Brian Jenkins

Here are a couple of handy references for your perusal.

First

"The Unborn Child: A Gift, a Treasure, and a Promise," issued by the Catholic Organization for Life and Family, provides readers with an introductory panorama of the abortion issue.

Described as a "Reflection on Abortion," the twelve-page reference is ordered under ten headings posed as questions. These are:

1. When does life begin?; 2. What is an abortion?; 3. Is abortion legal in Canada?; 4. Why do women have abortions?; 5. But isn't abortion a woman's right and a private choice?; 6. How does abortion impact a woman's life?; 7. What is "post-abortion survivor syndrome"?; 8. What is the Church's position on abortion?; 9. Are there alternatives to abortion?; 10. As citizens, what can we do to promote a culture of life?.

It concludes solidly in two respects. First, it lists a range of resources, equally available for anglophones and francophones and, secondly, mobilizes interested individuals on how to take action, either alone or collectively, in ten ways.

Second

The second publication is a timely document issued by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Pastoral Letter on Freedom of Conscience and Religion".

As it notes at the outset, both in Canada and abroad a disturbing trend of "bias, prejudice, hate propaganda, discrimination, and persecution because of religious beliefs" is raging.

At home, we are not unfamiliar with the many assaults to people and groups for their faith. We see, in Manitoba, civil servants reprimanded or fired for not officiating in same-sex "marriages," in Quebec, parents compelled to have their children sit in on Ethics and Religious Culture courses that have watered down the Christian faith, and in Ontario, the provincial government legislating schools - including Catholic ones, to sponsor "gay-straight alliance" clubs.

Finally, both documents are fully referenced - via either endnotes or footnotes, and are available in either French or English from their respective issuers.

In conclusion, I think that a study of these two documents is important as it will better inform and prepare oneself for the trying times we are currently experiencing.

This just in: Motion 312's second hour of debate for is set for 5:30 p.m., Thursday, June 7th, 2012.

Recall that this past Fall, 2011, Mr. Stephen Woodworth tabled a motion - C-312, that a multi-party committee be established to update a section of Canada's Criminal Code founded on 17th century science.

On Thursday, March 22, 2012, motion 312 was debated for an hour in the House of Commons with a second hour to follow. During the session, Mr. Woodworth argued that the law needs to be revised in order to better reflect advances in medecine.

Yesterday, we received a correspondance from Mr. Woodworth, reproduced below, informing us of the date and time for the second hour of debate. 

Action Alert: Also as you read through the letter, note the MP's request for your assistance.

On June 7th, the debate will broadcasted lived  on CPAC - www.cpac.ca.

For background information regarding Mr. Stephen Woodworth's motion, see his website.

Good Afternoon,

Firstly, I’d like to start by thanking you for all of your efforts to date with regards to my Motion 312. Your support is greatly appreciated. As we quickly approach the 2nd hour of debate (currently scheduled for June 7th, 2012 at 5:30p.m.) as well as a vote to follow on June 13th (in the evening) it is more important than ever that we continue with the momentum generated so far and re-double our efforts.

Any assistance you can provide in encouraging Canadians to contact their respective MPs and urge their support would be a tremendous help.

I am greatly impressed by the efforts I have seen so far and I hope I can count upon your continued assistance during this crucial time. Once again, thank you for all of your support thus far – it has been vital in advancing the Motion.

Kind Regards,

Stephen Woodworth, Member of Parliament, Kitchener Centre  

Dear pro-Lifer,

I wish to thank you for your continued support, both financial and prayerful. These permit us at the Quebec Life Coalition – QLC, to perform several fruit-bearing projects.

(Click here for June newsletter.)

Some of these include:

• Planning and executing the Pro-Life Triduum;
• Planning and participating in the National March for Life – Ottawa;
• Praying outside local abortuaries;
• Publishing our monthly newsletter; and
• Blogging about current events as these affect the cause of life in Quebec.

As for the fruits of these projects, some are tangible, others not so tangible. By the latter, I think of the difficulty of gauging the impact that prayer has on changing hearts. Only Our Lord knows what effect our prayerful witness outside an abortuary has on changing hearts. In trust, we continue this devotion.

As for the tangible results, I will mention three. First, in my last newsletter, I wrote about the work done by the member for parliament for Kitchener-Centre, Hon. Stephen Woodworth. His private member’s bill – a bill aimed at recognizing the humanity of the unborn, was debated for an hour in the House of Commons. A second debate on whether a committee should be struck to evaluate when a child becomes a human being will be held on June 7 (5:30 p.m.) with the vote on his motion on June 15 (evening).

(Please contact your MP, urging for their support for this motion.)

A second sign of our efforts was the pronouncement from a second member of parliament in support of the unborn. The Hon. Maurice Vellacott says abortion procedures are far worse than any schoolyard or neighbourhood bullying.

The subject of bullying has been a concern across the country. An extreme case arose this past spring when a young Quebec teen took her life following peer harassment in her school.

“It’s a good thing that people are openly discussing the harm caused by bullying, and considering strategies to address the problem,” says the conservative MP representing Saskatoon-Wanuskewin. “In light of this new awareness of bullying, consistency and credibility demands that we tackle the most cruel and most common bullying of all - the bullying, and ultimately killing, of babies in the womb.”

Mr. Vellacott notes a couple of ways by which abortions brutalize the young life before destroying it; the unborn recoils from instruments that penetrate the amniotic sac and scientific studies reveal that the fetus experiences pain as early as 20 weeks.

(He could have also mentioned how parents are encouraged to sing, talk, and play soft music to their unborn in the course of events leading up to delivery.)

He concluded by saying that “at a time when Canadians are demanding community and political action to bring an end to the bullying of our children, it is vital in these anti-bullying strategies to address the lethal bullying of the child in the womb.”

Judging from the turnout at this month’s National March for Life in Ottawa, Canadians in ever greater numbers are marching for life. This third fruit of the impact our work was the presence of about 20 000 people marching through the streets of our capital, represents a whopping 6000 more than at last year’s march! (For our part, we coordinated the displacement of fifty-three people from Montreal to Ottawa to attend the march.)

So, our collective efforts are producing fruits.

Yet, let us continue the good battle. Let’s continue our efforts and promote values that ensure justice for all, from conception until natural death.

Yours in faith,

Brian Jenkins

English and Multicultural Communities Outreach Director

Quebec Life Coalition

Conversative Member for Parliament Maurice Vellacott is making headlines for having linked bullying to abortion.

The first is an issue that has spawn legislation throughout the country over the past little while whereas the idea doing the same for the latter meets with scorn and derision by most elected members of our legislatures.

The member of the House of Commons for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin affirms the harm of bullying, particularly against the most vulnerable member of our society, the child in his mother's womb.

“It’s a good thing that people are openly discussing the harm caused by bullying, and considering strategies to address the problem... In light of this new awareness of bullying, consistency and credibility demands that we tackle the most cruel and most common bullying of all - the bullying, and ultimately killing, of babies in the womb.”

More may be read here and here.

This Saturday, June 2, 2012, the second annual Christian Walk - a.k.a., "Marche Chrétienne," is set for Quebec City.

Last year over 1000 people walked along the Grande Allée from the Plains of Abraham Battlefields Parks to the provincial legislature in order to affirm that our Christian heritage has a place in the governance of our modern society.

We encourage everybody to be in Quebec City on June 2 to show your pride in this heritage, a heritage whose values not only founded but also has sustained Quebec society ever since.

Yet these values are being threatened. The Quebec society is purging its institutions of religious symbols - i.e., laicization.

It is incumbant to every Christian to affirm his faith, to express our pride as members of the body of Christ.

So, on June 2, walk with Christ, supporting His petition to bring the Good News to all corners of our society, one which is in much need of His transforing love.

For further information, visit our website.

Or go to our Facebook page to follow along as we prepare for this second annual walk of the Christian walk.

Your questions may be directed to :

• Jeannelle Cantin, ([email protected]) President and Coordinator, or
• Réal Gaudreault, (realgaudreault@camarchechrétienne.org) Media relations.
  

Our Agenda

We will meet and gather on the Plains of Abraham (The Battlefields Park - 835 ave Wilfrid Laurier), across the street from the Musée du Québec

12h00 Pic-Nic (bring your lunch!) and Musical Accompaniment

14h15 Preparations & Guidelines for the Walk

14h30 Start of the Walk - 1.4 km silent procession (banners and signs are not permitted, except for those indicating your town or region)

15h30 à 16h00 Arrival at the National Assembly :

• Making of the humain cross;
• Musical interlude;
• Talks; and
• Prayer for our Society.

17h00 Closure of the event

Information on bus travel to Quebec City, clic here. Or call our offices, at (514) 344-2686. Return fare is $35.

See you in Quebec City next June 2 !

(The following story, written by Vanessa Sproule, appeared in today's Guelph Mercury.)

After shouting on Parliament Hill last Thursday with a crowd the size of a small city — 19,500 people-strong I’m told — it seems obvious to me that there’s a new normal among Gen Y and the Millennials taking over the scene.

It’s not one that would have been expected to emerge 20 years ago during the rise of third wave feminism or one that 1970s politicians would have anticipated. It’s one that has been moving into the mainstream, making headlines in last week’s national newspapers and challenging perspectives of today’s MPs, many of who are accustomed to pro-abortion rhetoric prevalent among the Gen X-ers and baby boomers.

Residue from 1960s activism has condemned voices from my generation — Gen Y — as “anti-choice” or intolerant if we dare to disagree. Who would have expected so many Canadian citizens under the age of 35 to be adamant about bringing attention to the fact that a baby in the womb is to be recognized for what it is — human and deserving of full human rights?

Despite what a former generation might be trying to assert, the younger generations are immensely in favour of legal protection for the unborn and safeguarding the physical and emotional well-being of all women.

This new normal is not just based on observation of the crowd on Parliament Hill last week. Recent polls have been picking it up.

Just over three years ago, a poll conducted by Environics Focus Canada questioned 2,047 Canadians. Results showed 67 per cent of people between age 18 and 29 years old surveyed wanted legal protection for unborn babies at some point before birth. This same age bracket further showed that 70 per cent had high support for informed consent surrounding abortion. More recently, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted a nationwide survey that included a representation of Canada’s population age 18 to 35. Results showed 60 per cent of people surveyed believed abortion is morally wrong.

Going beyond the polls, over the past five years, teams of 20-somethings have visited politicians on the Hill every November to express their grief at Canada’s continued killing of the unborn and to advocate for protection of babies’ lives by law, before they are born. Then, there was also last year’s Defund Abortion Rally at Queen’s Park; the Letters for Life movement — founded and directed by teens; the growing movement known as the National Campus Life Network; the countless members of pro-life student clubs on university campuses and high schools across the country; the When Am I Human campaign — founded and fuelled by individuals under the age of 30; Bound4Life Canada, and Campaign Life Coalition’s pro-life youth movement to name a few more examples of pro-life youth and young adult initiatives.

These are 100 per cent dedicated to going against what’s force-fed in public schools while standing for the truth — plain and simple.

In our own community, several students from the University of Guelph and at least two bus loads of teenagers headed to the Hill this month to participate in bringing awareness to an issue they believe is worth making a ruckus about.

There’s no denying, it’s an emergence of a new normal. It’s one much different from the Trudeaumania-filled days of 1968 and it’s happening right here, too. Until last week, this young-people movement has swept the country but without recognition from the media.

Why the lack of coverage? With a movement this strong, why has there been silence from journalists across the nation? Could it be that, like many of our MPs, our media is still governed by those who dare not oppose the creed of their day in order to escape being branded as intolerant or a woman-hater or anti-choice?

As a result of the May 10 gathering, abortion proponents need to recognize that Gen Y and the Millennials have a different perspective that is quickly rising. Downplaying it, and threatening it with name calling, won’t make it disappear.

(Vanessa Sproule is Program Manager for the Guelph and Area Right to Life.)

Has much changed between gladiatorial Rome and today's western society?

Back then, the life or death fate of the arena combatants was determined by Caesar. Were he to turn his thumb upward, the combatant would live; downward ... death.

In contemporary society, the fate of the unborn is as precariously determined as that of gladiators of old. In our times, it is either the pregnant woman or those exercising undue force on her that decide.

In "Caesar's Thumb," Lord Nicholas Windsor laments as much:

We live in what is truly a moral world turned upside down, and the greatest irony may be that a broad consensus exists, in a highly rights-aware political establishment, in favor of one of the gravest and most egregious abuses of human rights that human society has ever tolerated. Didn't Europeans think they could never and must never kill again on an industrial scale? What a cruel deceit, then, that has led us to this mass killing of children, for a theoretical greater good, which in this case is simply the wish not to be bound by a pregnancy unless it is fully and feely chosen, and which, outside of that parameter, is declared, by fiat, to be null and void.

Lord Windsor argues for a new "New Abolitionism for Europe." He admits that though the first abolitionism in late 19th century America may not be a perfect template for current events, yet the courage and imagination shown then need be carried over to contemporary circumstances.

Read the full article here.

A wonderful day was had by the 50+ Montreal pilgrims who attended the annual March for Life in Ottawa, yesterday.

Motor coach ride from downtown Montreal to Ottawa via Pointe Claire, 10 a.m. Mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral, lunch in the food court at the Rideau Centre, gathering on Parliament Hill, march through the streets of downtowm Ottawa, reconvene on the Hill, return to our bus and ride to Montreal.

The mass was packed to the rafters. presided by archbishop of Ottawa, Mgr. Terence Prendergast, sj, presided along with seven other bishops, including Montreal's own Christian Lépine, and fifteen or so priests. Many of the faithful stood throughout the service.

After the celebration, Archbishop Prendergast greeted many of the pilgrims including a few from our own group. In this photo we see with his grace Christine Le Beau, Marc-Albert Bélanger, and Lucille Charette-Morga, who is sporting the white cap. In the fore plan is Mr. Marcel Givoque

After a lunch break, we walked up Wellington street and entered the grounds of the parliamentary buildings. There we gathered and milled about, listening to the various speakers. 

At about 1:30 p.m., the march began. Seen above are the walkers leaving Parliament hill and ...

... then proceeding through the cavernous streets of downtown Ottawa...

... returning to their starting point.

The website of Campaign Life Coalition, the march's organizer along with us and LifeSiteNews, states that over 19 500 people came to this year's march. This is 6000 more than last year!

Will you be with us next year?

I received the following email from R.E.A.L. Women of Canada. (The acronym stands for Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life.)

On the one hand, it summarizes the parliamentary debate about Mr. Woodworth's motion - C-312, this past Thursday, April 26, 2012.

On the other hand, it requests us to act. This non-partisan and non-denominational group is encouraging Canadians to write the Prime Minister to let him know that you support the motion.

It also suggests that we contact your Member of Parliament - MP.

I mailed a similar letter to both and, within days, I heard back from my MP - Honourable Stéphane Dion, but not the PM.

I encourage you to do likewise. Let me know what results you have had.

Here's a copy of the correspondance from REAL Women of Canada:

MP Stephen Woodworth Motion M-312 on Abortion MP Stephen Woodworth (Kitchener Centre) proposed in Motion M-312 that Parliament study when human life begins, by reviewing Section 223 of the Criminal Code, which provides the child becomes a human being once he or she is fully proceeded in a living state from the body of its mother.

In his Motion, Mr. Woodworth has proposed that a Parliamentary Committee be established to carry out this review of Section 223 which was included in the Canadian Criminal Code when it was passed into law in 1892. Section 223 was based on the English Draft Code of 1878, which in turn, was based on judge-made law (common law) decisions handed down in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. At that time it was necessary to decide when human life begins in order to determine whether a charge of murder could be laid on the death of a child. This definition then was based on the limited knowledge and standards of those previous centuries.

Modern science and technology have enormously broadened our knowledge of human life and development in the womb from that of the previous centuries. It is only reasonable, therefore, that a review of Section 223 of the Criminal Code should be carried out at this time in order to update the provision to conform to the present medical and technological knowledge.

Mr. Woodworth’s motion was given its first hour of debate on April 26, 2012. Prior to the debate that same day, during Question Period, Prime Minister Harper stated that he would vote against the bill and further stated, that it was unfortunate that the House of Commons committee had selected the Motion as being a votable one.

Conservative House Leader Gordon O’Connor spoke against the motion as did most of those speaking during that hour of debate. Opposition NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal Leader Bob Rae, spoke against the motion.

Outside Parliament during the debate, approximately 50 pro-abortion activists demonstrated against the Motion. Their demonstration received large media coverage from CTV, CBC, and Global Networks as well as the National Post, Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. It is notable that the latter media have studiously avoided coverage of the 15,000 + people rallying in front of Parliament during the annual March for Life event.

Another hour’s debate on the motion will take place possibly in early June or September 2012.

It is important that the Prime Minister and MP’s hear from the public about the importance of this Motion. It must not be shut down by a biased media and the pro-abortion activists, who do not want a debate on the critical issue of abortion in Canada.

Please contact the Prime Minister and your MP urging their support of Motion M-312.

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Office of the PM House of Commons, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 (Fax: 613-941-6900 E-Mail: [email protected])

Your MP, House of Commons, Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

Motion 312 (definition of 'human being') will be debated this afternoon - Thursday, April 25, 2012, in the House of Commons at 5:15 pm.

Catch the live action on CPAC - www.cpac.ca

For background information regarding Mr. Stephen Woodworth's motion, see his website.



For other infomation, see previous articles on our site; simply enter "Woodworth."