A conversation about faith, bioethics and human rights
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
By Rebecca Oas, Ph.D.
(Zenit.org) – In 1960, the combined oral contraceptive pill was first approved for use in the United States. Seven years later, “the Pill” was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, illustrating its enormous societal impact[1]. Roughly two generations later, statistics from the United Nations show that, within more developed nations worldwide, just under 16% of “partnered” women use contraceptive pills, a number which does not include usage among single women[2].
However, even as the popularity of oral contraceptives remains high, the drugs themselves have been evolving in response to further discoveries about the human reproductive system, as well as efforts to reduce the Pill’s negative side effects. As with any major technological or medical development, particularly one embraced very quickly by a large sector of the population, it can take years, and even decades, for the full range of effects to become evident. And as demonstrated by several recent studies, many questions remain unanswered regarding the long-term and environmental effects of the hormones used in oral contraceptives, as well as other medical treatments.
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Tags: cancer, environment, the pill
Posted in Contraception and Sterilization, Feature Post, Rebecca Oas, Ph.D., Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
By Donald DeMarco, Ph.D.
I do not enjoy cartoons. I did when I was a child, but that was long ago. If I am surfing the channels and Bugs Bunny pops up, I keep going. Nonetheless, strange as it may seem, when there is a child on my lap, I happily revisit my nearly forgotten days of yore.
My heart returned to and rejoiced in cartoon-land when I watched them through the eyes of my children. I found myself smiling when they smiled, laughing when they laughed. But when they outgrew their affection for cartoon characters, I once again lost mine. Then, one-by-one, the grandchildren arrived and I regained my twice lost enthusiasm for Looney Tunes, Disney, Peanuts, and sundry other animated drawings.
My children and grandchildren led me back to a world of innocence and simplicity. It is a magical kingdom, like Brigadoon and Shangri-la, where no one ages, no one dies, and everyone stays in character. The fact that it does not represent life on earth does not matter. It is a foretaste of paradise and enthralls a child’s mind and heart. It is also a world where stereotypes are permissible, as in coloring books where the policeman is always cheerful, the nurse always caring, and the schoolteacher always dedicated. The complexity of life is yet to be learned. Robert Louis Stevenson hit the mark when he said, “Character to the boy is a sealed book; for him, a pirate is a beard, a pair of wide trousers and a liberal complement of pistols.”
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Tags: Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, utopia
Posted in Culture of Life, Donald DeMarco, Ph.D., Feature Post, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Monday, May 14th, 2012
By Melanie Baker
Benedict’s Corner is a weekly summary of our Holy Father’s latest words on topics related to HLI America’s mission.
As I was reading through Pope Benedict’s words for this week’s edition of “Benedict’s Corner,” it occurred to me that almost every week during this Easter season he has addressed the theme of persecution. His weekly catechesis on prayer has been progressively reviewing the prayer recorded in Acts of the Apostles. But, this prompted the realization for me that Acts, which I have always regarded as an eminently joyful book, recounting the activity and growth of the early Church, is, to a large extent, about persecution! Eastertide is an eminently joyful and triumphant time not because the cross has been removed, but because it has now been given meaning, and has become for us a privileged means of union with Jesus and transport to eternity. “In this world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world” (Jn 16:33).
How can we deal with the cross, then, in the truly Christian way… with joy? The Holy Father provides one answer to this question in his address at last Sunday’s Regina Caeli: “In the Bible Israel is often compared to the fertile vine when it is faithful to God; but if it distances itself from him, it becomes barren, incapable of producing that ‘wine to gladden the heart of man’, as Psalm 104[103] sings (v. 15).”
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Tags: Easter, Pope Benedict XVI
Posted in Benedict's Corner, Feature Post, Melanie Baker, The Holy Father, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Friday, May 11th, 2012
By Father Peter West
In English, the ancient axiom is translated “The law of prayer is the law of belief,” or the way we pray effects what we believe. In the early Church, many doctrinal disputes were settled on the basis of texts used for prayers. Before any creeds were developed there were decades of liturgical tradition.
St. Prosper of Aquitane, a disciple of St. Augustine, also said, “Legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi” which means, “The Church believes as she prays.” The prayers we use are a means of catechesis – of teaching various truths of our faith.
Thus, everyone who respects life should rejoice in the new “Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb Within Mass,” just published in both English and Spanish by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The prayers were approved by the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 2011. The U.S. Bishops decreed the prayers be published on the Solemnity of the Annunciation.
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Tags: Mother's Day, President Obama, unborn, USCCB
Posted in Beginning of Life, Culture of Life, Feature Post, Politics and Faith, Rev. Peter West, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
By Rev. John A. Leies, S.M.
During the first weeks after Easter we heard in the biblical passages of the Eucharistic celebrations accounts of the attempts of the Jewish leadership to stop the disciples of Jesus from preaching his name. The leadership arrested the disciples, ridiculed them, beat them and told them to stop preaching.
Their answer: It is better to obey God rather than man. And they went out to continue the preaching of the name.
The principle — it is better to obey God than human beings — is one we need to keep before us these days, because our secular society in direct or subtle ways wants us to follow its principles and ideals. In many instances we may not comply. But it is starting to look more and more as if they would like to coerce us to do it.
The government — at the federal level and in some states as well — wants Catholics to provide insurance that covers contraceptives and sterilizations. We know that abortion is absolutely morally wrong, but procedures aimed at preventing conception are also morally wrong and contrary to the good of marriage.
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Tags: contraception mandate, First Amendment, HHS, religious liberty
Posted in Contraception and Sterilization, Feature Post, Politics, Politics and Faith, Rev. John A. Leies, S.M., Truth and Charity Forum | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
By Melanie Baker
Benedict’s Corner is a weekly summary of our Holy Father’s latest words on topics related to HLI America’s mission.
Two themes summarize Pope Benedict XVI’s words to us this past week: 1) Personal and communal prayer brings us closer to God, whose love provides the inner strength necessary to face life’s battles, and 2) The family is the natural first environment to experience this love and learn prayer.
The Holy Father’s Sunday Regina Caeli for the most part acknowledged last Sunday’s observance of World Day for Vocations. But of particular note to readers here at HLI America was his parting reflection in that address, a reflection on the privileged role of the family:
May families in particular be the first environment in which we “breathe” the love of God that provides us with inner strength in the midst of the difficulties and trials of life. Those who experience God’s love in the family receive a priceless gift which, with time, bears fruit.
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Tags: Pope Benedict XVI, prayer, religious liberty
Posted in Benedict's Corner, Feature Post, Melanie Baker, Politics and Faith, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
By Father Jerry J. Pokorsky
Courage is an elusive virtue. It is not uncommon for someone to be courageous in one context and paralyzed in fear in another. A mother may be fearless in protecting a child from danger, but may shrink in terror upon seeing a snake in the basement. Soldiers know how fleeting courage is and often dread the possibility of a failure of nerve in battle.
In this week’s Gospel, Christ says, “Greater love than this no man has than to give up his life for his friends.” Of course Christ was foreshadowing His own sacrifice on the cross as our Divine Savior. But throughout history, the many examples of courageous self-sacrifice in imitation of Christ tug at our hearts.
In Flint Hill, Virginia, there is an obscure grave of a Confederate soldier near a church. He was a member of the famous Mosby Rangers and was executed in 1864 after being captured by Union troops under the command of General Philip Sheridan. His story is one of true sacrificial love. Throughout the war, John Singleton Mosby’s men waged guerrilla warfare against the Union troops. During his campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, General Sheridan was repeatedly frustrated by Mosby’s hit-and-run tactics. Upon capturing several of Mosby’s rangers, Sheridan seized his chance. After a hurried military trial, he would execute all but one of the men and send the survivor back to Mosby with the message: cease and desist or the Yankees would continue with their ruthless executions.
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Tags: courage, faith, St. Peter
Posted in Culture of Life, Feature Post, Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Monday, May 7th, 2012
By Monica Rafie and Tracy Winsor
If advocacy efforts surrounding prenatal diagnosis focus only on the goal of informed decision-making, and the majority of even well-informed parents still decide to terminate, can we really deem that advocacy successful?
In a recent Public Discourse article, Mark Leach responded to our column “Down Syndrome: Toward a More Successful Advocacy,” in which we discussed the failure of national Down syndrome organizations to extend their best advocacy efforts to those diagnosed in the womb, despite the fact that abortion is the primary threat to the lives of those with Down syndrome.
Leach disagrees with our assessment that the Down syndrome advocacy movement’s problem is that it will not face the abortion issue head-on. He argues that a “pro-life agenda,” even if it should succeed in policy, will not stop women from aborting after a Down syndrome diagnosis. It would be better, he argues, to counter the new federal mandates concerning increased prenatal testing, and to increase funding for educational outreach aimed at parents who receive the diagnosis.
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Tags: Down syndrome, prenatal diagnosis, Roe v. Wade
Posted in Abortion, Beginning of Life, Bioethics, Dignity of the Disabled, Eugenics, Feature Post, Monica Rafie, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Friday, May 4th, 2012
By Arland K. Nichols
(Zenit.org) – In the mid-’90s, the abortion industry in the United States realized it was facing an existential threat — the population of abortionists was aging and nobody was stepping up to take their place. Although plenty would pay lip service to a right to “choose,” when it came to the grisly work involved in “terminations,” few medical students were willing to partake. This trend has yet to reverse.
Initially, this realization led to two efforts: the first was an attempt, through accreditation requirements, to force medical students to learn how to perform an abortion in order to graduate. Fortunately, Congress intervened in 1996, outlawing any such requirement.
The second effort was to import the abortion drug RU-486 from Europe. Chemical abortion seemed especially promising: because it is not a surgical procedure, one abortionist could preside over several abortions occurring at the same time, monitoring for complications rather than actually doing the work of emptying wombs by force. This development was perceived to be so important that President Clinton personally appealed to the French makers of the drug to bring it to the US market. His FDA fast-tracked its approval.
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Tags: abortion, Ella, Plan B, RU-486
Posted in Abortifacients, Abortion, Arland K. Nichols, Contraception and Sterilization, Feature Post, Politics and Faith, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
By Brendan Dudley
While the United States and many other nations face moral and economic decline, Catholics and all Christians sometimes face the temptation to view ourselves as superior to the people whose evil policies and behaviors dominate the public square. Holding such a view not only denies the need to choose the Christian way of life daily as the path for salvation (see Luke 21:19 and Philippians 2:12) but also prevents us from a pastoral approach to curing our society’s ills, an approach by which we emphasize the importance of humility before the Lord. In his encyclical Redemptoris Missio, Blessed Pope John Paul II writes that “we cannot preach conversion unless we ourselves are converted anew every day” (47).
As we continue celebrating the joy and hope found in the risen Lord, we should be mindful during this Easter season of the call to share Christ’s love through the witness of our ongoing conversion. Daily renewal of our relationship with Jesus is needed to help us stay active as missionaries to our families, friends, communities and world. It can be easy to let our guard down after an intense Lenten season that involved reflection, purification and re-prioritizing our lives, but the Easter season should inspire us to work together confidently in conforming ourselves to Christ and changing the world through the power of His grace.
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Tags: Blessed Pope John Paul II, conversion, Redemptoris Missio
Posted in Brendan Dudley, Culture of Life, Feature Post, Politics and Faith, Truth and Charity Forum | 1 Comment »
