On
Friday the Holy Father received prelates
from the Catholic Bishops' Conference
of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, who
have just completed their 'ad limina'
visit. In his English-language remarks
to the prelates, the Pope pointed out
that their visit to Rome coincides with
preparations for the Pauline Year, and
he invited them to follow the example
of that Apostle, 'outstanding teacher
and courageous witness to the truth
of the Gospel'. 'The Church's faith
in Jesus is a gift received and a gift
to be shared; it is the greatest gift
which the Church can offer to Asia',
said the Pope quoting the Apostolic
Exhortation 'Ecclesia in Asia'. And
he went on: 'Happily, the peoples of
Asia display an intense yearning for
God. In handing on to them the message
that you also received, you are sowing
the seeds of evangelisation in fertile
ground.
'If
the faith is to flourish, however',
he added, 'it needs to strike deep roots
in Asian soil, lest it be perceived
as a foreign import, alien to the culture
and traditions of your people. Mindful
of the manner in which St. Paul preached
the Good News to the Athenians, you
are called to present the Christian
faith in ways that resonate with the
'innate spiritual insight and moral
wisdom in the Asian soul', so that people
will welcome it and make it their own'.
The Holy Father proceeded with his discourse
to the bishops: 'In particular, you
need to ensure that the Christian Gospel
is in no way confused in their minds
with secular principles associated with
the Enlightenment. On the contrary,
by 'speaking the truth in love' you
can help your fellow citizens to distinguish
the wheat of the Gospel from the chaff
of materialism and relativism. You can
help them to respond to the urgent challenges
posed by the Enlightenment, familiar
to Western Christianity for over two
centuries, but only now beginning to
have a significant impact upon other
parts of the world.
While
resisting the 'dictatorship of positivist
reason' that tries to exclude God from
public discourse, we should welcome
the 'true conquests of the Enlightenment'
- especially the stress on human rights
and the freedom of religion and its
practice'.
'This
Pauline apostolate', said Pope Benedict,
'requires a commitment to inter-religious
dialogue, and I encourage you to carry
forward this important work, exploring
every avenue open to you. I realise
that not all the territories you represent
offer the same degree of religious liberty,
and many of you, for example, encounter
serious difficulties in promoting Christian
religious instruction in schools'.
'In the context of open and honest dialogue
with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and
the followers of other religions present
in your respective countries, you assist
your fellow citizens to recognise and
observe the law 'written on their hearts'
by clearly articulating the truth of
the Gospel. 'In this way, your teaching
can reach a wide audience and help to
promote a unified vision of the common
good. This in turn', the Pope concluded,
'should help to foster growth in religious
freedom and greater social cohesion
between members of different ethnic
groups, which can only be conducive
to the peace and well-being of the entire
community'. [Vatican Information Service]
1454.1
www.catholic-family.org
Traditional
Anglicans coming home?
In
October of 2007 the College of Bishops
for the Traditional Anglican Communion
(TAC) unanimously decided to seek communion
with the Roman Catholic Church and dispatched
a letter to the Vatican verbalizing
their request.
According
to Bishop John Hepworth, Primate of
the TAC, the Congregation of the Doctrine
of the Faith received the official letter
cordially when it was presented.
On
Friday, David Virtue reported on Virtueonline.com
that the Church of England Newspaper
learned from Rome that decision concerning
the TAC might come sometime after the
Lambeth Conference, which will be held
July 16 - August 3, 2008.
Speculation
has been that the decision to wait until
after the conference came from the recent
talks held between the Holy Father and
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan
Williams. The Archbishop, however, has
stated clearly that the issue of the
TAC did not even come up in their conversation.
While
the letter has been delivered from the
Traditional Anglican Communion, no formal
dialog currently exists between the
TAC and the Congregation for Promoting
Christian Unity - one of the main ecumenical
arms of the Church. Further, no actual
response from the Vatican to the TAC
has been confirmed, leaving many to
suspect that the TAC may be getting
ahead of itself on how quickly such
a request will be acted upon.
The
imminence of a decision by Rome has
been heralded on more than one occasion
since last October underscoring the
success with which the TAC is moving
forward. These previous rumours and
news articles circulating the web and
diocesan newspapers did not prove accurate.
Various
interpretations exist as to how this
union would work out, but the basic
request from the TAC involves full communion
while maintaining their structure and
liturgies as Anglo-Catholics.
One
major sticking point for many who have
reviewed the initiative is the request
for 'sui juris' (lit: 'of one's own
right') classification, which means
that the bishops would maintain their
authority and rights of their churches.
Those
who have been watching this process
unfold from the Catholic side indicate
that the idea of maintaining the current
polity and leaders of the Traditional
Anglican Communion would be an unusual
concession for many reasons, not the
least of which is the issue of married
bishops. 'While a married priesthood
is not unknown in the Church,' one priest
commented, 'a married Episcopate is
not found in either Orthodoxy or the
Catholic Church.'
In
surveying of a number of blogs, even
those within the Traditional Anglican
Communion are not exactly clear on the
process or end result. Some indicated
that they would not be 'absorbed but
united' with the Church, so they really
wouldn't be converting to the Roman
Catholic Faith.
Still
others see a fully formed Anglican Rite
quite similar to the Eastern Rite Byzantines
or Melkites. While yet another set of
voices still take issue with some essential
Catholic doctrines and dogmas, indicating
that they are not yet sure about the
whole idea of full communion.
The
Traditional Anglican Communion was formed
in 1990 by twelve groups from the 'Continuing
Church Movement' of separated Anglicans,
with Archbishop Louis Falk, of the Anglican
Church in America, elected as the first
primate. Archbishop John Hepworth, of
the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia,
succeeded him as Primate in 2002. Currently,
the Communion has over 400,000 members.
[Catholic Online] 1454.2
www.catholic-family.org
Satan
and politicians
In
an interview with the magazine 'Maria
Mensajera,' famous Italian exorcist
Father Gabriele Amorth said, 'Everybody
is vulnerable to the work of Satan'
and that 'the devil loves to take over
those who hold political office.' The
Spanish daily 'La Razon' published the
interview in an article by Alexander
Smoltczyk in which the 82 year-old priest
describes what happens in an exorcism.
He said he has performed more than 70,000.
'Evil exists in politics, quite often
in fact,' Father Amorth said. 'The devil
loves to take over business leaders
and those who hold political office.
Hitler and Stalin were possessed. How
do I know? Because they killed millions
of people. The Gospel says: 'By their
fruits you will know them.'
Unfortunately,
an exorcism on them would not have been
enough, since they were convinced of
what they were doing. We can't say it
was a possession in the strict sense
of the word, but rather a total and
voluntary acceptance of the suggestions
of the devil.' 'I tell those who come
to see me to first go to a doctor or
a psychologist,' the priest continued.
'Most of the time there is a physical
or psychological basis for explaining
their suffering. The psychiatrists send
me the incurable cases. There is no
rivalry. The psychiatrist determines
if it is an illness, the exorcist if
it is a curse,' Father Amorth explained.
Nobody, he went on, not even himself,
is 'safe from the devil. Everyone is
vulnerable.
The
devil is very intelligent. He retains
the intelligence of the angel that he
was.' 'Suppose, for example, that someone
you work with is envious of you and
casts a spell on you. You would get
sick. 90 percent of the cases that I
deal with are precisely spells. The
rest are due to membership in satanic
sects or participation in séances
or magic. If you live in harmony with
God, it is much more difficult for the
devil to possess you,' Father Amorth
stated.
'The
Pope supports exorcists,' he explained,
but 'satanic sects are proliferating,'
and for this reason Father Amorth said
his calendar for the next two months
is full. 'I work seven days a week,
from morning until night, including
Christmas Eve and Holy Week,' he said.
[CNA] 1454.3
www.catholic-family.org
The
Catholic Truth Society
Following
this week's General Audience, Pope Benedict
XVI offered warm words of encouragement
to the apostolic work of the Catholic
Truth Society (CTS). Bishop Paul Hendricks,
chairman of the CTS, met the Pope after
the Audience in St Peter's Square (left)
and personally presented him with a
boxed edition of the CTS New Catholic
Bible, published six months ago
to wide acclaim, and soon to be reprinted
due to popular demand. This presentation
echoes that of 1956, when Pope Pius
XII was presented with the CTS's Douay
Bible. The Holy Father expressed great
interest in the Bible, which is designed
to support closely the liturgical and
sacramental life of the Church, and
encouraged the CTS in its important
work of evangelisation and education.
Bishop Hendricks was accompanied in
Rome by Fergal Martin, CTS General Secretary,
and Piero Finaldi, Editor, who were
closely involved in the development
and completion of this major publishing
project. [CTS] 1454.4
www.catholic-family.org
United Nations
New
President, a dissident Maryknoll priest
A
Maryknoll priest who was a leading figure
in Nicaragua's leftist government during
the 1980s has been elected president
of the UN general assembly. Miguel D'Escoto
Brockmann, who was foreign minister
of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, will
succeed Macedonia's Srgjan Kerim in
September, holding the position for
a year. The president of the UN General
Assembly ordinarily does not command
media attention, but D'Escoto, with
his penchant for controversy, may be
an exception to that rule.
D'Escoto,
the son of a Nicaraguan diplomat, was
a key figure in the rise of the Sandinista
party in Nicaragua. He defied instructions
from the Vatican when he became foreign
minister for the leftist Sandinista
regime, which clashed frequently with
the country's Catholic hierarchy. During
his 1983 visit to Nicaragua, Pope John
Paul II publicly admonished another
priest who was involved in the Sandinista
government-- Father Ernesto Cardenal,
then serving as culture minister-- in
a dramatic scene that was relayed around
the world. The Pope told Cardenal that
he should leave the government and regularize
his status as a priest. D'Escoto (to
whom the same advice clearly applied)
was not present at that meeting. In
public remarks after he was elected,
D'Escoto said that he would not use
his UN position to continue his long
history of public attacks on the US.
Nevertheless he condemned 'acts of aggression,
such as those occurring in Iraq and
Afghanistan.' [CNA] 1454.5
www.catholic-family.org
The
end of a social radical's four-year
reign
The
Catholic Family Institute (C-Fam) reports
from New York on the end of the four
year reign of Louise Arbour, a Canadian
social radical who has been UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, a perch
from which she promoted the right to
abortion and homosexual rights. She
was a promoter of a truly radical pro-homosexual
document called the Yogyakarta Principles.
For
those who want to read C-FAM's paper
on the Yogyakarta Principles, visit
here.
They
also report on a letter just sent by
100 Members of the European Parliament
to the Lithuanian government urging
them to pass new restrictions on abortion.
The MEPs wrote the letter after pro-abortion
Members sent a letter telling Lithuania
that UN and other documents mandate
the liberalization of abortion. Of course,
this is not true and is typical of the
lies of the pro-abortion left.
Louise
Arbour
Samantha
Singson writes: 'Outgoing High Commissioner
for Human Rights Louise Arbour delivered
her last speech to the Human Rights
Council (HRC) in Geneva this week and
not only praised recent changes that
have enabled United Nations (UN) human
rights monitors to more closely scrutinize
sovereign states, but also called for
new mechanisms further strengthening
a system often used to promote abortion.
During Arbour's stint as High Commissioner,
she retooled human rights treaty monitoring
bodies. In the four years since Arbour
took the helm, each of the treaty bodies
responsible for monitoring state compliance
with their obligations under various
human rights treaties has become increasingly
critical of laws restricting abortion.
Homosexual rights groups had praised
Arbour's appointment to the post of
High Commissioner. In 2006, Arbour gave
the opening address at the international
homosexual rights conference and encouraged
conference-goers 'to make greater use
of the international human rights institutions,
ultimately for the benefit of the greater
number of rights-holders,' urging non-governmental
organizations 'to include sexual orientation
and gender identity in their agenda
and to partner with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgendered [LGBT] NGOs to advocate
better protection of human rights for
everyone.'
Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court
Justice, has long been an advocate for
homosexual rights. Most recently, she
has vocally supported the controversial
Yogyakarta Principles, a document that
seeks to reinterpret existing and established
human rights to include same-sex unions
and gay adoption. At the New York launch
of the Yogykarata Principles last October,
the Office of the High Commissioner
on Human Rights issued a statement in
support of the document and Arbour reiterated
her 'firm commitment of her Office to
promote and protect the human rights
of all people regardless of their sexual
orientation or gender identity.' Arbour's
statement put discrimination on the
basis of 'sexual orientation' on the
same level as other established discrimination
categories such as race and religion
- a move that raised eyebrows, as the
term 'sexual orientation' has never
been accepted in any binding negotiated
UN document.
Canadian social conservatives were happy
to see Arbour leave her position as
a Canadian Supreme Court Justice when
she took up the post of UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights. During her time on
the Canadian Supreme Court, Arbour ruled
in favor of the legalization of lap-dancing
and granting common-law cohabitants
the same legal benefits as married couples.
In a dissenting opinion, Arbour also
would have ruled in favor of a total
criminalization of all spanking of children
by their parents.
Apart from serving as a Canadian Supreme
Court Justice, Arbour was also the Chief
Prosecutor for the International Criminal
Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia
and Rwanda. Although eligible to run
for a second term as High Commissioner
on Human Rights, Arbour will step down
at the end of June. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon has yet to name Arbour's
successor.
Pro-Life
Members of the European Parliament Intervene
in Lithuania
Austin
Ruse writes : 'A group of 100 Members
of the European Parliament (MEPs) has
intervened with the government of Lithuania
on the question of abortion. In a letter
sent at the end of May, MEPs representing
19 European Union (EU) Member States
and four different political groups
informed the Chairman of the Lithuanian
Parliament, Ceslovas Jurenas, that nothing
in European law would prohibit Lithuania
from restricting access to abortion.
The letter said, 'There is no conflict
between either European law or political
commitments arising from European integration
and legislative measures aimed at providing
better legal protection for unborn children.'
The letter goes on to state, 'We welcome
Lithuanian parliamentarians' efforts
to ensure better protection for children
prior to birth.'
Konrad Szymañski, a Member of
the European Parliament from Poland
and the initiator of the letter, said
'The letter aims to clear up any misunderstandings
which have recently arisen in Lithuania
due to the actions of abortion supporters.
The scheduled amendments of laws to
protect the life of unborn children
are not in breach of EU law or political
commitments arising from Lithuanian
membership within the EU.'
Signers of the letter decided the intervention
was necessary after a group of left-wing
Members of the European Parliament told
the Lithuanian Parliament in February
that commitments made at the International
Conference on Population and Development
(Cairo, 1994) and the Fourth World Conference
on Women (Beijing, 1995) 'confirm(ed)
that women's sexual and reproductive
rights are human rights.'
The February letter also quotes Marija
Pavilioniene, the head of the EU Parliamentary
group for 'reproductive health, rights,
population and development,' that the
proposed Lithuanian act 'violates a
woman's right to decide about her body
and when and how many children she will
have,' a right that is not recognized
in European law. Experts at the United
Nations similarly point out that the
Cairo and Beijing conference documents
were non-binding and do not require
any governmental action on anything,
let alone abortion.
The pro-abortion faction from the European
Parliament has taken to intervening
around the world and pressuring governments
to accept a right to abortion. The group
also intervened in Nicaragua last year
at the urging of the pro-abortion organization
Catholics for a Free Choice (now known
as 'Catholics for Choice') when the
Nicaraguan Parliament banned all forms
of abortion. The parliamentarian group
is frequently perceived as officially
representing the European Parliament
as a whole when it does not.
It would surprise many around the world,
especially in the United States where
the European Parliament is viewed as
almost wholly left-wing, that there
are as many as 200 pro-life MEPs. This
may be the first time the group has
intervened with a national Parliament.
The question of abortion has been vexing
for European integration. This weekend
voters in Ireland will consider the
Lisbon Treaty which will give more power
to the European Institutions. The European
Commission this week tried to reassure
Irish voters that the Lisbon Treaty
would not require them to change their
laws on abortion. Irish pro-lifers remain
skeptical. [C-FAM] 1454.6
www.catholic-family.org
Europe
Religious
freedom in Turkey
Turkey's
Minister of Foreign Relations and top
negotiator for the country's entry into
the European Union said this week there
is no religious freedom even for Muslims
in the country.
Chancellor
Ali Babacan told the EU Commission for
International Affairs in Brussels that
Muslims in Turkey 'can't practice their
faith either,' after members of the
commission expressed their concern over
the limits on religious freedom experienced
by Christian minorities in Turkey.
Babacan
is a member of the Party of Justice
and Wellbeing, a Muslim-inspired movement
that has been in power since 2002. [CNA]
1454.7
www.catholic-family.org
The
Lisbon Treaty, Ireland and abortion
The
Irish Referendum Commission has declared
that ratification of the new European
Constitution, now being called the Lisbon
Treaty, will not lead to the country
being forced to legalize abortion. The
Commission has been accused by groups
promoting greater democracy in the EU
of misrepresenting the facts.
The
commission chairman Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith
O'Neill said Ireland would not be forced
to end its prohibition on abortion if
the treaty is passed as Article 43.3
of the Irish Constitution is protected
under EU law. But other national leaders
in the EU have not been confident that
ratification of the Lisbon Treaty will
not lead to radical changes in legislation
pertaining to other similar moral matters.
The President of Poland, one of three
countries to maintain legal protections
for the unborn, warned in March that
ratification could mean that Poland
will be forced to adopt same-sex 'marriage'
or similar concessions to the powerful
homosexualist lobby at the EU.
Jens-Peter
Bonde, President of the EU Democrats,
and a Danish member of the two EU constitutional
conventions, warned last week that the
Referendum Committee was not telling
the full story and that the Lisbon Treaty
could well overpower the Irish constitution.
'The Referendum Commission does not
explain what differences there are between
Lisbon and the rejected Constitution.
It does not explain that that the Lisbon
Treaty will give the constitution of
the European Union primacy over the
Irish constitution, as indicated in
Declaration No 17 - which has been moved
from the Constitution's Article I-6,'
Bonde wrote.
While
the Irish Catholic bishops have not
endorsed either side, some Catholic
lay organisations and individuals have
warned that the Lisbon Treaty will usher
in a new secularist state overseeing
largely Catholic Ireland. An ad placed
by one group in a Catholic newspaper
this month called on the faithful to
reject the Treaty saying it proposes
a 'new European identity based on radical
secularism and atheistic philosophies'.
Some
pro-life people in Ireland maintain
that ratification of the Treaty will
result in Ireland being forced to relinquish
its constitutional protections for the
unborn. On April 16, the organisation
Pro-Life Campaign issued a media release
condemning pressure from the Council
of Europe for Ireland to relax its abortion
law. The Council of Europe, while not
possessing legislative powers over the
EU, is the oldest and most influential
of the pan-European bodies.
In
early May, the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe demanded that
its 47 member states 'legalize abortion
if they have not done so'. Abortion
remains illegal in the Republic of Ireland,
one of the few countries in the European
Union to retain meaningful restrictions.
Although the Assembly's resolution is
non-binding on member states, it puts
pressure on the Council of Europe to
make abortion an unconditional 'right'.
Such a resolution has a certain moral
force, and can be used to pressure countries
such as Ireland, Poland and Malta into
establishing a 'right to abortion.'
As
in Britain, the Lisbon Treaty was ratified
by the Polish government without a referendum
after securing an opt-out from the European
Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The treaty replaces the defunct EU constitution
rejected by French and Dutch voters
in 2005. In Britain, while the government
repeatedly assured the public that there
were substantial differences in the
Lisbon Treaty from the original document
MPs were unable to demonstrate more
than minor points of difference. Despite
a considerable public demand and pressure
from the opposition Tories, the Labour
government used this explanation to
justify its refusal to give Britons
a vote, despite election campaign promises
of a referendum.
The
Irish referendum is scheduled for June
12 and campaigning is strong on both
sides, with all major political parties
backing the Yes campaign. Meanwhile,
support from the public is not so strong
as Yes campaigners might wish. Although
a recent poll showed the Yes voters
at 41 per cent and the No voters at
33 per cent, the lead has been narrowing
and may be deceptive. As the Daily Telegraph's
Gordon Raynor pointed out, on the eve
of the 2001 referendum on the Nice Treaty,
polls showed the Yes campaign was polling
well over 50 per cent. The next day,
the Irish public resoundingly voted
the former treaty down.
Almost
all the European Union member states,
including Britain, have passed the revised
EU constitution through parliament without
a public referendum. But Ireland alone
has a constitutional obligation to put
the matter to a public vote. According
to the EU's own rules, the 287-page
constitution must be passed unanimously
by every member state.
The
Lisbon Treaty includes provisions for
the creation of a European superstate,
including the creation of the office
of European President and a pan-European
armed forces. [LifeSiteNews] 1454.8
www.catholic-family.org
The
radical onslaught
University
moves away from its Catholic identity
Georgetown
University, the oldest Catholic University
in the US. has hired lesbian Shiva Subbaraman
to act as director for its new Homosexual
Campus centre that is to be opened in
the fall.
Subbaraman
was formerly the associate director
of a homosexual equity office at the
University of Maryland campus in College
Park. After the school threatened to
cut funding for the office, Subbaraman
started looking for a new job.
The
pro-homosexual newspaper, The Washing
Blade, reports that Georgetown decided
to start the LGBT Equity office after
two 'anti-gay incidents' occurred on
campus. In the first case a student
was arrested and accused of assaulting
a homosexual student and shouting anti-homosexual
slurs at him. The case, however, was
dropped due to lack of evidence. In
the second incident campus police prevented
a group of homosexuals from presenting
a petition for the LGBT resource centre
to the university president. According
to the Blade, the police said they were
restricting access to the building due
to the fact that there was a special
event going on inside.
Georgetown
University, which is fully funding the
new homosexual campus centre, including
paying for two full time staff members,
has been known to proclaim itself a
Catholic institution while going out
of its way to support things dramatically
opposed to Catholic teaching, including
abortion, homosexuality and certain
bioethical issues.
In
one of the more obvious examples, the
institution's High School Bioethics
Curriculum Project seeks to provide
high school teachers literature on bioethics
in an attempt to 'enrich their high
schools' curriculum.' The curriculum
however, conveys messages contrary to
the teachings of the Catholic Church,
and poses questions on bioethical quandaries
that are worded in such a way as to
lead students to make conclusions that
oppose Catholic morality.
One
sample of the curriculum referring to
anencephalic babies (available
here) states that, 'They will never
be able to think or achieve what is
called 'personhood.''
'Yet
there is general consensus that heroic
measures should not be used to keep
them alive. In fact, anencephaly may
be one of the few medical conditions
that all doctors agree is futile to
treat,' continues the sample.
After
statements such as these, the section
describes a mother who was forced to
go to the Supreme Court to force doctors
to continue to treat her child, entitled
Baby K.
The
section then asks questions that seem
to ascribe a monetary value to human
life, such as, 'Do you think individuals
have the right to demand and get expensive
long-term care in futile cases such
as the case of Baby K?'
Similar
questions ask: 'Baby K lived for 2.5
years; her medical bills totaled half
a million dollars. Do you think this
is an appropriate use of the money?
Do you think Baby K's mother's religious
beliefs should trump issues of fair
distribution of resources?'
The
high school curriculum project is partially
funded by a grant from the Greenwall
Foundation, an organization known to
support the culture of death.
The
latest news about the founding of the
LGBT resource center comes as little
surprise to those who have been following
Georgetown's movement away from its
Catholic identity: [LifeSiteNews] 1454.9
www.catholic-family.org
'Fascism
Has Come to Canada'
1454.10
'The state dismisses the spiritual authority
and usurps its role. In history this
is called 'statism,' better known as
fascism,' writes editor of Catholic
magazine. 'In a scathing editorial',
reports John Jalsevac, ' in the most
recent issue of The Catholic Insight
(CI), Fr. Alphonse de Valk, the editor-in-chief
of the magazine, argues that the ideology
of the 'divinization' of the state that
has historically been called 'fascism',
is fast encroaching on the rights and
freedoms of religious believers in Canada.
De
Valk bases his argument on the increasing
number of instances where Canadian citizens
are being forced to choose between their
religious beliefs and the dogmas of
the state.
It
is a situation with which De Valk is
himself intimately familiar. Currently
his magazine is the defendant in an
expensive and drawn-out human rights
complaint. De Valk and Catholic Insight
are being accused of having done nothing
more than stated traditional Christian
teaching on homosexuality - the very
same 'crime' that other religious citizens
in Canada have been found guilty of
and punished for by the state's human
rights commissions.
De
Valk begins his editorial by quoting
a recent piece from REAL Women's magazine,
which said that in Canada in the very
near future 'adoptions, social services
such as nursing homes, religious-based
schools, marriages, employment conduct,
etc., carried out by religious organizations
will be held to secular standards, not
religious ones.'
'One
reason for this development,' says the
editor of CI, 'is the demand of homosexual
activists that everyone conform to their
vision of equality rights. So much for
the argument that legalizing same-sex
'marriage' would be of no concern except
to homosexual activists.'
Already
in Quebec, observes Fr. De Valk, the
Department of Education is replacing
Christian ethics in schools with a course
that teaches that Christianity is but
one religion amongst many others. In
so doing, he says, 'the state dismisses
parental rights and the formative role
of Christian culture, and replaces it
with secular sociology….In history
this is called 'statism,' better known
as fascism.'
In
another recent case, the Ontario Human
Rights Commission ruled that Christian
Horizons, a Christian charity that ministered
to the seriously handicapped, must stop
requiring its employees to sign a Lifestyle
Agreement that would have held employees
to traditional standards of Christian
morality. Commentators on the decision,
lamented Fr. De Valk, including Lorne
Gunter of the Edmonton Journal and Nigel
Hannaford of the Calgary Herald failed
to recognize 'that the citizen should
honour both state and God.'
'By
presenting state and God as equal opposites
between whom we must choose, Gunter
and Hannaford appear to accept the fascist
order whereby the state tells the citizen
what he may and may not do, think, and
write.'
This
view, says Fr. De Valk, is in direct
contradiction to Judeo-Christian teaching,
which has always said that the state
is a tool made to serve man in order
to bring man to God. 'Man is made by
God and for God. The state is the servant
of man, a mere instrument, to help him
in this world.' To divinize the state,
to make of it the supreme arbiter of
