Call for Conscience Campaign 2018
A physician is not required to provide euthanasia or assisted suicide. However, the current legislation requires an effective referral - physicians and health care providers who do not provide euthanasia are required to refer a patient to a provider who will carry out assisted suicide or euthanasia. This effective referral renders them morally complicit and accordingly - culpable which does not respect their conscience. If the health care provider/physician does not provide an effective referral, they will be disciplined by their Licensing College up to and including the loss of their license to practice. Many religious faiths are concerned about this implication for physicians/health care providers who adhere to a religious faith which does not condone or support euthanasia. For this reason, the Catholic Bishops of Ontario (ACBO) have joined with other faith leaders to support the Call for Conscience Campaign 2018.
IMPORTANT UPDATE - February 2, 2018
Call for Conscience Campaign Handout
Call for Conscience - Letter from Most Rev, Bishop Miehm, D.D.
Call for Conscience - Sample Letter to MPP
Attestation for Canada Summer Jobs Program
Employment and Social Development Canada now requires the following attestation by all organizations applying for federal funding from the Canada Summer Jobs program: "both the job and the organization's core mandate respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as other rights. These include reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression." The government's website further specifies this includes "the right to access safe and legal abortions".
This change came into effect for the 2018 Canada Summer Jobs Program applications.
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops' Statement
CCCB Statement on the 30th Anniversary of the Morgentaler Decision
CCCB Statement - 30th Anniversary of the Morgentaler Decision
CCCB = Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Respect Life
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia is the head of two bodies devoted to the pro-life cause - the Pontifical Academy for Life, and the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. Both are concerned with the "life issues," including abortion, contraception and euthanasia.
Pope Francis has identified five key elements for Catholic Pro Life/Respect for Life work affirming that "in theological study, a pastoral perspective and attention to the wounds of humanity should never be missing."
- Care for the dignity of the human person in different ages of existence.
- Reciprocal respect between the sexes and among the generations.
- Defense of the dignity of every single human being.
- Promotion of the quality of human life that integrates material and spiritual values.
- An "authentic human ecology," which can help restore "the original balance of creation between the human person and the entire universe.
This is an important signal about how Pope Francis wants the Church's pro-life activity to develop. The pontiff has stated that he wants the activity of Vatican offices dedicated to marriage, family and life issues to be "ever more clearly inscribed within the horizon of mercy."
For more information, click, Pontifical Academy for Life.
For more information, click Pontifical John Paul II Institute.
Respect for Life Office - Peterborough
The new Respect Life Office is committed to promoting and defending the dignity and sanctity of all human life by promoting a consistent respect life ethic in an effort to develop a culture of life by activating the Catholic community on respect life issues and by complementing the work of all groups working to respect life of people of all ages.
The website for Respect for Life Office in Peterborough is under construction.
Pro-Life Group
The purpose of Pro-Life Groups is to build a culture of respect for life in our Diocese and parishes by educating and empowering the faithful with current, interesting and important facts about relevant life issues.
Themes:
- Prenatal Development (fun, oriented towards young children)
- Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
- Abortion
- Respect for Life - Elderly, persons with disabilities, etc.
- Stem Cell Research
- Facts from around the world and life issues from around the world
- Canadian Law and The Life Issues
- Medical Consequences/Women's Health/ ABC link - Possibly during Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- Help After Abortion
- Reproductive Technologies (IVF vs. Naprotechnology, etc.)
- Unethical Genetic Practices
For more information, click Life Education Council.
Priests for Life - Canada
Priests for Life has come to signify two distinct but related movements within the wider pro-life movement.
On one level, as described below, Priests for Life refers to a very specific effort to galvanize the clergy to preach, teach, and mobilize their people more effectively in the effort to end abortion and euthanasia.
On another level, Priests for Life represents a family of ministries that reach and enrich every aspect of the pro-life movement, for clergy and laity alike, in a wide variety of activities. This has come to pass precisely because priests are not ordained for themselves, but for the people. So in activating clergy, all the segments of the Church, the pro-life movement, and the wider society are activated in the defense of life.
To learn more about priests' work for Respect for Life, click Priests for Life - Canada.