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Herald Staff Writer |
The juxtaposition of forces was undeniable. Inside was the lifting of voices in song as bishops and priests celebrated Mass. Outside were the angry voices of protesters shouting obscenities and holding blasphemous signs.
This was how the 18th annual Human Life International (HLI) Conference on Love, Life and the Family opened in Toronto, Canada, last week. Close to 1,000 people from all over the world participated in the five-day conference.
"We are here to expose the culture of death," said HLI president, Redemptorist Father Richard Welch, during a press conference. "our mission is educational, not activist, because we believe the culture of life can only be accessible through education."
Father Welch told members of the press that HLI zeroes in on the key issue of the culture of death -- contraception. He said that HLI was first to identify the problem of "contraceptive imperialism," which he explained as the First World looking for a "quick fix" in Third World countries.
"We charge the governments of Canada and the United States with promoting the myth of a population crisis and then using tax dollars to promote contraception," he said. "These nations are crying out for help and we give them condoms. Contraceptive imperialism is the most disgusting racial cleansing ever."
The mass media, mostly Canadian, had been attacking HLI since a month before the conference. The last time HLI held their annual conference in Canada was in Montreal in 1995, where hundreds of protesters turned out to harass conference participants as they processed through the streets of the city in prayer. Along with graffiti on the walls of the conference hotel, a police car was attacked and overturned by the violent crowd. Fortunately, the two protests in Toronto were not of such a violent nature, due in part to high security and low turnout of protesters. Eggs and rocks were thrown and two arrests were made.
Among the 64 speakers at the conference were Father Paul Marx, O.S.B., founder of HLI; Joan Andrews Bell; Alice von Hildebrand; Msgr. William Smith, Drs. Philip and Marie Ney; Barbara McGuigan; C. Gwendolyn Landolt; Marianne Alpha; Dr. Donald DeMarco; Brian Clowes of Front Royal; Father Tom Forrest, C.S.S.R.; Father Joseph Fessio, S.J.; and Dr. John Bruchalski from Fairfax.
Retired Toronto Auxiliary Bishop M. Pearse Lacey, celebrated the opening Mass with Father Thomas A. Lynch of the Diocese of Peterboro and profession of St. Augustine Seminar in Scarborough, Ontario, as homilist.
Father Lynch talked about the need to take courage and claim the 21st century for Christ.
"We are called to build up a new civilization," said Father Lynch. "It is where each person will be known as a creation of God. The place of residence whether in the war zone of a mother's womb or in the winding valleys of Kosovo will not make you less human. It is a place where man is not seen as a secondary and inferior machine or faceless integer or biological material, but where innate human dignity is recognized and known; where families are known as the building blocks of community; where the love of men and women is hallowed and sanctified by the touch and presence of God; where all those who labor under crosses of any sort find they are surrounded by Simons of Cyrene."
He said that no matter how difficult it is, the faithful must remain firm in proclaiming the sacredness of life.
"How often have people told you, 'No more pro-life talk?' How many times are we told to shut up and lie down? How often are we legally or socially or physically gagged? What threats, injunctions, lawsuits, howling mobs, steely indifference and suffocating apathy have you endured?" he said. "But we are still to be witnesses. To be a witness is to be a martyr.
"Your witness echoes in the heart formed by your love of Christ. It rebounds off the layered hardness of our opposition. It resonates in each person saved from the jaws of death. It sings in the soul o each man and woman freed from despair."
The range of pro-family and pro-life topics that were offered at the conference included "Love and Chastity in Marriage;" "The Sacredness of the Real Presence and of Human Life;" "The link between Abortion and Breast Cancer;" "The Role of Prudence in Fighting the Culture of Death;" "Development or Population Control;" and "Finding God in China."
Along with the talks were updates of HLI's work throughout the world in the past year. Foremost was the recent presence of HLI, in conjunction with its affiliate, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, CAFHRI, at the Cairo+5 Conference at the UN in New York. The conference was a follow-up meeting to the UN Cairo conference held in 1994, during which many anti-life ideas and proposals were introduced as policy, including third world depopulation mandates.
For the first time at the UN, a daily pro-life, pro-family paper, Vivant, was made available, published by HLI and CAFHRI, Theresa Bell, executive director of HLI Canada, reported that the paper made waves among the participants, offering comfort to those who continually fight for the family at the UN and angering those who deny the rights of the family.
Other news included the opening of HLI's Rome office, under the direction of Father Ignacio Barreiro; the launch of the China orphanage for abandoned and threatened Chinese children; the loss of HLI Canada's tax-exempt status concluding a six-year court battle; and the success of Father Matthew Habiger, O.S.B., former president of HLI, in promoting the pro-life cause and educational materials in Africa and Asia.
Magaly Llaguno, coordinator of Vida Humana Internacional, said that progress in Latin America has been good, especially in defeating the promotion of abortion. She told of Argentina's declaration that March 25 will be observed as the Day of the Unborn. Argentina is one of many Latin countries where abortion is still completely legal.
There were over 60 exhibitors on hand throughout the conference including the Daughters of St. Paul, Christendom College, St. Benedict Center, St. Joseph Radio (broadcasting live), American Life League, Priests for Life, Pharmacists for Life and the Catholic Medical Association.
Response to the conference by participants was positive, Brother Anthony Brackett, O.M.I, a participant and exhibitor with St. Benedict's Center of Steel River, Mass., was attending for the third year.
"The conference is invigorating and enlightening," he said. "It is encouraging to see so many people involved in the organized pro-life movement, especially young people."
Cathy MacDonald, a home-schooling mother of four from Port Hood, Nova Scotia, said that she goes to HLI conferences whenever she can.
"HLI has been invaluable in helping me live my vocation as a wife and mother," she said.
At an HLI conference for the first time, Sister Aracely, O.M.I., from Kitchener, Ontario, was impressed with the quality of information she received.
"You are able to realize the situation of the world and the Church," she said. "Our first mission as Christians is to save the spiritual life and as one of the priests here said, there is an emergency to save the souls of the world who are involved in abortion."
A young father from Toronto, Gerry van Ommen Kloeke, cited HLI's Brian Clowes as an "invaluable" speaker, specifically in his talk on "Pro-life, Pro-Family Strategies."
He speaks on very focused topics and discusses the means to achieve pro-life goals," said van Ommen Kloeke. "This is my fourth conference and it is good to keep recharging and get up to date information.
Next year's conference will be held April
26-30 in Santa Clara, California. For information or to order any
of the taped lectures from the Toronto conference contact HLI at 4 Family
Way, Front Royal, VA., 22630, telephone 540/635-7884, website is http://www.hli.org,
email is hli@hli.org.
Copyright ©1999 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was published in the Arlington
Catholic Herald,
200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 607, Arlington, VA 22203; Vol 24, No 16,
dated Apr. 22, 1999, on page 10.
.
E-mail:
letters@catholicherald.com
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A note from the Web Master:
It is noteworthy and honorable that some folks are willing to stand up for a ban on Partial-Birth Abortion. Let us not forget that ordinary everyday run of the mill abortion is also murder. We must understand that aborting the life of a baby is murder no matter the method. Because one method of abortion seems to be horrible does not make the other methods less so. We should be horrified and sickened by any abortion regardless of the method. The Fifth Commandment spells it out clearly:
"Thou shalt not kill."
A fetus is a person, a human being with a God given soul.
Imagine the pain the Lord must feel when any abortion occurs. Please
contact both of your Senators and Representative, via letter or phone,
to let them know how horrified you are that abortions are legal and to
stop, once and for all, Partial-Birth abortions and all other abortions
as soon as possible.
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