Conscience articles from December 2003

Conscience archives from December 2003

Editor's note.(Editorial)
December 22, 2003... CURING DISEASE AND INCREASING LIFE EXPECTANCY ARE RELATIVELY uncontested areas of scientific endeavor. But add using days-old embryos to aid with research to the mix and the outrage starts to swell. In testimony before the US Senate...

Defying dominion.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2003... BARBARA CROSSETTE'S VERY timely article ("Defying Dominion," Autumn 2003) gives a voice to those women who confront fundamentalism in their own countries and not to their male representatives, whether mullahs or politicians. It reflects to a...

Sexual abuse.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2003... GAIL GROSSMAN FREYNE'S article ("An Arabesque is not an Apology," Autumn 2003) is as smart a treatment of the issues related to clergy sexual abuse and episcopal cover-ups as I have read. Her insights, both as a therapist and as a mediator with...

South Africa.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2003... NOW IS A TIME TO REFLECT, ten years since our democracy gave birth. Cedric Mayson ("Faith, Struggle and Kairos," Autumn 2003) writes eloquently on the magic midnight moments, crafted over many years of struggle which facilitated our Kairos. ...

Sexual diversity.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2003... THANK YOU FOR THE INsightful article by Dr. Mary Hunt ("The Challenge of Sexual Diversity in Ultra-Conservative Times," Autumn 2003). As a prochoice activist, who is also gay and Catholic, I have been closely involved with both the sexual...

Funding UNFPA.(Letters; seeking private donors to United Nations Population Fund)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... In response to the Bush administration's decision not to fund UNFPA in 2002-3 (see page 25), Lois Abraham of New Mexico and Jane Roberts of California initiated a campaign to encourage 34 million people to donate a dollar or more to UNFPA. ...

Vatican reiterates position on condoms; Catholics and medical experts respond.(The Church and HIV/AIDS)
December 22, 2003... DESPITE INTERNAtional outrage over its continued opposition to the use of condoms, the Vatican marked World AIDS Day with a five-page defense of its scientifically incorrect position. The statement, issued by Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan,...

Chilean hierarchy steps up fight against divorce.(The Church and State)
December 22, 2003... WHILE CHILE HAS TAKEN A step closer towards legalizing divorce, the church hierarchy has indicated that it will not end its fight against the bill. Final passage of the bill will leave only two countries, Malta and the Philippines, where...

Condoms4Life promotes a culture of life.(In Catholic Circles)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... World AIDS Day saw the launch of a new global public education effort to counter Vatican misinformation on condoms and end the Catholic bishops' ban on condoms. Using the message, "Good Catholics Use Condoms," the campaign is a new phase in the...

Catholic lawmakers reproach bishop over rebuke.(The Church and State; US Rep. David Obey, former State Supreme Court Justice, William Bablitch rebuke Bishop Raymond Burke)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... ACCORDING TO THE MILwaukee Journal Sentinel, Catholic politicians have accused a Catholic bishop of violating the separation between church and state by advising elected officials to tailor policy, making decisions to church teachings. In...

Infighting in the Vatican over new mass "rules."(Church Reform)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... THERE ARE REPORTS OF INfighting in the Vatican over draft rules aimed at cracking down on "abuses" in the Catholic Mass. The rules propose that altar boys will he preferred to altar girls, who should serve only when there is an unspecified...

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has been fined the maximum allowable, $10,000, for failing to report sexually abusive priests during the 1970s and 1980s.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has been fined the maximum allowable, $10,000, for failing to report sexually abusive priests during the 1970s and 1980s. Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk pleaded no contest just before a grand jury was to hear...

New Hampshire Catholics for Moral Leadership has called on the Vatican to remove Bishop John McCormack.(News Round-Up)
December 22, 2003... * New Hampshire Catholics for Moral Leadership has called on the Vatican to remove Bishop John McCormack and Auxiliary Bishop Francis Christian of New Hampshire because of their loss of moral authority during the sexual abuse crisis.

The Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, is to pay $40 million to 21 people.(News Round-Up; abuse cases)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * The Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, is to pay $40 million to 21 people who said they were abused by priests.

The Archdiocese of Boston will sell the archbishop's residence.(News Round-Up)
December 22, 2003... * The Archdiocese of Boston will sell the archbishop's residence in an attempt to raise the $85 million it owes in settlement for claims arising from the sexual abuse crisis.

Irish bishops have apologized over the church's handling of sexual abuse cases in a 332-page report released in early December.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Irish bishops have apologized over the church's handling of sexual abuse cases in a 332-page report released in early December. Two years in the writing, "Time to Listen: Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Ireland," makes 19...

It is thought that the Irish government may have to pay out more than $1.1 billion in compensation to people abused by Catholic priests.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * It is thought that the Irish government may have to pay out more than $1.1 billion in compensation to people abused by Catholic priests. Religious orders will pay out some $150 million and the government underwrote the remainder. The prime...

Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre in Long Island has instructed a priest in the diocese not to publish an article calling for church officials "tainted".(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre in Long Island has instructed a priest in the diocese not to publish an article calling for church officials "tainted" by the sex abuse scandal to resign. A spokeswoman said that Murphy "didn't...

The Diocese of Covington in Kentucky has agreed to pay some $5.2 million.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * The Diocese of Covington in Kentucky has agreed to pay some $5.2 million to 27 people who were sexually abused by priests during the 1960s and 1970s.

The head of the board appointed by the US bishops to monitor dioceses' responses to the sexual abuse crisis has said that 76 percent of dioceses have provided the information required.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * The head of the board appointed by the US bishops to monitor dioceses' responses to the sexual abuse crisis has said that 76 percent of dioceses have provided the information required. A full report is due in February 2004.

Financial donations to US parishes increased in 2002 by 4.9 percent ($20 million).(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Financial donations to US parishes increased in 2002 by 4.9 percent ($20 million), but donations to bishops' appeals fell by 2.3 percent ($14.7 million). Half of the latter drop was in Boston, where the sexual abuse scandal hit hardest. In a...

Healthy profit for CHA head.(Catholic Health Association)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... MODERN HEALTHCARE REPORTS that the Catholic Health Association--the trade association representing some 2,000 Catholic health care providers in the US--paid Father Michael Place, its chief executive, $739,335 in 2003, a ten percent increase on...

Pope chastises Anglican leader.(End Notes)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... POPE JOHN PAUL II BROUGHT attention to the divisions between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches over the ordination of homosexual clergy during a brief meeting with the head of the Anglican church, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan...

New cardinal causes furor over radical views.(End Notes)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... THE BISHOP OF ST. ANDREWS and Edinburgh in Scotland, the Most Reverend Keith O'Brien, caused a major row when, the day after it was announced the pope was to elevate him to the rank of cardinal, he made several comments questioning some core...

'Reprogenetics': hype, phobia and choice: an unreserved advocate of new reproductive technologies argues his case.(Cover Story)
December 22, 2003... "POLICY DECISIONS WE TODAY are making--for instance, what do about human cloning or sex selection and genetic selection of embryos, or whether to get comfortable prescribing psychotropic drugs to 3-year-olds, or how vigorously to pursue...

Tinkering with god: just how moral is conservative catholic morality? a more humane medicine needs a liberal catholic bioethics based on natural law.
December 22, 2003... THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DESperately needs a broader perspective on the pressing moral issues facing humanity today. Over the centuries, Christianity has been torn apart by what we could most easily describe as arguments between liberals and...

A meeting of the miters: US bishops rattle their swords against prochoice Catholic politicians and Catholics who use birth control.
December 22, 2003... PERHAPS UNSURPRISINGLY, THERE WERE A FEW ISSUES that caught our eye when the US Catholic bishops got together at their annual meeting last November. Amidst their statements on immigration, their budget and Catholic devotional practices was a...

China's family planning program is just the beginning: the Bush Administration has all funding for family planning in its crosshairs.(United Nations. Population Fund)
December 22, 2003... IN JULY 2002, THE BUSH ADMINistration caused rejoicing in its rightwing base by rescinding $34 million that Congress had appropriated for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. The move was a major escalation in the torture of a thousand...

Defunding UNFPA: a moral analysis: is there evidence of coercion in China's family planning program?(United Nations Population Fund; Kemp-Kasten Amendment of 1985)
December 22, 2003... ETHICAL DECISIONS TAKEN IN Washington, DC, sometimes have global consequences. Never was this more true than with respect to a decision taken by Secretary of State Colin Powell on July 21, 2002, to halt $34 million in US funding for the United...

Is the pope crazy?(Opinion; condoms and sex education of teens)
December 22, 2003... THERE ARE MANY THINGS TO BE SAID AGAINST CONDOMS, and most people reading this have probably said them all. But at least they work. Not perfectly--they slip, they break, they require more forethought and finesse and cooperation and trust than...

State of Denial: Finding Meaning in South Africa's AIDS Crisis.(Human Rights Watch, filmaker Elaine Epstein's documentary)
December 22, 2003... "THE PROCESS OF GRIEF ALWAYS INCLUDES SOME QUALities of anger.... It is well to remember that it is not up to us to judge such feelings as bad or shameful but to understand their true meaning and origin as something very human." ELIZABETH...

A world view: Catholic attitudes on sexual behavior & reproductive health.
December 22, 2003... THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH has become the focus of significant controversy in recent years. Already contending with overwhelming dissent from followers regarding its positions on women as well as on sexuality, reproduction and the family, the...

The War is Far from Over.(Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War)(Book Review)
December 22, 2003... Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War William Saletan (University of California Press, 2003, 327pp) ISBN: 0520086880, $29.95 IN HIS NEW AND CONTROVERSIAL book William Saletan argues that the prochoice movement in the US...

Unraveling a culture of fear.(Irish Catholicism Since 1950)(Book Review)
December 22, 2003... Irish Catholicism since 1950 Louise Fuller (Gill & Macmillan, 2002, 380pp) ISBN: 0717131564, $39.99 ONE THING IS CERTAIN. IF the state-run Irish radio ceased broadcasting the Angelus every day at noon and at six, I wouldn't know I was...

Bookshelf.
December 22, 2003... Beyond Comparison: Sex and Discrimination by Timothy Macklem (Cambridge University Press, 2003, 212pp) The author argues that a recognition of differences between men and women is the first step towards an end to discrimination against women....

The Catholic crisis.(The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism)(A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America)(Book Review)
December 22, 2003... The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism David Gibson (HarperCollins, 2003, 350pp) ISBN: 0060530707, $23.95 A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America Peter Steinfels...

With a Mandate from God?(The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America)(Book Review)
December 22, 2003... The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America Kimberly Blaker (ed.) (New Boston Books, 2003, 287pp) ISBN: 0972549617, $15.95 THE TITLE OF THIS COLLECTION of essays is accurate. Anyone looking for a quick, up-to-date and...

Postscript.
December 22, 2003... "Look out the window. What kind of state do I have here? You can see my whole state right from this window." --Pope John Paul II, in response to an invitation from President Vladimir Putin to visit Russia as a head of state. (1) "The...