Cardinal Pell awaits sentencing in police custody

Sydney, Australia, Aug 6, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- As the parliament of New South Wales opened debate on a bill to decriminalize abortion in the Australian state Tuesday, hundreds of pro-lifers joined a three-day prayer vigil.

The Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 would allow abortion for any reason up to 22 weeks of pregnancy; after that, it would allow for abortions if two doctors believe an abortion should be performed, considering physical, social, and psychological circumstances.

The Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the state parliament, began debating the bill Aug. 6.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney is calling all Catholics to pray against the bill’s passage. He opened St Mary’s Cathedral for 65 hours of continuous Eucharistic adoration beginning the afternoon of Aug. 5, which will conclude the morning of Aug. 8.

“I need you to be praying, to be fasting and to be contacting your MP and saying this is not good enough,” Archbishop Fisher said in an Aug. 1 video message.

The bill does not mandate any counseling or period of consideration for the woman, and it would require doctors with conscientious objections to refer women to other abortion providers.

Dr. Richard Lennon, a Sydney medical doctor, participated in a pro-life vigil and spoke to The Catholic Weekly, the publication of the Archdiocese of Sydney, about his concerns regarding lack of conscience protections.

“To send someone off to have an abortion is just as bad as doing it oneself,” he said. He added that “similar law is in existence in Victoria where one doctor has been brought before the medical board and warned because he refused to do a sex-selection abortion.”

“As a doctor what I want to do is to offer them support and the best medical care I can. But abortion is none of that, it is anti-health and anti-medicine,” Lennon stated.

The bill would also make it a criminal offense for individuals to perform abortions without the proper authorizations, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment for doing so.

According to supporters of the bill, it clarifies what they believe were previously ambiguous terms in penal code with regard to abortion.

But opponents believe it opens the possibility of elective abortion at any time, as long as two doctors consent.

Under current law, abortion is only legal in NSW if a doctor determine’s that a woman’s physical or mental health is in danger. “Mental health” has been interpreted by courts to include “economic and social stress.”

The bill was to have been introduced to the state parliament July 30, and debated last week. Debate was delayed, however, after concerns it had been rushed through without proper consideration.

During debate Aug. 6, Kevin Conolly, a member of the Liberal Party (part of the governing Coalition with the National Party), said the bill “will allow more abortions to occur including late-term abortions. I do not believe there is public support for that.”

“The bill is not just about the decriminalisation of abortion – it’s about the expansion of practice of abortion.”

Conolly added: “Doctors should not be forced to participate in ending the life of their patient.”

Tanya Davies, a Liberal member and fomer women’s minister, said the bill fails sufficiently to support women, saying, “There must be inbuilt requirements for pre- and post-abortion counselling if we are truly to be caring and compassionate to the women,” adding that it sees abortion “as a medical procedure akin to removing an ingrown toenail almost.”

The bill is opposed by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Church of Australia, and the NSW Presbyterian Church.

“Rather than pursuing laws that will lead to more abortions, we should instead be investing in ways to support pregnant women who feel they have no other choice,” Archbishop Fisher said July 29.

Bishop Michael McKenna of Bathurst said July 31 that “Those who propose the legislation are no doubt sincere in their arguments. However, as so often in this debate, someone is forgotten. That is the human being: unborn, but human, who has no rights when her or his life or death is being decided. Also forgotten are those medical professionals who would conscientiously oppose such procedures, from whom the law could withdraw protection. And thoroughly forgotten are the mothers faced with difficult circumstances in their pregnancies, for whom, instead of genuine care, only the bleak option of a termination is offered.”

And Fr. David Ranson, administrator of the Diocese of Broken Bay, said that “the killing of life, with the liberal possibility allowed for in the proposed legislation, cannot make ours a more human society. If with legal sanction we kill those who are most vulnerable, either at the beginning or at the end of their life, we rob ourselves of our human dignity which is best demonstrated in a quality of care exercised even in the face of life’s demand and challenge. Such an option represents a gross failure of social imagination and public moral leadership.”

But Simon Hansford, the head of the Uniting Church in Australia, an ecclesial community which claims 243,000 members across the country, has indicated his support for the bill, saying, “people face difficult decisions. Respect for the sacredness of life means advocating for the needs of women as well as every unborn child.”

Both Coalition and Labor MPs are being given a conscience vote on the bill.

It is supported by NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and health minister Brad Hazzard, but is opposed by police minister David Elliott, finance minister Damien Tudehope, and treasurer Dominic Perrottet.

The bill was introduced by Alex Greenwich, an independent member who was instrumental in the legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia.

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Tokyo, Japan, Nov 4, 2019 / 05:05 pm (CNA).- Efforts by the Catholic Church to evangelize the Japanese population have frequently collided with roadblocks, according to Archbishop of Tokyo Isao Kikuchi, but the Church is still finding some ways to proclaim the Gospel.

The archbishop answered question from Catholic News Agency on Japan, evangelization, and why breaking through into mainstream Japanese society is so difficult for a religion that has survived persecution and genocide in the country since 1549.

The interview came just weeks before Pope Francis visits the country Nov. 23-26.

“In Japanese society, it is difficult to find tangible success in missionary activities.”

According to the most recent available data, approximately 35% of Japanese claim Buddhism as their religion, while around 3-4% claim an adherence to Shinto or associated Japanese folk religions. Only 1-2% of Japanese claim Christianity as their faith, and only around half of Japanese Christians are Catholic.

“In the past, foreign missionaries succeeded in opening classrooms, gathering the people through English and cultural classes. However, these have been replaced by the initiatives of business enterprises.”

Foreign language education proved to be a powerful tool for cross-cultural pollination after World War II. It was demanded for high-paying positions in international business and politics, and only natively spoken by a fraction of a percentage of the population.

However, English education has since become compulsory in most schools. English classes often start at first grade or even earlier and continue through high school.

Additionally, Japan is now overflowing with foreign-language cram schools known as eikaiwa.

Eikaiwa are staffed with foreigners, taught cheaply, and often stick to approved conversations and lessons. Their wages are not high, and they can be quite expensive for customers. There have been multiple scandals in Japan regarding national chains of eikaiwa withholding wages, cancelling contracts without notice, and generally mistreating their employees.

Combined with the increase in mandatory English education, eikaiwa have largely killed the community, amateur foreign language class, once a staple of Catholic missionary activity.

According to the archbishop, the country’s nominally Catholic schools are beginning to abandon the idea of cultural education through language instruction.

“Catholic school may be the place to meet many young people, but unfortunately, except for some, it has not become a place for missionary activities,” said Archbishop Kikuchi.

Schools have historically been seen as Catholicism’s last strong foothold in evangelizing to the Japanese. While parishes shrink with the rest of the population and clergy shortages are becoming more and more of a problem, the prestige of the Catholic high school and Catholic university have endured and even strengthened in Japan since as far back as the Meiji Reformation.

Once highly-regarded for their access to Western-style education and foreign-born instructors in a time that the country was just beginning to interact with the outside world, Catholic universities are still greatly respected today.

Sophia University is known as one of the best private universities in the nation, one of a handful of institutions that rival the National Universities, Japan’s equivalent to the Ivy League.

However, Archbishop Kikuchi says that this ongoing prestige has come with a hefty cost.

“While the schools should be independent from national politics, unfortunately they are tied up with subsidies from the country, and thus they are gradually losing their uniqueness, with only the name ‘Catholic’ remaining,” he said.

“Many priests, religious and the laity are completely losing their involvement with them.”

The Church in Japan has also spent time in recent years engaged in disaster relief projects.

“Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11th March 2011, support activities by the Church which continues to date through the eight volunteer centers set up in the affected areas, has been widely accepted, and serve as a witness to the Gospel through works of mercy.”

Through these efforts, the archbishop says, “the Church gives priority to witnessing the Gospel in a visible way through these steadfast works of mercy. Certainly, these activities may not lead immediately to the reception of baptism, but there is hope that many people who were touched by the spirit of the Gospel would actually be led to the Church.”

The second most powerful evangelization tool, Kikuchi says, is the Catholics population that have come and made their lives in Japan from abroad.

“Secondly, the Gospel is preached through the presence of Catholics from abroad who have come to Japan. In particular, those who have settled in marriage and built their homes in the rural areas make it possible for the Gospel to be brought in areas where the Church had never had an opportunity to get involved.”

Immigrants from the Philippines make up a large portion of the incoming foreigners in recent years. Filipinos are being tapped for jobs as English educators in eikaiwa, kindergartens, assistant-teaching positions, and more.

They are the fourth largest foreign community in Japan. It is estimated that close to 250,000 Filipinos live and work across Japan.

The Philippines’ population is close to 90% Christian – 86% is specifically Catholic.

Filipinos and their families make up large portions of the laity in Japan, attending masses and integrating into religious communities in both rural and urban areas.

“Therefore, an important task that must be given priority is to encourage foreign nationals who have settled in Japan to become aware of their missionary vocation as Catholics.”

Kikuchi believes it’s up to the clergy to instill in foreigners this sense of missionary spirituality.

“Pastoral care for foreign nationals in the Japanese church is not merely a service to welcome [guests], but rather a duty to make them aware of their vocation as missionaries.”

[…]

Harrisburg, Pa., Dec 2, 2019 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- The Pennsylvania Senate is debating a bill that would require the burial or cremation of human remains after miscarriage or abortion.

HB 1890, the Final Disposition of Fetal Remains Act, was passed by the state House Nov. 18 by a vote of 123 to 76. It would require health care facilities to bury or cremate fetal remains not claimed by the child’s parents.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Frank Ryan, R-Lebanon, said that “we wanted to craft something that was voluntary, that provided the family with the ability for closure, the ability to understand that a human life was lost.”

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has said he would veto the bill if it makes it to his desk.

In November, Wolf vetoed a bill that would have banned the abortion of children prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome. He also vetoed, in 2017, a bill that would have limited abortions to 20 weeks into pregnancy, and banned dilation and evacuation abortions.

Similar bills regarding the treatment of fetal remains are being considered in Ohio and on the federal level.

The portion of an Indiana law requiring aborted babies to be cremated or buried was upheld by the US Supreme Court in May. In an unsigned opinion, the court cited a previous decision that states have a “legitimate interest in proper disposal of fetal remains.”

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