News - March 2015 RSS Feed

On behalf of the national executive of The Catholic Women’s League of Canada, representing more than 85,000 members and citizens, I write to applaud you for continuing to uphold the value and respect for human life throughout the Carter v Canada (Attorney General) case and to appeal to you to continue to do so despite the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down the Criminal Code provisions against physician assisted suicide. I write most importantly to ask that more time be given to the citizens of Canada to consider this life and death issue.

Physicians and health-care providers are beacons of hope in our province and country. Drawn to this noble vocation out of a desire to serve those in need of healing, all of them, whatever their personal commitment to faith may be, have the right to act according to their conscience. And we all have a right to expect that those caring for us in our times of greatest need will be people of conscience.

Recalling the messianic entrance of Christ into Jerusalem with the blessing of the palms marks the beginning of Holy Week, or the “Great Week” as it was once called in Church history. Indeed, we remember this week, the heart of the mystery of our salvation in Christ. The events we will celebrate reveal the profound meaning of the life of Jesus, as in ours, since by dying, He destroyed our death and by rising, He restored our life.

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace continues to lead the “One Human Family, Food for All” campaign across Canada as part of the Caritas Internationalis global campaign launched by Pope Francis. This campaign is a response to the fact that one out of every nine persons suffers from hunger. It affects close to one billion people on this planet. With other members of Caritas Internationalis, Development and Peace, through its Share Lent collection continues to be at the side of hungry people around the world. We should remember again this year the words of the Pope, “We are facing a global scandal of around one billion - one billion people who still suffer from hunger today. We cannot look the other way and pretend this does not exist. The food available in the world is enough to feed everyone.”