Conscience articles from September 2007

Conscience archives from September 2007

Editor's note.(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... FEW SUBJECTS IN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE ARE AS WIDELY AND VEHEMENTLY contested as are the so-called life issues. Abortion, stem-cell research, contraception and euthanasia all raise hackles when they are debated in Catholic circles. While abortion...

"Macho men and passive women".(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 22, 2007... I WAS VERY MUCH IMPRESSED with your most recent issue of Conscience and the attention you chose to give to Latino populations. I found the issue to be extremely well-rounded and informative and would especially like to thank you for shedding...

Teen pregnancy.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 22, 2007... THANK YOU FOR PUBLISHING "51%: Latinas and Teen Pregnancy" in the Summer 2007 issue. I was particularly struck, in research I did for nay book Hijas Americanas, by the statistics associated with Latina teen sexuality. In 2000, Latinas had the...

Seeking solutions.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 22, 2007... THE EXCLUSION OF THE voices and concerns of disenfranchised women, particularly Latinas, in reproductive-health organizing has led to the common public perception that marginalized communities do not organize on their own behalf. Kudos to...

Prevention not prohibition.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 22, 2007... I CONGRATULATE JON O'BRIEN for his article. If the U.S. bishops supported safe, affordable, reliable, birth control, thousands of abortions could be prevented. I do not see how a prolife hierarchy can continue to keep their heads in the sand on...

The church and abortion.(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)
September 22, 2007... THREE OPINION POLLS IN heavily Catholic countries show consistent support for abortion rights. A poll of Catholics in the United States shows that a majority supports the availability of abortion in all or most cases. Ireland A TNS...

Amnesty international votes to support abortion rights.(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... THE INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE Committee of Amnesty International has confirmed a new policy of supporting limited abortion rights. Chapters and the leadership considered the issue over a two-year period and adopted a policy that supports access...

Catholics in Germany insist on continuing counseling.(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... CATHOLICS IN GERMANY are resisting a call from the Vatican to stop operating counseling centers for pregnant women. According to German law, abortion is legal within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy provided the woman can produce a certificate...

Brazilian president makes prochoice comments on eve of Pope's visit.(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)(Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Benedict XVI)
September 22, 2007... ON THE EVE OF THE FIRST visit to Brazil by Pope Benedict XVI President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva went on several Catholic-sponsored radio stations to argue that "the state needs to treat [abortion] as question of public health." Abortion...

Bishops support human hybrids.(The Church and Bioethics)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... THE BISHOPS' CONFERENCE of England and Wales has argued that human embryos containing animal cells, known as chimeras, should be considered human. As part of the bishops' response to the proposed Human Tissue and Embryo Bill, they also...

Euthanasia an issue in Rome.(The Church and Bioethics)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... A FISSURE IN CATHOLIC-leadership opinion regarding end-of-life issues was brought to the forefront by the Diocese of Rome's refusal to grant a request for a religious funeral for Piergiorgio Welby. Welby's wife's request was denied because...

African bishops call for sacrifices, not condoms.(The Church and Condoms)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... DURING THE FIRST NATIONAL Catholic conference on HIV/AIDS in Nairobi, Bishop Philip Sulumeti of Kakamega Diocese, chairman of the Kenya Episcopal Conference's Commission for Health, advocated the most severe interpretation of Catholic doctrine...

In vicious diatribe, Latvian cardinal distorts catholic teachings on homosexuality.(The Church and Homosexuality)(Janis Pujats )
September 22, 2007... SPEAKING AT A CONFERENCE in Riga, Lawia, where the Catholic hierarchy has been outspoken in its opposition to gay rights, CFFC'S European representative Elfriede Harth drew attention to the fact that despite the rhetoric and actions of the...

Come again? "We must not forget that the Church is also a victim".(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)
September 22, 2007... Despite the fact that the sex-abuse scandal has cost the church billions of dollars and cast doubt over the careers of many bishops and hundreds or thousands of priests, the hierarchy in Rome is still unable to understand the betrayal that many...

The sex-abuse scandal.(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)
September 22, 2007... * The Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to settle lawsuits brought by more than 550 victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. The $660 million settlement will be the largest payout made by any single diocese since the clergy sexual abuse...

Vatican takes time out to promote good driving.(End Notes)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... WHILE THERE HAS NOT been a serious road accident within the Vatican for many years, Pope Benedict XVI took time out from his busy schedule to approve a 36-page document called "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road," containing a Ten...

Polish priest outrages Jews, women.(End Notes)(Tadeusz Rydzyk)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... A POLISH PRIEST WHO directs a virulendy anti-choice media organization that includes the notorious Radio Maryja has been caught making anti-Semitic comments and calling the Polish prime minister's wife a witch. According to Wprost, a...

Vatican seeks new revenue streams--on the backs of the poor.(End Notes)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... THE VATICAN HAS DECIDED to convert properties historically reserved for low-rent accommodations for Rome's poor and elderly population into hotels and commercial properties. Many residents who had been told that they would have fixed rent for...

Come again?(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... "We report to you today that the pro-abortion CEDAW [U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women] Committee is a toothless tiger. When the CEDAW Committee grilled Pakistan on abortion, Pakistan simply...

The ethics of life: medical advances have exposed inconsistencies in the roman catholic hierarchy's position on life.
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHAT MADE IT SO DIFFICULT FOR MUCH OF TERRI Schiavo's family to accept the decision to let her die was the remembered person, an actual social and personal existence that had been; its permanent loss was something...

Stem-cell research and the affirmation of life.
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHETHER OR NOT they are fully informed about its intricacies, almost everyone in the United States seems to have an opinion about stem-cell research. Stem cells are either totipotent or pluripotent cells: They have...

Fetal surgery then and now: there is too much emphasis on the fetus and not enough on the woman.
September 22, 2007... IN 1981, DOCTORS AT THE UNIVERSITY of California, San Francisco (UCSF) performed the first open fetal surgery, a last-ditch, ultimately unsuccessful effort to save a dying baby. They partially removed a fetus from inside a pregnant woman's...

Personhood and life issues: a catholic view.
September 22, 2007... SEVERAL IMPORTANT CONTEMPORARY moral and legal problems surround what are referred to as "life issues." These problems are often further complicated by the fact that they are discussed in reference to concepts like "personhood." Despite the...

Tragedy on the national stage: conservative intervention into the Terri Schiavo case was a disservice to everybody.
September 22, 2007... YOU COULD SAY THAT FOR A moment, the government of the United States stood still. In March 2005, congressional leaders pushed through a bill that was quite unprecedented in American history. They called it "Terri's Law"--and in a moment of high...

Democrats for Life of America: on the outside looking in.
September 22, 2007... DEMOCRATS FOR LIFE OF America was supposed to change the direction and ideology of the Democratic Party. Its leaders laid claim to a mission that would "get in there and battle NARAL and the well-funded pro-choice groups" as well as "free" the...

Making babies: Ivy League supermodel-style.(Everything Conceivable-How Assisted Reproduction is Changing Men, Women, and the World )(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Everything Conceivable--How Assisted Reproduction Is Changing Men, Women, and the World Liza Mundy (Knopf, 2007, 432pp) 9781400044283, $26.95 HOW DO YOU BAPTIZE THREE small boys who sprang from two different mothers? What ritual best...

Blasphemy: How the Religious Right Is Hijacking Our Declaration of Independence.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Blasphemy: How the Religious Right is Hijacking the Declaration of Independence Alan Dershowitz (Wiley, 2007, 208pp) Dershowitz, a lawyer and Harvard law professor, systematically and unapologetically argues that the religious right is...

Choices.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Choices Kate Buckley (iUniversity, 2007, 169pp) Choices is a novel that centers on the intersection of Catholicism, reproductive health care and coming of age. Through the story of a teen-age rape survivor in a Catholic school, the...

Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion Karen E. Bender and Nina De Gramont (MacAdam Cage, 2007, 350pp) Twenty-two essays by both established and up-and-coming writers cover...

Church, State and Public Justice: Five Views.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Church, State and Public Justice: Five Views Clarke E. Cochran, Derek H. Davis, Ronald J. Sider, Corwin Smidt, P.C. Kemeny (IVP Academic, 2007, 254pp) Five contributors with differing academic and theological backgrounds address the...

International Social Health Care Policy, Programs and Studies.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... International Social Health Care Policy, Programs and Studies Gary Rosenberg, Ph.D., and Andrew Weissman, Ph.D., eds. (Haworth Press, Inc., 2006, 226pp) This collection of papers by practitioners and academics connects social work,...

Intimate Spirituality: The Catholic Way of Love and Sex.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Intimate Spirituality: The Catholic Way of Love and Sex Gordon J. Hilsman, D. Min. Hitsman recognizes that both spirituality and sexuality are important aspects of the human experience and need not be treated as incompatible, but are,...

Lost: Illegal Abortion Stories.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Lost: Illegal Abortion Stories Jo Wainer (Melbourne University, 2007, 304pp) A startling warning against reversing Roe and a reminder of the necessity of legal abortion, this book is a collection of personal narratives by and about...

The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America Linda Gordon (University of Illinois Press, 2007, 446pp) Linda Gordon, a history professor at New York University, traces the social movement for reproductive...

Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care Jennifer Block (DaCapo Press, 2007, 302pp) Through an investigative look at women's experiences while giving birth, the rising rates of induced and surgical...

Sex, Lies, and the Bible: How Human Sexual Behavior Is Controlled through the Corruption of the Bible.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Sex, Lies, and the Bible: How Human Sexual Behavior is Controlled through the Corruption of the Bible Francis D. Ritter (Candid Press, 2006, 288pp) Ritter argues that the Bible has been used throughout history to control and condemn a...

Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher (Doubleday, 2007, 422pp) An expansion on a provocative article written by Merida and Fletcher in the Washington Post in 2002, Supreme...

Ignoring the elephant.(Safe, Legal, and Unavailable?: Abortion Politics in the United States )(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Safe, Legal, and Unavailable? Abortion Politics in the United States Melody Rose (CQ Press, 2007, 235pp) 978-1933116891, $28.99 "Roe v. Wade is hardly the radical, abortion-on-demand ruling that it has been portrayed as in recent years."...

The great sex ed divide?(When Sex Goes to School: Warring Views on Sex--and Sex Education--Since the Sixties)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... When Sex Goes to School: Warring Views on Sex--and Sex Education--Since the Sixties Kristin Luker (W. W. Norton, 2007, 384pp) 978-0393329964, $15.95 I ONCE WORKED FOR A NATIONAL nonprofit where I helped develop a community-based model to...

An imperfect polemic.(Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (Warner Books, 2007, 224pp) 9780446577154, $24.99 KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND characterizes her book Failing...

Postscript.
September 22, 2007... "The role of the church in politics is not to get involved.... The responsibility we face as a church is to raise issues of what we believe in.... [I]t is totally inappropriate and out of line for me to suggest what candidates people would vote...