In This Issue:
- Breaking News
- CRS Findings Break
- Brugger’s Five Examples
- PRI in the Media
- New Book Coming Soon!
- Deepening Depopulation
- Cuba’s Collapsed Birth Rate
- Feeling the Effects
- Communist China
- No Babies Across Asia
- What are State Secrets?
- Science Gone Mad
- Gender Medicine Exposed
- Ditching Birth Control
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Death in Belgium
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Harris to Visit Abortuary
- IVF: The Human Cost
- Good News
- No More Blockers
Breaking News
CRS Findings Break: Last week, the Population Research Institute (PRI) and Lepanto Insitute (LI) held a joint press conference to release the results of a year-long investigation of Catholic Relief Services in three African countries. These countries were Cameroon, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. Our investigator found, and provided, evidence of CRS pushing contraception, abortion education, and graphic sexual education, supporting masturbation, on girls as young as ten. Michael Hichborn, President of LI, and PRI President Steven Mosher presented these findings, alongside LI’s Senior Analyst Rob Gaspers, and moral theologian Dr. Christian Brugger. The news of CRS’s involvement in immoral programs has reached Africa, as reported by ACI Africa. The outlet requested a comment from CRS but received no reply. In fact, CRS has put out no public statement responding to the investigation as of yet. However, we have received information that CRS has sent a blanket denial to its top donors, claiming that our investigation’s findings are “baseless,” despite the clear evidence detailed in our report.
Read the full report here.
Watch the press conference recording here.
Brugger’s Five Examples: The well-known moral theologian, Dr. Christian Brugger, served as the theological expert for our Catholic Relief Services investigation report. After reviewing the full report, Dr. Brugger gave his clear and concise breakdown of the report’s morality in five points. These were “five expressions of grave evil-doing” he found in the report, that were established “beyond reasonable doubt.” These were:
- CRS is the primary agent of evildoing in as much as its own public literature explicitly promotes masturbation, including to children.
- CRS formally cooperates in others’ grave evildoing in as much as it publicly endorses, refers to, and financially supports organizations that actively and very publicly promote direct abortion, contraception, and masturbation.
- In other cases, which are arguably instances of material cooperation, CRS’s close working relationship with organizations that promote evil poses a very substantial risk of grave scandal.
- CRS’s evil-doing badly undermines the credibility of the Church’s witness to the Gospel in Africa. … CRS’s promotion of abortion, masturbation, and contraception violate Jesus’s very serious admonitions to protect human life, guard the souls of his little ones, and uphold the chastity of the marriage bed.
- Catholics who financially support CRS, rather than other secular aid organizations, do so because they believe that its relief services are marked by something distinctively Catholic. By engaging in wrongdoing in the ways just mentioned, CRS acts unjustly to those donors by misrepresenting itself as “Catholic.”
In conclusion, Dr. Brugger supported the report’s call for the bishops of the United States to both individually and collectively withdraw their support from CRS.
PRI in the Media
New Book Coming Soon!: Mr. Mosher appeared on the Drew Mariani Show to discuss his latest book, The Devil and Communist China. The book follows the life of Mao Zedong and the rise of the Chinese Communist Party. Dedicated by his mother to a pagan god as a young child, Mao Zedong certainly acted as if he was influenced by the demonic in his life. Though Mao died in 1976, his heinous legacy lives on in the CCP and Xi Jinping. Though Xi Jinping was not his biological child, Xi has taken Mao as his model in all things and embodies the same corrupt spirit that Mao displayed. Unique in his approach to this topic, Mr. Mosher balances the evil of Communism with the truth, goodness, and beauty of Christianity at the end of every chapter.
The book is set to be released on March 19th. Get a signed copy before Easter here.
Deepening Depopulation
Cuba’s Collapsed Birth Rate: Last year, Cuba hit the lowest birth rate in six decades. While all industrialized nations have fertility rates fluctuating below replacement rate, Cuba is hit even harder due to the communist party in charge of the nation. Many women postpone having children or avoid it completely, due to the economic crisis in the country. Abortions and “menstrual regulations” have also been on the rise in the last decade. The National Fertility Survey conducted last year, found that between 2009 and 2022 there was a 14% increase in these procedures. The same survey concluded that at least 35% of “unwanted” pregnancies were terminated in that period as well.
“As hopelessness and despair grips this once Catholic nation, the birth rate has simply collapsed,” says Mr. Mosher. “Another failure of Communism, to add to the many well-known ones, is that it robs people not just of their property and their freedom, but of any hope for the future.”
Feeling the Effects: In 2023, Singapore’s total fertility rate reached a record low. Last year, the total fertility rate hit 0.97, continuing the downward fertility trend. In 2022, the rate was 1.04, while in 2021 it was slightly higher at 1.12. Last year, the percentage of the population made up of individuals over 65 reached 19.1%. According to the prime minister’s office, “By 2030, around 1 in 4 citizens (24.1 percent) will be aged 65 & above.” Singapore is famous for its social engineering, but this is one issue that may not be able to reverse. The leaders of the country have learned that it is easier to decrease reproduction than increase it. In 1966, the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board established the “Stop-at-Two” population control program. Despite the coercive program ending in the 1980s, Singapore is still feeling the detrimental effects.
Communist China
No Babies Across Asia: Women across Asia are postponing children for a host of reasons. In Myanmar, it is mainly due to the civil war creating dire circumstances, while in Cambodia, poverty and lack of healthcare are the main issues. However, in China, women are choosing not to have children because “the cost of motherhood doesn’t add up.” Though the government is pushing for three children from every couple, women who already have one feel unable to have another for financial reasons. While women without children perceive them as burdens on their lives which would impede their freedom. A poll on the state news agency, Xinhua, asked the public, “The three-child policy is coming, are you ready?” The resounding answer was no.
What Are State Secrets?: In China, divulging state secrets can land you in jail for years. It could even incur the death penalty. But, despite carrying such heavy consequences, citizens are not informed as to what qualifies as a state secret. The CCP enacted the Law on Guarding State Secrets in 1988. But on May 1st of this year, there will be a new version of this law coming into effect. The new law vaguely defines state secrets as “matters that relate to the security and interests of the state in various fields.” But goes on to include “matters that have not been defined as secret by any authority but may still affect the security and interests of the state if disclosed.” It boils down to this: State secrets are whatever the CCP says they are, at any given point in time.
Science Gone Mad
Gender Medicine Exposed: Earlier this month, leaked files from the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) revealed widespread medical malpractice on children and vulnerable adults. According to Environmental Progress, “WPATH is considered the leading global scientific and medical authority on ‘gender medicine,’ and in recent decades, its Standards of Care have shaped the guidance, policies and practices of governments, medical associations, public health systems and private clinics across the world.” Yet, the files showed that the clinicians at WPATH consistently violate medical ethics and informed consent. Their organization also does not “meet the standards of evidence-based medicine, and members frequently discuss improvising treatments as they go along.” These clinicians have essentially admitted to experimenting on children and adolescents, who do not understand the long-term consequences they may face. So-called “gender medicine” needs to be stopped before more people are permanently damaged by their efforts.
Ditching Birth Control: More and more young women are ditching hormonal birth control. Between 2002 and 2017, oral contraceptive use dropped by 9%. A previous article by Live Action shared news from the UK’s NHS that only 30% of women using oral contraception back in 2013 are still using it today. Why is this happening? Because the research on health issues caused by hormonal contraceptives continues to pile up. Hormonal birth control has been linked to an increased risk of depression and suicide, blood clots, heart attack, stroke, and certain cancers, as well as decreased bone density and infertility. Anecdotal evidence has also started circulating on social media platforms also, as women share their experiences with these side effects. Hormonal birth control may be accepted as the “norm” in society today, but 400 women die every year as a result of its side effects.
Pro-Life Around the World
Death in Belgium: Since 2002, when euthanasia was legalized in Belgium, the practice has consistently grown every year. In 2002, only 24 Belgians died from euthanasia. Twenty years later, in 2022, this number grew to 2,966. From there, the number rose to 3,423 last year. The European Institute of Bioethics drew attention to these record-high stats, which were drawn from the Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia in Belgium (CFCEE). The Institute shared that these figures may actually be even higher than they appear in the CFCEE’s data. When including “undeclared euthanasia,” the figures could rise between 25% and 35%.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Harris to Visit Abortuary: Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she would be visiting a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Missouri. The tour was scheduled for March 14th. No previous vice president, or president for that matter, has ever conducted such a visit. Harris’s plan was to tour the building and speak with the “healthcare providers.” She may have also spoken with patients, but was emphatic that she did not want to “disrupt any services.” This is yet another sign that the Biden administration will go down in history as the most pro-abortion administration this country has ever seen. Harris is not only complicit but actively supports the death of the unborn and abuse of women at Planned Parenthood abortuaries.
IVF: The Human Cost: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a document on In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). IVF is an immoral practice in the Catholic Church’s view because it separates the sexual act from the creation of embryos and involves the destruction of many embryonic human lives. The USCCB’s document, “In Vitro Fertilization: The Human Cost,” does not broach the immorality of the practice, but focuses on the objective harm IVF causes in four sections:
- High Death Rates for Embryonic and Fetal Human Beings
- Risk of Health Problems for Children Conceived by IVF
- Health Risks to Women
- “Mix-ups” and Scandals Harming Families
These are all valid concerns, backed by research, and should make everyone, even non-Catholics, reconsider the practice. While we value all human beings, including those created via IVF, the ends do not justify the means. The destruction of IVF, and the harm it does, does not justify the creation of new life.
Good News
No More Blockers: The National Health Service in England has stopped giving puberty blockers to children who suffer from gender dysphoria. The NHS has finally admitted that “there is not enough evidence about either how safe they are to take or whether they are clinically effective to justify prescribing them to children and young people.” Puberty blockers, which halt the natural physical changes in children as they enter adolescence, can cause lasting damage despite the propaganda claiming the contrary. This is a positive development in the fight against transgender medicine. Additionally, the NHS’s current Gender Identity Services center is scheduled to close at the end of this month. Unfortunately, it will be replaced by two new centers in the future. It remains to be seen how the UK will proceed with so-called “gender-affirming care.”
Quote of the Week
“We must commit to a life of sexual purity within the sanctity of marriage or Holy Orders. We must be open to the bearing of children and love, protect, and champion those God sends us. In this way, we will create a civilization of life and love, beginning with the primary building block of that civilization, our own families.”
~ PRI President Steven Mosher, The Devil and Communist China
