1. I was pressured for wanting my at-risk baby. Abortion and eugenics can’t be separated, I wondered how many vulnerable moms this doctor had encouraged to remove their supposedly “imperfect” babies from the gene pool., By Mary Rose Somarriba, USA Today, May 13, 2021, 7:01 AM, Opinion
Recently, the head of Planned Parenthood acknowledged the racist and eugenic beliefs of its founder, Margaret Sanger, and stated that the organization is working to undo the damage these views have caused. I applaud Alexis McGill Johnson for openly discussing the ugly origins of Planned Parenthood, but completely disagree that the organization is capable of stopping what Sanger started. Eugenic motives are still alive and well in the abortion- and contraceptive-providing business, of which Planned Parenthood is a leader.
…
I’ve come to see abortion and eugenic thinking as quite intertwined, and what makes me completely disbelieve that Planned Parenthood cares is that we don’t see them lobbying to expose or stop pressured abortions, or notifying the state when underage girls are raped and made pregnant by adult men. Despite purporting to exist for women’s free choice, they make money from women’s abortions, so they are not without incentive.
…
So consider me unconvinced that Planned Parenthood can undo its founder’s motives to reduce the number of “unfit” people born into the world. Abortion providers have a habit of seeing some lives as more worthy than others – it’s ugly, I know – but it’s kind of their thing.
Mary Rose Somarriba is editor of Natural Womanhood and associate editor of Verily Magazine. She completed a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship on the connections between pornography and sex trafficking.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2021/05/13/planned-parenthood-eugenics-abortion-pressure-column/5022187001/
___________________________________________________________
2. US hits China and others for repressing religious freedom, By Matthew Lee, Associated Press, May 12, 2021, 10:57 PM
The Biden administration on Wednesday took aim at China and a number of other countries for repressing religious freedom as it forges ahead with its aim of restoring human rights as a primary focus of American foreign policy.
The condemnation was similar to that lodged by the Trump administration, which had been criticized for prioritizing religious freedom over other rights, and reflected continuity in the U.S. position that China’s crackdown on Muslims and other religious minorities in western Xinjiang constitutes “genocide.” Yet, a senior official said religious freedom is just one element in the administration’s broader human rights strategy.
…
While Blinken did not spare China from criticism, his remarks were less extensive than those of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during previous religious freedom events. Pompeo was particularly harsh in his condemnation of China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and other religious minorities, often devoting entire speeches to the subject.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-hits-china-and-others-for-repressing-religious-freedom/2021/05/12/05525c46-b35b-11eb-bc96-fdf55de43bef_story.html
___________________________________________________________
3. Faced with opposition from the Vatican, prominent Catholics opt for disobedience, By Claire Giangravé, Religion News Service, May 12, 2021, 3:43 PM
Over the past week, Catholic priests all over Germany have been openly defying the Vatican by blessing same-sex couples. As the Vatican struggles to answer the demands for representation and inclusivity by some factions in the church, a growing number of Catholic faithful opt for disobedience as a last resort.
…
“I was appalled” by the document issued by the CDF, said the former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, in an interview with Religion News Service. “I was appalled by its language, appalled by the very idea a Vatican document would say a gay couple is not capable of either receiving or expressing God’s grace.”
…
On May 4, McAleese and 60 Catholic scholars, academics and theologians signed a Wingaards Institute research report, titled “Christian Objections to Same Sex Relationships: An Academic Assessment,” analyzing the mentions of homosexuality in the Old and New Testaments with today’s scientific understanding and interdisciplinary methods. Their argument is the interpretation of mentions of homosexuality in the Bible are incorrect, or in the case of female same-sex relationships, nonexistent.
…
Signatories of the report have demanded that Pope Francis support the 35,000-word document challenging Catholic doctrine and that he set up a “transparent, independent consultation process on these findings.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/faced-with-opposition-from-the-vatican-prominent-catholics-opt-for-disobedience/2021/05/12/4e344222-b35a-11eb-bc96-fdf55de43bef_story.html
___________________________________________________________
4. Polish bishop resigns after probe into cover-up allegations, By Associated Press, May 12, 2021, 9:58 AM
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop following a Vatican investigation into alleged negligence in addressing cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests under the bishop’s authority.
The forced departure of Bishop Jan Tyrawa was the latest in a string of sanctions the pope has meted out since mid-2020 to Polish Catholic Church leaders over cases of cover-up of sexual abuse by other priests.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/polish-bishop-resigns-after-probe-into-cover-up-allegations/2021/05/12/2d08f140-b32a-11eb-bc96-fdf55de43bef_story.html
___________________________________________________________
5. HHS Secretary: ‘There is no law’ against ‘partial-birth abortion’, By Matt Hadro, Catholic News Agency, May 12, 2021, 16:19 PM
The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday would not acknowledge an existing federal ban on “partial-birth abortion.”
During a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) asked HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra if he agreed that partial-birth abortion is illegal.
Becerra answered that “[t]here is no medical term like ‘partial-birth abortion’,” and that “[t]here is no law that deals specifically with the term ‘partial-birth abortion’.”
In 2003, Congress passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The law amended the federal criminal code to outlaw partial-birth abortion, defining it as a procedure where a baby is partially delivered until either the baby’s head or trunk is outside the mother’s body, and the doctor acts to kill the baby. An exception was made for cases where the mother’s life is in danger.
…
Later in the hearing, Rep. John Joyce, M.D. (R-Pa.) noted that 18 U.S. Code § 1531 “is literally titled ‘partial-birth abortions prohibited’.” The statute, he said, “very clearly defines” the “inhumane procedure.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/247637/hhs-secretary-there-is-no-law-against-partial-birth-abortion
___________________________________________________________
6. Madison bishop prays for pro-abortion Catholic politicians, By Catholic News Agency, May 12, 2021, 3:00 PM
A second U.S. bishop last week publicly supported the Archbishop of San Francisco’s challenge to Catholic politicians who are pro-abortion.
“We pray for those leaders who pursue government policies and laws which seek to further entrench abortion rights and other assaults on innocent human life,” Bishop Donald Hying of Madison stated on May 7. “St. John Paul II opined, ‘A nation that kills its own children has no future’.”
Bishop Hying recommended a May 1 pastoral letter of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, “Before I Formed You in the Womb, I Knew You.” The letter outlines the Church’s teachings on worthiness to receive Holy Communion, and the necessity for Catholics to assent to the Church’s teachings, especially on the life issue.
In the letter, Archbishop Cordileone said that Catholics who cooperate with the “evil” of abortion – including pro-abortion politicians – should not present themselves for Communion. The Church has long taught that formal cooperation and immediate material cooperation with grave evil, such as the evil of abortion, precludes one from receiving Holy Communion.
…
Hying was the second U.S. bishop last week to publicly support Cordileone’s letter. Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix on May 6 called the letter “a powerful defense of the Church’s teaching on the dignity of all human life.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/247636/madison-bishop-prays-for-pro-abortion-catholic-politicians
___________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
