TWILIGHT
ZONE
***Tube Feeding “Obligatory” Says Pope We are happy to report some good news for a change from the “Twilight (before the dawn) Zone.” On March 20 our Holy Father addressed a group of medical personnel meeting in Rome for the International Congress on “Life- sustaining treatments and the vegetative state" organized by the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) and the Pontifical Academy for Life. In no uncertain terms Pope John Paul II stated, “the intrinsic value and the personal dignity of every human being do not change…even if they are seriously ill and impaired in the exercise of their highest functions.” He went on to stress the “moral duty” of doctors and health care workers to provide “basic health care (nutrition, hydration, hygiene, warmth, etc.)” The pope called artificially administered feeding, “a natural means of preserving life, not a medical procedure. Therefore their use must be considered ordinary and appropriate and as such, morally obligatory.” Even the fact that no improvement is expected “cannot ethically justify abandoning or interrupting basic care including food and hydration, of a patient.” If a doctor or caregiver withholds food and water to bring about death “consciously or deliberately” the act is “truly euthanasia by omission.” [Amen! Thank you, Holy Father.]
***Two Docs Duke It Out at Conference The day before the pope made his definitive statement two Dutch doctors attending the meeting held a heated exchange. Dr. J.P.M. Lelkins of Maastrict, Holland said the country’s euthanasia figures are skewed by omitting deaths due to dehydration and starvation. He estimated 10% of deaths in Holland are from euthanasia, 3.9% from withholding food and water. Dr. J.C.M. Lavrijsen of Nijmagen, Holland who approves of starving and dehydrating “vegetative” patients took offense and demanded, "Are you accusing me of manslaughter?" Dr. Lelkins paused, then replied, "Yes because there is no other way to define it, I am accusing you of manslaughter." [Les Femmes, on the other hand, calls it what it really is – murder.] Another conference participant, Professor Gianluigi Gigli, president of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations said hydration and nutrition removal are a Trojan Horse to active euthanasia. “After society rejected euthanasia under Nazism, we are now accepting euthanasia for freedom or compassion or pain or choice. I will fight this so long as I live and with all of my strength….If we open the door to nutrition and hydration removal, something else will come. It will make life a disposable good…based on its quality. If we accept this we will accept that there is a life not worthy of life. It will lead to the notion – wouldn’t it be better, faster and more compassionate to give them an injection?" [Will this protect patients like Terri Schiavo? Will Bishop Lynch finally defend Terri’s right to live? Will our deliberately deaf world listen? Stay tuned.]
***Planned Parenthood never misses a trick, but a national chaplain for their baby-killing business? Gloria Feldt, PP’s boss, announced March 8 the hiring of Rev. Ignacio Castuera, senior pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church in the Watts district of Los Angeles. Feldt says he will "articulate the spiritual dimensions of sexuality and reproduction... [and] play a pivotal role in communicating the theological justification for choice, sexuality and contraception." [Hmmm – the spiritual dimensions of “choice?” Of course – temple prostitution and human sacrifice!] This is a strategic move to sell abortion to pro-life Hispanic Catholics, and Castuera’s the man for the job! As former head of the Latina Outreach Project of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and an associate of CARAL (California Abortion Rights Action League) Castuera’s credentials are A+. Using ministers to deceive devout minorities is an old PP tactic. Their founder, Margaret Sanger, wrote to Dr. Clarence Gamble in 1939 about her “Negro Project” saying, “We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten that idea out if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” Replace “Negro” with “Hispanic” and you get the picture. Castuera is just the latest useful dupe betraying his origins and doing the devil’s work in God’s name. [N.B. Most abortion mills are located in minority areas. But to be fair, PP is an equal opportunity killer and will happily murder babies of any region, race, religion, or sex.]
***Speaking of betrayal and useful dupes Can someone please explain National Right to Life’s (NRLC) complicity in killing South Dakota Bill HB1191 banning most abortions in the state? Republican State Representative Matt McCaulley asked the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) to draft the bill making abortion a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Pro-abort lobbyists described HB1191 as the most restrictive anti-abortion measure since Roe v. Wade. It was endorsed by the local Catholic bishop and renowned pro-life lawyer Charles Rice, among others. The bill overwhelmingly passed in the house 54 to 14. A compromise version passed by a single vote in the senate. The Governor sent it back with a “form and style” veto suggesting a few technical changes giving pro-abort opponents a final chance to sink it. They did by one vote with the complicity of NRLC and their local affiliate. Why? The timing was wrong! Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of TMLC issued a press release condemning NRLC’s actions and asking, “When is it the wrong time to do what is right?” NRLC responded with a letter saying they opposed the “health exception.” But they opposed the bill long before the very restrictive exception was added. TMLC posted a seven-page report on their website with the history of NRLC’s duplicity. See http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=195. Thompson says NRLC “has lost the moral authority to lead the pro-life cause.” We agree! Bureaucracies often lose sight of their original purpose. Has NRLC forgotten their target constituents, babies in the womb? Was it the wrong time to defend them? It’s one thing to disagree on strategy, but to sabotage another pro-life group’s efforts to defend the babies??? Shame on NRLC and South Dakota Right to Life! May such a scandal never be repeated!
***Fredericksburg Same-Sex Shame-Fest Kim Bickert, a junior at Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA organized what amounted to a parade to promote perversion on of all days, the feast of the Annunciation, March 25th. About 100 people escorted four same-sex couples who sashayed on over to the circuit courthouse and played the civil rights violin as they tried to apply for marriage licenses. Fortunately, Virginia clerks have more sense than those in San Francisco and Boston and refused to play house. Four times they turned away the dearly beloved wannabees. Fredericksburg, being a college town, wasn’t a surprising choice for this escapade. According to the Washington Post the city sports a “gay” bar downtown and a second one with an unofficial weekly “gay” night. The media event was well attended by reporters and cameramen. [Surprise! When does the media ever refuse to promote perversion? Which reminds us of Marshal McLuhan’s statement that the media are in a “Luciferian conspiracy against the truth.” Amen!] Despite their failure to tie the knot, Victor and Dugger, one of the “couples,” still feeeeeel married. “Believe me,” Victor told the Post. “If you saw us in the grocery store, you’d know we were married.” [We give up…is it the way they squeeze the fruits in the produce department?]
***Passion of Christ Inspires Confessions Mel Gibson continues to face virulent criticism for his historic film, The Passion of the Christ, but one amazing outcome of the movie is that criminals are confessing after viewing it. Johnny Olsen, a convicted killer and neo-Nazi, gave himself up March 27 admitting guilt for two bombings in Oslo, Norway in the mid 1990s. Police suspected Olsen of the terrorist acts, but could never connect him to the crimes. In Houston, TX Dan Leach confessed to killing his girlfriend because he thought she was pregnant and didn’t want to raise the child. The coroner ruled Ashley Wilson’s death by hanging a suicide.
Police detective Mike Kubricht described the crime as “very well-planned and well executed.” Leach wore gloves and left no DNA evidence at the scene. He had literally gotten away with murder – until Gibson’s movie stirred his conscience. Kubricht said Leach felt that “in order for him to have redemption he would have to confess his sin and do his time.” Leach faces up to life in prison. Several thieves have also confessed. Stories like these and others inspired a TV documentary produced, written, and directed by award winning photojournalist Jody Eldred. As Les Femmes went to press, Changed Lives, Miracles of the Passion was scheduled to be shown Easter weekend. The independent effort is not connected with Icon Pictures, which produced The Passion.
***Excommunicate “Catholic” John Kerry Senator
John Kerry, former altar boy, scandalizes relentlessly as he crisscrosses
the U.S. campaigning for president. The rabid pro-abort promised during
the February presidential debate in L.A. that his first act in the White
House would be to "Reverse the Mexico City policy on the gag rule
so that we take a responsible position globally on family planning.”
Translation: Kerry’s top priority is killing babies in the third
world, not surprising for a man endorsed by the National Abortion Rights
Action League (NARAL), a group that consistently rates him 100%. Kerry
voted at least three times for partial birth abortion, favors federal
funding, opposes parental consent, and supports cannibalizing the unborn
for their stem cells. Claiming he supports “choice,” Kerry
voted against a bill making it a crime to harm an unborn baby while committing
a federal offense. Even wanted babies are non-persons in the Kerry/NARAL
camp.
But playing Church wins votes, so Kerry masquerades as a Catholic, at
least in election years. He told Time Magazine "I certainly intend
to take Communion and continue to go to Mass." In March his motivation
was revealed by a too-candid senior staffer who told reporters that Kerry
interrupted his Idaho ski vacation to Mass (arriving eleven minutes late)
for a photo-op. “We set it up with some reporters that we knew were
going to be there." Kerry in a nutshell – a cynical politician
who will use anything to get elected, even Jesus.
Archbishop Raymond Burke says he will refuse Kerry Communion if he presents
himself in St. Louis. When Kerry was there he took Communion in protestant
churches instead. [???] He may try to reap political hay by courting
a denial. Kerry the war hero can play Kerry the martyr. So be it. He has
two places to stage an event since officials in Lincoln, Archbishop Bruskewitz’s
diocese recently said he would be refused there as well. The Kerry’s
attended Easter Mass at the Paulist Center in Boston. Rev. John Ardis,
Director, said Kerry could receive (sacrilegious) Communion there. Ardis
said the diocese gave him a thumbs up since Archbishop Sean O’Malley
hasn’t made up his mind. [Scandal is pretty common for the Paulists
who have published dissenters for years through their Paulist Press.]
Kerry used his sacrilegious Easter Communion for another photo op. When
will our bishops discipline so-called Catholic politicians who hold the
faith in contempt? Please, Bishop O’Malley, invoke Canon 915 against
public sinner John Kerry. It will be a teaching moment for all Catholics
and an act of charity for the senator. Stop the outrageous sacrilege against
Our Blessed Lord. May Kerry be the first of many called to repentance.
***But let’s not just pick on politicians! One of the most scandalous pro-abortionists on record is Fr. Robert Drinan. This shameful Jesuit has publicly supported what holy Jesuit Fr. John Hardon called “Partial Birth Infanticide.” It is inexcusable that the Jesuits have punished orthodox members of their order [Recall what happened to Fr. Fessio a few years ago when he helped start Campion College?] while heretics and scandalizers thrive. [Many Jesuit colleges continue to feature The Vagina Monologues, a disgusting and immoral celebration of lesbianism while Jesuit superiors turn a blind eye. Remember what Jesus said about blind guides? Pray for the reformation or suppression of the Jesuits. And especially pray for those true sons of St. Ignatius who suffer grievously for the sins perpetrated by the order he founded.]