The 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision brought out anti-abortion protesters from San Diego to Washington, D.C.
Thousands of anti-abortion pilgrims came by bus and plane for Tuesday's March for Life in the nation's capital. While abortion rates and the total number of surgical abortions are steadily declining, marchers said they were disturbed that nonsurgical abortion numbers are growing.
“Those who are voiceless in the world need people to stand up for them,” said Cory Heiman, 20, a student at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. “Abortion is killing, whether it's surgical or not.”
In downtown San Diego, more than 700 people gathered in St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral on Sunday for prayer and a procession to decry 35 years of legalized abortion in the United States, according to Thomas McKenna, of Catholic Action for Family and Faith, who organized the event.
The procession was led by San Diego Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Cordileone and included the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima. McKenna said people prayed the rosary and chanted hymns, as they walked, ending up at Family Planning Associates, which performs abortions, before returning to the cathedral.
– News service and Union-Tribune
Ceremony to honor firefighters, police
The Poway Interfaith Team will honor local firefighters and police officers for their work battling last October's wildfires in a two-hour community program tomorrow afternoon.
The ceremony, which will feature music and thank-yous, will begin at 2 p.m. at the Sikh Temple, 12269 Oak Knoll Road, Poway.
“Without their expertise and fortitude, many more houses would have been destroyed and many more lives would have been lost,” the Rev. Stephen Albert, the organization's president, said in a statement. The interfaith network represents 10 faith groups in the Poway area.
The event is open to the public; donations will be taken for the emergency workers.
– Union-Tribune
Baptist celebration to promote harmony
Prominent Baptists hope a “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant” Wednesday through Friday in Atlanta will focus on what Baptists are for, not what they're against.
“We want to demonstrate to the world that Christians, including Baptists, can work in harmony, that we can accommodate differences of philosophy and theology,” said former President Jimmy Carter, a co-chairman of the celebration.
As they gather to focus on issues like caring for the poor and promoting peace, the big brother in the Baptist family, the Southern Baptist Convention, is not an official participant. Top leaders of the nation's largest Protestant denomination were not involved in the planning, but Carter has told Southern Baptist president Frank Page that “everybody's invited.”
Last year, Page blasted what he called the group's “smoke screen left-wing liberal agenda,” even as he appreciated efforts to help “a hurting world.” Page said he still has concerns, but promised Carter he would pray for the meeting, which he expects some Southern Baptists to attend.
– Religion News Service
Pope supports previous reforms
VATICAN CITY – A Vatican official says Pope Benedict XVI doesn't want to roll back the modernizing liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
The pope last year removed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass, a rite that was all but swept away by the Second Vatican Council. But Monsignor Guido Marini told Vatican radio that Benedict only wants to maintain continuity with Roman Catholic tradition.
“This may also require, in some cases, the recovery of precious and important elements that along the way have been lost or forgotten,” Marini said.
On Jan. 13, the pontiff celebrated Mass in the Sistine Chapel using the original main altar, facing away from worshippers during parts of the prayer. Under the modernizing reforms, clergy generally celebrate Mass facing the altar.
Marini said special conditions of the church allowed the stance, which he said was in line with Vatican II, according to Catholic News Service. – Associated Press
Separate lines for men and women
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysia's only state run by the Islamic opposition party will more strictly enforce separate lines for men and women at supermarkets, an official says.
Authorities in the northern state of Kelantan – governed by the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party – will fine supermarkets and shops if they let men and women use the same lines at checkout counters, said party spokesman Anual Bakri Haron.
Chief Minister Nik Aziz Nik Mat has called for stricter enforcement “to safeguard the ladies” from being harassed and to avoid close proximity between opposite sexes while lining up to buy groceries, Anual said. “He wants the enforcement to be looked into thoroughly.” – Associated Press
