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By Patrick B Craine, LifeSite News

This week the pro-life community celebrated the life of the great Dr. Bernard Nathanson, famed for his dramatic conversion from a leading abortionist to a stalwart and outspoken advocate for children in the womb.

Dr. Nathanson’s passing reminds us of the powerful testimony of the dozens of doctors who have left the squalor of their abortion facilities and committed themselves to life-giving and authentic health care.

Dr. John Bruchalski is one of these doctors. A former abortionist in his ob/gyn residency, the 50-year-old Virginia native has now become a leading light in pro-life medicine. Through his unique Tepeyac Family Center, one of the largest free-standing pro-life medical practices in the country, Dr. Bruchalski’s team offers a safe haven for women in crisis pregnancies, spreading hope through authentic health care that respects the natural processes of the woman’s body, the right to life of the unborn child, and the eternal end of the mother’s soul.

“How do you combine the best of modern medicine with the healing presence of Jesus Christ? That’s what we’re about,” he told LifeSiteNews.

Read here

By Peter Saunders, CMF

The Church of England Evangelical Council has published a statement on marriage which is well worthy of study.

The St Matthias Day Statement (14 May 2012) is an update of the 1995 St Andrew’s Day Statement on homosexuality and seeks to help Anglicans understand their church’s teaching in the area of marriage and sexual relationships and its relevance today.

It does so by providing a five-fold summary of that teaching based in Scripture and Anglican tradition under the following headings:

1 – God’s love and call to love
2 – God’s Word and Church
3 – God’s gift of marriage
4 – God’s grace and call to holiness
5 – God’s people united in and by God’s word

As would be expected the statement takes a very high view of Scripture and is unambiguous about taking the whole of Scripture seriously.

I was particularly struck by the principles in section 2 which need far wider promulgation, especially 2b which addresses a major heresy in the church today.

The essential flaw of this heresy is that it tries to affirm ‘God is Love’ (I John 4:8) whilst ignoring ‘This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments’ (I John 5:3).

The commandment to love our neighbours (Exodus 19:18) cannot be used to justify sexual sin.

Read here

by Steve Doughty, Mailonline

• Research found children from broken homes did worse regardless of how much state support is given
• International study singled out the British welfare state as an example of failure

The welfare state has little or no bearing on how children turn out, an international research project has found.

Strong families are the key to producing well adjusted and successful youngsters, it adds.

In fact, say the researchers, the children of married parents are likely to do better than those from broken or single-parent families – no matter how much state support the family is given.

The study singled out the British welfare state as an example of the failure of state support to make a difference to the lives and success of children.

The findings, published in the US in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, come in the wake of David Cameron’s announcement of free parenting classes and relationship support sessions, and a £3.4million website which will give tips on every aspect of child rearing. 
 
Critics have called the spending a waste, saying that parents have always understood naturally how to bring up children and that a stable family is far more important to a child.

Read here

Daily Mail Comment: In hugely significant research, academics have concluded that the State can provide no substitute for a child growing up in an ‘intellectually stimulating, nurturing and physically safe’ two parent family.

Most tellingly, they say that – regardless of the ‘strength of the welfare state’ – children with a single parent are far more likely to suffer from behaviour problems.

What a great pity, then, that the Prime Minister is more interested in spending millions on a gimmicky, nannying website which offers tips to parents than he is in standing up for the traditional family.

If Mr Cameron, who of course favours gay marriage, really is serious about building a stronger society he will – finally – honour his oft-made promise to recognise heterosexual marriage in the tax system.
 
 

From AAC

I wish to touch on a few items of note that are occurring within the American Episcopal Church, also known as TEC, and then one item from the UK. Some of our readers and AAC supporters are within TEC parishes and dioceses, and these items should be of concern to them. For the rest who are outside of TEC, either in the larger Anglican world or simply interested bystanders, it is still important to keep tabs on what TEC is up to, since they export their doctrine and practice everywhere that their money can buy.

TEC's Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) commissioned a report from the research department of the Church Pension Group with regard to a revision of TEC's last hymnal, the 1982 version. They found some surprising results in regard to the attitude of different age groups. The most resistant group to revising the current hymnal are those under 29 years of age, and this by a significant margin. The SCLM report noted on page 57 that, "Respondents in their twenties and younger are statistically different than the rest of the respondents, reporting the least interest in desiring worship music to reflect their personal musical tastes." They further note, "This proves counter (emphasis mine) to the "common knowledge" theory that younger congregants are looking for a more modern or popular-music experience at church." A related finding was that those "whose age is significantly above or below 50 are less likely to support revision [of the hymnal]. Middle-aged Episcopalians are more supportive of revision than younger and older Episcopalians."

Read here

By Jeanne Smits, LifeSite News

Dismantling of the family, attacks against parental rights and times of trouble for faith-based, mainly Catholic schools are looming large in French politics since France’s new socialist president, François Hollande, took over office from Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday morning at the Elysée, in Paris.

Government nominations, as well as Hollande’s inaugural speeches, are making it clear that ideological choices have been made and can be expected to be implemented in the near future. The discussion of a law instituting gay “marriage” has been announced for the Fall by the new Family minister – that is, if the French legislative elections in June vote in a socialist majority, which is considered likely.

Hollande’s first public act after the official investiture ceremonies at the Elysée Palace in Paris, on Tuesday, was to drive over to the nearby Tuileries gardens to pay tribute to the founder of the French state school system, Jules Ferry, whose monument was erected there in 1910 by the secularist “Ligue de l’enseignement” (League of Education).

The timing and the symbolism of this first presidential act was seen as a clear indicator that Hollande aims to intensify the role of the state in education and to step up control over what remains of the private school sector.

Read here

By Ben Johnson, LifeSite News

Twenty years ago, Japan seemed poised to displace the United States as the world’s economic superpower. Now, it is fast approaching a nation with no future – one that an economics professor estimates will have no children under the age of 15 in 1,000 years.

“Japan’s fertility is lowest among developed countries,” Professor Hiroshi Yoshida told LifeSiteNews.com.

Professor Yoshida, who teaches the Economics of Aging at the Graduate School of Economics and Management in Tohoku University in Sendai, has developed an online clock that counts down the number of children under the age of 15 remaining in the island nation.

It shows there are 280,000 fewer children in Japan in this year than in 2011.

If these trends continue, that means in 364,875 days, there will be no children left.

Read here

By Ben Johnson, LifeSite News

If homosexual activists have their way, Bristol Palin will not be dancing with the stars; she’ll be swimming with the fishes.

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, LifeSite News

The Moscow city government has declined to issue a permit for a “gay pride” parade for the seventh year in a row, defying a European Court of Human Rights ruling against the city in 2010 that resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

Promising that he would “appeal in the Tverskoi court on Monday,” homosexual activist Nikolai Alexeyev added that “we’ll hold the rally in any case.”

In previous years activists have sought to defy the ban on their marches, but have been quickly arrested or dispersed by police.

The homosexualist website Gay Russia reports that the Moscow government responded to this year’s petition by stating that such a march would cause “a negative reaction in society.”

“In the opinion of the citizens, activities associated with the discussion of sexual relations, open to public areas, is a provocation, causing moral harm to children and adolescents” the government stated, and added that such marches “insult the religious and moral sense” of the citizens and portray “abject and dehumanizing conditions.”

Read here

Focusing our prayers:

That the Church of England may continue to reflect the diversity of the Body of Christ:

Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27

Read more here

From Culture War Victory Fund

Thursday in Memphis, the town where Rev. Martin Luther King gave his life for civil rights, a group of black church leaders, many of whom marched with Rev. King, met to make a stand on marriage.

More than a dozen pastors and civil rights leaders called on Pres. Obama to reverse his decision and to tell him gay marriage is hijacking the civil rights movement.
 
“I marched for civil rights and I can tell you: I did not march one inch, one foot, one yard, one mile for same-sex marriage,” said Rev. Bill Owens. “No right is a civil right if it’s not square with God.” (Bill Owens is also a liason to black churches for the National Organization for Marriage.)

The pastors, part of the Coalition for African-American Pastors, released a statement signed by major leaders of the black church–including Bishop George McKinney, who is on the governing board of the Church of God in Christ, the largest black Pentecostal denomination, and the fifth largest Christian denomination in our nation.

They announced a new campaign to gather 100,000 Signatures for Marriage, going church to church to fight for the heart and soul of the black church.

Read here

We are urging customers across the globe to 'Dump Starbucks' because it has taken a corporate-wide position that the definition of marriage between one man and one woman should be eliminated and that same-sex marriage should become equally 'normal'. As such, Starbucks has deeply offended at least half its US customers, and the vast majority of its international customers.

Sign petition here

The Marriage Foundation, which was launched at Middle Temple Hall on 1st May, has published its first newsletter.  This can be downloaded via this link.

During the launch reception,Paul Coleridge told the audience that: “The most important single feature in the healthy and happy development of children is the stable and healthy relationship of the parents. Despite the glossy magazine image of a so-called happy marriage, it does not fall from the sky ready made onto the beautiful people in white linen suits. No, it is hewn out of the rock of human stubbornness and selfishness, with cold chisels and day by day, over the lifetime of the relationship. It involves endless hard work, compromise, forgiveness and love. It is often held together with string and rusty nails but it is, in the end, beautiful and, like everything which is really worthwhile, it is worth the investment.”

The audience was addressed by, among others, Lord Sacks, theChief Rabbi who said: “It is marriage that makes the greatest difference to the prospects, the life chances of our children. . . The breakdown of marriage carries with it not just a financial cost, not just a social cost, but a human and psychological cost. The greatest way of endowing our children with happiness is to give them the opportunity to form a stable and loving relationship with the two people who brought them into being.”

Read the rest of this entry »

By Bible Society, Christian Post

By Francis Wong, Christian Today

The Anglican and Catholic churches agreed to deepen their dialogue on moral decision making after an international meeting held in Hong Kong last week.

The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) met for the second time in this third phase of talks at the Hong Kong offices of the Mission to Seafarers – an ecumenical project supported by the Anglicans, the Catholics and the Lutherans.

A communiqué issued after the meeting said the Commission is preparing case studies in three ethical areas to facilitate the mutual understanding of Anglicans and Catholics.

These include matters that once seemed settled but which have come to be viewed quite differently by both traditions, such as the issue of slavery; issues on which Anglican and Roman Catholic teaching is at variance, such as divorce and contraception; and evolving issues, such as the theology of work and the economy.

The Commission plans “to share its developing work with joint meetings of bishops and with local and regional dialogues between Anglicans and Roman Catholics”.

Read here

From the Church of England website

The Bishop of Gloucester the Rt Revd Michael Perham and the Bishop of Carlisle the Rt Revd James Newcome have been voted onto the Crown Nominations Commission, CNC, the body that will nominate the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

This result of the vote by the House of Bishops completes the make-up of the 16 member voting body of the CNC *which will meet for the first time later this month.

The Most Reverend and Rt Hon Rowan Williams. Dr Williams announced in March that he will stand down on 31 December 2012. He will take up the position of Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

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By Eric Metaxas

Crime against the State?

Yesterday I read an article about a street preacher arrested in a northern English village. His crime? When responding to a woman's question, he listed homosexual behavior among a list of things contrary to the Word of God. He wasn't combative or loud, but a nearby policeman — who happened to be gay — overheard him and the preacher, a Baptist in his early forties, was promptly arrested for causing "harassment, alarm or distress" contrary to Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

Adolf Hitler may have failed to bring fascism to England, but when reading about incidents like this, we have to wonder how much they needed his help. Incidentally, this event took place on April 20th, Hitler's birthday. This struck me as disturbingly apt and as I thought about it, I couldn't help wonder: "What would Dietrich Bonhoeffer do?"

I've been asking this question a lot lately. That's probably because I've written a biography of Bonhoeffer (Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy) and I can't get him out of my mind. But part of the reason I wrote the book in the first place was to get others to ask the same question.

Those who have gone before

To some Christians the idea of asking anything but "What would Jesus do?" is blasphemous. But God wants us to look at the lives of those who have gone before us — whom the writer of the book of Hebrews called that "great cloud of witnesses" — who have run the race of faith successfully. That's an important part of how we learn what it is to live the Christian life. We need to see other Christians in action, to see what the Christian faith looks like when it’s lived out in difficult circumstances by others. And when we need to see how we should deal with persecution amidst encroaching fascism, Bonhoeffer is the best role model there is.

Read here

by Susan Brinkmann, Catholic Education Resource Center

By Michael Cook, MercatorNet