CLIPS

Little Notes
Letters

Confessions
Talk About Movies
Follow Me




Contents © 1997
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

July/August 1997

-- George Sim Johnston, letter to the editor, The Wall Street Journal, May 23, 1997


THE HETERODOX ARE SPIRITUAL GELDINGS. They may once have had faith, but they have removed it from their lives for a pseudo-Catholic Pelagianism by which they try to save themselves. Their theology of God is weak, and their belief in Christ's divinity and power to save is weaker still. As spiritual geldings, they cannot reproduce: They make neither converts nor vocations. I have yet to meet an atheist who has converted to heterodox Catholicism; why would one bother?

-- Father Mitch Pacwa, "Not Quite Party Time," This Rock, April 1997


THE ALBUQUERQUE-BASED Center for Action and Contemplation, founded by the nationally known writer and lecturer F. Richard Rohr, has begun an eight-week discussion series, "Exploring Developments in the Church's Tradition on Homosexuality."... Rohr conducts all-male retreats because he thinks that men need the freedom to just be with other men, after they overcome their fear of comeptition iwth one another.... Fr. Rohr's retreats often contain an element of nudity. "The nakedness thing, I must comment on, is really uncanny to me [says Rohr]. I could give a whole talk just on that. I never encourage nakedness, as such, but it always happens."

-- Stephanie Block, "Coloring Outside the Lines," The Wanderer, May 22, 1997


IN THE MIDDLE OF MARCH, the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and the House met in joint session to hold hearings once again on the bill to restrict partial-birth abortions....

[Witness] Maureen Britell, 30, from Sandwich, Massachusetts, described herself and her husband as "practicing Catholics." In her second pregnancy, in 1994, the baby was thought to be anacephalic (without a brain). In addition, the umbilical cord had slipped out of place, obstructing the placenta. The child was likely to die at birth, but the physician removed the child.... Eileen Sullivan [another witness], made a point of reporting that she came from a "rather large Irish Catholic family."... As Sullivan summed up the prognosis [of her baby], "the anomalies were incompatible with life." But left unexplained was the question of why any of these maladies pointed to a partial-birth abortion. Why was the condition of the child treated, or even eased, by crushing his head?...

The issue was raised by Dr. Curtis Cook, an assistant clinical professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. His specialty has been in maternal-fetal medicine.... He pointed out that neither in the case of Britell nor Sullivan would a partial-birth abortion have been necessary. With Britell, the situation of "a cord preventing the baby from delivering is something we run into quite commonly and frequently have to either reduce the cord or even cut the cord in order to successfully deliver the baby." He went on to say "we don't kill the baby doing that. We deliver the baby quickly after cutting the cord."...

Before Dr. Cook could turn to her own case, Sullivan intervened, heatedly objecting to his commentary, since the doctor did not know her. After all, he had never examined her or her records. Dr. Cook responded that he would be "more than willing to review any medical records people wanted to make available." But that very offer was treated by Sullivan as an egregious offense, a presumptuous willingness to inquire into records that Sullivan regarded as personal. "No, no, no," she said, "I will not release my medical records."

-- Hadley Arkes, "How Liberals Do Hearings," Crisis, May 1997


DEAR ARCHBISHOP GEORGE:...

To listen to Chicago's conservative community, you would think that this was the Second Coming. They fully expect you to correct perceived abuses of every kind, from so much as mentioning women's priests to the proper recipe for eucharistic bread. They want you to fire a few warning shots over the bowed heads of the wavering faithful, the start excommunicating.

The reality is that virtually all the work of the church in Chicago is being done by those awful liberals. Your school teachers, university professors, religious education directors, liturgy planners, pre-Cana and Cana people, Christian Family Movement, ethnic ministries, Marriage Encounter people -- just about everyone except your Bingo callers -- are all tained with flabby, liberal thinking.

-- Tim Unsworth, "Dear Archbishop George: Sit where the people sit and let God happen," National Catholic Reporter, May 23, 1997


IN MAY 1994, the California Supreme Court upheld an injunction keeping pro-life picketers and counselors across a four-lane street from a Planned Parenthood clinic in Vallejo (Planned Parenthood Shasta-Diablo v. Williams). In its decision, the court emphasized that what was at stake was the "emotional health and safety" of the women "confronted" by the pro-lifers. [Life Legal Defense Foundation] appealed this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Shortly after the state court decision, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Madsen v. Women's Health Center, which upheld a 36-foot free-spech zone around a clinic, specifically to ensure access to the clinic by preventing the admitted problem of people crowding around the driveway entrances, causing cars to have trouble driving in. The Supreme Court then vacated the Williams decision and remanded the case for further consideration in light of Madsen.

To no one's surprise, the state supreme court affirmed its earlier decision, this time on the basis that the trial court found that the pro-lifers had "significantly blocked driveways." However, the trial court never made any such finding about driveways being blocked. And the court of appeals and the earlier state supreme court ruling had both stated that the critical issue was not access, but the health and safety of women.

-- Katie Short, "Don't Confuse Me with the Facts," Lifeline, May 1997


ON JANUARY 22 OF THIS YEAR, in a speech given before a [National Abortion Rights Action League] meeting, Hillary Clinton cited Brazil as "an example of how a society should not deal with the question of abortion."

On January 29, deputy Lael Varella made a response before the Brazilian national Congress.

"Perhaps the American First Lady imagined that a message from the wife of the American head of state might have the power to unleash winds and tides in our country. But she is mistaken. Times have changed. Brazil has matured.

"Perhaps Mrs. Clinton may think that we Brazilians have lost both our Faith and the sense of our sovreignty to such a degree as to allow ourselves to be influenced by 'pressures' of that ilk, even when they are opposed to our very consciences....

"It seems strange for Mrs. Clinton to allege women's health as a reason to legalize abortion and use inflated statistics to justify it. In fact, official statistics of the Brazilian Minisry of Health indicate that abortion-caused deaths are less than 50 per year. But in the United States the number of women who died as a result of abortion was only increased since its legalization.

"So if Brazil paid attention to Mrs. Clinton's suggestion, it would have palced itself in direct opposition to Catholic morality and would also harm the health of our people.

"We Brazilians know full well that if we were to follow Mrs. Clinton's abortionist counsels we would be calling upon ourselves a divine chastisement for the slaughter of innocents."

-- John Wood, Pearls newsletter, April 1997

TOP