the Family this month.

Please do pass this message on to anyone of your contacts who might be interested in receiving this information.

Friday, 3 October 2014

Cardinal Pell: A change in Catholic discipline on marriage would be sociologically disastrous

Cardinal Pell (right)

I am currently attending a press conference in Vatican City featuring His Eminence Cardinal Pell (pictured). It's the launch of a book, to which the cardinal has written the preface, entitled The Gospel of the Family, which takes issue with Cardinal Kasper on the reception of Communion by divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

“Doctrine and pastoral practice cannot be contradictory,” writes His Eminence.

In his address to this afternoon's press conference, Cardinal Pell posed the question: "Was Catholic resistance to Henry VIII all for naught?"

I am here with the Voice of the Family team, founded by SPUC, to support bishops at the Extraordinary Synod as they seek to defend marriage, parents as the primary educators of their children, and Catholic teaching on contraception. Contraception, involving the separation of the unitive and procreative dimensions of the sexual act, has been the catalyst and major source of the culture of death.

In this connection, His Eminence referred to the landmark academic work of Mary Eberstadt, on which I have previously blogged.

He said: "A change in Catholic discipline on marriage would be disastrous".

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Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Life and Family groups unite to back Extraordinary Synod on the Family

I am delighted to tell you about a growing coalition of pro-family and pro-life groups gathered under the name of Voice of the Family to offer our expertise and resources before, during and after the Extraordinary Synod on the Family. The Synod will be held in Rome between 5 and 19 October. Voice of the Family team will be working throughout that period at the Salvatorian Motherhouse on Via della Conciliazione.

Our position paper released yesterday, on the Feast of St Michael, states:

“The Synod provides an important opportunity to take concrete steps to address this crisis and give renewed impetus to the “New Evangelisation”. If the Synod is to be effective it is essential that the teaching of the Church is affirmed clearly and without ambiguity. All proposals which result from the Synod must be founded on the truths of the natural moral law and Divine Revelation.”

Voice of the Family aims to assist individual Synod participants as well as to serve the faithful by sharing our research and analysis via our media and contacts. At the heart of all our considerations are the following key principles:

1. Marriage, the exclusive, life-long union of one man and one woman, is the fundamental foundation of a stable and flourishing society and is the greatest protector of children, born and unborn.

2. The separation of the unitive and procreative ends of the sexual act, which is intrinsic to the use of contraception, has acted as a major catalyst of the culture of death.

3. Parents are the primary educators of their children:
“It will be impossible to engage in a ‘New Evangelisation’, or to build a new ‘culture of life’,” the position paper concludes, “if the true understanding of marriage and human sexuality is no longer understood and if parents are no longer free to educate their children according to the natural moral law and the teachings of the Catholic Church. There are many men and women of good will, who have the truths of the natural moral law “written on their hearts” (Rm 2:15), who are open to hearing the message of the Church when it is presented with clarity and confidence. It is our hope that the Synod will use this opportunity to help bring the good news of Jesus Christ to families across the world.”

To date Voice of the Family is supported by:

Campaign Life Catholics
Campaign Life Coalition Canada
Catholic Voice
Culture of Life Africa
European Life Network
Human Life International (HLI)
LifeSiteNews.com
National Association of Catholic Families (NACF)
Profesionales por la Ética
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC)

Your prayerful support is very important.

You can contact us at:
Voice of the Family
Tel. +44 20 7820 3148; +39 33 833 09443
Email: enquiry@voiceofthefamily.info
Web: http://voiceofthefamily.info

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Thursday, 25 September 2014

New Northern Ireland Health minister supports abortion ban

Jim Wells MLA

New Northern Ireland Health minister supports abortion ban
Jim Wells, who has previously stated in an interview that the abortion ban in Northern Ireland should be upheld, including in cases of rape, has been appointed as Northern Ireland’s new Health minister by first minister Peter Robinson. Mr Wells said in the interview, which took place in August 2012, "That is a tragic and difficult situation but should the ultimate victim of that terrible act [rape] – which is the unborn child – should he or she also be punished for what has happened by having their life terminated? No." Although tipped to takeover at the health department two years ago, Mr Wells recently said that he would like to remain on Stormont's Justice Committee in order to oppose the Minister of Justice's plans to legalise the abortion of children diagnosed with a disability or conceived in rape. A public consultation on the proposal is expected to begin in the coming months. [Guardian, 23 September]

Spanish abortion law reform scrapped; justice minster resigns
Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, has withdrawn a bill which would have reformed abortion law in Spain, limiting its availability only to cases of rape that have been reported to the police and cases where the mother’s health is considered to be in danger. Currently, Spain’s law allows abortion on demand up until 14 weeks. Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, the justice minister who championed the reform, resigned from his post soon after it was announced that the bill had been withdrawn. [Irish Times, 24 September]

Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury asks for promotion of Gospel of Life
Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury has spoken of the need to promote the "Gospel of Life with joy". Bishop Davies, who was attending an annual pro-life pilgrimage to Walsingham, said that, "We will be asked whether we stood idle all day or whether we prayed and made reparation, used our own voices for the defenceless and gave witness to the sanctity of human and family life." [Catholic Herald, 23 September]

Other stories:

Forced abortion performed in China on mother, pregnant with nine-month old twins [LifeNews.com, 23 September]
US Bishop supports priest who removed 'married' homosexual couple from parish ministry [LifeSiteNews.com, 23 September]

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Belgian murderer to be euthanised over prison suffering

Frank Van Den Bleeken

Top stories:

Belgian murderer to be euthanised over prison suffering
Frank Van Den Bleeken, a serial murderer and rapist in Bruges, Belgium, has been granted permission to commit suicide with the assistance of doctors. According to his lawyer, Mr Van Den Bleeken has expressed that he can "no longer accept the pain". According to Belgian law, those who wish to commit suicide in this manner must repeatedly express a "voluntary and well-considered" wish to die. Earlier this year, Belgium also legalised assisted suicide for children. [Mail, 16 September]

Schools under fire for offering STD tests during lessons
Parents of children in Brighton and Hove have complained after their 15- and 16-year-old teenagers were asked to take a chlamydia test in class. All secondary state schools in the area, except for one Catholic school, have signed up to the scheme. Brighton and Hove Council, who are running the scheme, said that it was in keeping with national guidelines and is designed to "demystify the test". [Telegraph, 21 September]

Non-embryonic stem cells used to use treat failing sight
A Japanese woman is the first person to be successfully treated for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with pluripotent cells taken from adult tissue samples. The condition which was treated affects millions of elderly people and can result in blindness. A similar treatment is being developed which does involve the destruction of human embryos but is still being trialled. [New Scientist, 16 September]

Other stories:

Parents threaten to kill boy born with deformities, but is adopted by Christian couple [LifeSiteNews.com, 25 September]
Baby girl survived abortion at 26 weeks; 10 years later, she and mother celebrate her birthday [Metro, 22 September]
Brazilian judge allows three parents to be listed on child’s birth certificate [Gay Star News, 16 September]
Betting shop working with lobby group to normalise homosexuality [Paddy Power, 5 September]
European Court of Human Rights rules that European countries need not legislate for same-sex marriage [Washington Times, 1 September]

Friday, 12 September 2014

Parents from legal outcasts to outlaws: Dr Tom Ward's address to Moscow family conference

Yesterday Dr Thomas Ward, founder and former President of the National Association of Catholic Families (NACF), addressed the major pro-family conference which was held this week in the Kremlin, Moscow. SPUC staff, as well as many colleagues from other pro-life/pro-family, are in Moscow, made a major contribution to the conference. Here is the text of Dr Ward's address on "Parents the Primary Educators of their Children; Parents from legal outcasts to outlaws"

"Madame Chairman,

Christian families of Russia thank you for your call to the generosity and joy of large families. It is a counter-revolutionary call to build a new Civilisation of Love and Life. It is a call to our families to replace today's dying Culture of Death with all its attacks on normality: on life, love, sexuality, marriage, family and Christianity itself. A culture of contraception, abortion, homosexualism and their indoctrination subtly enforced on our families at home and brutally imposed upon poor families abroad. A culture of planned demographic collapse. A culture in which the only protectors of children are their parents, their Primary Educators who may have little moral alternative to civil disobedience and imprisonment. But parental rights are the Achilles heel of the Culture of Death. It is here we must attack.

Having worked over forty years defending families I am convinced that the root of the Culture of Death is the artificial separation in sexual intercourse of love from life in contraception. Contraception is associated with a rise not a fall in the abortion rate. Hormonal contraceptives have been known to have an intrinsic abortifacient pharmacological action since 1926!

This separation of life from love has spread from contraception, to in vitro fertilisation and now logically, even theologically to homosexual "marriage ".

Ladies and gentlemen, contraception is the gateway to the culture of death and it is of itself wrong.

Contraception alienates life from love in a second unrecognised way. Secret contraceptive indoctrination and provision to children without parental knowledge or consent, by governments, separate our children from our protective love.

But if we parents contracept, how can we convincingly protect our children from contraception?

Revealingly both separations are promoted by one of the largest multi-nationals in the world, the birth control lobby.

Who removed our parental rights?

In 1922 Lenin initiated what was to become the Frankfurt School of Western cultural Marxism. His intention - to destroy the obstacle of Western Christian culture. The methods - the use of sexual instinct and overwhelming negative destructive cultural criticism. They targeted our families against the background of growing liberalism in church and state.

The same message different messengers:

“Communist society will take upon itself all the duties involved in the education of a child.” Alexandra Kollontai, the first Soviet People's Commissar for Social Welfare, 1920

"Children have to be freed from… religious and other cultural “prejudices” forced upon them by parents, civil and religious authorities […] sex education should be introduced in the 4th grade, (i.e. 9 to10) eliminating “the ways of elders” by force if necessary.” Brock Chisholm, who became the first director of the World Health Organisation in 1948

"It is now the privilege of the Parental State to take major decisions - objective, unemotional, the State weighs up what is best for the child....” Lady Helen Brook, who started the “secret” provision of contraceptives to the young - the very first step in the usurping of parental rights on education and medication.

“Parents – the most dangerous people of all.” A Family Planning Association spokeswoman

In 1974 the British Government prohibited doctors from contacting "parents of a child of whatever age" when she requested contraceptives.Parents legally challenged this in the courts. Law Lords ruled that when a doctor decided a child fully understood what was proposed the child could consent to all treatments and parents' rights stopped. This now covers abortion.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has instructed nations to ensure the right to sexual education, to contraception and abortion for girls and adolescents without parental knowledge or consent.

IPPF, based in London, is the nerve-centre of the world reproductive law reform. London is the centre of Common Law jurisdiction which covers one-third of humanity, the former British Empire. It operates in 189 countries including Russia.

Parents.. from legal outcasts to outlaws

Because of same-sex "marriage" legislation, Catholic adoption agencies ...caring in loco parentis for our most vulnerable Catholic children, have been outlawed.

The Education Act 1996 imposes a duty on state schools, including religious schools, to teach about marriage in the National Curriculum. With the legalising of same-sex "marriage", parents who object to this being taught in general classes have no right to withdraw their children. The school, because of its legal obligation to promote equality, is itself obliged to refuse permission. Because of same-sex "marriage" legislation, the exercising of the parental primary right to educate has been outlawed.

And on the teaching of Christian sexual morality in schools, the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights has said:

"a curriculum which teaches a particular religion’s doctrinal beliefs as if they were objectively true… is likely to lead to unjustifiable discrimination”
Because of same-sex marriage legislation, the the right to teach Christian sexual morality as objective truth in educational institutions has been outlawed.

Never before in the history of free men has our human right to be the primary educators of our children been removed. It is enshrined in Genesis, in the New Testament, in the doctrine of the Orthodox and of the Catholic Church, in Aristotle and the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights.

Ladies and gentlemen, the demographic recovery of your great country will depend disproportionately on generous large families. They will depend upon legally-enforceable guarantees of their God-given, inalienable human right as Primary Educators.

Through these families Russia will, please God, become a Christian beacon of hope to all humanity.

A new civilisation of Love and Life will begin.
Начнется новой цивилизации любви и жизни.

It will be our civilisation.
Она будет нашей цивилизации

It will be God's civilisation.
Это будет цивилизации Бога

Christian Families of Russia, thank you.
Христианские семьи России, спасибо"

Ian Paisley: SPUC mourns pro-life politician

SPUC has expressed its deep regret at the news of the death of Dr Ian Paisley and extended its condolences to Lady Paisley and their family.

Liam Gibson, SPUC's Northern Ireland development officer, told the media today:

"In his long political career as an MP, MEP, as First Minister of Northern Ireland and more recently as a member of the House of Lords, Dr Paisley remained a steadfast supporter of the right to life of unborn children.

His outspoken opposition to the extension of the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland meant that, even in the darkest days of the Troubles, there was some political common ground shared by Protestants and Catholics.

Although always remaining a controversial figure, many people within Catholic community greatly admired Dr Paisley for the firm line he took on moral issues, which was unambiguous and unapologetic.

During the debate in the House of Commons in 1990 on the introduction of the Abortion Act, Dr Paisley acknowledged the breadth of opposition to the Act, saying: 'The overwhelming opposition [to the extension of the Act] is amazing, because it stretches from the Unionist parties to the nationalist SDLP. It stretches from the churches to the students' union of Queen's University, which in no way could be called a conservative or right-wing body.'

When the Brook Advisory Centre opened in Belfast in 1992, Dr Paisley joined with people from both sections of the community to oppose it.

In the very secular world of British politics Dr Paisley was never frightened to speak openly about his faith in God. He was always conscious that politicians would ultimately account to God for the policies they promote."

Thursday, 11 September 2014

Major international pro-family conference in Moscow - SPUC represented

Today and yesterday, a major pro-family conference entitled International Forum ‘Large family and the future of humanity’ has been held in the Kremlin, Moscow. SPUC staff, as well as many colleagues from other pro-life/pro-family, are in Moscow, making a major contribution to the conference:

Maria Madise, SPUC's International, UN and Research Officer
Pat Buckley, one of SPUC's representatives at the United Nations
Dr Thomas Ward, founder and former President of the National Association of Catholic Families (NACF)
Obianuju "Uju" Ekeocha, who runs Culture of Life Africa (COLA)

John-Henry Westen of LifeSiteNews.com, who is one of the keynote speakers, reports that the conference has been attended by

"1,000 delegates from all over the world including over 200 from the West ... Put on by the St. Andrew the First-Called and the St. Basil the Great Foundations, the conference is sanctioned and supported by the federal government."

Below is the statement issued before today's plenary session:

“Our World is going through an epoch of instability and social crisis closely inter-related with the global transformations in all key spheres of human development and civilisation,” states the concept of the International Forum for Large Family and the Future of Humanity, held in Moscow, 10 and 11 September. An impressive document composed to define the key principles of human existence and family that cannot change continues:

The most important factor in this epoch is the transformation of what it means to be a living, human being and to experience human dignity as intended by the Creator.

[… H]uman beings created in the image of God are no longer … the conceptual and ethical center of the whole of Creation.

With the profound philosophical transformations of the human concept, the historical foundations of civilized human life are now being forced to change and the concept of the family is not an exception. According to the overwhelming majority of people this modern-day ambiguity, relativity, and indeterminacy regarding family, creates the threat to the civilized existence of societies.

Only precise and univalent definitions may permit us to understand that behind the fuzzy explanations of modern humanism and jargon, there hides traits of degradation and deception that would lead to the death of humanity. Only truthful and accurate definitions contradicting the contemporary views allow us to make the conclusion: our era is not so much about the family crisis as the foundation of society, but the very idea of family.

Today, the meaning of family in the context of global ideological competition from self-interested post-modern humanists and challenges to ensure the survival and sovereignty of modern states grows to such an extent that the protection of the classical notions of normative behaviour, civilized man, the human family, and the definition of marriage have to be enshrined in national constitutions.

Humanity must move forward into the future based on the understanding that the natural family has been and remains the foundations of the civilization; and the family was – and still is – and forever will be the marriage between man and woman with many children.

The speakers include:

Natalia Yakunina (Russia; Chairwoman)
Archpriest Dmitrtry Smirnov (Russia)
Konstantin Malofeev (Russia)
Anatoly Antonov (Russia)
Donald Feder (USA)
Elena Mizulina (Russia)
Lawrence D. Jacobs (USA)
Hilarion (Chairman of the Department of exernal Church Relations, Moscow Patriarchate)
Francisco S. Tatad (Philippines)
Thomas Ward (UK, President of the National Association of Catholic Families)
Sharon Slater (USA, President of Family Watch International)
Christine Vollmer (Venezuela; President of Latin American Alliance of the Family)
Theresa Okafor (Nigeria; Director of Foundation for African Cultural Heritage)
Holy Patriarch Kirill (Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia)
Vladimir Yakunin (Russia)
Aymeric Chauprade (France)
Patrick Buckley (Ireland)
Obianuju Ekeocha (Nigeria/UK)
Radim Uchac (Czech Republic)
Archpriest Maxim Obukov (Russia)
John-Henry Westen (Canada)

The first day of the Forum with grand artistic celebrations for the family was held in the State Kremlin Palace. The plenary session and 10 roundtables today are taking place in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

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Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Tears and standing ovation at tribute for the late Alison Davis

Dr Colin Harte

At SPUC's national conference 2014 last weekend, Dr. Colin Harte paid tribute to the legacy of the late Alison Davis in his presentation "Suffering for what we value". Colin was Alison's carer for a quarter of a century until her death last year. Colin's presentation received a standing ovation, with some delegates moved to tears.

Alison was the co-ordinator of No Less Human, a group within SPUC which defends disabled people. Below are some keys points from Colin's address.

Alison was an extraordinary person. She was willing to suffer for the pro-life movement.

The killing of Louise, a baby with spina bifida was a turning point in Alison's life from pro-abortion to pro-life. Her first letter on pro-life issues (2 March 1981, on sedating and starving newborn babies to death, following reports of such killings by Dr Donald Garrow) was another turning point. She started work for SPUC's Handicap Division in 1983, now know as No Less Human.

Abortion of disabled babies in Northern Ireland was a cause of concern to Alison. David Alton's abortion bill - and the support of many people in the pro-life movement for the bill - was another cause of concern and suffering to Alison. The bill excluded disabled unborn children from the protection given to those who were not disabled. Alison said:

"I felt I was alone in thinking it was like robbing the poorest. Having so little, they would not miss what was taken from them."

Ann Widdecombe, the former MP, said, who supported the Alton Bill, said: "We are bargaining, saying if we agree you can kill them [disabled unborn children and others] will you support us in trying to save a few thousand other lives?" (The Times, 25 October 1989) Colin found this shocking.

Alison's response to the suggestion that by supporting incremental legislation pro-lifers could, as it were, achieve a reverse of the slippery slope process, was: "It shouldn't take much imagination to realise that attempts to ascend a slippery slope are going to be not only frustrating but self-defeating."

Alison felt isolated within SPUC at that time. Respect and gratitude is due to John Smeaton and SPUC in the last decade for moving away from a position that excludes the disabled.

Alison believed in the infinite value of every human person. Some people argue that a value cannot be ascribed to human beings, because value refers to the utility of objects, and is therefore contrary to human dignity. But Pope St John Paul II taught that humans do have value: they are priceless. Alison was first struck by the infinite value of human beings when she heard the late Lord Jakobovits, the-then Chief Rabbi, speak at Essex University. The tragedy is not that millions of babies are killed, but the judgement that one human life is expendable. This is because each individual life has infinite value.

At the end of her life Alison received excellent care from her hospital, her doctors, and her nurses. She refused pain relief to gain more to offer to God in her last moments of life. She chose to die in pain. Alison believed that the greatest privilege in the world is to suffer.

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SPUC banned on spurious grounds by Dundee University Students' Association

SPUC has been banned on spurious grounds by Dundee University Students' Association (DUSA) from its Freshers' Fayre.

DUSA claims that SPUC's campaigns are contrary to DUSA's Constitution, and that SPUC has engaged in extreme behaviour at past Freshers' Fayres. DUSA has, however, failed to provide any evidence to back up their claims.

Rachel Kidd of SPUC Scotland said:

"DUSA has quoted several sections of its Constitution against SPUC, but none of those sections contains anything opposed by SPUC. Also, DUSA has been asked to back up with evidence its claim of extreme behaviour by SPUC at Freshers' Fayres, but has failed to provide any evidence.

From 2005 onwards, SPUC held a stall at Freshers’ Fayre for eight consecutive years without any problems. The stall simply offered factual information on the development of the unborn child and real help to women who may find themselves in a crisis pregnancy situation.

DUSA makes a great deal of noise about being fair and unprejudiced towards groups with differing views. SPUC's effectiveness in communicating the pro-life message on campus seems to have provoked DUSA to treat SPUC in an unfair and biased way."

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 39 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.