LifeZine No. 602: 19th Jun 08
Timely Appearance of New Vaccine Leaflet
As part of Family & Life’s campaign to persuade the Irish health authorities to make available an ethical alternative to vaccines derived from aborted foetal tissue, the organisation has produced a new information leaflet for parents. “Vaccinating Your Child”, explains how the MMR vaccine presently used in Ireland was created using the bodies of aborted babies. It also provides information about the ethical alternative vaccines that exist and could be made available if the government wished. If you would like a copy of this new leaflet please email us (fandl@iol.ie) and we will be happy to send it to you. Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Family & Life Events Section
If you would like a particular and relevant upcoming event posted on the Family & Life website, we would be glad to hear from you. Please contact us at: fandl@iol.ie
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English Catholic Church Forced to Drop Adoption Services
Catholic dioceses in England are pulling out of adoption agencies because of government policies requiring equal treatment of same-sex couples seeking to adopt children, the London Daily Mail reports. The dioceses of Southwark, Portsmouth, and Arundel & Brighton have agreed to end their affiliation with the Catholic Children's Society. The group will be renamed Cabrini Children’s Society. The Mail predicted that other dioceses would soon follow suit, while some Catholic agencies vowed to fight a court battle to protect their right to continue offering adoption services without compromising their Catholic identity. "The government has forced us into this position by obliging the adoption agency to place children with same-sex couples", Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton said. Last year Parliament approved new guidelines barring discrimination against same-sex couples, rejecting requests from Catholic leaders to grant an exemption for Church-based charities. Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
British Woman Complains Doctors Told Her to Have Abortion of Healthy Baby
A feature in the Daily Mail newspaper recently profiled the case of a British woman who doctors said would give birth to a baby with an incurable brain abnormality. Leeann Phelan was urged to have an abortion but she refused, and later gave birth to a baby with no health problems. Now at six months old, tests have proven that little Jayden was wrongly diagnosed and is a fit and healthy little boy, the newspaper reports, even though he had to be induced 13 weeks early at 23 weeks into the pregnancy. "We are delighted but it makes my blood run cold to think we could have aborted him and they got that wrong," she told the newspaper. The mother added: "They told me to get rid of him, but I said no from the start. I don't believe in abortion and said 'It is my baby, I don't care what's wrong with him, he will be treated the same as my daughter.' They said I could always have more kids, but I said 'So what if I can have more, I'm not going to get rid of this one.' Now he looks like a normal baby." Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
President for Pontifical Family Council Named
Pope Benedict XVI has named Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, the archbishop of Florence, as president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Cardinal Antonelli, 71, succeeds Colombian Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, who died in April at age 72. Ennio Antonelli was born in Todi, Italy, in 1936, and ordained a priest in 1960. From 1968 to 1983 he was professor of dogmatic theology at the Theological Institute of Assisi, and also taught in various schools of theological formation. In 1982 he was named bishop of Gubbio, and in 1988 he was appointed as archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve. Archbishop Antonelli served as the secretary-general of the Italian bishops’ conference from 1995 until he was named archbishop of Florence in 2001.He was elevated to cardinal in 2003. He is a member of the pontifical councils for the laity and for social communications. He is highly regarded as an outspoken defender of life. Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Unborn Baby Undergoes Successful Surgery at 22 Weeks Gestation
In what may be a medical first, doctors at Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne, Australia successfully conducted surgery on an unborn child at a mere 22 weeks gestation, reports Australia's The Age. Such 'in utero' surgery is not usually performed before 28 weeks due to the high risks involved both to the child and mother. When Australians Kylie and Terry Bowlen were told, eighteen weeks into Kylie's pregnancy, that their baby girl suffered from a relatively rare condition known as Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS) they did not know what to do. However, the surgery was successful, and Leah was born at 30 weeks gestation. The extraordinary progress of in utero surgery has proven to be a powerful tool for the pro-life movement in convincing the world of the unborn child's inherent personhood and accompanying rights. Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....