Life>

Genocide and Extreme Poverty:
Quotes from the Social Teachings

Sudan- cauldron of tragedy
Sudan is the largest African country- about a quarter of the size of the USA- and one of the most diverse on the continent. The diversity is not confined merely to the landscape, ranging from deserts to mountain ranges, swamps and rain forests, but it also extends to the inhabitants: Sudan's people comprise 597 ethnic groups who speak more than 400 different languages and dialects and represent various religions.

Darfur Aid Workers Inhibited by Militias
ABATA, Sudan, APRIL 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- While people living in displacement camps now have access to basic services, remote co mmunities in Darfur have received little humanitarian assistance because of continued security threats to aid workers.

California HMO doctors say it's OK to kill patients
SACRAMENTO, MARCH 22, 2007 - If suicide becomes a medical treatment alternative to care for the dying, it is easy to understand the financial advantages to hospitals, HMO's and MediCal. A fifty-dollar prescription is a lot cheaper than providing proper care.

Rally Photos: Pickets against AB 374
Los Angeles and Sacramento, Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Assisted suicide legislation threatens lives of poor and vulnerable
Proposed "medical treatment" redefines value of life
The making physician-assisted suicide a "medical treatment" is a serious threat to how people understand the value of human life and literally will put pressure on the poor and most vulnerable to end their lives early. What is being sold today as a "right to die" can easily become a responsibility to die.

Jan. 10, 2007 - With the U.S. House of Representatives rushing to require research that results in the death of human beings in their embryonic stage of life, a new report was published announcing a research breakthrough indicating a morally acceptable alternative supply of pluripotent stem cells is available and can be obtained from amniotic fluid. However the publication of the information has been apparently delayed for as long as seven years.

Stem Cell Research is Good - Except When It Involves Killing a Human Being
By William B. May
It is that simple. Stem cell research is a good and it is moral according to Catholic social teachings. Many cures have been discovered through research on stem cells taken from umbilical cords or from fully developed persons. What makes stem cell research immoral is the fact that it sometimes requires killing a living human being.Listening to commentators on radio and TV argue about whether Michael J. Fox exaggerated his Parkinson's disease symptoms to gain sympathy for embryonic stem cell research is very frustrating. Whether or not he did, the real problem is that he is confusing the issue, and misleading the public, and it is important to understand how.

Teaching on Suicide and Euthanasia
Excerpted from Gospel of Life

Pope: During Lent Become Aware of Dangers Against Elderly
As California is facing the threat of physician assisted suicide legislation, it is prophetic that the Holy Father has called on the faithful to use this Lenten period as a time of reflection on growing treats to the elderly and disabled in this culture of death.