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Showing posts with the label John Smeaton

Nigerian bishops reject foreign efforts to impose abortion and gay unions

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English: Seal of the President of Nigeria Category:National symbols of Nigeria (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) ABUJA, Nigeria -- The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria have called for the Church to be “more courageous and consistent in Pro-Life activities in favour of human life, marriage and the family as counter-cultural antidotes to anti-life ideologies and practices.” The call came in a communiqué issued following an international pro-life march and conference organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria and held in Abuja from June 5-7. “The relentless promotion by some international organizations of ‘sexual and reproductive rights’, a euphemism for abortion, is deceptive and unacceptable,” the communiqué asserts. The bishops demand that “legislation for abortion, which is the intentional killing of innocent babies in the womb, be denounced and abrogated,” and promise that they “remain resolved in our efforts to ensure that abortion is never legalized in our country.” ...

UN report demands the Church change teaching on homosexuality

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ROME ,– A report by a UN human rights committee is a thinly disguised ideological attack on the Church’s teachings on homosexuality – and even the nature of human sexuality – under the guise of a critique of the sex abuse scandals, says a leading pro-life NGO . Pat Buckley, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children ’s representative in Geneva, said the Committee on the Rights of the Child that drafted the report has “significantly overstepped its mandate” by demanding changes to Catholic teaching.   “There is nothing in the Convention [on the rights of the child], which requires the Catholic Church or any other body to facilitate abortion, contraception or homosexuality,” Buckley said. The Church,  the report said , must identify “circumstances under which access to abortion services can be permitted.” It must “overcome all the barriers and taboos surrounding adolescent sexuality that hinder their access to sexual and reproductive information, including...

Catholic elementary school has leading UK gay lobby group educate students on “homophobic bullying”

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LONDON, May 16, 2013 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – A Catholic elementary school in Wimbledon is under criticism for inviting Stonewall , the UK ’s most powerful homosexual lobbying group, to train its teachers how to deal with “homophobic bullying.” Sarah Crouch, headmaster of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School , told the  Evening Standard , “We want to give our staff the tools to know what to do should an incident of homophobic bullying occur...It is important that children know it is not OK to use the word gay in a derogatory way.” She said the school brought Stonewall in to comply with the requirements of the government’s school overseers, Ofsted. Crouch praised Stonewall for tailoring its programme to a Catholic audience, without mentioning “same sex relationships or gay marriage.” For having involved the foremost promoter of “gay marriage” in the country in its teacher training, the school was made a “Primary School Champion” of “gay equality.” Wes Streeting of Sto...

UK Liberal Catholic Newspaper abandon fight against ‘gay marriage’

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ROME , March 5, 2013 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – The Catholic Church in Britain, and presumably abroad, must abandon its fight against “gay marriage” and “make peace with the gay world and move on.” So says The Tablet , Britain’s “international Catholic weekly” magazine, sold across the country in Catholic parishes and often endorsed by the Catholic bishops. The fight over marriage, the magazine’s editor said, is largely over within the Church, with over half of Westminster Catholic MPs voting in favor of the government’s “gay marriage” bill last month. Citing a U.S. poll that found more Catholics than non-Catholics supported “gay marriage,” the editorial said, “These results rather scotch the idea that Catholics are mindless zombies who do whatever the bishops tell them to.” “There is no more mileage in this issue for the Catholic Church,” the editorial continued, “and the sensible course would be to put it on the back burner with the heat turned low – to make peace with the ga...

‘Gay marriage’ push triggering ‘unprecedented’ response: Leading British pro-lifer

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David Cameron's picture on the 10 Downing Street website (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) LONDON, March 22, 2012 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) - Only a “huge mobilisation” of the public, guided and encouraged by strong and united religious leadership, will stop the Cameron government from instituting “gay marriage,” the head of Britain’s leading pro-life organisation told LifeSiteNews.com today. John Smeaton , director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children ( SPUC ) said in an interview that he is “reasonably optimistic” about the prospect looming ahead. Despite the undeniable fact that David Cameron ’s “New Tory” government is “expressing its determination” to force a redefinition of marriage, Smeaton said that in today’s Britain, the public have become more aware of their rights and duties, and he predicts a “very big reaction against these plans.” A major part of this reaction, he predicted, is going to be an unprecedented coalition of Christian denominations and other religi...

Blair support of “gay marriage” the result of decades of bishops winking at public dissent

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Pope Benedictus XVI (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) DAVOS-KLOSTERS/SWITZERLAND, 29JAN09 - Tony Blair, UN Middle East Quartet Representative; Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum captured during the session 'The Values behind Market Capitalism' at the Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 29, 2009. Copyright by World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/Photo by Remy Steinegger (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a news-conference in Heiligendamm, during the G8 summit. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) British Prime Minister Tony Blair. (Cropped from source below) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) ROME, March 22, 2012 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) - The boast of Tony Blair that he supports homosexual “marriage” in open defiance of Catholic teaching, has embarrassed the Vatican and garnered the globetrotting Blair even more criticism from pro-life leadership in Britain. John Smeaton , the head of the Society for the Protec...

British pro-life group launches campaign against gay marriage

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LONDON, England , January 11, 2012 - ( spuc.org ) -  The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has launched a campaign against the Westminster government’s proposals for same-sex marriage. SPUC has published  a position paper  on same-sex marriage following a resolution by SPUC’s Council last month. SPUC has also made available a  background paper  to be read in conjunction with the position paper and which provides some additional references and reflections. SPUC is the world’s oldest pro-life lobbying and educational organisation, founded in 1967. SPUC states that: - Marriage - the permanent, exclusive union of one man and one woman - is the basis of the family, the fundamental group unit of society. Upholding marriage is therefore in everyone’s interests. - Marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn. Statistics show that unborn children are much safer within marriage than outside marriage. - Same-sex marriage lacks ba...