The sudden decision of the Order of Canada Advisory Council to award the its highest distinction to Dr. Henry Morgentaler has put the spotlight once again on Canada’s abortion architect and activist and raised serious questions about the significance and integrity of the “the centerpiece of Canada’s honours system” which “recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation”.
Henry Morgentaler began his crusade for the legalization of abortion in the 1960s. The 1988 Supreme Court decision that bears his name removed all legal barriers to abortion at any stage of pregnancy – since then, nearly two million future citizens have lost their lives to abortion.
Morgentaler, himself a survivor of the Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps where he fought for his own survival, said that he has performed more than 100,000 abortions. One may wonder if he ever took to heart the teaching of his own Jewish faith that says: “to destroy a single life is to destroy an entire world and to sustain a single life is to sustain an entire world.”
When Canada honors someone who took the Hippocratic oath and has wreaked such hurt, havoc, sorrow and grief, something is wrong with the Canadian government commission that grants medals and a Governor General who, claiming Catholic roots when convenient, shows herself to be spineless, politically correct and without respect for human life. The recent controversy has also shed light on another dark area of Canadian society: that of the membership of government commissions that consist of patronage appointments who advance personal agendas, reward friends, lurk in shadows of “confidentiality” and hide behind structures and institutions. They pass themselves off as “government officials” when in reality they are not elected and do not represent the public.
During my six years as pastor of the Newman Centre Catholic Mission at the University of Toronto, I felt that I was on the front lines of a war zone against life. One of the most difficult aspects of my pastoral ministry at Canada’s largest university was dealing with many young women (and men) who had abortions. The poor and erroneous advice given to young, pregnant women at university-sponsored sex education centres directed them to clinics for “therapeutic abortions” for unplanned pregnancies.
An initial sense of “liberation” from termination of the unwanted pregnancy was almost always accompanied by deep guilt, trauma, anguish, nightmares for months, an inability to be around children, prevailing feelings of unworthiness, failed relationships, and sometimes a later inability to conceive. While much of the attention surrounding abortion is on the woman, I also saw first hand the devastating effects that it has on young men who fathered the children.
Those who experienced abortions and came to us at the Newman Centre were not fanatical Catholics but human beings who made bad choices, and had been deceived, crushed and terribly diminished. The Governor General was not there to console them.
Dr. Morgentaler and his agents and disciples did not have to deal with these individuals. They merely duped them. Our pastoral staff at the Catholic Chaplaincy was and is still there to help pick up the pieces, extend mercy, compassion and forgiveness, and help heal a broken society that suffers each time life is blotted out.
Henry Morgentaler clearly does not deserve to receive the Order of Canada. He debases the medal and those who have received it for heroism and the building up of Canadian society. Over twenty years of successive Canadian governments have been gutless and without courage to repeal the abortion law that bears Morgentaler’s name.
Perhaps the day has come when Canadians of good will who love life will rise up and say: “enough is enough.” The Canadian killing fields that are now found at the gateways of human life in our country must be transformed into sacred and safe places of life, liberty and security of every person.
Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.,
C.E.O., Salt and Light Catholic Television Network
2008-07-05
To sustain a single life is to sustain an entire world
2008-04-15
On the Raptors
- If ever there was a cautionary tale about the uncertainties of the lottery, it was on display Monday in the form of Raptors center Andrea Bargnani. Imagine if that was your No. 1 overall pick?
- While T.J. Ford could shake free in the offseason, with Toronto to do all it takes to retain Jose Calderon, Ford no longer stands as a coveted commodity. He was outplayed Monday by Chris Quinn, who towered over him.
2008-04-12
Documenting Distress
...the key to the last 500 (or 700) years of the history of mankind has been its apostasy, its slow but steady turning away from God, in particular from his divine Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. This eliminating of the true Messiah has left in men's lives an enormous gap to be filled, a gap unknown before the Incarnation. Hence a variety of false messianisms in modern times.
Communism is an outstanding example. It is the messianism of materialism. For it may be just as materialistic as the bourgeois society it seeks to destroy, even more so; and it certainly has nothing better with which to replace the residual human values of that society. Yet Communists are driven by a quasi-messianic urge to create their horrible new world. It is as though they are saying, "Better no god than your false hypocritical 'God'!" And to the extent that the God of the bourgeoisie is a false god, the Communist messianism rejecting it is not false. In this respect Communists may at least be credited with a messianic dimension. Similarly in the scream of protest of Rock musicians there is something just, however negative their protest proves finally to be.
Now Art, Literature, History, Culture, Music, each of them with a capital letter, are all worshipped as substitute religions by modern devotees who, because they have no present religion, pump up these by-products of true religion in the past to take its place. Hence the Dadaists' refusal of "Art", and their "re-definition" of art. "What is your Art?" they ask. "It is our godless god", say the Art-worshippers. "Your godless god is a urinal!" snorts Dada.
-- Bishop Williamson
2008-04-11
2008-04-09
George Patton quotes
A few [General] George Patton quotes:
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."
"Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."
"If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results."
"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking."
"Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable."
"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash."
"The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That’s the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!"
"Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack."
England
More than in Faith's pure fame!
Oh. trust not crafty fort nor rock renowned
Earned upon hostile ground;
Wielding Trade's master-keys, at thy proud will
To lock or loose its waters, England! trust not still.
Dread thine own power! Since haughty Babel's prime,
High towers have been man's crime.
Since her hoar age, when the huge moat lay bare,
Strongholds have been man's snare.
Thy nest is in the crags; ah, refuge frail!
Mad counsel in its hour, or traitors, will prevail.
He who scanned Sodom for His righteous men
Still spares thee for thy ten;
But, should vain tongues the Bride of Heaven defy,
He will not pass thee by;
For, as earth's kings welcome their spotless guest,
So gives He them by turn, to suffer or be blest.
-- John Henry Cardinal Newman
(from Catholic Church Conservation)
2008-04-08
Top 10 Traits of a Rockstar Software Engineer
- Loves To Code
- Gets Things Done
- Continuously Refactors Code
- Uses Design Patterns
- Writes Tests
- Leverages Existing Code
- Focuses on Usability
- Writes Maintainable Code
- Can Code in any Language
- Knows Basic Computer Science
