In This Issue:
- PRI in the Media
- Why They Protest
- Conviction & Capitulation
- COVID Controversy
- Filling the Pews Post-Pandemic
- Deepening Depopulation
- Below Threshold
- Hurrah for 8 Billion
- Projecting Childlessness
- Effects of Infertility
- Communist China
- Xi Calls for Unity
- Violating NSL
- Inside the CCP’s Plan
- The Stats Facts
- WHO Praises CCP
- UN Misdeeds
- Connections to Abortion
- Science Gone Mad
- A Conspicuous Connection
- Trans Surgery Threats
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Defending Humanae Vitae
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Biden’s Abortion Expansion
- Heartbeat Back Again
- More Pro-Abortion Threats
- Survivors Choose to Forgive
- Good News
- The Baby Whisperer
PRI in the Media
Why They Protest: Reaching out through encrypted apps declared illegal by the CCP, PRI President Steven Mosher received four accounts from friends in China on why they are protesting the lockdowns. These accounts of China’s current dystopia speak for themselves.
Conviction & Capitulation: Last week, the Church in China saw more corrosive developments with the charge of Cardinal Zen and the unapproved installation of Bishop John Peng Weizhao in Jiangxi. Dr. Christopher Manion shares that the CCP’s movement will escalate while the Vatican and U.S. continue to stay silent.
COVID Controversy
Filling the Pews Post-Pandemic: It has been three years since the initial shutdown of churches across the nation, yet many parishes have not recovered the number of churchgoers they had before the pandemic. In some areas, attendance numbers are up to 30% lower than they were in 2019.
“As I write in the Politically Incorrect Guide to Pandemics, in previous pandemics the churches were full, as people prayed for friends and family who had fallen ill,” says PRI President Steven Mosher. “In the Covid Pandemic, the authorities gleefully closed churches, along with millions of small businesses and schools, considering these to be what they called ‘non-essential.’ In retrospect, I see this as a veiled attack on religion by people like Anthony Fauci, a committed secular humanist. The ability to practice one’s faith is not only essential, it has eternal significance.”
Deepening Depopulation
Below Threshold: Japan has been on the depopulation fast track for years, but the pandemic has accelerated this decline even further. Recent population data indicates that Japan may not even reach 800,000 births this year, despite previous predictions that the country would not fall below this threshold until 2030.
Hurrah for 8 Billion: Since the world’s population passed 8 billion last month, many organizations have spread fear over this demographic milestone. But one author is following PRI’s call for celebration of this “remarkable achievement” in this article for the Compact.
“Now that PRI started the ball rolling with our ‘Welcome Baby Eight Billion’ ad last month, others are joining in,” says PRI President Steven Mosher.
Projections of Childlessness: Most people know, and PRI has reported before, that the fertility rate in the U.S. is falling. But since fertility rates among people who choose to have children remain stable, this decline is primarily driven by more Americans choosing to remain single and childless.
Effects of Infertility: In this report, Pew Charitable Trusts examined the population trends and fiscal effects of long-term infertility in the United States. Using CDC data the organization found that many states are already seeing the effects of low fertility and, moving forward, more states will feel growing pressures from their tax structures, economies, and lack of workers.
Communist China
Xi Calls for Unity: Despite a week of riots and protests over Xi Jinping’s iron-fisted zero-COVID policy, the dictator has called for the Chinese people to unite around his leadership. This call for unity came at former president Jiang Zemin’s funeral, where Xi stated, “The entire party, the entire army, and the people of all ethnic groups in the country must unite more closely around the party’s central leadership.”
“Even while Xi Jinping is publicly calling for unity he is privately purging members of Jiang Zemin’s faction in the Chinese Communist Party,” says PRI President Steven Mosher. “Many Chinese yearn for the relativeness openness of the 1990s, and it was open. PRI was able to start orphanages and built churches in China at the time. But we shouldn’t forget that it was also a time of forced abortions and sterilizations under the barbaric one-child policy.”
Violating NSL: A Chinese activist violated the CCP’s national security law and now shares her experience of the torturous imprisonment she suffered as a result. Zhang Wuzhou was sentenced to almost three years for holding up a sign opposing the law in public. During that time, she was beaten, chained, and kept in tight, unsanitary conditions.
Inside the CCP’s Plan: The CCP is known for always being ready for war, but Xi’s latest military appearance signals that this preparation may turn to application soon. Eyes are on Taiwan as experts say its invasion is not only likely but inevitable.
“My book, Bully of Asia, outlines in detail China’s plan to dominate not just Taiwan, but all of Asia and, ultimately, the whole world,” says PRI President Steven Mosher. “This is the goal of the Communist Party’s hundred-year plan, which began in 1949 with the Communist takeover of China, and ends a century later in 2049 with global Chinese dominance. I pray that will not be our fate.”
The Stats Facts: With China’s population crisis getting more and more attention, Pew Research has assembled the key statistical facts about the country’s declining population.
WHO Praises CCP: The CCP received praise from WHO leadership this week for its pathetic attempt to soothe public anger over the ongoing mistreatment under zero-COVID. WHO emergencies director Dr. Michael Ryan lauded the CCP for listening to its people and loosening its COVID restrictions this past week, ignoring its abusive practices and the fact that many of the restrictions are still in place.
UN Misdeeds
Connections to Abortion: This November, the USAID, WHO, and UNFPA organized the bi-annual International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Thailand. There, abortion was pushed as an “integral means of family planning,” despite being in opposition to a settled UN directive that clearly prohibits the connection of the two.
Science Gone Mad
A Conspicuous Connection: Leaders of the organ donation network in Ontario are firm that the decision to pursue assisted suicide and donate organs are completely separate. But the concerning connection only grows more prominent, as increased rates of euthanasia are clearly related to increased rates of organ donation.
“Canada’s system of socialized medicine is beginning to treat assisted suicide like ‘health care,’ ” says PRI President Steven Mosher. “It is being offered not just to the terminally ill, but even to people who are only mildly depressed. These are being pressed to donate their organs in an echo of what is happening in China, where executions are carried out on individuals precisely because their organs are valuable on the organ transplant market.”
Trans Surgery Threats: The American Civil Liberties Union is attempting to threaten a Tennessee hospital into performing transgender surgeries. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare paused “gender-affirming” procedures after care providers raised valid concerns about the current practices. But the ACLU sees this as clear discrimination and may seek to lodge a federal complaint.
Pro-Life Around the World
Defending Humanae Vitae: A group of Catholic jurists and theologians gathered in Rome this week to defend Humanae Vitae and respond to the PAL’s controversial publication from earlier this year. The Chairman of PRI’s Board of Directors, Prof. Brian Scarnecchia of the Ave Maria School of Law, was one of the organizers and speakers, joined by others from Ave Maria University, Ave Maria School of Law, and the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Biden’s Abortion Expansion: Since the overturn of Roe. v. Wade, the Biden administration has pushed for abortion in any way it can. These efforts will continue through piecemeal policies aimed at federal agencies, veterans, and out-of-state abortion travel, alongside increasing availability of the abortion pills.
“Abortion is evil,” says PRI President Steven Mosher. “Those who promote it as a positive good are, in effect, celebrating death. This is an evil act if there ever was one. We in the pro-life movement celebrate Life, and the great Author of Life, God.”
Heartbeat Back Again: Georgia’s heartbeat bill is back to saving unborn lives after being temporarily reinstated this past Wednesday. The bill will remain active while the state’s supreme court deliberates and decides the permanent fate of this life-saving legislation.
More Pro-Abortion Threats: The violent pro-abortion group “Jane’s Revenge” is still actively terrorizing pro-life groups. This week, on the campus of the University of Nebraska Omaha, a note threatening to shoot up the St. John Paul II Newman Center was left on the building’s door, signed only by “Jane’s Revenge.”
Survivors Choose to Forgive: Hundreds of individuals who were born after attempted abortions have connected online through the Abortion Survivors Network. Together these survivors are finding support through each other and the strength in God to forgive their mothers for what they tried to do.
Good News
The Baby Whisperer: A Long Island police officer has earned a new nickname after helping a woman give birth at home. This was the fifth birth that Sgt. Jon-Erik Negron had assisted in, designating him as the “baby whisperer” in his squad.
Quote of the Week
“Dear friends, keep going forward on these two paths: the joyful witness of being a family, and commitment to good policy for and with families.”
~ Pope Francis
