Conscience articles from June 2008

Conscience archives from June 2008

Editor's note.(Editorial)
June 22, 2008... THE AMERICAN ELECTION THREW UP SOME VERY INTERESTING CHOICES were critical both for the American people as well as the recipients of American foreign policy who were also watching intensely, not least those who are concerned with reproductive...

Visiting an abortion clinic.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
June 22, 2008... I FOUND THE ARTICLE "Theological Observations on Visiting an Abortion Clinic" in the spring issue to be beautifully written and quite thought provoking. As a male, married Catholic, I thought little about abortion until the bishops had...

Shifting Sands?(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
June 22, 2008... I APPRECIATE THE JUXTA-position of the spring 2008 edition of Conscience, "Shifting Sands in the Abortion Debate?" and Nancy Belden's reassurance that we are standing "On Solid Ground." For many, the debate over abortion represents a...

Women's voices.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
June 22, 2008... FROM THE MOMENT I SAW the cover of the spring 2008 issue of Conscience, I was drawn in. I was not disappointed--throughout the issue, I found journalists, advocates, doctors and clergy presenting thought-provoking ideas that challenged...

Abortion roundtable.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
June 22, 2008... IN THE SPRING ISSUE OF Conscience, prochoice experts participated in a roundtable discussion examining the ethical and moral effects of abortion. As medical educators and health-care providers, we need discussions that promote solutions to the...

Courage.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
June 22, 2008... I MUST CONGRATULATE you on the spring issue. Your advertisement on p. 42 outlining the role men play in the antiabortion movement made me jump for joy--which for a septuagenarian is quite a feat. I cannot compete in your T-shirt contest because...

Bishops seek to make abortion an election issue.(The Church and State)
June 22, 2008... IN THE RUN-UP TO THE 2008 elections, some conservative Catholic bishops, the Pro-Life Activities Office of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and several conservative Catholic organizations made a concerted effort to create the impression...

Progressive groups put Vatican on the spot.(The Church and Contraception)(Brief article)
June 22, 2008... AN ADVERTISEMENT PLACED in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera calling on the pope to end the Vatican's ban on contraception received a highly unusual response from a top Vatican official on the day it appeared, as it usually chooses to...

US Catholic Bishops support extremist refusal clause.(The Church and Contraception)
June 22, 2008... THE UNITED STATES conference of Catholic Bishops has come out strongly in favor of a proposal from the US Department of Health and Human Services to increase the strength of so-called "conscience clauses." These clauses are more correctly...

Spanish government proposes liberalization of abortion laws.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief article)
June 22, 2008... AFTER DROPPING PROPOSALS to liberalize abortion laws after the 2004 election and in the run-up to the March 2008 elections, the Socialist government in Spain has said it will now move ahead with efforts to liberalize abortion laws and has...

UK parliament votes to retain current abortion limits.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief article)
June 22, 2008... PROCHOICE POLICYMAKERS swept the board in a series of votes about current abortion laws in Great Britain. Despite a concerted campaign by the UK's Catholic bishops, antichoice activists were routed on all votes that were held. Three of the...

Come again?(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)(Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Decree on Child Protection )
June 22, 2008... "The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has issued a detailed list of inappropriate behaviors for priests, saying they should not kiss, tickle or wrestle children. The newest version of the archdiocese's Decree on Child Protection also prohibits bear...

New prochoice campaign in Ecuador.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief article)
June 22, 2008... IN A BRAZEN ACT THAT publicly highlighted the problems associated with illegal abortion, the Coordinadora Juvenil por la Equidad de Genero (Youth Committee for Gender Equity) unfurled a banner on a prominent statue, the Virgin de Panecillo, in...

Mexican Supreme Court confirms legality of abortion law.(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)
June 22, 2008... Despite stiff opposition from the church hierarchy in Mexico, the Mexican Supreme Court voted overwhelmingly to confirm the constitutionality of Mexico City's law allowing abortions. In the hours following the decision, we received the...

Multinational poll shows support for abortion rights.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief article)
June 22, 2008... A MAJOR INTERNATIONAL poll has shown that in 17 out of 18 nations polled, majorities reject using criminal penalties, such as fines and imprisonment, as a means to prevent abortion. More than half of the respondents (52%) said they wanted the...

Bishops in the Philippines support condom use.(The Church and HIV/AIDS)(Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines )(Brief article)
June 22, 2008... ACCORDING TO A REPORT in the Philippine Star, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has announced that married couples will be allowed to use condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV. The report was confirmed by Father...

Joe O'Rourke.(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)(Obituary)
June 22, 2008... Former president of the Catholics for Choice board, Joseph P. O'Rourke, passed away in July. While his commitment to women's reproductive rights was unwavering, one early incident speaks to his valor. In 1974, when a young woman asked for her...

Baltimore Cardinal reins in Legionaries of Christ.(End Notes)(Edward O'Brien)(Brief article)
June 22, 2008... ACCORDING TO AN INTERVIEW in the National Catholic Reporter, Archbishop Edward O'Brien of Baltimore has called on two associated groups, Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi, to give him a list and location of all their priests in his...

Secular and security-minded: the Catholic vote in summer 2008: a national opinion survey of likely catholic voters.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the run-up to the 2008 US presidential elections, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sought to ensure that its perspective on abortion was at the center of the political debate. Several bishops...

A voice from the front line: a member of the New Hampshire house of representatives reflects on her battles with the Catholic hierarchy.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I BEGAN MY FIRST TERM AS A STATE Representative in New Hampshire in 2004 upon retiring as an educator after 36 years. I had run unsuccessfully two years earlier and had studied very carefully how to integrate my...

Catholic views on abortion in Britain.(Survey)
June 22, 2008... THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY HAS been the backbone of the anti-choice movement in Britain. However, an important question is whether it is just the hierarchy or whether the general Catholic population is in support of the hierarchy's position. In...

The Vatican's ban on contraception: what really happened at Vatican II and how it affects us today.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN JULY 1968 POPE PAUL VI CLEAVED the Catholic church into irreconcilable factions. With his decision to ignore the majority's findings on the Birth Control Commission that contraception could and should be allowed,...

Why Northern Ireland women need access to abortion: the abortion debate rages on, but there is an urgent need to clarify the law.(Reprint)
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ON A TUESDAY EVENING IN JULY, Gordon Brown summoned a Labour Member of Parliament to issue a warning that any move to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland would put the Northern Irish administration at...

Intellectual freedom and the Catholic University.(OPINION)
June 22, 2008... IN JULY OF THIS YEAR MY INVItation to teach at the Catholic University of San Diego was abruptly canceled during a phone call from the provost. I had been invited to teach as a visiting professor under the John R. Portman Chair in Roman...

Neither religious nor civil: the Catholic League for religious and civil rights.
June 22, 2008... MOST AMERICAN CATHOLICS would look at you blankly if you asked them to enumerate the number of times in their lives they had experienced anti-Catholic sentiment. But Bill Donohue lives in another America--one where anti-Catholicism is alive and...

Faith and politics in America.(Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith & Politics after the Religious Right)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith & Politics after the Religious Right EJ Dionne, Jr. (Princeton University Press, 2008, 251pp) 978-0-691-13458-1, $24.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EJ DIONNE, JR., IS A SYNDICATED columnist for the...

Abortion & Life.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Abortion & Life Jennifer Baumgardner (Akashic Books, $16.95, 175PP) Baumgardner has written a provocative and useful handbook for activists and others approaching the topic for the first time. The volume includes a series of short...

Young People, Sex and Islam.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Young People, Sex and Islam SOAIDS (2008, 114pp) Everything young Muslims ever wanted to know about sex in a stylish and attractive package. With answers on sex and sexuality by educators and an imam, this is a very useful resource for...

Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses by Donna Freitas (Oxford, 2008, 299pp) Using interviews with college students, Freitas, an assistant professor of religion at...

Committed to a flawed institution.(The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America James M. O' Toole (Harvard University Press, 2008, 362pp) 978-0674028180, $27.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DURING THE APRIL VISIT OF Pope Benedict XVI to the United States, the...

The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology by Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler (Georgetown University Press, 2008, 334PP) The authors, both theologians, compare the Catholic hierarchy's willingness to adjust and...

What Happened at Vatican II.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... What Happened at Vatican II by John W. O'Malley SJ, (Belknap Press, 2008, 380pp) This detailed history of Vatican II, examining the characters and controversies of the landmark event, shows how in many areas the progressive majority of...

Human Dignity and Bioethics.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Human Dignity and Bioethics Compiled by the President's Council on Bioethics (US Independent Agencies and Commissions, 2008, 555PP) This series of essays, commissioned by the predominantly conservative President's Council on Bioethics,...

The bishop who listened and heard.(Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church Bishop Geoffrey Robinson (Liturgical Press, 2008, 320pp) 978-0814618653, $24.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE TRAGIC REALITY OF SEXUAL Catholic clergy, long hidden beneath a...

Too simple by half.(The Catholic Vote: A Guide for the Perplexed)(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Catholic Vote: A Guide for the Perplexed Clark E. Cochran and David Carroll Cochran (Orbis Books, 2008, 134PP) 978-1570757426, $16.00 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL election will surely stand out in...

"Marcial Maciel is ... very dear to Pope John Paul II".(Manta Purpura: Pederastia clerical en tiempos del cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera )(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Manta Purpura: Pederastia clerical en tiempos del cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera (Purple Robe: Clerical Pederasty in the Times of Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera) Sanjuana Martinez (Grijalbo, 2008, 303pp) 978-780-251-3, $20.95 ...

Postscript.(Quotation)
June 22, 2008... "Welcome to the NFP Club. The first rule of the NFP Club is: You do not talk about NFP Club. You can't talk to engaged couples about NFP--you'll scare them away. You can' t talk to experienced older couples, either, or you'll get an earful...