‘Pro-Choice’ Jewish Group Takes a Pro-Life Stand

WASHINGTON TIMES, September 6 — Thirty-four Jewish women from the “arts elite” of New York have formed a group called STOP, Standing Together to Oppose Partial Birth Abortion. The Washington Times described them as overwhelmingly Democratic and pro-choice actresses, TV producers, theater agents, authors, columnists, and singers.

The group's founder, Sandi Merle, a lyricist and songwriter in New York, told the paper her group would lobby Jewish lawmakers. STOP points out that Jewish belief cannot countenance the extreme pro-abortion positions of those Senators who continue to protect the procedure in which labor is prematurely induced in the weeks before a baby's due date, so that the baby can be partially born and then killed, its skull punctured with scissors and then crushed.

In the report, the group compares that form of abortion to experiments by doctors in Nazi Germany, and calls it infanticide.

One STOP target identified in the article is Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the respected Democrat who said President Bill Clinton's behavior was “immoral,” “harmful,” and “disgraceful.”

Critics claim he has a “moral blind spot” because his influential vote almost single-handedly keeps partial birth abortion legal in the United States against the wishes of a vast majority of Americans who consider it immoral, harmful, and disgraceful.

Bill Bradley's Presence at Notre Dame Assailed

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, September 9—Notre Dame has come under fire for a public policy class there featured, said an article attributing an Associated Press wire report. The class's professor is popular former Senator Bill Bradley, whose influential votes provided a crucial defense of abortion in the United States during his 18 years of public life, according to the report.

Joseph Scheidler, a graduate and former instructor at Notre Dame, calls Bradley the “abortion senator” because of his long record of votes for abortion.

Scheidler is reported saying that for the school to offer his course is like offering a course on the sacrament of marriage taught by Hugh Hefner, Playboy magazine founder.

The university, through a spokesman, said that Notre Dame agrees with Scheidler, and believes Bradley's views on abortion are “wrong.” But he said Notre Dame hired Bradley because the university wanted students to hear his contrary ideas as part of an “open forum.”

Alaskan Bishops Defend Marriage

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, September 8—Alaska's Roman Catholic bishops have released a pastoral letter reaffirming the Church's teaching that marriage is only possible between a man and a woman. It calls same-sex marriage “an oxy-moron.”

The timing of the letter is important. Voters will decide in November whether or not to amend Alaska's constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman only, said the report. The report quoted Anchorage Archbishop Francis Hurley saying, “We decided to speak on the issue for the benefit of our people. There's nothing telling anybody how to vote.”

The bishops' three-page document was mailed to Alaska's 40,000 Catholics. The marriage amendment was written after state Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski told Alaskans they do not have the right to protect marriage without it, said the report.

The report said the bishops mention Judge Michalski's decision, claiming his court “opens the door to change the nature of marriage. It dismisses male and female sexuality as integral to marriage. It eliminates the unique intimacy of a man and a woman that is achieved in no other setting. It discards consideration of the procreation of children. It changes, also, the meaning of family.”

They also praised the amendment, saying, “We personally give a firm and unqualified ‘yes’ to that amendment because the amendment gives a firm and unqualified ‘yes’ to marriage as marriage has been and is understood in our state and our nation and in our Church.”

Charismatic Conferences Attract Press Attention

LOS ANGELES TIMES September 6 — Catholic Renewal Convention in Anaheim attracted 12,000 people to the Convention Center of Disneyland's home town.

“The convention is evidence of the growing foothold of the charismatic movement in the Roman Catholic Church,” said The Los Angeles Times, comparing the movement to Pentecostalism and its stress on personal experience of the Holy Spirit.

“Charismatic church services also are generally more demonstrative,” said the paper, “which supporters say taps into the growing popularity of evangelical faiths.” Event organizer Fr. Kevin O'Grady said that convention Mass attendance was three times Christmas and Easter levels.

The same day, the San Antonio Express News reported on a Charismatic Conference there, drawing 1,500 people, a third of whom were teen-agers and young adults.

That conference, “Holy Spirit: Lord and Giver of Life,” featured youth events. Before Mass, “teen-agers crowded onto a stage to show off some of their enthusiasm in songs that featured tambourines, electric guitars, and words illuminated on a wall by a projector,” said the report.

Auxiliary Bishop Patrick Zurek was the homilist at the San Antonio conference Mass.