JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: Catholics and pro-lifers worldwide receive leadership from Africa's bishops

Tuesday, 21 July 2015

Catholics and pro-lifers worldwide receive leadership from Africa's bishops

Culture of Life Africa, an international, Africa-centred, pro-life group is doing simply amazing work in Africa - as are the Catholic bishops in Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and many other nations. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is proud of our association with their work.

As a Catholic, I am proud of the pro-life leadership being shown by Catholic bishops in Africa for the following reason ... they are showing themselves to be true shepherds of the universal flock of Catholics and the worldwide pro-life, pro-family movement in their prophetic opposition to abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage ideology being imposed on our children, and population control. This is happening at a time of unprecedented confusion evident at the highest levels in the Catholic Church.

Earlier this month, for example, the Catholic bishops conference of Nigeria issued a powerful resounding statement in the wake of the Irish referendum which had accepted same-sex marriage by popular vote and the US Supreme Court decision which had ruled that there is a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry, which no state may deny. The Nigerian bishops wrote:

“Accepting this western trend by officially endorsing homosexual unions or “same-sex marriage” will be devastating and detrimental to our nation, Nigeria as it will lead to the inevitable deconstruction of the family and the society at large with other serious but negative implications.”

Watch this great video from Cameroon illustrating the pro-life message of the Catholic Archdiocese of Douala, Cameroon, as well as Culture of Life Africa, led by Obianuju Ekeocha (Uju for short) and supported by French-speaking, North East England based, Jean Fleron. SPUC was grateful to be invited by Culture of Life Africa to make a modest donation to their extraordinary, outstandingly generous, pro-life work in Africa, the good consequences of which are experienced by people and nations around the world.

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk

Follow SPUC on Twitter

Like SPUC's Facebook Page

Please support SPUC. Please donate, join, and/or leave a legacy

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.