Large Abortion Group Urges UN to Provide Pressure to End Abortion Restrictions

CRR (the Center for Reproductive Rights) has written a new document asking for support to end restrictions throughout the world and implying that there is a legal obligation based on all the non-binding recommendations that have been signed in the UN. They stress that nations must affirm reproductive rights and legalize abortion. CRR claims they have widespread support among UN bodies that these rights are established in international human rights treaties. CRR's reports is entitled Bringing Rights to Bear.

Samantha Singson from the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) reports:
"For years, CRR has been at the forefront of a what some have called a "stealth strategy" to redefine longstanding human rights like the right to life, the right to privacy, and the right to be free from discrimination, and insert abortion rights into those broad provisions. An integral component of the CRR strategy is to persuade the UN committees that oversee nations’ compliance with their treaty obligations to reinterpret the treaties to include abortion. UN compliance committees contain a large percentage of personnel from pro-abortion groups and have become increasingly active in reinterpreting UN documents and pressuring governments to follow their interpretations. "

CWNews story
For C-Fam report, check the Friday Fax for March 27 (vol 11, #15)

Mark Pritchard of British Parliament Speaks Out Against Repeat Abortions in England

CWN Article here.

"Resurrexi, et adhuc tecum sum. Alleluia!" & "Happy Easter!"

Happy Easter from Kenrick Social Justice...

and the Pope in 63 languages ...

and here's his Easter message.

Iraqi Chaldean Catholic Archbisop Rahho's Body is Found

Archbishop Rahho of Mosul, Iraq was kidnapped at gunpoint on February 29 and they recovered his body today. His corpse was half buried in Mosul's Al-Entisa district and it appears that he died a week ago. al Qaeda is believed to have been behind the act of terror.

More from Reuters

China Keeping One-Child Policy For At Least 10 More Years

The policy began in the 1979 has killed some 400,000,000 children - according to this CNN article. Forced sterilizations have also been reported, and as CNN notes there is a gender imbalance in how more boys are allowed to live then girls. Regardless of an aging populace (according to the article - within 7 years, 200 million adults will be over 60 years old), this law will remain in effect for years to come.

According to an older article from the BBC, the fertility rate (the number of children a woman is expected to have in life) in China which was once around 5 is now down to between 1.7 and 1.8 - well below 2.1 - the level necessary for keeping the population stable.

BBC article from Sept 07

Chaldean Bishop in Iraq is Kidnapped

Get the story from CWNews here.

Qatar Catholic Church will be Dedicated to Mary

Cardinal Ivan Dias, the prefect for the Congregation of the Evangelization of the Peoples, will preside at the dedication of the first Catholic Church in a country ruled by an Islamic Emir. The land for the church was provided..."by Emir Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who in recent years has become a supporter of inter-religious dialogue, despite keeping Islamic law in place which forbids Muslims to convert to other religions," states the article in the Catholic News Agency website.
The CNA reports further:"Qatar, which has 800,000 inhabitants, established diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 2003. The pastor of the new parish will be a priest from the Philippines, Father Tomasito Veneracion."

Wikipedia article about Qatar