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CONTRACEPTION
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CONTRACEPTION IS DECEPTION
by Fr. Jim Whalen, National Director, Priests for Life Canada
God became man, Jesus, Emmanuel, conceived by the
Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. We cannot help but observe
the contrast in our present contraceptive society that we live in.
We see the “death culture” that strives to suffocate and eliminate
human life, whereas the “pro-life culture” respects and gives thanks
for God’s gift of children - new life. In our time we have seen the
industrialized world embrace contraception as the way to eradicate
poverty, lower the birth rate, and guarantee freedom for women. It
has not worked. God’s plan to multiply and fill the earth has been
cast aside by many who think they know better. Many follow man’s law
rather than natural law (God’s law). The situation is critical.
We are not being pessimistic but realistic when we
are faced with the consequences of contraception: widespread
promiscuity, divorce, transmitted diseases, single-parent
households, legal same-sex marriages, abortion, and the threat of
euthanasia. Abortion is used as a solution to failed contraception,
bringing with it a host of its own problems: post abortion-trauma,
sterility, increased risk of breast cancer, etc. Supporters of
abortion admit it is not a good choice and turn to birth control as
the answer to the problem of unwanted pregnancy. A closer look
reveals this is not the answer. It is a large part of the problem.
The statistics show that 54% percent of women who have abortions
report that they were using birth control at the time they became
pregnant (Contraceptive use among U.S. women having abortions in
2000-2001, Jones, RK; Darroch, JE; and Henshaw, SK; 2002 Nov-Dec;
34(6): 294-303. What we observe is that contraception advocates an
anti-child mentality. It attempts to separate marital intimacy from
procreation and seeks to turn sex into a recreational activity
rather than an expression of love and commitment. Contraception is
the evil taproot of abortion. Let us say no to contraception and yes
to Natural Family Planning.
There is good news. At a recent national conference
held in Chicago (September 2006), at which I was fortunate to be
present, the theme of which was “Contraception is not the Answer”,
over 250 people gathered to condemn artificial birth control.
Experts and leaders from the various national pro-life organizations
raised their voices in assailing contraception on the grounds that
it devalues children, harms relationships between men and women,
promotes sexual promiscuity, and leads to falling birth rates and
social ills.
It is clear that there is some major thinking going on about the
contraception issue, especially among young people, who are
disenchanted with the sexual revolution. There is a new concerted
attack on contraception. The strategy will involve nationwide prayer
power. It will mean applying pressure to cut back on access to
contraceptive services. It will mean a push to allow pharmacists to
refuse to fill birth-control prescriptions for reasons of
“conscience”. It will mean getting serious about opposing and
denying Planned Parenthood Federation funding on all levels. They
must be held accountable for this contraceptive mentality.
The truth is that “chemical contraception” doesn’t
prevent abortions - it causes abortions. Contraception changes sex
from an unconditional gift of self to a conditional act that turns
away from God’s gift of children. When people use contraception,
they are not interested in lifetime relationships and often end up
disappointed and divorced. Contraception is the core issue today.
Many believe we will not solve the problem of abortion unless we
deal with contraception. Abstinence and chastity is the way to take
aim at contraception. Being a faithful and loyal follower of Jesus
is the way to go.
There is no room for contraception - a deception in
our lives. This contraception deception is the primary force behind
the attacks against the contra-contraception message. Let us be
strong in our beliefs and honor our Saviour. Respect life all the
time. █
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issue
PRAYER
FOR LIFE
Heavenly Father,
May
all Your people live their lives according to Your most sacred
words, “This is My body, given up for you”.
Back to menu for this issue
THE DICTATORSHIP OF RELATIVISM
By Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino -- Bishop of
Madison, USA
The following is the full text of the keynote
address by Bishop Robert C. Morlino at the National Catholic Prayer
Breakfast in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2006.
www.madisondiocese.org
Since I was asked to address the topic “The Dictatorship of
Relativism” it behooves me to return to the original text from which
that very important phrase emanated. In his homily at the mass “Pro
Eligendo Romano Pontifice” celebrated in St. Peters Archbasilica on
April 18th, 2005, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope
Benedict XVI, spoke as follows:
“whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be “tossed here and
there, carried about by every wind of doctrine”, seems the only
attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a
dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as
definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego
and desires. We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the
true man. He is the measure of true humanism”.
In the space of just a few sentences, Pope Benedict connects the
dots in terms of relativism as a divorce from God and friendship
with Christ, and truth as attained in the most fully human way, only
within the context of this friendship. Thus, Pope Benedict takes us
back to the insights of the encyclical, Fides et Ratio of John Paul
the Great - the desire written by the Creator in every human heart
for the truth and for the fullness of love, can only be satisfied in
Christ.
Those among you who know me will not find it
surprising that my remarks this morning express three points. First
I would like to, unpack, if you will, the metaphor of the then
Cardinal Ratzinger, articulated as “The Dictatorship of Relativism”.
I would note that just this past January, Pope Benedict spoke of
policies which promote contraception and abortion as “a dogma of
hedonism” which opens the door to the culture of death. The second
comment regarding a dogma of hedonism leading to a culture of death
certainly explicates the metaphor “Dictatorship of Relativism” as we
shall see.
The first question we might ask as we unpack the
metaphor “the Dictatorship of Relativism” is “Who are the members of
the junta who govern this dictatorship”? As one who is called to
Holy Orders, and thus to refrain even from the appearance of
offering partisan political comments, it would be best for me to
refrain from naming the key players. However, we all know that the
mass media are generally accomplices to those who govern the
Dictatorship of Relativism; they are generally not innocent
bystanders or detached journalists who report in an objective way -
willing cooperators in this dictatorship are also those who live
their lives according to polling results, frequently sponsored by
the mass media.
We might also ask “What are the principal
enforcement mechanisms of the Dictatorship of Relativism, what
weapons are contained in the arsenal of these dictators”? The first
is inconsistency in civil law and practice, inconsistency being just
another instance of relativism. This inconsistency is especially
neuralgic because the civil law is our teacher. We have the very
same individuals protesting against warrantless surveillance of
possible terrorists’ activities, and then in the northwest,
affirming warrantless surveillance of people’s garbage containers to
ensure that no recyclables are to be found. On the one hand
warrantless surveillance with regard to possible terrorism is
politically incorrect while warrantless surveillance of personal
garbage is politically correct. The polls determine what is
politically correct and thus the same people find themselves caught
in a clear inconsistency in the context of a culture which never
even thinks to question it. Polls rarely divulge information which
reaches beyond the trivial and transitory but truth is neither
trivial nor transitory. Those who claim otherwise promote the
Dictatorship of Relativism.
A second example of this inconsistency has to do
with killing of a mother who is carrying a child. In certain
instances the murderer is charged with the death of two human
beings, both mother and child. However, if a woman exercises her
alleged reproductive rights and has an abortion, the law clearly
determines that no crime of murder has been committed. Thus, a human
life is precious when someone thinks it is, be it a parent or be it
a civil court, and when that life is deemed not to be human or
otherwise be without value, then it is expendable. This kind of
gross inconsistency is not questioned in our society but is taken
for granted with serenity, sad to say.
In addition to inconsistency in the civil law and practice, the
second weapon in the arsenal of those who would dictate relativism
to the rest of us consists in a series of linguistic redefinitions,
euphemisms, and other anomalies. Language, as the philosopher
Heidegger said, “is the house of being”. If our language is
contorted and deconstructed through euphemisms, redefinitions and
other anomalies then, the being housed by language becomes
indeterminate, there are no fixed meanings, that is relativism
pushed to its pinnacle, nihilism itself. Allow me to take a brief
excursion into these redefinitions, euphemisms, and anomalies.
In the first case, our society speaks of openness
and tolerance as almost supreme virtues but to be open means
precisely to be closed to the objective truth. If one would claim
the existence of objective truth, one is considered closed and
arrogant, rather than open and tolerant. So go the language games.
The euphemistic approach is perhaps best captured by the words
“late-term abortion”. This term covers up the fact that a partially
born human being is brutally murdered in the process of being born.
It is always interesting to hear the commentators talk about
late-term abortions, adding that these are sometimes called
partial-birth abortions by anti-abortion activists. If one were to
watch a video of this procedure taking place would one more likely
describe it as a late-term abortion or a partial-birth abortion?
We also have the euphemism - discard, used when
speaking of the fate of frozen embryos which are “superfluous” and
“left-over” as part of the process of in vitro fertilization. We
never speak of the destruction of innocent human beings whose fate
has become absurd and who are completely under the domination of
other human beings. We say that these human beings are discarded,
like the one last sticky note on our notepad that might just as soon
be discarded, as we take out a fresh pad for our use. There are many
language games being played. Supreme Court justices we’re told,
should be uniters not dividers, when it comes to Roe v. Wade. How
ironic, since Roe v. Wade has become our great source of division.
Now to be a uniter means to uphold that which divided us in the
first place.
Pro-choice. I’ve never heard anyone defend a
pro-choice position with regard to bank robbery. The only time this
expression is used without reference to what we’re pro-choice about
is when the most innocent and helpless human being is at stake.
Pro-choice is synonymous with pro-abortion because no one speaks of
pro-choice in any other context. Pro-choice is a euphemism that
causes us to forget the baby.
The word “transparency” it seems to me, is being
used so that we no longer even hear the word “truth” in our public
dialogue and conversation. We already have a very good word for
transparency: truth and truthfulness. Why is it the agenda of some
to rid our language of the usage of the word, truth? Talk about the
Dictatorship of Relativism! When the term “pro-choice” won the day
in our cultural, linguistic usage we temporarily lost the battle to
protect the most innocent and most helpless human lives. Language
games, euphemisms, redefinitions are very dangerous. We are at the
point where, because of in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood
and what flows from that, we are no longer sure what the words
“father” and “mother” mean. In some cases, there is the genetic
mother, the gestational mother, and the mother who actually raises
the child to adulthood. There are at least three mothers. When we
move to the redefinition of marriage, as including other options
than “one husband - one wife - one lifetime - with openness to
children”, we find ourselves in very troubling waters indeed. The
Dictatorship of Relativism gains strength from the outrageous
manipulation of language, and if we are to overcome this
dictatorship with true democracy, we’re going to have to regain
control of the use of language so as to point to the objective
truth. Certain Catholic legislators recently received a correction
from our Bishops’ Conference when they attempted to promote a
redefinition of primacy of conscience as a line item veto with
regard to elements of the Ten Commandments and the teachings of the
Church, another example of surrender to the Dictatorship of
Relativism.
Let me move on to the second point which, thank God,
can be made more briefly. The opposite of dictatorship is democracy.
The Dictatorship of Relativism leads to secularism as a state
imposed religion. Only in the context of relativism and
deconstructionalism can secularism flourish. Religions, generally,
make claims to objective truth. To impose secularism as the state
religion one must rule out as outrageous the concept of objective
truth, which is precisely what the Dictatorship of Relativism seeks
to accomplish. Opposition to the Dictatorship of Relativism involves
the right relationship of church and state as taught by the Second
Vatican Council and repeated by Pope Benedict XVI in his recent
encyclical Deus Caritas Est - God is Love. The relationship between
church and state involves three simple rules. First, the state is
never to force anyone to practice a particular religion. Secondly,
the state is never to prevent anyone from practicing a particular
religion. And third, generally the state should favor the practice
of religion, because religious experience includes a moral code
according to which people restrain themselves so that restraint by
the state becomes less necessary. Thus if the state wishes to
encourage democracy and needs less to intervene in the lives of
individuals, one key to this strengthening of the sphere of freedom,
this strengthening of democracy, is the favoring of religion by the
state. Secularism founded upon relativism and deconstructionalism,
should never be imposed as a state religion.
The third and last point is, “what should our
response be as we seek to protect democracy and combat the
Dictatorship of Relativism”? Our response is not to seek the
embodiment of distinctive Catholic convictions in civil law. We
should not be seeking to pass civil laws requiring belief in the
Trinity or attendance at Sunday Mass or fasting from meat during the
Fridays of Lent. Our response should be to seek the embodiment of
natural law in the civil law. Natural law is that law written on the
human heart which can be known by every human being through reason
alone. There are three propositions of the natural law that need our
attention and promotion precisely as such, that is to say, as
natural law not as distinctively Christian or Catholic doctrine. The
first is the existence of God. The founding documents of our country
made reference to nature and to nature’s God because there are a
variety of ways through which reason arrives at the conclusion that
the Creator God exists. There are arguments that are more
experientially based, there are arguments that are more abstract,
but there are valid arguments which prove the existence of God. They
are arguments of philosophy or logic; they are not arguments of
science. Nothing is more narrow than to claim that the only real
truth is scientific truth. This claim serves the cause of relativism
because scientific truth develops through paradigm change whereas
objective truth does not. Objective truth is not subject to paradigm
change; its substance never needs to be updated. It is good when
science advances through paradigm change. But to grant the claim
that scientific truth is the highest form of truth is to hand over
the day to those who lead the Dictatorship of Relativism.
The second proposition of the natural law teaches us
that every human being has a priceless and unique dignity. So many
modern and contemporary philosophers have arrived quite apart from
religious faith at the conviction that a person is an end in him or
herself and never a means to an end. Persons are never to be
manipulated or treated as things by other persons. To live in peace
in a just society is impossible apart from the conviction arrived at
by reason alone, that every person is an end in himself or herself
and never to be used as a means. The third proposition of the
natural law teaches us, as we reflect on the desire of every human
being for social relationships and intimacy, and on human anatomy -
that marriage means a one-flesh communion of “one husband - one wife
- for one lifetime - with openness to children”. Artificial
contraception and abortion are not behaviors which someone has a
right to choose. To be sure, one is able to choose them but there is
no right to do so. One has a right to marry or not to marry. Within
marriage, one has a right to acts of marital intimacy and by mutual
agreement, husband and wife also have a right to refrain from those
acts for a just cause. Husband and wife do not have a right to a
child - a child is a human being, a human being is not a thing,
people have rights to things, and they never have rights to human
beings. So there is no right to a child, there is no right to
abortion, there is no right to artificial contraception. There is a
right to marry or not. There is a right to the acts proper to
marriage. That is a scandalously brief overview of the natural law.
In closing, let me say that we must reclaim the
proper use of language if we are to combat the dictatorship of
relativism. Instead of hearing “pro-choice” all over the place, we
need to promote the use of “natural law” all over the place or
better some equivalent, that is a more catchy sound-bite. Some of
you might well be gifted to articulate that sound-bite. We need to
insist that the existence of God, the dignity of every human being,
and the definition of marriage are not Catholic curiosities that we
are trying to force on the rest of the world, but the dictates of
reason - of the natural law itself. Language has been used to lead
us into the Dictatorship of Relativism, the dogma of hedonism, and
the culture of death. But Jesus Christ is Risen from the dead and
the Church is alive with the truth of Christ and the truth of the
natural law. Let us live with joy and with hope, proclaiming the
truth of Christ with love for all, but especially for our time and
our culture, proclaiming with love and a smile the truth of the
natural law.
When you and
I were first created, that is, when the Lord created your soul and
mine, we glimpsed, just for a moment, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And as soon as our souls took flesh, when we were
conceived in our mother’s womb, because we were not immaculately
conceived like our Blessed Mother but conceived as heirs of the sin
of Adam, we experienced a kind of amnesia and forgetfulness of that
glimpse which we have had of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. When we listen to the voice of reason within us, that word,
that meaning, is an echo of the Eternal Word Whom we saw and heard
at the moment of the creation of our soul. The law of reason within
us when given unrestricted range cannot
arrive at any other truth in the end than the truth of Jesus Christ.
He is Risen, His victory is ours. The challenges are difficult but
we have every reason, the reason who is Christ Himself, never to
give in to discouragement. Our faith in which alone our reason finds
total fulfillment, that faith is our sure victory. Thank you for
listening to me. God bless you all! Praised be Jesus Christ! █
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Induced abortions 2003
(the most recent year for which government statistics are
available)
from Statistics Canada:
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060315/d060315c.htm
Canadian women obtained slightly fewer abortions in 2003
compared with the previous year, and the decline was mostly
among teen-aged women.
A total of 103,768 abortions were performed in 2003, down 1%
from 105,154 in 2002. The abortion rate edged down from 15.4
abortions per 1,000 women in 2002 to 15.2 in 2003. These
numbers exclude Nunavut, for which data were unavailable.
Among teen-aged women, the abortion rate in 2003 was 14.5
per 1,000 women under the age of 20, down from 15.7 the year
before. The abortion rate for teen-aged women has declined
gradually since 1997 when it was 18.4 per 1,000 women under
the age of 20.
The crude birth rate for teen-aged women has also continued
to fall. In 1997, there were 16.8 live births per 1,000
women under 20. By 2003, this had declined to 12.1.
The number of induced abortions per 100 live births
decreased to 31.0 in 2003, from 32.1 in 2002.
Induced abortions continue to be most common among women in
their twenties, who accounted for 53% of all women who
obtained an abortion in 2003. On average, 26 women out of
every 1,000 in their twenties obtained an abortion.
Induced abortion rates remained the same or increased for
residents of most provinces and territories except for New
Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia, where the rates
decreased.
INDUCED ABORTIONS
BY PROVINCE of RESIDENCE |
2003 |
RATER PER
1,000 WOMEN |
Newfoundland and Labrador
Prince Edward Island
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Quebec
Ontario
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta
British Columbia
Yukon
Northwest Territories
U.S. Reported
Residence Unknown
TOTAL |
895
137
1,925
944
30,802
36,666
3,670
1,846
10,814
15,499
129
255
149
37
103,768 |
7.9
4.7
9.7
5.9
19.7
13.6
15.2
9.0
15.1
17.2
17.7
24.5
...
...
15.2 |
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For further information regarding abortion statistics,
please see:
Canadian Abortion Statistics
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A Novena for Life
NOVENA: DAY 1 through
DAY 9
Heavenly Father, with
confidence and firm trust we come to you in our great need.
We thank you for answering this prayer even before we ask,
because we know that it is your Holy Will.
Remove from our
society the scourge of abortion. Change the minds and melt
the hearts of all who promote this evil, or who seek
abortion as a remedy. Let us take the time to pray and to do
the necessary penance in order to obtain this grace from
You. Heavenly Father, we ask You this, through the
intercession of Mary, and in the name of Jesus, Your Son.
Amen.
Dearest Mother of
Guadalupe, with the power of the Holy Spirit, I beg you for
a fortified will to imitate your Divine Son’s charity - to
always seek the good of others in need. Grant me this, I
humbly ask you.
Heavenly Father, I ask
you, through the intercession of Mary, and in the name of
Jesus, Your Son, to save the life of the unborn child I have
spiritually adopted in my heart today. Amen.
Pray the Our Father,
Hail Mary, and Glory be to the Father.
_____________________________
Saint Michael the
Archangel, defend us in battle; be our safeguard against the
wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we
humbly pray, and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by
the power of God, cast into hell, Satan, and all other evil
spirits, who prowl the earth seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen. +
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New this
year: your school wins $$$ too!!!
STUDENTS:
eNTER THE
‘ESSAY ON LIFE’
CONTEST
ENTER THE ‘ESSAY ON LIFE’ CONTEST
- In English or French -
ESSAY ON LIFE CONTEST
For students in Grades 9 through High School
Write a Pro-life essay up to 1500 words in length
on one of the following topics:
1st Place: $500.00 for the writer and $500 for the
writer’s school*
2nd Place: $250.00 for the writer and $250 for the
writer’s school*
3rd Place: $100.00 for the writer and $100 for the
writer’s school*
All contestants will receive a “Precious Feet” Lapel Pin.
See full details at:
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Priests for Life Canada
8th Annual
Life and Family
 Charlottetown
Prince Edward Island
Chairman:
Fr. Danny Wilson
St. Dunstans’s Parish, Charlottetown
Saturday, October 13, 2007
For the past seven years, Priests for Life Canada has conducted an
annual one-day Symposium on Life and Family. On October 13, 2007,
the Symposium will take place at St. Dunstan’s Basilica,
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Prince Edward Island has the distinct recognition as being the
only province in Canada that does not allow abortions to take
place within its borders. Priests for Life Canada is pleased to
honour this distinction by holding its annual Symposium on Life
and Family in Charlottetown. The event will begin with Mass
celebrated by Most Reverend Vernon Fougere followed by three
presentations given by recognized pro-life/pro-family speakers.
Reserve the date now. More details will be provided in the near
future.
For more information, please contact Priests for Life Canada
1-888-300-2007
priests@priestsforlifecanada.com
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St. Joseph
St. Michael
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