Following the recent announcement from the Food and Drug Administration that they are postponing the decision on whether or not to grant over the counter approval of the drug Plan B, the FDA announced they are soliciting public opinion on how to regulate the controversial drug also known as the morning after pill. The agency is seeking to address a series of complex regulatory questions regarding how to make the drug available to women 17 years and older while keeping it prescription-only for those who are younger.

My purpose in this pastoral letter, therefore, is simple. I believe the message of Humanae Vitae is not a burden but a joy. I believe this encyclical offers a key to deeper, richer marriages. And so what I seek from the family of our local Church is not just a respectful nod toward a document which critics dismiss as irrelevant, but an active and sustained effort to study Humanae Vitae; to teach it faithfully in our parishes; and to encourage our married couples to live it.

Artificial fertilization or artificial reproduction can be a tempting consideration for the couple who has spent years suffering with the emotional pain of infertility, however, a number of ethical questions arise. In order to understand why participation in artificial reproduction conflicts with the Lord's moral order, we must understand how artificial reproduction works.

One of the Senate's best known Catholics has worked to reject a proposal by President Bush that would have given families displaced by Hurricane Katrina financial aid to send their children to private or parochial schools. A bipartisan student relief package put forth by Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy and Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi did not include a provision that would have given students up to $7,500 because Kennedy opposed the provision, according to a high level Congressional staffer who spoke with Culture & Cosmos.

We indirectly consume future generations in a financial sense through rising debt, sinking savings, increasing taxes, and the shifting of wealth away from fertile couples. More directly, we consume children as we accept a new ethic concerning fetal life. Each trend sprouts from the same root of self centered consumption.

At a meeting held last week in Washington, DC, the President's Council on Bioethics alerted the world to bizarre new reproductive technologies, such as the creation of animal-human hybrids and "fused" human embryos with multiple sets of biological parents, that are now being explored by scientists. The Council, which was established by President George W. Bush to provide recommendations on emerging bioethical issues, warned in an internal working paper that such procedures gravely threaten "the dignity of human procreation," and should therefore be prohibited.

Billions of US dollars are poised to land in Africa in order fight the deadly AIDS virus. Much of it will go to the “social marketing” of condoms, believed by some to be the best protector against the spread of HIV. It is widely understood, however, that condoms do not prevent the spread of other sexually transmitted diseases, some of which can kill.

Great Britain is experiencing an explosion of sexually transmitted diseases, especially among the young. According to British government figures, infections across the board have grown rapidly at least since 1996.

A New Zealand coroner issued a report this week that says the suspicious death of a teenage girl a year ago may have been caused by the contraceptive pill called Estelle 35D.

Although Judge Richard Conway Casey of the southern district court of New York recently issued a temporary restraining order against the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, his rigorous questioning of the plaintiffs in the case showed his extreme uneasiness with the procedure, which, in his words, leaves "viable babies...either in pieces or they don't have a brain."

In a recent interview with BBC, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN, argued for increased involvement and resources by developed countries-namely the United States-in stemming the tide of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. In addition, he was disappointed in African leaders that allowed "their people to die because they were too embarrassed to talk about condoms."

A little-noticed House of Representatives vote yesterday on patent law may prove to be a profound victory for the fight for the Culture of Life in the United States.

The US Food and Drug Administration is holding a public hearing today in suburban Washington DC to determine if the abortifacient "morning after pill" or "emergency contraceptive" should be made available without a prescription, and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCBB) has issued a statement that will be introduced at the hearing today.

At a public health conference held last week in Washington DC, doctors cited evidence of an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among the nation's teenagers, and cited "safe-sex" programs and condom-distribution as contributing factors of the problem.

Few practicing Catholics know such an group exists. Most Catholics only hear about dissident homosexual groups. But Courage is an organization working within the Church to assist homosexuals to remain chaste and faithful to Church teachings on same-sex attraction. And it now claims almost a hundred chapters worldwide and is continuing to grow.

For Catholic families faced with the often unexpected confession of a child's same-sex attraction, there has often been little support for the traumatic grief that followed. That was until Encourage, the sister organization to Courage which was reported on last week, was founded a little over a decade ago. As one document noted, it seeks to "offer faithful witness to Catholic teaching on sexual morality while meeting the needs of its members with charity and compassion." Encourage chapters are now in fifteen U.S. cities.

Availability of condoms statistically increase promiscuity and risk of contracting HIV according to medical experts who presented their findings on the "ABC" approach to the HIV/Pandemic in Washington, DC last week. The presentations, hosted by the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, were critical of the insistence by some NGO's and policy makers that the "C" (condom) approach will stem the tide of the pandemic.

The financial balance sheet between abstinence and safe-sex programs within the United States has been little known, but many assume that the money spent between the two approaches is equitable. According to new report published by the Heritage Foundation, however, the United States government spends "$12 to promote contraception for every dollar spent to encourage abstinence."

Proponents of gay marriage frequently argue that allowing for it would have no affect whatsoever on the institution of marriage itself. Former Harvard anthropologist Stanley Kurtz, writing in the current issue of the Weekly Standard, reports on various European studies that challenge this argument. Kurtz reports that in those countries where full homosexual marriage rights have been granted, marriage and indeed concrete family structures have been considerably weakened.

A new report just issued by the Elliot Institute suggests that pro-life political candidates can find fertile ground by making a more direct appeal to women who have had abortions, estimated by some at 30 million. According to the report, post abortive women might vote for pro-abortion politicians not because they believe abortion betters the lives of women, but because they perceive pro-abortion politicians to care more for women.

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, recently issued a defense of Church teachings against the charges presented in the BBC documentary "Sex and the Holy City," which aired on the eve of Pope John Paul's 25th anniversary in October of 2003. Widely criticized in Catholic circles, the film held the Church responsible for thousands of deaths due to her doctrinal position against the use of condoms.

The societal trend of seeking greater understanding of the human mind may be observed everywhere, from self-help guides in bookstore windows to popular television talk shows. The desire to gain this understanding often leads to avenues within the mental health community that do not practice what some see as the necessary holistic approach to the human person. The Institute for the Psychological Sciences, a graduate school accredited in 1999 for clinical psychology, however, seeks to incorporate this holistic approach into the training of mental health care professionals.

When abortion was legalized in the United States over thirty years ago, proponents of the procedure argued that it was somehow good for women, that it would give them a greater freedom over their lives and their bodies. Though this argument is still made today, a wave of reports and groups are increasingly challenging that assertion. In fact, even reports from Planned Parenthood's Alan Gutmacher Institute are concluding that women choose abortion because they have no choice, that they are pressured by economic, familial, and emotion forces.

As the US Senate prepares to examine the mounting evidence that abortion causes psychological and medical problems for women, pro-abortion lobbyists are poised to downplay the evidence as politically and religiously motivated. One pro-abortion activist who is scheduled to testify at the hearing, Rev. Rosselyn Smith-Winters, represents the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights, an organization that, according to its webpage, is "defiantly absolutist in defending every abortion as a divinely ordained right."

A medical researcher from the University of Michigan Medical School told the US Senate last week that "abortion increases rates of breast cancer, placenta previa, pre-term births, and maternal suicide." Dr. Elizabeth Shadigian, testifying before the Senate Sub-Committee on Science, Technology, and Space, said that "statistically, all types of deaths are higher with women who have had induced abortions."  According to sub-committee chairman Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), the hearing was the first of its kind to look into the physical and psychological effects of abortion on women. As expected, the hearing was not without controversy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported to the US Congress last week that condoms are not generally effective in preventing the spread of some sexually transmitted diseases. The CDC witness, Dr. Ed Thompson, told the US House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources that "HPV (human papilloma virus) infection is the most common sexually transmitted infection for both men and women in the United States" and that "about 80% of sexually active men and women will have acquired HPV by age 50."

The US Senate continues debate today on a federal amendment to the Constitution that would defend traditional marriage. The amendment, first introduced in the House of Representatives by Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) in May of 2003, states that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, and that neither the federal nor state constitutions can introduce measures to allow that title to be granted to other partnerships. The hearing in defense of traditional marriage was called by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Judiciary committee, and will be the third hearing requested by Cornyn in under a year.

The US Senate moved a step closer to amending the US Constitution last week as the Judiciary Committee held a hearing about mandating that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman. Not surprisingly the liberal American Bar Association testified against the proposed federal marriage amendment saying it "would restrict the ability of a state to protect the rights of children." Other witnesses disagreed.

Three courts scattered around the country began hearing testimony last week in cases that are testing the constitutionality of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. Court transcripts show how one Judge's intense interest in fetal pain has raised hopes among pro-lifers that the ban may be upheld. According to transcripts of opening statements, New York District Court Judge Richard Conway Casey repeatedly questioned abortionists about infant pain during the procedure known as partial birth abortion.

Based on testimony from the three trials challenging the ban on partial birth abortions (PBA), some legal scholars believe that at leastone court could uphold the legislation. Congressional findings, attached to the legislation under consideration, conclude that partial birth abortion is never medically necessary. Proponents of the grisly procedure are out to disprove this claim by arguing that a ban would adversely affect the health of women.

At least one pro-abortion group has threatened to assault pro-life counter-protestors during the pro-abortion "March for Women's Lives" next Sunday in Washington DC. The first of its kind since 1992, the March is being described by the National Organization for Women (NOW) as "the most significant and massive abortion rights march in over a decade."

According to a charges leveled by the Population Research Institute (PRI), the FDA decision to grant the morning after pill (MAP) over the counter status was based on inconclusive data on the effects and efficacy of the drug. The status is currently scheduled for the change in May. Dr. Carole Ben-Maimon, president and chief operating officer of Barr Research, the producers of the drug, has reportedly said MAP is "an additional contraceptive option" that will provide a "significant public health service to American women."

Critics charge that some members of the President's Council on Bioethics, along with their allies in the media, have misrepresented the most recent Council report in order to undermine President Bush's policy on stem cell research and cloning. Some on the Council claim the Council recommendations support cloning for therapeutic purposes and a roll back of the President's ban on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. The Chairman of the Council, Dr. Leon Kass, said in an interview with the Family Research Council (FRC) that proponents of embryonic research have used some recommendations of the Council out of context.

Within hours of the Food and Drug Administration decision last week not to allow the morning after pill to be distributed without a prescription, dozens of press releases went out from individuals and organizations all over the country. One from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops praised the decision. Another from the presidential campaign of Senator John Kerry condemned the decision. The disparity over this issue once more points to a very dangerous moment for the Catholic Church in America.

As media attention focuses on whether pro-abortion Catholic politicians may receive Communion some bishops are beginning to directly address the voters of their diocese, instructing them that voting for pro-abortions candidates is not compatible with being a faithful Catholic.

Responding to shocking testimony being given in court cases challenging the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) are sponsoring the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act.

A widely touted study denying a link between abortion and breast cancer in the British medical journal, The Lancet, failed to include research that contradicted its findings according to one prominent researcher. Dr. Joel Brind said the Lancet report incorrectly compares rates of breast cancer among women who have had abortions with women who have never been pregnant rather than with women who have given birth, a methodology that ignores the fact that a pregnant woman who chooses abortion is "at a higher risk of breast cancer than . . . had she chosen to carry the pregnancy to term."

Pro-abortion groups voiced strong opposition last week to a US Senate proposal aimed at protecting girls from adult sexual predators, who can presently take girls across state lines in order for them to obtain abortions without their parents' knowledge or consent.

A meeting in Louisiana between a Catholic state senator and a parish priest resulted in the lawmaker changing his position in time to cast a crucial vote against "therapeutic" cloning, the creation of cloned human beings to be used and destroyed in medical research. The lawmakers' openness to guidance stands in stark contrast to a number of prominent Catholic politicians who advocate policies on human cloning, abortion and stem-cell research that deviate from the Church's fundamental teaching on the duty to protect innocent human life, and yet still claim to be in full communion with the Church.

At a June 18 meeting of homosexual rights activist, opponents of the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) revealed a strategy of utilizing liberal clergy to argue that the proposed amendment would limit the free exercise of religion. At the meeting, clergy from "progressive" Protestant denominations, along with one Reformed Jewish Rabbi claimed the proposed FMA might be used to ban them from performing ceremonies that bless same-sex unions.

The body of American Catholic Bishops responded to the question of whether Catholic pro-abortion politicians ought to be denied Communion in a statement released June 18. The statement, titled "Catholics in Political Life," was passed almost unanimously by the full body of Bishops. In it there are harsh words for pro-abortion leaders, but the final decision of whether or not to deny Communion to wayward politicians is left up to individual Bishops.  Interim recommendations made prior to the vote by a seven-member Task Force also condemned dissenting politicians but strongly urged that Communion not be denied to them and said that to do so would be imprudent. This approach was not adopted by the full body of Bishops.

A confidential document written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to leading American prelates has been made public and reveals that the Vatican's leading theologian believes Communion should be denied to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion. The revelation of the six-paragraph memorandum and its unambiguous position comes in the aftermath of a highly public debate among America's Bishops on whether pro-abortion politicians like John Kerry should be denied Communion.

Debate, press conferences and unseemly tactics all related to the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) have gone into full gear since last Thursday in preparation for a Senate vote on the amendment expected tomorrow at noon. The proposed Constitutional amendment would define marriage to be the union of one woman and one man and would make that definition the law of the land for all 50 states.

Efforts by "Catholics" for a Free Choice at making Cardinal Godfried Danneels into a symbolic figure for their pro-condom campaign were thwarted when the Belgian prelate strongly rebuked the dissident group's attempt at making him a spokesman for their cause.

A platform supporting abortion, fetal stem cell research and homosexual "families" is expected to gain the approval of delegates today at the Democratic National Convention making it clear the party elite are devoted opponents of the culture of life. The document even calls for policies that would likely result in tax-payer funded abortions.

A letter published last week by the Vatican celebrates what Pope John Paul II calls the feminine genius and calls for women to have access to positions of national leadership. But the document received a largely negative reception in the mainstream press where it was characterized as "slamming feminism."

A political questionnaire issued by the government relations staff of the US Conference of Catholics Bishops and distributed to both major-party presidential candidates has received criticism from prominent Catholics who say most of the questions take the Democratic side of non-binding policy issues such as immigration and gun control. Bill Ryan, spokesman for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops acknowledged that Catholics are not bound by many of the policies promoted in the questionnaire. "No. On issues like that people can take different stances," he told Culture and Cosmos.

Women, men and their children are not well served by a society that fails to acknowledge the inherit differences between the sexes according to Steven E. Rhoads, the author of a new book that presents the case that gender differences are based in nature and are not the result of a social construction. Drawing from an abundance of social science data and biological research catalogued in his new book, "Taking Sex Difference Seriously," Rhoads spoke to a packed lecture hall at the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC last week.

In the wake of controversy surrounding a presidential candidate questionnaire produced by the lay staff of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, many Catholics have embraced an alternative voting guide issued by a Catholic apologetics organization. Though the USCCB has discouraged use of this new guide, it has been circulated by at least one major archdiocese and thousands of parishes, according to the publisher.

A platform robust with pro-life planks was passed yesterday by delegates during the opening session of the Republican National Convention being held this week at Madison Square Garden in New York. The 94-page document, "A Safer World, A More Hopeful Tomorrow," calls for constitutional amendments banning abortion and gay "marriage," a comprehensive ban on cloning, continued denial of federal money for research on new embryonic stem cell lines, abstinence education and other measures that bolster the sanctity of life and the traditional family.

With election day less than two months away Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry continues to campaign on his support for destructive embryonic stem cell research while painting President George Bush as an enemy of science who has put a stop to all stem cell research.  One prominent scientist who specializes in studying the thorny questions surrounding bioethics says much of Kerry's rhetoric is unfair and inaccurate.

A memo released privately two months ago by the Vatican's leading theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is being portrayed by the media and liberal Catholics as giving Catholic voters permission to vote for the pro-abortion Democratic candidate for President.

The question of whether or not Catholics may vote for pro-abortion candidates in light of a note by a prominent Vatican cardinal has continued to gain steam in the last week. One American Archbishop published a column in a national newspaper saying that in practical terms n issue exists today that would trump the issue of protecting the unborn. And at a major conference in Washington DC addressing the same question, several prominent Catholic scholars emphatically declared abortion and the protection of human embryos to be the preeminent issue for Catholics voters.

"Catholics" for a Free Choice, a pro-abortion advocacy group, has asked the Internal Revenue Service to withdraw the charitable tax status of the apologetics group Catholic Answers for publishing what it sees as a partisan voter guide. The move is just the latest salvo in the battle over the moral obligations of Catholic voters, a contentious issue that has drawn an unprecedented amount of attention this election year.

A 15-year-old controversy surrounding the pro-life Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, abortion and depression took a prominent role in a recent congressional hearing on women's health. The incident served as a testament to the influence held by the prominent surgeon general and is a reminder that the question of a connection between abortion and depression remains much as it did way back in 1989.

The death of actor Christopher Reeve, a prominent advocate of human cloning and embryonic-destructive stem cell research, could be politically beneficial for Democrat presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry. But there are also signs that Catholic voters are increasingly turned off by Kerry's long litany of anti-life positions making it a possibility that Kerry would be hurt by trying to capitalize on the stem cell issue.

According to documents obtained by Culture & Cosmos, officials of the Dioceses of San Bernardino and La Crosse have instructed pastors and parish administrators not to allow the distribution of  "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics," published by Catholic Answers. With two weeks remaining before election day, the dioceses' actions are another episode in the political drama surrounding the question of the Catholic vote.

A diocesan attorney who instructed parish pastors not to distribute a pro-life voting guide has given thousands of dollars to pro-abortion candidates in state and national elections.

In no election since John F. Kennedy won the presidency in 1960 has the issue of Catholicism and politics received so much attention. A combination of a Catholic candidate, swing states with large Catholic populations, controversial voting guides and bishops speaking out loudly on the obligations of Catholic voting have all resulted in front-page stories and op-ed columns dealing with the Catholic vote in some of the nation's most prominent publications.

Months of speculation by pundits and campaign officials on which way the Catholic vote would go ended last Tuesday with Catholics favoring President George Bush in numbers significantly higher than four years ago when Bush ran against Al Gore. The election marks the first time a Catholic presidential candidate has not won the Catholic vote and Kerry's defeat among Catholics in the swing states of Ohio and Florida were key to Bush's victory.

Beginning this month some federal employees in Illinois have more choices when deciding on a health care plan, and one of the world's leading advocates for "choice" is unhappy about it.

After weeks of negotiations and wrangling Congress gave final approval over the weekend to a new comprehensive spending bill containing several key victories for the pro-life and pro-family cause. Republican leaders succeeded in including provisions preventing state governments from forcing health providers to perform abortions, substantially bolstered funding for abstinence education and increased funding to fight sex trafficking.

A member of the President's Council on Bioethics believes he may have found a way to obtain stem cells with the same potential as embryonic stem cells without creating or destroying a human embryo.

Today's rock and rap music provides a telling picture of the damage and destruction caused by divorce according to a controversial new book that examines the negative ramifications absent parents have on their children.

A group of prominent Canadians have announced the formation of formal effort to amend the Canadian constitution to protect traditional marriage. The announcement came on December 8, one day before the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that "same-sex marriage" would be constitutional. The creation of Enshrine Marriage Canada (EMC), coming immediately before the court's decision, is a clear signal that a vote in Canada's Parliament to nationalize gay "marriage" promises to be vigorous battle.

The controversial decision by Canada's Supreme Court to give their stamp of approval to same sex "marriage" continues to draw stiff criticism from defenders of traditional marriage. Those critics say judges and politicians run amok are imposing their own radical agenda on Canada and not giving Canadians a chance to weigh in on the marriage question.

The parents of a young woman whose death was linked to the abortion pill Mifeprex have filed suit against the drug's maker for wrongful death and product liability. Holly Patterson, who died at the age of 18 in September of 2003, is the third woman since the drug's 2000 approval to die in connection with taking Mifeprex.

The predictions found in Pope Paul VI's encyclical affirming the Catholic Church's constant teaching that artificial contraception is wrong have been confirmed by the social sciences which show that ignoring the Church doctrine on sex and marriage is harmful to individuals and society. These are the findings of a Nobel Prize winning social scientist.

A prestigious British medical journal calls recent headlines that claim research using embryonic stem cells will lead to cures for an almost unending number of diseases to be "sensationalist" and "hype" even though the journal favors embryo-destructive research. In an editorial in the June 4 edition titled "Stem cell research: hope and hype," The Lancet noted the findings of a recent meeting of researchers in London, also supportive of embryonic stem cell research, who found that, "no safe and effective stem cell therapy will be widely available for at least a decade, and possibly longer."

Since coming to Congress in 1994 and the Senate in 1996, Kansas Republican Sam Brownback has distinguished himself as one of the most stalwart defenders of human life while simultaneously developing a diverse legislative portfolio that includes efforts to defend religious freedom around the globe, to stop genocide in Darfur and even to build a museum honoring African-Americans on Washington DC's Mall.

A French study of 2,837 births found that women who had abortions were one and a half times as likely to have premature births in subsequent pregnancies as women who hadn't had abortions. The study found that the increase was especially significant for those women who had multiple abortions. The report also revealed that extremely premature deliveries had an especially high association with previous abortions. The study suggests that surgical abortions may cause damage to the cervix and uterus that increase the risk for premature birth.

At the Second Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, President Bush told an audience of 1,600 that included members of Congress, White House officials and prominent Church prelates that he is grateful for the "work American Catholic sons and daughters are doing for our nation" and praised Pope Benedict XVI saying that "Catholics and non-Catholics alike can take heart in the man who sits on the chair of St. Peter, because he speaks with affection about the American model of liberty rooted in moral conviction."

The President's Council on Bioethics recently released a report that called for the exploration of alternatives to destroying human embryos for stem cells. The report outlines four possible means for obtaining embryonic-like stem cells that the authors say have the potential to be "morally uncontroversial." The report coincides with the release of a US Conference of Catholic Bishops poll that reveals that by a margin of 40 percentage points most Americans prefer that tax-dollars be spent on adult stem cells and other alternatives to embryo destructive research.

A series of legislative proposals aimed at reducing abortions by 95 percent in the next 10 years was recently announced by pro-life Democrats at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. It is a move that may indicate the party is taking seriously recent polling data indicating the party's unwavering support for abortion to be politically damaging. But the proposal contains a provision that would require insurance companies to provide coverage for contraceptives. Such a provision could make it difficult for the proposal to gain the support of stalwart pro-life Republicans that it would need to gain passage.

The US federal department charged with enforcing the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, a statute making it illegal for babies who survive abortions to be left to die, has taken steps to ensure the law is enforced by committing itself to closely investigating possible violations and educating medical providers of their obligations under the statute. In an April 22 statement, Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), said his department had notified "relevant entities that we aggressively enforce federal laws that protect born-alive infants." He also said the agency would "take proactive steps to educate state officials, health care providers, hospitals and child protection agencies about their obligations to born-alive infants under federal law."

The German cardinal with the charge of defending Church orthodoxy for the last 23 years was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church today by the College of Cardinals. The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, known for his faithful adherence to Church teaching as well as his influential role at the Second Vatican Council, emerged as the new Pope on the famous Vatican balcony of St. Peter's Basilica after it was announced he would take the name of Benedict XVI. Culture of Life Foundation board member Father Joseph Fessio told CNN that the key to the name was not his predecessor, Pope Benedict XV, but St. Benedict, the co-patron of Europe and the founder of western monasticism.

A memo authored by a prominent Democratic strategy organization calls the decline in support of white Catholics for Democrats "striking" and "a big part of the 2004 election story." One of the analysis' key findings is that Catholic voters are becoming more pro-life which the authors called "a factor in the recent losses and one of the blockages for Democrats, at least in the Midwest." The data also reveals that young Catholics are more pro-life than their parents and that bishops who speak out against pro-abortion politicians help bolster the pro-life vote.

As a testament to Pope John Paul II's wide-ranging influence, President Bush will attend the Holy Father's funeral on Friday, the first time in American history that a president has attended a papal funeral and a symbol of the high esteem in which Bush holds the pontiff.

The prominence of the Terri Schiavo case has brought unprecedented media attention to the Catholic Church's teaching on end-of-life issues. But media portrayals of Church teaching are often inaccurate and misleading, according to two prominent Catholic ethicists.

A conference sponsored in part by the Culture of Life Foundation and held in Rome attracted 26 prominent scholars, philosophers, scientists and legal experts from around the world to address the issues surrounding stem cell research and human cloning.

A noted Catholic conservative has criticized the presidential hopes of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, by issuing a compilation of quotes revealing the mayor's position on a litany of issues including his support for civil unions for homosexuals and partial-birth abortion.

Pro-lifers scored their first major victory of the 109th Congress today when the Senate rejected an amendment to a bankruptcy bill that would have singled out pro-life protestors. The amendment, sponsored by New York Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer, would have made it against the law specifically for abortion activists to use bankruptcy to protect themselves from court ordered fines related to their activism.

Americans suffer from negative health effects brought on by their sexual conduct at a rate that is three times higher than other economically advanced countries according to a study published in Sexually Transmitted Infections. The study, "Sexual behaviour: related adverse health burden in the United States," is unique because it measures the health ramifications of sexual conduct by counting not only death and diseases but by examining other adverse health affects related to sex.

A United Nations declaration calling on nations to ban all forms of human cloning was praised by conservative political leaders and some insiders see it as a positive step in the ongoing efforts to pass a comprehensive ban on cloning in the US.

Robert P. George, a member of the Culture of Life Foundation's board of directors, will be one of four people awarded the prestigious Bradley Prize on Wednesday night at a black tie ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. George is joined by Ward Connerly, Heather McDonald and George Will, each of whom will receive a $250,000 prize.

The high toll of the sexual revolution on the lives of Americans was made apparent in a recently published study showing 1.3 percent of all American deaths to be caused by sexual behavior. The study, from the current edition of the medical journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, examined data from 1998 to determine the overall health burden caused by sexual activity in the US and found that women "bear a disproportionately high proportion" of the cost that comes with sexual liberation.

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback reintroduced a bill on Wednesday that requires abortionists to notify women who want abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy that their unborn baby can likely experience extreme pain.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is set to deploy the "nuclear option" of disallowing the filibuster if Democrats try to once again block President Bush's judicial nominees when they are brought to the floor again in mid to late February according to a former high-ranking aid to the senator.

A series of articles in the February Consumer Reports magazine rates condoms, hormonal birth control and many other forms of artificial contraception and also gives advice on abortion options where it refers to unborn humans as "uterine content." The article gives short shrift to abstinence and betrays a misunderstanding of natural family planning, a surprise given Consumer Reports' reputation of high credibility and thoroughness.

A letter from Cardinal William Keeler to members of the United States Senate could be the opening salvo in a campaign by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to defend the principle that support of abortion-rights should not be a litmus test to serve on the federal bench. According to the letter, "Insisting that judicial nominees support abortion throughout pregnancy is wrong. By any measure, support for the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is an impoverished standard for assessing judicial ability."

With a draft outcome document having been presented to countries this Monday, negotiations over the Millennium+5 Summit are intensifying. It is at this time that the Council of the European Union has released a document strongly supporting the integration of veiled references to legalized abortion in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and vowing to promote this agenda at September's Summit.

Recently Hillary Clinton has been joined by, among others, John Kerry and Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean in trying to make the case that draconian social and fiscal policies under Republican leadership are driving more poor women to resort to abortion. All this is part of the Democratic makeover that is supposed to lure significant voters in the middle come election time. The problem is, the statistics they quote don't withstand scrutiny

On April 14, abortion activists in Colombia mounted a monumental legal challenge to Colombia's total ban on abortion, claiming that international treaties establish abortion as a constitutional right in at least some cases. Colombia's constitution, just as the constitutions of several other countries including Germany, states that international human rights treaties ratified by Congress trump national laws and serve as guides in interpreting Colombia's constitution.

A three-day international conference of Muslim scholars that portrayed contraception and even abortion as acceptable to Islam wraps up today in Islamabad, Pakistan. The International Ulama Conference on Population and Development was the first of its kind, bringing together Muslim teachers to explore whether Islam could approve of family planning and "reproductive health" programs. The Conference was organized by Pakistan's Ministry of Population Welfare with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

If Europe's children and young adults (much like American children and young adults) had not been persuaded that certain levels of self-indulgence and, well, selfishness are natural and normal and in fact essential to social and psychological well-being, and that families without the wherewithal to support such self-indulgence are pitiable, then projections of demographic winter would belong to science fiction.

One of the most populous Catholic countries in the world is set to significantly liberalize its laws on family planning and "reproductive health" services, stopping just short of outright legalization of abortion. The proposed legislation, which is likely to pass within months, sets in place a "comprehensive national policy" that discriminates against families with more than two children and requires the Catholic Church to provide sex education in schools and to pay for the sterilizations of its employees.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its annual report on maternal mortality around the world. The report shows that the most important means of reducing maternal mortality is the presence of a skilled birth attendant with access to adequate emergency obstetrical care. The report contradicts UNFPA's earlier strategy of focusing on access to contraceptives and legalized abortion as the main means of reducing maternal mortality.

The German cardinal with the charge of defending Church orthodoxy for the last 23 years was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church today by the College of Cardinals. The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, known for his faithful adherence to Church teaching as well as his influential role at the Second Vatican Council, emerged as the new Pope on the famous Vatican balcony of St. Peter's Basilica after it was announced he would take the name of Benedict XVI. Culture of Life Foundation board member Father Joseph Fessio told CNN that the key to the name was not his predecessor, Pope Benedict XV, but St. Benedict, the co-patron of Europe and the founder of western monasticism.

On the long lists of dragons slain and giants toppled that have been proffered over the past two weeks as evidence that our late pope should enter history with the sobriquet "the Great," one triumph has gone strangely unmentioned and unheralded, and that is his victory over the international forces intent on using the United Nations to create an international right to abortion on demand.

"Are all these yours?" It's a rude question that mothers of large families hear frequently while waiting in line at the supermarket. Rather than dole out lectures on the wonders of sterilization, these self-appointed population monitors should be made aware that without large families the chances of maintaining Social Security and similar programs are slim.

Gays are learning what straights mean by 'till death do us part.' And it looks like the honeymoon for same sex marriage is over.