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Advocates For Terri to Appear on Fox News Tonight! Tonight Dr. Bill Hammesfahr, a doctor specializing in the treatment of stroke and brain injuries, will appear on the Hannity & Colmes program. Dr. Hammesfahr has testified at various hearings for Terri, stating that he believes that Terri is not in a Persistent Vegetative State. At the press conference last Friday, he explained that Terri is able to move her limbs on command, and that she can swallow. This, of course, flatly contradicts the opinions of the doctors who testified for the husband. Dr. Hammesfahr has come to these conclusions after...

To put it bluntly, I have a few reservations about canon 1398. “A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication,” the canon states. Please do not mistake my reservations as support for abortion. In no way do I condone this intrinsically evil act, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches “is gravely contrary to the moral law” as well as an “abominable crime” (2271). Yet my experience in ministry has taught me that most women who abort their child act under some sort of emotional, mental and/or psychological duress. Despite what many feminists claim, I...

I found a great t-shirt while surfing the web over the weekend. It said, “Guns don’t kill people, abortion kills people.” I hope it arrives in time for my parents’ next visit. You see, my mom is a civil lawyer, a feminist and a Canadian. By contrast, I am a canon lawyer, a traditional Catholic and a legal resident of the United States. To the chagrin of my father, also a lawyer, bickering over gun control or abortion is a favorite past-time when talking to my mother. While going another round over the phone with mom the other day, she...

I found a great t-shirt while surfing the web over the weekend. It said, “Guns don’t kill people, abortion kills people.” I hope it arrives in time for my parents’ next visit. You see, my mom is a civil lawyer, a feminist and a Canadian. By contrast, I am a canon lawyer, a traditional Catholic and a legal resident of the United States. To the chagrin of my father, also a lawyer, bickering over gun control or abortion is a favorite past-time when talking to my mother. While going another round over the phone with mom the other day, she...

Q. Since you are the first French priest ordained for the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, were you close to Archbishop Lefebvre? How did he inspire you? A. Yes, I was close to Archbishop Lefebvre. I knew him well and I strongly appreciated him. He was so cordial, pleasant, a great prelate, but humble, simple, thoughtful for those who surrounded him. He had heart. It was difficult to not love him. He had a magnetic per- Fr. Aulagnier meets with Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos and Bishop Rifan. sonality. I knew him while during my seminary days at Santa Chiara, the...

While contemplating my discomfort over the Ontario election, I came across Steve Martinovich's following statement: "Unfortunately for conservatives, Eves seems less than willing to carry on this revolution of tax cuts, fiscal responsibility and business friendly policies which have fostered economic growth and job creation. [...] Should I reward someone who seems to be abandoning the policies of Harris or should I help hand McGuinty victory by staying home. Does it matter?" I know the feeling. Ann Coulter once remarked about swing voters: "I like to refer to them as the idiot voters because they don't have set philosophical principles....

Dear Friends, I'm writing to update you on an important development in the Church in the U.S. -- I'd like you to be a part of this initiative. Next Monday, September 8, I will be in Washington, D.C., for a special meeting of about forty Catholic lay leaders as well as Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington and Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Bishops' Conference. This meeting will be a unique opportunity for us to personally voice our questions, concerns about problems, and recommendations for improving the situation in the Church directly to these key bishops. The architect of...

Dear Friends, I'm writing to update you on an important development in the Church in the U.S. -- I'd like you to be a part of this initiative. Next Monday, September 8, I will be in Washington, D.C., for a special meeting of about forty Catholic lay leaders as well as Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington and Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Bishops' Conference. This meeting will be a unique opportunity for us to personally voice our questions, concerns about problems, and recommendations for improving the situation in the Church directly to these key bishops. The architect of...

The experience was typical of most of my previous experiences growing up in Canada under socialized healthcare. After a three-and-half-hour wait in a small room overcrowded with sick children, we finally saw the lone doctor on staff that evening. The examination room was nowhere as spacious as what I had become accustomed to in the United States, and even more tellingly, nowhere nearly as well equipped. Unlike my previous experiences growing up in Canada, now that I had tasted American healthcare both the wait and the quality of service seemed unbearable. In the United States, I have never waited longer...

In his ESR editorial last week, James Antle called for a broad discussion concerning recent attempts to redefine marriage. "That's why this discussion must be about more than politics," he writes. "We are not just thinking of ourselves – we are thinking about how future generations will be raised and shaping the institutions that will mold them." Antle raises an excellent point. This debate is not merely over individual rights and freedoms, but about the well-being of children as well. As a canon lawyer working full-time within a Catholic marriage tribunal, I see almost daily how marriage impacts both future...

Less than two months ago, Prime Minister Jean Chretien was assuring Canadians that the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada would not lead to religious persecution. Various religious bodies in Canada would be permitted to continue holding and teaching their beliefs. My how things changed have changed over the summer. According to a recent article in the Globe and Mail, Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe of the Diocese of Sault Ste Marie is now under attack by some among Canada's political and social elite. Why? Because he had the audacity to take the Prime Minister at his word and clarify Catholic teaching...

I read something on a Catholic message board the other that chilled my blood. The mother of one of a cognitively challenged brother in Christ had posted my piece "Special Love for Special Children" to the board, letting others know about the work of the Order of Alhambra does among God's special children. Nothing unusual about that. Nevertheless, one of the homosexual activists (at least it appears that way) on the list replied: "If I had Down's Syndrome, I would hope that my parents would have the good sense to abort me because I could not lead a productive life."...

I was two-hundred miles from New York City when the terrorists struck the World Trade Center. I never thought I would live throught another event that would so affect the psyche of a nation. And yet, for our American readership, this is exactly what has happened this week as Canada legalizes homosexual marriages. I spent a good part of the evening talking to various friends from back home – friends from among the Church hierarchy as well as those within the Catholic apologetics and pro-life community. The legalization of so-called homosexual marriages is the only topic on our mind right...

Statement by the Permanent Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Marriage understood as the lasting union of a man and woman to the exclusion of others pre-exists the State. Because it pre-exists the State and because it is fundamental for society, the institution of marriage cannot be modified, whether by the Charter of Rights, the State or a court of law. Enlarging and thereby altering the definition of marriage in order to include same-sex partners discriminates against marriage and the family, and deprives them of social and legal recognition as the fundamental and irreplaceable basis of society. Permanent...

So while surfing the internet the other day, I dropped by Catholic-Legate.com to check in on the gang back home. Rather than make me feel homesick, however, what I read at the website simply made me feel sick. I now live in America and the majority of The Wanderer’s readership is American. Under the present circumstances, this is a good thing since it affords me the protection of the First Amendment. Yet as one of Canada’s most popular websites of Catholic apologetics, Catholic-Legate enjoys no such protection. For if Canada’s political institutions get their way, Catholic-Legate could soon become one...

[JP=John Pacheco; RS=Robert Sungenis] RS: As for Assisi being justified by DH, first, apparently you have had a major shift in thinking since the last time we talked about this less than a year ago, and second, would you mind telling me what statement in DH supports the idea that Catholics are to direct pagans to pray to their gods for world peace? I hope, John, that since you offered DH as the justification, that you won't be tempted to dismiss my inquiry with a "I don't want to get into a discussion right now" kind of statement. If you...

In the past week or two, even some of the most hardened traditionalists I know have complained about SSPX Bishop Williamson's latest monthly letter, in which he appears to take a very firm stand against the possibility of an SSPX reconciliation. Here's an excerpt: Even if these Romans were to speak exactly the same language as the SSPX still, by their modernist religion, they would not be meaninq the same things. Therefore the "reconciliation" would be verbal, not real, and the SSPX would have lost the protection of its present marginalization. This does not appear to be much different than...

If there is one element which unites the liturgical atmosphere of the Western Church at this present time, it is unfortunately that of conflict. More unfortunate is that this conflict is not absent amongst those who could be allies by reason of their mutual love of the Church and her traditions. Although both the Reform of the Reform and the Ecclesia Dei movement express concern over the present state of Catholic liturgy in the West, in the past much misunderstanding has arisen between these two schools of liturgical thought which has contributed to tensions between them. However, this need not...

Linux shouldn't work. It's an operating system designed by hackers, the kind of people who can give you detailed plot synopses of every "Star Trek" episode. The "official" releases of the OS are really just releases of the kernel, the basic core of the system. Other companies and groups assemble drivers, programs, interfaces, etc., and package them all together in distributions, which are free to the public. You can view and modify the Linux source code, if you're into that kinky stuff. Microsoft would spend a zillion dollars in court before it let anyone look at the code for Windows....