Monday 26 October 2009
How to attract young people to Christianity is a topic on the mind of just about every church leader today. It's no secret that a large number of young adults don't belong to any church, but that doesn't mean they are insensible to religion, according to a recent book.
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Tuesday 13 October 2009
By Father John Flynn, LC
Debate over assisted suicide flared anew in Britain a few days ago with the news that in doctors were obliged to allow a woman to die who had intentionally swallowed anti-freeze.
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Friday 28 August 2009
When US priest Father Timothy Mockaitis heard inmate Conan Wayne Hale’s sacramental confession on April 22, 1996, he had no idea it was being recorded.
He also didn't know that the event would spur an unprecedented legal case that attempted to demonstrate that a violation of the seal of the confessional was an infringement on the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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Tuesday 24 August 2009
For many in Europe and North America the last weeks have been ones of vacation and rest. For Christians in Pakistan, however, it's been a time of renewed violence and death.
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Monday 6 July 2009
The decline of Christianity and moral values in general is reaching new lows in Britain. While the number of faithful has been decreasing for some time now, warnings about the situation are starting to come from all quarters.
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Monday 29 June 2009
The Vatican and groups of women religious have long been actively working to stop the trafficking of persons, and a recent message of support sent by Pope Benedict XVI to a meeting on the issue held in Rome this month reiterated that this is a Church priority.
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Monday 22 June 2009
Family breakdown is causing social anarchy, according to a speech by an English judge, Justice Paul Coleridge. A senior Family Division judge for England and Wales, he addressed the Family Holiday Association charity on Wednesday evening.
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Thursday 18 June 2009
By Giovanni Patriarca
A neuroscientist and ethicist is underlining the need to base bioethics in moral principles, and is affirming that even people who profess relativism count on certain absolutes in life.
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 Monday 18 May 2009
Seven out of 10 young people who attended World Youth Day in Sydney last year rated it as one of the best experiences in their life. This was one of the findings of a survey carried out to measure the impact of the event.
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 Wednesday 13 May 2009
By Jack de Groot, Caritas Australia
Hungry? Go to the fridge or the cupboard and it is likely that if you live in Australia, you will soon have your needs sated. Tonight though, around the world, 1 billion people will go to bed hungry. It is a devastating fact.
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Friday 8 May 2009
Human rights are becoming so politicised in today's world that the concept is losing credibility and is in danger of collapse.
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 Friday 8 May 2009
Lulu Mitshabu, Caritas Australia’s Africa Program Coordinator, gave a talk on the Democratic Republic of Congo recently at Kirribilli House, NSW.
Lulu is from the DRC and continues to fight for justice for the women and girls of that country. The conflict there has taken the lives of more than 5 million people and rape has become one of the most vicious weapons in the fighting.
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Wednesday 8 April 2009
A biblical reflection for Holy Saturday
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Friday 27 March 2009
The director of an African AIDS care center is supporting Pope Benedict XVI's words about the ineffectiveness of condoms in the struggle against the spread of the disease.
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Wednesday 25 March 2009
This Zenit article helps readers become more familiar with the terminology used in any discussion of controversies surrounding embryonic stem cell research.
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A Question of Life or Death
By Father John Flynn, LC
The election of President Barack Obama in the United States was preceded by an acrimonious debate over whether Catholics could support who some regarded as an anti-life candidate, but whom others defended as being essentially pro-life.
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Thursday 26 February 2009
Despite advances in genetic science, the soul cannot be found in the genome, because human beings are more complex than their biology, says genetics professor Manuel Santos.
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 Tuesday 3 February 2009
The annual Red Mass for the opening of the Legal Year in the State of Victoria was held yesterday at St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne. Bishop Peter J. Elliott, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne and Director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family gave the homily at the Mass, which was held on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. |
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Friday 30 January 2009 Rob Ward, Victorian State Director, Australian Christian Lobby, gave the oration at the National Colloquium for Catholic Bioethicists dinner on 27 January 2009. |
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Tuesday 27 January 2009
On 1 July 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who had been suspended from episcopal duties largely due to his refusal to accept the authority of the Second Vatican Council, received ‘latae sententiae’ excommunication for ordaining four bishops for the Society of Saint Pius X without permission from the Holy See. |
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Friday 23 January 2008
By Gilberto Hernández García
There is plenty of good news to share about the Christian family in the world, and this is news that the Catholic Church offers, according to the archbishop of Quebec, Cardinal Marc Ouellet. |
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 Thursday 18 December 2008
Thanks to its 700,000
benefactors around the world, the international Catholic organisation
Aid to the Church in Need helps one out of every six seminarians in
their studies for the priesthood, but the charity has been hard-hit by
the current economic crisis.
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Monday 8 December 2008
Abortion and life issues in general were one of the hot topics in the
recent elections in the United States. If the latest news is any
indication the topic will continue to be at the forefront of attention.
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Monday 24 November 2008
The deepening economic crisis is forcing financial institutions and
companies to look again at the issue of executive salaries. In recent
years concern over ever-higher levels of remuneration had led to
widespread debate over the issue, but achieving a change in pay levels
or how salaries and bonuses are determined proved to be an elusive goal.
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Monday 24 November 2008
To understand the Vatican directive
reiterating that the name of God revealed in the tetragrammaton YHWH is
not to be pronounced in Catholic liturgy, it helps to know the history
behind the Jewish tradition, says a biblical expert.
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Friday 7 November 2008
A ZENIT interview with with Fidelis President Brian Burch on the Catholic vote in the US Presidential Election.
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Monday 15 September 2008
By Father John Flynn, LC
The aspiration to walk down the aisle to marry the man or woman of
one's dreams continues to be a very common one, even though the growing
number of cohabiting couples may seem to prove the contrary.
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Monday 25 August 2008
China's spectacular results in the Olympic medal tally are not
matched, unfortunately, when it comes to its performance in respecting
religious freedom and human rights.
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 Monday 4 August 2008
By Karna Swanson
Teaching abstinence outside marriage and
fidelity within has been proved to be much more effective in decreasing
the spread of HIV than simply distributing condoms, according to the
special advisor on HIV for Caritas Internationalis.
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 Monday 4 August 2008
By Sophie Caldecott
A couple of weeks ago, more than 223,000 Catholics gathered together in
Sydney to celebrate their common faith in the largest event Australia
has ever hosted -- World Youth Day.
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Tuesday 1 July 2008
Living together before marriage is a very common practice for couples
in many countries. Many defend it on the basis that it enables the
future husband and wife to get to know each other better. Abundant evidence exists, however, that cohabitation is more of an
obstacle rather than an advantage in preparing for marriage. Michael
and Harriet McManus recently published “Living Together: Myths, Risks
and Answers (Howard Books), which documents their research on the topic.
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Tuesday 17 June 2008
Much of what atheists pass off as fact in their charges against God and religion is really based on myth, says Legionary of Christ Fr Thomas D. Williams, author of"Greater Than You Think: A Theologian Answers the Atheists About God."
In this interview, ZENIT asked Father Williams, a theology professor in Rome and Vatican analyst for CBS News, to explain some of the common fallacies perpetuated by atheism that he addresses in his book.
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Monday 2 June 2008
The attempt to limit religion to the purely private sphere is a major
area of conflict in many countries. One of the areas of battle involves
Christians and Church-based institutions active in health care.
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Monday 19 May 2008
The disintegration of family life is
costing taxpayers a bundle. A report released in April put the cost at
an annual $US112 billion, just in the United States alone.
"The
Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates
for the Nation and All 50 States," was released by four policy and
research groups -- Institute for American Values, Georgia Family
Council, Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and Families
Northwest.
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 Wednesday 14 May 2008
Seventy-five years after Dorothy Day co-founded the Catholic
Worker Movement in the United States of America, and more than 25 years
after she died, her diaries have been published for the first time.
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Monday 12 May 2008
On 2 May the US Commission on International Religious Freedom
released both its 2008 Annual Report and its recommendations to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on countries of particular concern.
The commission was created by the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998. The act also requires that the United States
designate as countries of particular concern (CPC) those states whose
governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious
violations of religious freedom.
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 Wednesday 30 April 2008
Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, gave an address on the call
for an Australian charter of rights to the Brisbane Institute in
Queensland last night.
"If anyone was in doubt about a charter of rights being back on the
agenda for Australia, the 2020 Summit held earlier this month provided
some much needed clarification," Cardinal Pell said.
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Monday 14 April 2008
Stem cell research using material taken from human embryos continues to
be hotly debated. Advocates of using embryos maintain that at such
early stages, the cells cannot be considered a human person. However, a
recent book by two philosophers argues the contrary.
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Friday 11 April 2008
By Jaime Septién
Pope John Paul II was a man of our times and for our times, affirmed an internationally renowned scholar of his thought.
ZENIT spoke with Rodrigo Guerra on the occasion of the third
anniversary of the Polish Pontiff's death. Guerra, a professor, author
and member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, tells why John Paul II
is a point of reference for the third millennium.
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Tuesday 1 April 2008
By putting a face on the evil of euthanasia, Terri Schiavo has saved the lives of others, says her brother, Bobby Schindler.
In this interview with ZENIT, Schindler, the executive director of the
Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, talked about the first annual
"Terri's Day" celebrated yesterday on 31 March, the third anniversary of Terri's
death.
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Monday 31 March 2008
By Father John Flynn, LC
With the July date for World Youth Day approaching, the event brings to
the fore again the question of how best the Church can convey the
Gospel message to young men and women.
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Wednesday 19 March 2008 "Love Is Stronger Than Hate, It Has Triumphed"
Here is a translation of the greetings Pope Benedict XVI gave today to students participating in the international UNIV congress who had gathered at St. Peter's Basilica, and the catechesis he gave afterward during his weekly general audience in Paul VI Hall.
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Tuesday 26 February 2008 By Father John Flynn, LC
A proposed new law regulating in-vitro fertilization in the United Kingdom is under fire from the Church and bioethics groups, who are concerned over the loosening of regulations regarding the procedure. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill has finished its passage through the House of Lords and will be debated in the Commons in the near future.
The bill concerns “profound questions of human life and dignity,” warned a pastoral message released 19 February by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor on behalf of the bishops of England and Wales.
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Tuesday 19 February 2008 It's time to penalise those who use children in conflicts, the UN Security Council was told in a recent debate. On 12 February the council held a daylong session on the question of child soldiers.
In his address to the meeting the UN secretary-general's special representative for children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, complained about the lack of action against those who use children as combatants during wars, reported a UN press release 12 February. |
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Thursday 14 February 2008
Interreligious dialogue isn't a business deal or a political negation, but rather something more similar to a pilgrimage of going out of yourself to meet persons of other faiths, said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.
The cardinal was appointed president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue last June. In this interview with ZENIT he comments on the challenges and goals of this dicastery, and particularly, advances in dialogue with Islam. |
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Monday 4 February 2008
The greatest embarrassment to the world today is that the most intelligent voice it confronts is coming from the papacy, says Fr James Schall.
The Jesuit professor of political philosophy at Georgetown University is the author of "The Order of Things," and "Another Sort of Learning," both published by Ignatius Press.
In Part 2 of this interview with ZENIT, Father Schall comments on how Benedict XVI serves both the mind and soul through his explanation of the last things in his recent encyclical, "Spe Salvi." |
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Friday 1 Febrauray 2008 Even though the modern world talks of the hope in terms of progress and social justice, these concepts are "inhuman" aberrations of the true meaning of the theological virtue, says Fr James Schall.
The Jesuit professor of political philosophy at Georgetown University is the author of "The Order of Things," and "Another Sort of Learning," both published by Ignatius Press.
In Part 1 of this interview with ZENIT, Fr Schall comments on how Benedict XVI, in his encyclical "Spe Salvi," defends the theological virtue of hope by showing that without God human fulfillment and happiness is impossible. |
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Tuesday 29 January 2008 The quest for a perfect child is leading to the increasing use of techniques to discover possible health problems in the unborn. Normally this is not done with a view to healing, and results in the deaths of embryos considered imperfect.
It Italy court decisions are in effect undoing a legal prohibition against the use of such screening programs, known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). A 2004 national law vetoes screening embryos before they are implanted in the mothers' womb. |
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Tuesday 15 January 2008
Family issues were at the centre of many heated debates last year in a number of countries. The coming year, in all likelihood, will see continued conflict over matters such as divorce laws, same-sex unions, and government support, or the lack of it, for married couples.
Marriage and the family has been a frequent topic for Pope Benedict XVI since his election, and the Christmas period saw this pattern continue. During his Angelus message on 30 December, the liturgical feast of the Holy Family, the Pontiff recalled the words of Pope John Paul II, who said that the good of the person and of society is directly linked to the health of families. |
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Monday 14 January 2008
In a timely message for the New Year, Benedict XVI urged the world to rediscover the Christian virtue of hope. In his homily during the 31 December vespers to mark the end of 2007 the Pontiff referred to the lack of hope and trust in life prevalent in modern Western society, calling it an "obscure" evil. |
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Tuesday 8 January 2008 The international campaign to stop the death penalty had success last year with a nonbinding vote 18 December by the U.N. General Assembly of the United Nations in favour of suspending executions.
"This is further evidence of a trend towards ultimately abolishing the death penalty," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a press release the day of the vote. Previous attempts to adopt a resolution asking for a moratorium, in 1994 and 1999, had failed.
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Tuesday 11 December 2007
Once again questionable practices at abortion clinics have made the headlines. In Spain authorities are investigating four clinics after accusations they carried out abortions beyond the legal time limit, reported London's Times newspaper, 30 November.
The Barcelona clinics were frequently used by British women according to the article, and carried out abortions up until the 8th month of pregnancy. The Times noted that Spanish law permits abortion only up until the 22nd week. In their investigations police discovered machines attached to the drains, used to crush the bodies of aborted babies, thus destroying the evidence. |
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Friday 23 November 2007 The study of the human embryo is one point where the dialogue between faith and science is both possible and important, said organizers of a conference that brought together experts to discuss the beginning of human life. The Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest project (Project STOQ), a venture sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture, held a conferencelast week called "Ontogenesis and Human Life" at Rome's Regina Apostolorum university. Ontogenesis refers to the development of the individual, from embryonic formation up through adulthood. |
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Monday 19 November 2007
How to reconcile moral principles with the political and social demands of a secularised society is one of the main underlying fault lines in many contemporary debates. Some valuable reflections on the subject are contained in a book just published by Cardinal George Pell. |
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Wednesday 7 November 2007
The poorest countries need help, and the more developed countries need to come to their aid, the Vatican has been insisting of late. Almost 10 million children below 5 years of age die each year from preventable illnesses, denounced Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.
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Monday 5 November 2007 Children need more than ever the presence and guidance of fathers in family life. According to a recent collection of essays, a significant body of scientific research clearly documents the vital role a father plays in the formative years of a child's life.
The book is titled Why Fathers Count: The Importance of Fathers and Their Involvement with Children (Men's Studies Press). Sean E. Brotherson and Joseph M. White, the editors and authors of the first chapter, set the tone for the book with an overview of arguments regarding the importance of fathers for children. The presence of a father has a positive impact in many ways, they note, as children with fathers have fewer behavioural problems, obtain better academic results, and are economically better off. |
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Tuesday 23 October 2007 An explosion in media technology means both parents and society need to be more alert to the dangers children face. This was the warning contained in the 15 October report entitled Good Servant, Bad Master: Electronic Media and the Family, published by the Ottawa, Canada-based Vanier Institute of the Family. |
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Wednesday 17 October 2007 Intelligent use of the economy, market and culture is needed to attain objectives coinciding with our values as Christians and members of the human family, says a Holy See representative.
In this interview with ZENIT, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Apostolic Nuncio and permanent observer of the Holy See to the Office of the United Nations and Specialized Institutions in Geneva, spoke of the necessary avenues to help developing nations escape poverty. |
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Tuesday 9 October 2007 Technology without ethics is like a Ferrari without a steering wheel, according to Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán.
The cardinal is the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, which recently co-sponsored a congress with the Acton Institute titled "Health, Technology and the Common Good."
In this interview with ZENIT, the 74-year-old cardinal comments on the definition of health and the development of health care technologies. |
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Wednesday 26 September 2007 By Fr Kevin McGovern A recent move in Victoria to decriminalise abortion invites reflection on this issue. In this article, I review the history which has led to the present situation, and then offer four comments. |
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Tuesday 25 September 2007 The issue of euthanasia came to the forefront of news again recently, with the publication of a note 14 Sept. by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The statement, written in reply to questions sent to the Vatican by US bishops, stipulated that providing nutrition and liquids to people who are in what is often termed the vegetative state is, with rare exceptions, morally obligatory. |
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Monday 24 September 2007 There has been progress toward reducing religious persecution and discrimination in the world, according to the latest annual report from the US State Department.
The 2007 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom was published 14 September. The 800-page report covers the 12-month period up to 30 June 2007. |
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Tuesday 18 September
By Father John Flynn, L.C.
Fears of a demographic crisis are mounting in India, where many years of female feticide have severely skewed the makeup of the population. Ironically, one of the latest warnings came from Ena Singh, a representative of the U.N. Population Fund -- itself responsible for promoting abortion.
Singh told the news agency Reuters, in a report published Aug. 31, that the lack of women could lead to an increase in sexual violence and child abuse. According to the United Nations, an estimated 2,000 unborn girls are illegally aborted every day in India. |
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Monday 17 September 2007 Here is a commentary issued Friday 14 September 2007 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on "Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration." * * *
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has formulated responses to questions presented by His Excellency the Most Reverend William S. Skylstad, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a letter of July 11, 2005, regarding the nutrition and hydration of patients in the condition commonly called a "vegetative state." |
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Thursday 30 August 2007 One man's sharing gives other men permission to examine their own role in abortion and the impact it has had on their lives, said counsellor Kevin Burke.
In this interview with ZENIT, Burke discusses the type of wounds men experience when they have been involved in an abortion, avenues for healing, and how to help the women they love also find healing after an abortion.
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Monday 27 August 2007 Kevin Lee, a professor of law at Campbell University, North Carolina, USA shared with ZENIT the contours of a distinctively Catholic understanding of US law, and how Catholics may productively contribute to the law's development. |
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Monday 27 August 2007 Aggressive relativism is the newest form of fundamentalism, according to author Deacon Daniel Brandenburg, and Catholics are called to stand up and do something about it.
In this interview with ZENIT, Deacon Brandenburg, who will be ordained a priest of the Legionaries of Christ this December, comments on his book The New Fundamentalists: Beyond Tolerance, recently published by Circle Press. |
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A speech given by Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland in Melbourne on 11 July 2007. |
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Some challenges from the Catholic Social Justice Tradition
As orated by Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of Ireland, on his speaking tour of Australia, July 2007. |
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An address given by Cardinal Edward Cassidy at the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre, Elsternwick on 24 July 2007.
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Tuesday 10 July 2007
Some 30 years after the Second Vatican Council, the Holy See is reminding the faithful of an "essential" conciliar teaching. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released today the document titled "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church." The brief text clarifies what Vatican II meant when it said that the Church founded by Christ "subsists in the Catholic Church." In this interview with Vatican Radio, Dominican Fr Augustine Di Noia, undersecretary of the doctrinal congregation, discusses the major issues concerning this document.
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Here is the oration delivered by Archbishop of Denver, Colorado, USA, + Charles Chaput, OFM Cap on Wednesday 4 July 2007 at the Cardinal Knox Centre, East Melbourne.
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I'd like to start with a proposition. Here it is: To be a Christian is to believe in history.
Now, what do I mean by that? Well, I can tell you what I don't mean. I don't mean the history of progress, which has been the guiding faith in the West for many years. The cult of progress claims that things are getting better all the time. That thanks to science and technology, the human condition is constantly improving. That our future is open to unlimited material achievements. |
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Friday 29 June 2007 In a campaign to promote matrimony the US bishops are asking couples, "What have you done for your marriage today?" Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, the chairman of the US bishops' committee on marriage and family, this week introduced public service announcements and an internet campaign to highlight the value of marriage and provide support for engaged and married couples. |
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Church-state boundaries came under close scrutiny in Australia recently, with a no-holds barred debate over stem cell legislation. At the end of May the Labor Party in New South Wales announced legislation to overturn a previous ban on the cloning of embryonic stem cells for medical research. |
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A love for the liturgy attracted former-Anglican Peter John Elliott to the Catholic Church, a love which he will carry over into his activities as an auxiliary bishop.
Bishop-elect Elliott, 63, of Melbourne, is the third Australian prelate to have an Anglican background. He converted to the Catholic Church during his studies at Oxford. He will receive his episcopal ordination 15 June.
In this interview with ZENIT, Bishop-elect Elliott discusses his new mission as a Church leader, and the challenges of secularisation and religious formation in Australia. |
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Beyond the Ash-heaps: A Priest, Two Popes and the Church Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, delivered the inaugural Walter Silvester Memorial Oration at Australian Catholic University, Melbourne on Tuesday 22 May 2007. Here is the full text of that lecture. |
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There is little similarity between the extremist concept of jihad as a holy war and the Christian Crusades, says a historian of the Middle Ages.
Marco Meschini, a professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy, explains in his new book Il Jihad e La Crociata (The Jihad and the Crusade) published by Edizioni Ares, says that jihad and the Crusades are asymmetric. In this interview with ZENIT, he explains why. |
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If you live in a predominantly Muslim country and want to convert to Christianity, chances are your faith will be put to the test. The latest example of troubles Christian converts face comes from Malaysia, where last week the country's highest civil court rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, the Associated Press reported 30 May. |
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How important is commitment in marriage? Monsignor Cormac Burke, a former judge of the Roman Rota (the body that makes final judgements in cases of appeal for marriage annulments), recently gave a lecture on the topic Marriage: Commitment or experiment? |
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Sexual abuses mixed with allegations of Church abuse make for an explosive media formula, as Italians can testify. The state-owned television broadcaster, RAI, sparked a debate after it announced that it wanted to buy the rights to transmit a BBC program, Sex Crimes and the Vatican. |
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Tuesday 8 May 2007
Every person a Catholic meets is a potential convert to the Church, says the author of a new book on how to share the faith.
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Sunday 6 May 2007 The worlds of science and faith had a chance to meet during a seminar held in the Vatican on the subject of climate change. On 26-27 April the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace hosted a gathering of scientists, politicians, theologians and bishops on the theme "Climate Change and Development."
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Men must learn to seek the company of other men for the sake of women, the Church and the world, says a Catholic author and English professor.
In this interview with ZENIT, Anthony Esolen discusses the growing trend in rediscovering masculinity, and what it takes to make men and boys flourish.
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The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace hosted a seminar at the Vatican 26-27 April, gathering some 80 experts representing the scientific, political, economic and spiritual sides of the climate-change debate to discuss "Climate Change and Development." |
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"We most truly serve the common good by having the courage to be disciples of Jesus Christ. God gave us a free will, but we need to use it. Discipleship has a cost. Jesus never said that we didn't need a spine," says US Archbishop Charles Chaput, in a lecture on religion and the 'common good. |
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Monday 30 April 2007 Giving full legal status to marriage between persons of the same sex continues to be a hotly debated topic. On Thursday in the United States the New Hampshire senate voted in favor of a bill granting same-sex couples virtually all the legal rights heterosexual spouses enjoy, reported the Washington Post the same day. The bill now goes to the governor, John Lynch, who has already said he will sign it. |
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Fr Thomas D. Williams, Dean of Theology at Rome's Regina Apostolorum University discusses the state of religion and spirituality in Western society. |
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Only a few years ago, world population concerns were centered on what was supposed to be the threat due to a boom in births. The exaggerated fears of a population boom led to many abuses, such as forced sterilisations and abortions. Now, however, the United Nations' World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision report states that the world population is in the midst of an "unprecedented transformation" due to a change from a situation of high mortality and high fertility to one of low mortality and low fertility. |
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Public policy and civil society need a "family perspective," says Latin American author and philosopher Rodrigo Guerra López.
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Canberra-based women's advocate Melinda Tankard Reist discusses how instead of turning girls into sexual objects, society should teach them to defend their dignity and self-respect. |
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While the Catholic Church continues to come under fire for its views on love, sexuality and life, there is increasing evidence emerging that supports the proposition that abstience, not condoms, is the best way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. |
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Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filippini, Medical Ethicist and Senior Lecturer in Bioethics, gave a brief address to an extraordinary meeting of Victorian Members of Parliament on the proposed human cloning legislation on Thursday 15 March. The following is the text of Dr Tonti-Fillipini's address. |
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Euthanasia and the campaign for a legal "right to die" in Australia has again been stirred up after it was revealed that 79-year-old Sydney man Dr John Elliott travelled to Switzerland in January to take his own life legally under the Swiss assisted suicide laws. In late February two women were charged with what is believed to be the first murder charges linked to an alleged mercy killing in NSW. Catholic Communications Melbourne spoke to Dr Greg Pike, director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, an independent bioethics institution committed to bioethical issues research, about the ethical issues associated with euthanasia. |
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Australian Bishop Anthony Fisher delivered a lecture on conscience at a conference, sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life, held at the Vatican 2-3 March 2007. The theme of the conference was The Christian Conscience in Support of the Right to Life. |
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Pope Benedict XVI has denounced the high-tech trend that encourages parents to seek the "perfect child" through genetic selection. In a speech to more than 350 Catholic medical professionals on 24 February, the Pope said so-called "designer embryos" represent one of many contemporary attacks on human life. |
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By Father John Flynn, Zenit A report card on the wellbeing of children, released 14 February by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, sparked off a round of soul-searching. The "Innocenti Report Card 7" is the latest in a series of reports from the United Nations Children's Fund designed to monitor and compare the performance of developed countries in securing the rights of their children. |
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Papal theologian Dominican Father Wojciech Giertych, at the conclusion of the international congress on natural law organised by the Pontifical Lateran University. The Moral Natural Law: Problems and Prospects congress took place 12-14 February 2007. |
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Perspectives
