Colombian Senate overwhelmingly rejects homosexual ‘marriage’ | LifeSiteNews.com

The following excerpts are from LifeSiteNews.com:

• The Senate of Colombia voted down a bill to create homosexual "marriage" yesterday by an overwhelming majority of 51-17, with 32 senators either not present or abstaining.
• The defeat of the bill means that it will not pass to the lower Chamber of Deputies, and is effectively dead.  However, the country is rapidly approaching a deadline set by the Constitutional Court in a July 2011 ruling requiring homosexual couples to be given benefits similar to those associated with marriage.
• The defeat followed days of growing protests outside of the Senate building, with demonstrators chanting "I won't shut up, I won't shut up, marriage is between a man and a woman!"

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Colombian Senate overwhelmingly rejects homosexual ‘marriage’ | LifeSiteNews.com

Vatican newspaper raps 'divisive' French push to legalize same-sex marriage : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• L’Osservatore Romano has criticized French President Francois Hollande for pushing forward with legal recognition of same-sex marriage despite popular protests.

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Vatican newspaper raps 'divisive' French push to legalize same-sex marriage : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Hey Obama, Kermit Gosnell Is What a Real War on Women Looks Like | LifeNews.com

The following excerpts are from LifeNews.com:

• At nearly six weeks, the Gosnell trial has something in common with its unborn victims: it has a heartbeat now, and not just in the conservative press. The story is pulsing through the mainstream media, as alive as it’s ever been in the two years since Kermit Gosnell’s conviction. For once, the bloodcurdling accounts–so otherworldly that Snopes had to separate it from urban legend–are receiving the attention the pro-abortion press never wanted to give it.
• Of course, now that the media has been shamed into doing its job, a handful of reporters can’t help but try to spread the blame around. Taking its cues from Gosnell apologists like NARAL, outlets like Slate, The Atlantic, and Huffington Post have the audacity to condemn pro-lifers for the clinic’s barbarism. If women were forced to go to Gosnell, they claim, then they were “driven there by fear of anti-abortion protestors outside Planned Parenthood facilities.” Others insist that conservatives are exploiting the crimes “to further reduce access to safe, legal abortion,” which, if you’ve read the Delaware news, is a far cry from what Planned Parenthood has been offering.

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Hey Obama, Kermit Gosnell Is What a Real War on Women Looks Like | LifeNews.com

Head of Pro-Abortion Group Pleads Guilty to Arranging Sex With Child | LifeNews.com

The following excerpts are from LifeNews.com:

• The former director of a leading abortion advocacy group who was caught in a child sex sting pleaded guilty to his crimes.
• Scott Richard Swirling, who was the director of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), was arrested for attempting to arrange for a sexual encounter with a twelve-year-old girl. He was charged with traveling across state lines to engage in illicit sexual conduct, a crime which carries a penalty of up to 30 years.
• Swirling pleaded guilty to traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and faces a maximum sentence of 30 years as well as a fine of up to $250,000, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
• Swirling entered the guilty plea in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable John D Bates is to sentence him on July 11, 2013.

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Head of Pro-Abortion Group Pleads Guilty to Arranging Sex With Child | LifeNews.com

Cardinal Wuerl supports college chaplain against homosexual critics : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC, has signaled his full support for a priest who had been the object of protests by homosexual activists.
• Celebrating Mass at George Washington University, Cardinal Wuerl expressed his approval of Father Greg Shaffer, the campus chaplain. The cardinal said that he was on campus to “stand in solidarity with a good priest.”

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Cardinal Wuerl supports college chaplain against homosexual critics : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Priest pleads for international assistance as Syrian refugees overwhelm Lebanon : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• The number of refugees who have fled Syria for Lebanon has surged to 1.2 million and threatens to overwhelm Lebanese institutions, according to the president of Caritas Lebanon.
• “Please listen to the suffering of the Syrian people inside Syria and around in the neighboring countries, especially in Lebanon. Lebanon has four million inhabitants; we are hosting 1.2 million Syrian people....

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Priest pleads for international assistance as Syrian refugees overwhelm Lebanon : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

N.C. Governor Proposes Closing State Trooper Dispatch Office In Asheville

The area of the map shaded in light yellow, shows the area from Asheville to Hickory, which is a distance of just over 77 miles.

Attention all who live or travel in Western North Carolina. North Carolina Governor Pat McRory has proposed closing dispatch offices of the North Carolina State Troopers (Highway Patrol), including the dispatch office on Tunnel Road in Asheville. The dispatching of state troopers for Western North Carolina would then come from Hickory, North Carolina. This can result in dangerous and potentially life threatening situations for travellers due to the inevitable delays in dispatching state troopers throughout the western part of the state.

Please contact your representatives in the state house and senate, by either email or telephone, and tell them you oppose the closing of the Asheville dispatch office of the North Carolina State Troopers. You may find your representatives contact information by clicking this link, and after finding his or her name in the list, click on their name for the contact info.

You can do the same for your state senator by clicking this link.

You can also contact the Office of the Governor by clicking this link and clicking "Email Pat"or by calling (919) 733-5811. You can also Fax the Office of the Governor at (919) 733-2120/

From The Dignitatis Humanae Institute: West responds with indifference as rioters murder Egyptian Christians in their own Cathedral

Note: The following is a press release from The Dignitatis Humanae Institute

Rome, 12 April 2013

Following the deadliest sectarian violence seen in months, the Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, has publically decried the record of President Morsi and his Egyptian government for failing to safeguard Christian communities from repeated hate attacks.

Tawadros II comments came after two incidents in Cairo saw at least five Christians murdered and up to a hundred injured. Funeral mourners at St Mark's Coptic Cathedral were set upon as they tried to leave the Church grounds, attacked with weapons ranging from stones to molotov cocktails and automatic firearms. It took security forces five hours to arrive on the scene, and only after the bloodshed had occurred.

The public rebuke from Tawadros II, the first directly attacking President Morsi, demonstrates the despair with the lack of political will, domestic and international, to recognise the gravity of these repeated persecutions and to take the necessary steps to safeguard Christian communities. Instead, the ruling Muslim Brotherhood has demonstrated a casual indifference towards the plight of the 8 million citizens that make up the Christian community of Egypt.

Christians have long been a persecuted minority in Egypt, yet what little protections that existed under the previous regime have now been swept aside by mob rule and unchecked spates of violence. Such a drift has been seen across the Mena region, with the initial optimism of the Arab Spring now giving way to a Christian Winter. Instead of emerging democracies, the domestic upheaval has led to a resurgence of Salafist fundamentalism. Increasingly, Christian people in predominantly Muslim nations are being harassed and terrorised to the point of seeking emigration.

In support of Tawadros II remarks, Lord Alton, Honorary President of the British Coptic Association and Chairman of the Cross-Party Working Group on Human Dignity, stated:

"When Mohamed Morsi was first elected, after 29 years of Mubarak's dictatorial rule, he was entrusted with a unique and brief opportunity to overturn a history of religious discrimination in Egypt; and indeed he pledged to do so.

As Pope Tawadros II has stated today, the negligence of the Egyptian government demands actions not more words. Any further financial aid to Egypt should be contingent on a notable increase in the state protection afforded to the Christian minority. The international community cannot continue bankrolling President Morsi whilst remaining indifferent to the failings of his government in its primary purpose, to protect its people from harm."    

The Dignitatis Humanae Institute aims to uphold human dignity based on the anthropological truth that man is born in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate human dignity of infinite worth to be upheld. The Institute promotes this understanding by supporting Christians in public life, assisting them to present effective and coherent responses to increasing efforts to silence the Christian voice in the public square.

Vatican conference aims to advance public understanding of adult stem-cell research : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• The Vatican has invited journalists to attend a conference on the medical use of adult stem cells, noting the importance of providing the public with adequate information about the latest developments in this field.
• The conference, which will be held in the Synod Hall at the Vatican from April 11 to 13, will continue the Vatican’s partnership with the NeoStem firm and the Stem for Life Foundation in the quest to advance stem-cell research while using ethically acceptable means.

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Vatican conference aims to advance public understanding of adult stem-cell research : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

[You can also read the latest Vatican News from the Vatican Information Service on our blog here]

Contraceptive mandate goes into full effect August 1, Sebelius says : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• With the allotted period for public comments coming to an end, the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has indicated that a mandate requiring contraceptive coverage in health-care programs will go into full effect on August 1.

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Contraceptive mandate goes into full effect August 1, Sebelius says : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

States Should Follow North Dakota Stopping Abortions on Down Syndrome Kids | LifeNews.com

The following excerpts are from LifeNews.com:

• North Dakota recently enacted first-of-its-kind legislation: a bill prohibiting abortion when it is performed solely on the basis of a genetic abnormality of the unborn child. The provision was enacted along with a prohibition on abortion based solely on the sex of the unborn child. Both provisions are significant strides toward protecting the unborn against violent discrimination.
• Persons with genetic abnormalities are a prime target in the womb—oftentimes based upon inaccurate medical data. While state and federal laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibit discrimination against persons with genetic abnormalities, that protection was not afforded to such persons before they are born.
• North Dakota became the first state to stand in the gap for these unborn children. House Bill 1305—signed into law by Governor Jack Dalrymple—prohibits abortion providers from performing abortions sought solely because the child has a genetic abnormality. 

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States Should Follow North Dakota Stopping Abortions on Down Syndrome Kids | LifeNews.com