Government to Examine Abortion Drug Deaths

THE NEW YORK TIMES, Feb. 11 — The Food and Drug Administration has called for a scientific conference to examine two bacterial infections that killed four California women who took an abortion pill, reported The Times.

Approximately 20 scientists who have studied the bacteria have been asked to present their research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on May 11.

“We hope to keep the focus on the science,” an FDA official said. “We’re holding this in a secure government facility for a reason.”

All four women died from Clostridium sordellii and Clostridium difficile infections after taking the abortion pill, Mifeprex, also known as RU-486. When the bacteria infects the bloodstream, it can produce a toxin similar to toxic shock syndrome.

Chicago Cardinal Asks Priests for Honesty

ABC7, Feb. 10 — Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has given priests in the archdiocese an ultimatum, calling for any priest living a “double life” to come forward, said ABC.

“All of us are sinners, but there are types of perversion that are completely incompatible with the calling toward ordained priesthood,” said Cardinal George in a letter to more than 400 churches. He also apologized for not acting more quickly in the removal of Father Dan McCormack, who has been accused of sexual abuse with three boys in recent years.

O’Reilly Cites Times for Religious Double Standard

BILLOREILLY.COM, Feb. 9 — Television commentator Bill O’Reilly wondered why the Church is fair game when The New York Times refused to print the Danish political cartoons mocking Islamic violence.

“[We] and much of the rest of the nation’s media have reported on the cartoons but refrained from showing them,” wrote The Times. “That seems a reasonable choice for news organizations that usually refrain from gratuitous assaults on religious symbols.”

Yet, the very next day, the newspaper ran a photograph of artwork of the Blessed Virgin Mary splattered with dung from a 1999 Brooklyn Museum exhibit.

“Do the editors of The New York Times intentionally want to denigrate Christianity?” asked O’Reilly. “Religious minorities in the USA seem to be given much more respect by The Times than the religious majority.”

Did Hospice Attorney Facilitate Schiavo’s Marriage?

NORTH COUNTY GAZETTE, Feb. 13 — David Ridenour, attorney for the hospice where Terri Schindler-Schiavo spent the last five years of her life, apparently facilitated Michael Schiavo’s marriage to Jodi Centonze at Espiritu Santo Catholic Church in Safety Harbor, Fla., on Jan. 21, said the Gazette, a New York web-based newspaper.

According to the Gazette, Ridenour was a member of the marriage tribunal in the Diocese of St. Petersburg.

The newspaper said canon law prohibits a marriage if a person marrying causes the death of his or her deceased spouse. Only the Holy See can grant the dispensation necessary for the surviving spouse to remarry in the Church.

Schiavo vigorously pursued — and received — a court sanction for Terri Schiavo’s death by starvation in March 2005.