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Gone to Heck in Quebec

To anyone familiar with parochial schools, Our Lady of Pompeii elementary school in Montreal, Quebec, would seem unremarkable. There are crucifixes on the classroom walls and statues of the patron saint in the corridor. Twice a week, homeroom teachers, all of them Catholic, put aside multiplication tables and literature and turn their attention to the gospels.

But Our Lady of Pompeii is a fairly typical public school in Quebec. In the only French-speaking, largely Catholic province in Canada, all public education — along with hospitals, orphanages, and other social services — was delegated to the churches until the mid-1960s. The founding documents of Quebec state that both French Catholics and English Protestants are entitled to receive religious instruction from the public schools.

Earlier this year, however, a government commission proposed scrapping the current system of “confessional” education, in which every school, in effect, has a Catholic or Protestant affiliation. And instead of having all students receive two hours per week of Catholic, Protestant, or non-religious “moral” instruction, the commission proposed that they be required to take classes that consider all the world’s religions from cultural and historical perspectives.

“Quebec’s desire to be a liberal democracy, adhering to the principles of equality and openness to residents of various backgrounds — this is simply not consistent with an educational structure that continues to give special status to the Catholic and Protestant religions,” said Jean-Pierre Proulx, the University of Montreal professor who headed the panel. At a meeting in April, Proulx was jeered by a crowd that accused him of being an “Antichrist.” “It was very hard for me, a shock really,” said Proulx, a practicing Catholic.

Apparently, the political impetus for secularization is coming from Catholics themselves. According to the Washington Post, “Many of Quebec’s Catholics still harbor deep resentment toward a Church whose conservative, authoritarian grip on virtually every aspect of life in this province came to an end only in the 1960s.” The Post reports that church attendance among Catholics stands at fifteen percent (the lowest rate in North America). The average age of priests is approaching sixty-five, while seminaries and convents are “largely empty.” And while polls show that eighty-eight percent of Quebeckers believe in God, less than a third say they believe in the God portrayed by the Church.

Meanwhile, so many Quebec couples are forsaking marriage for common-law relationships that fifty-three percent of births in the province occur out of wedlock. The birthrate is the lowest in the Western world, while rates of abortion and divorce are among the highest.

It is among these “disaffected” Catholics that secularization has become a rallying cry. In Montreal, they recently became a majority on the French-language school board, the successor to the old Catholic School Board abolished under reforms that took effect last year. 


 

In the first week of June a pro-abortion activist sponsored by major abortion lobbyists began a cross-country bicycle trek from San Francisco to New Hampshire to highlight the paucity of abortionists in the nation’s heartland.

Melissa Marin said she will spend two months riding through thirteen states, reported Catholic World News, “to raise the specter of violence by pro-life advocates and the lack of abortionists.” The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) and Medical Students for Choice (MSFC), which seeks to find and train future abortionists, sponsored her ride.

Marin has worked for several abortion clinics in Maryland and California, as well as national pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood. She planned to raise $10,000 for MSFC as part of her ride. 


 

Catholic News Service has reported that Israeli scholars investigating pollen and plant images on the Shroud of Turin say their findings support the proposition that it originated in or around Israel.

The two researchers — Hebrew University botany professor Avinoam Danin and Uri Baruch, a pollen expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority — declined to be drawn into a discussion on the possible authenticity of the shroud as the material wrapped around Jesus’ body after his crucifixion. But they said they believed it dated to the eighth century or earlier.

The image of a man, along with blood stains indicating wounds, appear on the four-by-one-meter shroud, which was allegedly taken to Europe by crusaders returning from the Holy Land. British scientists carried out carbon-dating tests on pieces of the shroud in 1988 and concluded that it was a medieval fake dating some time between 1260 and 1390.

But Danin said thirty-six percent of the two hundred fifty pollen grains found on the part of the shroud they studied were from a thorny thistle species called Goundelia tournefortii that is found in Israel and neighboring countries. Alan and Mary Whanger of Duke University in North Carolina, who studied non-body images on the shroud for many years — and who asked Danin and Baruch to undertake the project — believe this to be the plant from which Jesus’ crown of thorns was fashioned.

According to Danin, the high percentage of the thistle pollen was “an important indicator.” He said that the species is bee-pollinated, so the pollen could not have reached Europe by means of the wind: “The pollen grains couldn’t have reached the shroud in such great quantity unless the plant was on the shroud itself.”

The second part of the investigation related to images of plants on the shroud. Danin said one was found to be a cluster of thistles; another a bean caper (Zygophyllum dumosum) which grows only in Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai; and the third the rock rose (Cistus creticus) that grows in Mediterranean countries. The flowers could be found in the fields around Jerusalem in springtime, a time consistent with the understanding Jesus was crucified around Passover.

Danin said another, smaller piece of cloth, known as the Sudarium of Oviedo, in Spain, had already been found by experts to display identical blood type and size and shape of bloodstains as the shroud. It was believed to have been used to cover the face of the man whose image appears on the Shroud of Turin. The practice of placing a cloth over the deceased’s head before the other linen covering is referred to in the New Testament account of Jesus’ resurrection (John 20:6-7).

According to Danin, the Sudarium had delivered grains of pollen from the same thorny thistle species found on the shroud. Along with the blood type and bloodstain shape, this third factor strengthened the argument that the small cloth and the big one were “synchronic” (“from one time”). The Sudarium has a well-documented history dating to at least the eighth century.

“These plants lead us to state that the Shroud of Turin existed before the eighth century, that it originated in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and that the assemblage of plants became part of the shroud in the spring months of March and April,” Danin said. It appears that bunches or bouquets of flowers were placed alongside the body of the man of the shroud, leaving the imprints and pollen grains on the material.

The Israelis’ conclusions are the latest to challenge the view that the Shroud of Turin was a Middle Age forgery. Last year microbiologist Leoncio Garza-Valdes reported he had isolated DNA from ancient bloodstains on the shroud and identified the type as consistent with a Jewish male. He also questioned the British scientists’ carbon-dating finding, saying a barely visible layer of bacteria and fungi on the surface of the cloth may have compromised the accuracy of the dating tests. 


 

Statistics about our faith, courtesy of the 1999 edition of the “Official Catholic Directory”: Catholics account for twenty-three percent of the U.S. population, even as large Protestant denominations report first-time ever decreases in membership.

There are currently 62,018,436 Catholics in the U. S., an increase of 454,667 over 1998. Statistics in the annual directory encompass 19,584 local parishes, 586 hospitals, and 2,260 social service agencies.

Other data, with changes from 1998, include: Priests – 47,210, down 383; Newly ordained priests – 478, down 31; Seminary students – 4,826, up 238, Catholic school enrollment – 2,714,697, up 1,166; Infant baptisms – l,013,437, down 27,400; Adult baptisms and receptions from other faiths – 171,391, up 9,804; and marriages in the Church – 273,700, down 14,893. 


 

In the summer of 1998 two Catholic priests — Fr. Hilary Boma and Fr. Lino Sebit, both of Sudan — were arrested by the Sudanese government. This government has repeatedly stated its intention of making Sudan Islamic and has been cited by several human rights organizations for its ongoing brutality towards its non-Muslim citizens. Frs. Boma and Sebit, outspoken critics of Sudan’s cruel policies, have been held since their arrest, beaten, tortured, and forced to confess to bombing government installations.

The case of the two priests and eighteen other people (many of whom are Christians) has been introduced to a military court. If the defendants are convicted there they face the death penalty. Details are not easily ascertained because, since they were arrested, both priests have been held in a military detention center and, for the most part, forbidden outside contact. Consultation with their legal representatives has also been problematic. The latest report, from June 1999, indicates the priests are not doing well.

Amnesty International issued an action alert about the case of the two priests last September, but now that the Sudanese government is anxious to improve its image in the international community, it is possible that a letter writing campaign may actually help Fr. Boma, Fr. Sebit, and their companions. Below is a typical letter to the president of Sudan. International postage from the United States to Sudan is sixty cents, and the envelope should be marked “airmail” on the front and back.

“Lieutenant General Omar Hassan al-Bashir 
“President of the Republic of Sudan 
“People’s Palace 
“PO Box 281 
“Khartoum, Sudan 

“Sir: 
“Father Hilary Boma and Father Lino Sebit have been jailed in your country for a year. Amnesty International reports that they have been beaten and tortured and that they have very limited access to legal assistance. I believe these actions represent a denial of basic human rights. Therefore I ask that Fathers Boma and Sebit, along with the others arrested in connection with the bombings of June 1998, be moved from military to civilian detention and that they receive proper treatment including medical care, access to visits with family, and unimpeded consultation with legal representatives. I also ask that their cases be transferred to a civilian court, as befits their civilian status, and that they be tried in accordance with internationally recognized standards of law. Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: ‘Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.’ Please ensure that your country will respect these international norms for the treatment of prisoners.” 


 

Keeping it in the family: In July John Paul II named Hubert Coppenrath archbishop of Papeete, Tahiti. He was born in Tahiti in 1930, educated in France, and is considered one of the greatest living experts in the languages and cultures of Polynesia. Among other undertakings, he translated the gospels into Tahitian. The interesting part is, Coppenrath is succeeding his brother, Michel-Gaspard, who has been the bishop of Papeete for the last ten years. Papeete has 220,000 inhabitants, 82,000 of whom are Catholic. Seventy percent of the population is made up of Polynesian Indians. 


 

Atheist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair was back in the news in June. O’Hair and two family members had disappeared in September 1995, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars from non-profit organizations controlled by O’Hair. Now a former office manager of O’Hair’s, David Roland Waters, has been implicated in her murder.

O’Hair is the founder of American Atheists, Inc. and is best known for her role in the 1960s lawsuit that ended government-sponsored prayer in public schools. The Washington Post reported that a growing body of circumstantial evidence suggests that O’Hair and her family members were kidnapped, forced to hand over $500,000, and murdered. 

In light of this new information, Protestant prison evangelist Charles Colson revisited the subject of O’Hair in his June 17 “BreakPoint” online commentary:

“When the IRS recently ordered an auction of O’Hair’s remaining property to pay back taxes, a whole new side of the infamous atheist came to light, Among O’Hair’s belongings were several diaries, and they give a glimpse of the inner life of the woman once known as the most hated person in America — an appellation, by the way, she wore proudly.

“The diaries confirm that O’Hair was a bitterly unhappy woman, a vicious racist, and an anti-Semite. She was consumed with ambition for wealth and power. In 1973, her New Year’s wish list included a mink coat, a Cadillac, a cook, and a housekeeper. She also wrote, ‘In 1974 I will run for the governor of Texas, and in 1976, the president of the United States.’ 

“Around that time I debated O’Hair on David Frost’s talk show, For some reason, the segment was never broadcast, At the end of the debate, I told her Christians were praying for her and wished her the best. ‘And I wish you failure,’ she snarled.

“Yet a surprisingly different side of O’Hair’s character emerges from the newly discovered diaries, A 1959 entry reveals an almost pathetic despair: ‘The whole idiotic hopelessness of human relations descends upon me. Tonight I cried and cried, but even then, feeling nothing.’ In 1977 she wrote, ‘I have failed in marriage, motherhood, and as a politician.’ 

“O’Hair clearly sensed that something was missing from her life. One poignant phrase appears again and again. In half a dozen places, O’Hair writes, ‘Somebody, somewhere, love me.’ 

“How telling that this hostile and abrasive person, who harbored nothing but hatred for God and his people, who believed human beings were merely the product of a cosmic accident, would nevertheless cry out to the great void for someone just to love her.

“What a powerful example of the fundamental truth that we are made for a relationship of love with our Creator, and that we can never fully escape from our true identity and purpose, No matter how much we may deny it intellectually, our nature still cries out for the love we were made to share. To paraphrase the famous words of St. Augustine, even the most bitter atheist is restless until she finds her rest in God.

“This is a remarkable story that we can use in defending our faith with family and friends. Madalyn Murray O’Hair sought to live her entire life in a manner consistent with atheism, And yet, in the secrecy of her diaries, she admitted it was impossible. If a philosophy is impossible to live out, that’s a pretty good sign it is simply wrong.” 


 

An article in the July issue of the Journal of Law and Policy proposes that unwed fathers should have the right to “abort” their responsibilities to their unborn children as a natural extension of a woman’s legal right to abortion.

Whereas the woman is free to choose the extent of her responsibility toward the child via such avenues as adoption, abortion, or keeping the child, the unwed father is denied such freedom of choice because his options are wholly dependent on the woman’s decision, wrote South Carolina lawyer Melanie McCulley. Since the father does not have a right to compel an abortion, she added, he should have the right to place himself in the same legal position as if the woman, who carries the child to term, had actually chosen abortion.

McCulley also proposed that new legislation enumerate the conditions under which the father can “abort” his legal responsibilities. These might include the woman’s fraud and misrepresentation, a binding contract between the unwed parents, the unwed father’s offer of payment for abortion, his guaranteed consent to adoption, and his full disclosure prior to intimacy of his intent to refuse responsibility for any resulting child.

Critics of the “male abortion” contended it would allow an unwed father to avoid financial responsibility for a living child and encourage real abortions. Court decisions after Roe v. Wade have held that protecting the unwed father’s freedom of choice is not in the child’s best interests and creates a financial burden on the government.

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