JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: Senior US cardinal laments the silence of Catholics on pro-life, pro-family issues

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Senior US cardinal laments the silence of Catholics on pro-life, pro-family issues

Cardinal Raymond Burke, the most senior US cardinal and head of the Catholic Church's highest court, has lamented the silence of Catholics on pro-life and pro-family issues. In an interview he said: "There is far too much silence — people do not want to talk about [issues such as same-sex marriage] because the topic is not ‘politically correct. But we cannot be silent any longer or we will find ourselves in a situation that will be very difficult to reverse." He said that pro-abortion politicians must be denied Holy Communion, honours by Catholic universities and public Catholic funerals. [LifeSiteNews.com, 19 September]

Other stories:

Abortion

Pro-abortion journalist argues that sex-selective is a woman's right [Guardian, 19 September]
Abortion, same-sex unions are "diseases" which represent the "pseudo-values" of a "teenage" world, says Catholic patriarch of Ukraine [Religious Information Service of Ukraine, 19 September]

Euthanasia

BBC accused of ’bias’ in favour of assisted suicide [Telegraph, 21 September]
Queensland Australia will not legalize euthanasia [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 20 September]

Embryology

Profile of Indian surrogacy centre used by British couples [Telegraph, 21 September]
Boys born by ‘three-parent’ IVF therapy face fertility and health risks, says study [Times, 20 September]

General

London South Bank University student leafleting: the message must not be silenced [SPUC youth blog, 20 September]
Queen Mary University of London: opposition and hope [SPUC youth blog, 19 September]

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
Sign up for alerts to new blog-posts and/or for SPUC's other email services
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.