A Welcome Sign: Bishop Hot Under the Collar

Passion overflows in this news report.

Archbishop of York cuts up his dog collar in astonishing live TV
The Archbishop of York today cut up his dog collar on live television in a protest over the rule of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Dr John Sentamu said he will refuse to wear the clergyman's badge of identity until Mugabe is out of office.

I’ve got to say that this is a sure fire way though to get some publicity.

Can we please have one of our Canadian Bishops do the same thing, being outraged by the ongoing child-killing in Canada?

What’s worse: dictatorial rule in Zimbabwe or dismembering 100,000+ human beings yearly in Canada? Maybe that’s a poor way to frame the case, especially if you live in Zimbabwe, but I think the reader will see the point.

But alas, the Bishops of Canada are more outraged over Harper’s recent decision regarding capital punishment for convicted criminals. Perhaps not enraged enough to cut up their collars, but then again, who knows? Surely there must be something that gets them really riled up.

Canadian bishops call on government to oppose capital punishment internationally
OTTAWA, Dec 12, 2007 (CNA) .- The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked the Prime Minister of Canada to “strenuously” intervene when Canadians face a death sentence in other countries.

What about when tiny defenseless Canadians face a death sentence in their own country? When in recent history have the Bishops ever made such a statement and a plea for the Unborn? Also take particular note how quickly the Bishops were able to get together an official statement—even an official letter.

Archbishop Weisgerber said the Permanent Council was “most concerned” that the Canadian government was prepared to accept the execution of Canadians in other countries. But come to think of it, weren’t the Bishops supposed to reach a decision in that same Permanent Council Meeting on the question of Amnesty International?

AI is already involved in plans to pave the way for countless more worldwide abortions. Aren’t the Bishops “most concerned” about that? No press release has yet been issued on the AI matter and it’s been about one year and a half since the news broke.

Press Release: Vote Life, Canada! Finds Catholic Bishops Still Place Low Priority on Amnesty’s Threat to Unborn Children

Distributed to the media and posted today to the Vote Life, Canada! website:

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vote Life, Canada! Reviews Annual Plenary Report of Canada’s Catholic Bishops—Threat to Unborn Children by Amnesty International Still Rates Low on Priority List

Contact: Eric Alcock, President, Vote Life, Canada! 709-773-0700

Toronto, ON November 7/Christian Newswire—“Tragically, news reports confirm Amnesty International (AI) has commenced abortion advocacy internationally,” laments Eric Alcock, President of Vote Life, Canada! “but Canada’s Bishops maintain their laissez-faire attitude.”

In an August press release, Vote Life, Canada! complained that ominous indicators of AI’s plans, like threatening letters from terrorists, surfaced early in 2006. Yet this new global threat elicited simply a ho-hum “We’ll be disappointed” comment posted on the CCCB website in July 2006.

A short three months after posting this comment the Bishops held their 2006 Plenary Assembly which, insists Alcock, “should have been a beehive of strategic thinking for the Bishops to spearhead a powerful and effective mobilization of Catholics against the Amnesty move.

Yet official documents released after the 2006 Plenary Assembly indicate no discussion whatever of the Amnesty threat. Alcock is at a loss to explain “the tragic blindness and indifference of the Bishops to this worldwide threat to unborn children.” He notes this astounding failure was further compounded by the prolonged silence of the Bishops throughout 2007.

Incredibly, reports Alcock, “even since AI announced its official new policy in Mexico City in August past—while Bishops elsewhere in the world have been severing connections with AI—the Bishops of Canada have been silent on the matter.”

“Their silence still prevails, as it did in Canada nearly forty years ago when the abortion door cracked open in Canada.” Alcock claims the persistent call from Vote Life, Canada! has been the only voice on record in Canada holding Bishops accountable for their negligence in the AI affair.

Finally, last month’s 2007 Plenary Assembly announced the AI issue as an agenda item. Yet, exclaims Alcock, “The Bishops seem to be allergic to action when it comes to defending the Unborn. The item did not garner sufficient concern and consensus from the totality of Bishops at the Plenary and was referred to the Permanent Council for later decision!”

Referring to Amnesty International, the CCCB President was quoted as saying, “What a paradox that the smallest of human beings – unborn children – are now being put at risk by those who should be their defenders.”

“Paradox indeed but the irony of this statement obviously escaped the Bishop,” exclaims Alcock. “Who more than the Bishops of Christ’s Church are called to defend human life with all their might and influence? And what of those who take no action—or ineffective action—to stop the killers?”

YouTube Carries Al Jazeera Interview On Amnesty International Pro-Abortion Stance

Commentary here.

Vote Life, Canada! has been very distressed over how this international challenge to the right to life of unborn children has been met. The Bishops have failed. Christian leaders everywhere have failed.

It took only a few days before we heard news that AI was teaming up for a conference with the biggest international leaders in the child-killing business.

God help the little ones. God help us.

CanadianChristianity.com Covers Amnesty Meltdown: Interviews Vote Life, Canada!

“One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.” Joseph Stalin

On Tuesday of this past week, CanadianChristianity.com called on Vote Life, Canada! for comment regarding the recent decision by Amnesty International to add abortion advocacy to its agenda. In particular, CanadianChristianity.com was interested to know why Vote Life, Canada! raised such a loud voice in protest and also why our comments focused so strongly on the failure of Canada’s Catholic Bishops to do more to derail Amnesty’s insidious plans.

The story is now published on the CanadianChristianity.com website and it’s a fairly substantial piece on the controversy, particularly when combined with CC.com's former story in May 2006 when the news first broke on the AI proposal.

I commend CC.com for raising the profile on this tragic turn of events within the AI organization. Certainly there has been relatively little comment from Canadian Christian media overall in regard to the news. Not surprisingly, I note in the CC.com story the shocking, ongoing apathy among representatives of Canada’s Christians.

The spokesman for the Catholic Bishops notes that the Bishops “haven't changed their minds either on abortion or the AI situation,” which presumably means they still think a comment on a website was/is sufficient. Bishop Henry was the only bright light among the Bishops, denouncing AI’s plans in his 2006 pastoral letter and, according to CC.com, withdrawing his support for AI.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), the voice of Canada’s evangelicals, maintains “the EFC is strongly pro-life but has no plans to comment on the policies of a secular agency,” leading one to ask whether the EFC comments only on those plans to murder unborn children that are announced by “non-secular,” i.e. Christian organizations.

Obviously the Christians of Canada have more pressing matters on their plates. Perhaps they have been anesthetized by 40 years of legalized child-killing in Canada. Perhaps they have, if only sub-consciously, come to accept the legality of the barbaric practice. So much for the supremacy of God's law in the life of the Canadian Christian. So much for Isaiah 58:6.

But consider Amnesty International: this extremely influential and global organization which is expertly trained and experienced in advocacy, with membership of 1.5 million, an annual operating budget of $30M, and with projects in over 100 countries. Consider that this organization mounted a campaign on behalf of Soviet prisoners of conscience that was so influential that President Gorbachev invited Amnesty representatives to Moscow to discuss the reforms that were much needed in the Soviet Union.

Now consider that almost overnight this same group has shifted energy and resources into securing for every woman in every nation of the world an unrestricted access to reproductive “freedom.”

An evil twin—perhaps worse, a big brother—of International Planned Parenthood and UNFPA has suddenly hatched and the reaction of Canada's Christian leaders? Yawn.

Some say AI's new goals are outstanding and laudable. Yet most certainly the exercise of such widespread “rights” and “freedoms” will demand the deaths of countless more unborn children, likely to number in the millions. Already at least 46 million Unborns perish annually through the violent act of abortion worldwide and one of AI’s newly stated goals is now to work for decriminalization of abortion in the other 97 countries where it is currently illegal.

But judging from the response from Christians in Canada, you’d never say there were human lives involved here. You’d never say that countless little innocent unborn children created in the image of God and representing the future of mankind were going to be ripped to death or cut into pieces because of this new proposal by AI.

What possible justification can the Bishops of Canada offer for the existence of a national body if at a bare minimum they can not or will not offer a vigorous and effective, nation-wide campaign to defend innocent unborn lives? What possible justification can EFC similarly offer? Both national bodies say they are “strongly pro-life.”

Allow me to ask a question of the Christians and their leaders in Canada. If the threat posed was not one by an international group to campaign for the slaughter of innocents but rather by Revenue Canada to remove the charitable tax status of churches in Canada, would that be sufficient to energize and mobilize the leaders? Would such a threat be worthy of outrage, condemnation and yes, even national campaigns?

Yet the withdrawal of tax status would not represent a direct threat to the life of even one person.

But a threat which jeopardizes the lives of millions of silent and invisible Unborns is apparently no big deal, hardly worthy of a comment.

Some Christians might wish to make a distinction here, protesting that there’s wisdom in not taking on a fight which appears unwinnable.

Does that mean then that the Christian is not to raise his voice and speak the truth, or take steps to defend his brother, or even live out his daily Christian life unless there is good reason to believe he will be successful? Thank God the early Christians persevered “by faith” in the face of extreme adversity and even in the face of lions and sure death. Thank God that Jesus did not first weigh up the odds of success at Calvary. Thank God for all those in Hebrews 11, of whom the world was not worthy, who died for their faith, “not having seen the promises.”

Unborn children perishing in the womb, of whom Canada is not worthy, will at least share in their martyrdom.

Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40

[image source]

Scotland’s Cardinal O’Brien Resigns From Amnesty International

This is good news.

The second Bishop to bailout.

How I wish Bishops had done this a few weeks ago or really, anytime over the past year, ever since Amnesty was forced to confess it was considering abortion advocacy. Had there been a wholesale exodus of Catholics, and particularly high profile Catholics, especially Bishops, from Amnesty’s membership over the last number of months, AI would hardly have dared to pursue its evil plans. This posting went into more detail.

Now it may be a case of “too little, too late.” I hope not but that may well be the sad reality.

Why Catholic leaders everywhere did not take this threat seriously I simply cannot understand. What were they thinking? Were they thinking at all?

Take note, what we are witnessing is the emergence of an entirely new and extremely powerful international organization dedicated to giving every woman on the planet the “right” to kill their unborn child.

This is nothing less than the overnight appearance of an evil twin of Planned Parenthood or the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Am I exaggerating when I say that this new policy direction for AI could result in the death warrants of millions more of the world’s Unborn?

I don’t think so.

So why weren’t Catholic Bishops taking action earlier?

And why didn’t we hear from any other influential Christian leaders in Canada?

Is nobody concerned about the children they can’t see?

One word. APATHY. Another. LETHARGY. Another. LUKEWARMNESS.

Vote Life, Canada! has spoken out loudly about the role of the Catholic Bishops of Canada in this tragic failure to stem the deathly AI threat to little human beings.

But many more Christians need to be screaming bloody murder.

Perhaps its still not too late.

This Is What Amnesty International Used To Look Like

From Death Penalty News December 1998

I have promised Amnesty International that I will never sign the death sentence for a fellow human being. I would like to reaffirm this commitment. Life is sacred. I believe a person can reform. I believe that forgiveness makes all of us better persons. In the cause of truth and justice, I invite all heads of state in Africa, our common home, to abolish the death sentence, to work for the removal of violence among our peoples and so to prepare a better future for our children.

- Dr Bakili Muluzi, President of the Republic of Malawi, in a message to the Eighth General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Harare, Zimbabwe,
6-14 December 1998

[source] Readers might find it worthwhile to look further into that report.

Amnesty International (AI) continues to insist that its goals—to abolish the death penalty and to promote forgiveness and reformation—have not changed.

Yet, through AI’s recent decision to advocate for legal and worldwide access to abortion, an entire, distinct group of completely innocent human beings have been robbed of the most fundamental right to life, made subject to the death penalty without trial and without advocacy, and without an appeal to forgiveness, which even the most guilty, and heinous, parties have been granted.

When all is said and done, the biggest question in “civilized” society and in the future of mankind at this time is, “What is the Unborn?”

Why aren't Christians nailing this question to rooftops and billboards? Why are we not screaming bloody murder?

Vote Life, Canada! Condemns Amnesty International’s New Abortion Policy

Distributed to the media and posted today to the Vote Life, Canada! website:

Vote Life, Canada! Condemns Amnesty International’s New Abortion Policy and Accuses Catholic Bishops of Canada of Indifference to the Killing of Unborns

Contact: Eric Alcock, President, Vote Life, Canada! 709-773-0700

Toronto, ON, August 20/Christian Newswire—Vote Life, Canada! expresses its distress at the news that Amnesty International (AI) has adopted a formal stance backing women's rights to abortion.

“Once again we have witnessed a replay of the blindness and indifference shown by Catholic Bishops in the 1960’s when they offered barely a murmur against plans to legalize child killing in Canada which has claimed the lives of over 3 million Unborns to date,” exclaims Eric Alcock, President of Vote Life, Canada!

Amnesty International confessed last year that it was considering a new policy advocating for women’s access to abortion and calling for the worldwide decriminalization of abortion, but Alcock protests that “the tragic, passionless reaction of Canadian Bishops was to simply issue a letter cautioning them against it and warning of a possible rupture in relations.”

“Rather than spearheading an intense and concerted effort to mobilize Catholics against the Amnesty move, they simply spouted a few words.” Considering that Amnesty International has 67,000 members in its Canadian branch, probably a majority being Catholic, Alcock says the massive threat of a national bailout of members could have exercised tremendous clout in discouraging AI from their present course.

Vote Life, Canada! asks how concerned were the Bishops that a new holocaust of the Unborn was about to be spawned by AI. Already about 46 million Unborns perish annually through the violent act of abortion worldwide. Safe in their ivory towers, were the Bishops expecting the UN, or President Bush or perhaps the Pope to descend upon last week’s AI meeting in Mexico City and derail AI’s plans to sign a death warrant against possibly millions more of unborn children throughout the world?

Alcock wonders then who it was the Bishops expected to act against the magnitude of such a worldwide evil. Are presidents and prime ministers, law enforcement agencies, or the UN commissioned to battle, refute and defeat false ideologies and evildoers? If Catholic Bishops are not entrusted with the responsibility to defeat demon-inspired plans such as this, then who in society shall we look to? To whom did Jesus Christ give authority “to overcome all the power of the enemy”? Was Jesus Christ, Son of God, suffering delusion when he spoke those words and commissioned his apostles?

Woe to the Catholic Bishops of Canada who share in the blood of a new and vast ocean of murdered Unborns appearing just on the horizon.

Amnesty International Reverses Stance On The Death Penalty

That’s right. Yesterday, at the conclusion of Amnesty’s international meeting in Mexico City, it reported affirmation of its new policy of advancing a woman’s right to put her unborn child to death. And the organization declares it will work to see that abortion is decriminalized everywhere. The Reuters report appears below.

Most recently I have blogged on the story here.

This is very tragic news for the world’s Unborn—and for humanity.

**********

Amnesty backs right to abortion despite Church

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Human rights group Amnesty International on Friday backed women's right to an abortion if their lives are in danger or if they have been raped in a move likely to anger the Catholic Church.

The Church, which considers abortion to be murder and never justified, has urged Catholic organizations to withdraw their support for Amnesty over the policy. The Vatican says Amnesty has "betrayed its mission."

At the end of its annual meeting in Mexico City, Amnesty said it would work to "support the decriminalization of abortion, to ensure women have access to heath care when complications arise from abortion and to defend women's access to abortion ... when their health or human rights are in danger."

Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan told Reuters in July that the new policy, inspired by rapes in war zones such as Darfur, urged governments to provide safe abortions when women conceive after rape or incest or when a pregnant woman's life is threatened.

Bishop William Skylstad, head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in July the decision "undermines Amnesty's long-standing moral credibility" and called on the London-based rights group, founded by a Catholic layman, to reverse its policy.

Source

Feminists for Life Makes Strong Case In Letter To Amnesty International

Jessica O'Connor-Petts, Board Chair of Feminists for Life pens a letter to Amnesty International, requesting they reconsider their revised position on abortion. Serrin M. Foster, President, Feminists for Life is urging all members and supporters to likewise send a letter to Amnesty International.

Remember that on August 11, 2007 Amnesty meets in Mexico City.

This is a very well written letter built upon good rationale and arguments. Will Amnesty International begin to listen to logic and common sense before they pave the way for the violent deaths of countless more Unborns?

**********

Mr. Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA
5 Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10001

Cc: Ms. Karen Schneider
Chair, Sexual and Reproductive Rights Working Group
Amnesty International USA

Dear Mr. Cox:

Feminists for Life of America noted with interest and concern Amnesty International’s recently adopted policy on access to abortion. Like Amnesty International, Feminists for Life of America does not support the criminalization of women who seek abortions; we believe that abortion is a reflection that society has failed to meet the needs of women, and that to further persecute women who have resorted to abortion is unjust. Likewise we support your call on governments to make medical care available to women who have sought abortions, regardless of the legality of abortion in those countries.

However, we differ with Amnesty’s call upon all nations to ensure access to abortion for any woman who becomes pregnant as a result of rape, sexual assault, or incest, and would strongly urge you to consider the concerns and perspectives expressed in this and subsequent paragraphs. FFL supports the protection of women from abortion, which is itself a form of violence against women, and for this reason we appreciate Amnesty’s consistent efforts to protect women from coerced abortion. We therefore urge you to reconsider this aspect of your recently adopted policy on abortion, which we believe does not protect the rights of women and children.

We understand that your position is one which advocates access to abortion particularly in countries where rape has been used as a deplorable tool of cultural oppression and where the pregnancy may produce further discrimination and even persecution. This position was captured well in one of your press releases: “…Our policy reflects our obligation of solidarity as a human rights movement with, for example, the rape survivor in Darfur who, because she is left pregnant as a result of the enemy, is further ostracised by her community.”1 However, abortion is not an expression of solidarity with this woman; it will in fact compound her suffering and is an endorsement of her community’s unjust view of her. The rape survivor in Darfur deserves much better than abortion.

If a woman resorts to abortion because she is being ostracized by her community, this ostracism is itself a form of coercion. If abortion is made more widely available, the coercion succeeds, and society hears the message that an act of violence (abortion) is an acceptable “solution” to an act of violence (rape). The coercion which Amnesty International has consistently opposed will be allowed to perpetuate itself.

The provision of abortion also ignores larger issues. Beyond the atrocity of the rape, which must continue to be the target of human rights groups, the prejudice and ostracism by the victim’s community are deplorable. That a woman should be persecuted on the basis of having been a victim of violence is unacceptable, and counter to Amnesty International’s values. That a child should be discriminated against on the basis of her or his race is also unacceptable, and counter to Amnesty’s values.

Providing access to abortion actually places an unfair burden on the woman. This approach makes the rape and resulting pregnancy entirely the woman’s responsibility, and allows discrimination and persecution to continue. The woman’s community does not have to support her in her pregnancy and child-rearing, or overcome their own hatred and prejudices; instead she has to sacrifice herself and her child so that she will be accepted. Providing abortion to this woman does not address any of the larger issues of violence against women and hateful discrimination, but rather represents yet one more way in which society has failed her. Will Amnesty stand with this woman to counter the failed values and prejudices of her society?

While we have cited Amnesty’s example of rape in war-torn cultures, all of the same considerations would apply in cases of incest or sexual assault in other cultures. In such situations abortion again places the responsibility for “solving the problem” on the woman, who has already been victimized, and exposes her to further physical and emotional health risks. In cases of incest, if abortion is readily available, the perpetrator will be more likely to attempt to hide the evidence of his crime by coercing the victim into abortion. Does society bear no responsibility to provide her with the practical resources and emotional support she needs and deserves? How will justice be served if evidence of the crime is hidden?

We appreciate the investment of effort over two years to develop your policy. However, we have not seen any discussion of the (perhaps unintended) negative consequences for women and for society as a whole when abortion is used in cases of rape, sexual assault, and incest. We urge you to reconsider whether abortion really protects the human rights of the women and children in these situations, and whether it does anything to address the real problems of discrimination and violence against women. We believe that Amnesty’s policy will not accomplish either of these goals and that it will undermine your attempts to protect women from coerced abortion and from violence and discrimination.

Thank you for your consideration and for your ongoing efforts to protect the human rights of all people.

Because women deserve better,

Jessica O’Connor-Petts
Chair, Feminists for Life of America

Amnesty International Places Unborn In Perilous Position

Christian school principal, Chris Middleton, from Sydney, Australia, writes an opinion piece on Amnesty International’s decision to advance abortion rights for women globally.

Well said.

67,000 Member Amnesty Canada Has Lost 200 Supporters

Apparently, Amnesty Canada has lost only about 200 supporters in Canada as a result of its new advocacy for abortion rights.

This story has been ongoing for quite some time now and Vote Life, Canada! has blogged on this subject previously.

Yesterday, the Toronto Star gave us an update of sorts and provided Canadians with a more focused picture of the unfolding story. Of course the Star provides its readers with its usual pro-abortion, liberal bias but also reveals something more substantial of the Canadian Catholic dimension to the outcome.

Just to clarify the news item, Vote Life, Canada! notes that The Star's vague and incomplete reference was to the statement of the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops), and not to the Canadian Bishops, when they noted

Earlier this month, the Conference of Catholic Bishops blasted Amnesty's abandonment of neutrality and called for the policy to be reversed next month at this year's general meeting in Mexico.

It is good to see the American Bishops taking an official stand on AI’s actions and calling for the rescinding of their new policy at next month’s international meeting of AI in Mexico.

However, with respect to the Canadian Bishops, the Star reports

The Canadian Conference of Bishops, however, has chosen a different course.

It has not commented on the policy switch; at least, not yet.

In fact, several bishops met with Amnesty staff in June to discuss "where we've had common ground in the past," says Canadian Amnesty president Gina Hill.

No directive has come down calling for a withdrawal of support, says Neil McCarthy, spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto.

But he adds that Amnesty "can't be surprised" at the Church's reaction to the policy change.

"Life is sacred, and though there certainly are tragic circumstances in the world, abortion is abortion – you can't be selective in the circumstances. Donors will have to make the decision."

Here is another opportunity for the Catholic Bishops of Canada to draw the attention of Canadians and the world to the plight of unborn children. Here’s another chance for the Bishops to scream bloody murder and try to save Canada’s unborn. But so far we don’t have an official statement from the Canadian Bishops calling for a penalty to AI.

Perhaps because the CCCB statement is more than a year old, or perhaps because it’s a nearly useless statement, the Toronto Star did not make mention of the CCCB’s July 18, 2006 statement on the proposed new Amnesty policy. Perhaps that is why The Star reported that the CCCB

has not commented on the policy switch; at least, not yet.

However, the Bishops’ comment is not much more than that—simply a comment. You’d never say there were human lives involved here. You’d never say that countless little innocent unborn children created in the image of God and representing the future of mankind were going to be ripped to death or cut into pieces because of this new proposal by AI.

The Catholic Bishops say they find this to be “most regrettable” and issue a timid notice:

This change in policy would make it difficult for Catholics to continue supporting the work of Amnesty International.

Does that sound very threatening to you? I’m sure AI is not exactly trembling over such a weak-kneed, cowardly statement.

Will the Bishops condemn Amnesty’s move? According to the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Toronto, Archbishop Collins’ new appointment, it appears not…no, they’ll simply leave it to donors.

Donors will have to make the decision.

This sounds like the same familiar approach taken by too many Bishops in their dealings with individual Catholics on every matter of grave importance to their faith, abortion included. Their record communicates in essence:

"Let individual Catholics make the personal decision about abortion…we don’t want to be caught in the middle. We don’t want to declare that it is murder…we prefer not to use that term at all. There are many complex facets to abortion in today’s society and it won’t help women by telling them that aborting a fetus is murder of their child.

"Besides, today’s Church pedagogy demands a different approach…we don’t want to say to Catholics: Don’t use birth control. Don’t have an abortion. Let the individual Catholic work that out on a deep, interior level, and let them come to their own conclusions."

How many of those 67,000 Amnesty members in Canada are Catholics? I venture to guess that they comprise the majority membership. Now imagine if the Bishops of Canada, in unanimous fashion, exerted ALL the influence they could muster in persuading Canadian Catholics in every province and diocese to threaten termination of their Amnesty membership unless AI withdrew its plans to include abortion as a human right.

Imagine if they actually invested maximum effort and planning into such a campaign. Do you think Amnesty Canada would be so glib and defiant of Catholic opinion?

I say no. ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Such a groundswell of opposition would stop them in their tracks and the same would apply to every other nation if the Catholic Bishops of that nation were to take the same action.

Bear in mind that it is extremely unlikely that any other single group of individuals in any society could effect the level of change of which the Catholic Bishops are capable. [This same argument was advanced in Vote Life, Canada’s recent Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada, accounting for the failure of Catholic Bishops to mobilize the Catholic voting bloc in Canada in order to ensure legal rights for Canada’s Unborn.]

In fact, AI would never have dreamed of expanding their mandate to include a human “right” to abortion had they not been confident of the continued support of the average individual Catholic member. Sure, they knew there would be some noise, some strong statement from this Cardinal or that Cardinal, from this Conference or that Conference of Catholic Bishops. But would it cause them any substantial loss of support? AI had gauged the risk and determined it to be low. In fact, regarding Catholic support, The Star reports that Amnesty Canada

received donations from about 25 Catholics because we are doing this.

It appears AI gauged Catholic response at least somewhat accurately!

Let’s try to place all these thoughts into perspective. Vote Life, Canada! claims that the Catholic Bishops of Canada [and of other countries] have the power in their hands to dissuade AI from their new pro-abortion stance—a stance which will result in the deaths of thousands, possibly millions, more unborn children throughout the world. Yet they remain aloof from the matter and do not take the appropriate (or any) action.

If a Canadian citizen failed to take action to save the life of another individual whose life was imminently in jeopardy, I suspect that police would be inclined to lay charges. If, prior to some tragedy, an individual or group of individuals had previous knowledge of a defective condition which led to the deaths of innocent bystanders yet they had remained silent on the matter, they would certainly be prosecuted. Yet when Catholic Bishops are similarly derelict in their duties, with much more awful consequences, little if anything is thought of it, particularly by Catholics.

What we are witnessing is yet another repeat performance of the Canadian Bishops neglect and indifference to the violent deaths of innocent unborn human beings created in the image of God. Their inaction in the Amnesty International meltdown makes them substantially culpable in the ongoing abortion holocaust throughout not only Canada but throughout the world.

More shockingly, it also brands them as charlatans and hypocrites and even worse, wolves in sheep’s clothing, assuming the position of moral guardians and gatekeepers in Canadian society while permitting at the same time Satan’s demons of abortion to slip by those very gates and into the sheepfold of society, destroying, with full legal protection, the most innocent and vulnerable of citizens.