“No question” of cancelling Cherie Blair: Angelicum conference organizer adds fuel to fire

“No question” of cancelling Cherie Blair: Angelicum conference organizer adds fuel to fire...

"There is much needed in change We see, My children, in the schools both your public schools and your private schools—even those who call themselves Catholic. They are Catholic, My children, in name only, for they have sold themselves for pieces of silver." - Our Lady of the Roses, December 31, 1974

"Lucifer is the prince of darkness and the father of all heresy and liars. I say this with great anguish, for Lucifer has entered into My Church, My household. The battle is great upon earth, and when the battle reaches into My Church, it will be a testing ground for all of earth and the world. For when My Church and the world become one, know that the end is at hand.” – Jesus, August 5, 1978

LifeSiteNews.com reported on December 9, 2008:

Despite heavy criticism the invitation still stands for Cherie Blair, the wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and a prominent pro-abortion public figure, to speak at a conference on women’s rights at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome.

Sr. Helen Alford, the conference’s organiser, has issued a form response defending the choice to invite Blair to many of the hundreds who have contacted her expressing their dismay at the invitation, saying, “By inviting Mrs. Blair, we, as a faculty of social sciences, are following the example of the Pope’s own social sciences institute, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.” Sr. Alford noted that this body had invited Mrs. Blair to speak to its 2006 plenary assembly.

She added that after Blair’s speech, “as a spontaneous act of kindness,” Pope Benedict XVI received her in a private audience.

“She was invited to speak in an academic capacity and was received by the Pope on that basis. Obviously, in doing so, neither the Vatican as a whole, nor the Pope personally, was in any way endorsing a pro-abortion point of view, and neither are we.”

Since LifeSiteNews.com broke the story last week, the uproar in the Catholic world over the invitation has attracted the attention of British secular media outlets including the Daily Mail and the BBC. Sr. Alford told the Mail on Sunday that she was surprised at the response but that there was “no question” of cancelling the engagement. “We have received more than 200 complaints saying Mrs. Blair is not living out the teachings of the Catholic Church, despite saying she is a Catholic.

“There is no question of the talk being cancelled but I never expected such a backlash.”

Sr. Alford did not return calls or emails from LifeSiteNews.com by deadline. But her response, sent to the Eternal Word Television Network in the US, among others, has only added further fuel to the fire.

Joanna Bogle, a London-based Catholic writer and broadcaster, criticized the University’s decision, saying, “There is no reason whatever why Mrs. Blair should speak at a Pontifical University. The Church can draw on many excellent women speakers with superb credentials to tackle issues concerning women's rights and freedoms - it is absurd to invite instead some one who passionately supports organisations promoting abortion.”

“She (Blair) honoured the 75th anniversary celebrations of Britain's Family Planning Association [FPA] … as the special celebrity guest,” observed Bogle, “cutting the celebration cake and being photographed brandishing a condom.”

Bogle pointed out that neither the FPA nor Planned Parenthood do any other work than promote abortion and contraception, “so she wasn't helping them with other projects.”

“They don't make quilts or serve tea to the poor, or teach mathematics or help Auntie with the housework ... they promote abortion and contraception: that's what they were established to do, and that's what they do, and when Mrs Blair raises funds for them she knows that what the funds are for.”

Many have taken exception to Sr. Alford having used as an excuse the action of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, saying that the Vatican’s was an error that should not be reproduced by a Pontifical University.

John Smeaton, the director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, wrote, “It was not justified of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to have invited Mrs Blair to speak in 2006, nor is it justified of the Angelicum today.”

“Let us suppose,” said Smeaton, “that, in the 1930s a lawyer had hosted, celebrated and endorsed organisations which promoted, performed and/or demanded the killing of Jews. Would it have been right for Catholic universities and academies to have invited such a lawyer to be a featured speaker?

“There is no moral difference between the killing of Jews and the killing of unborn children. Whatever the views of the Angelicum, the Angelicum's invitation to Mrs Blair to be a featured speaker implies that the killing of unborn children is less morally significant than the racist killings of born people.”

As for Blair having been received “as an act of kindness” by Pope Benedict, many commenters and bloggers have pointed out that at the time, 2006, Mrs. Blair was the wife of one of the most important leaders of the western world. Smeaton wrote, “Whom the Pope meets in audience is an entirely separate matter. Everyone knows that any Pope must meet a wide range of prominent public figures in order to carry out effectively his pastoral ministry and diplomatic role.”

A spokesman for the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education told LifeSiteNews.com that there has been quite an “uproar” over the issue and that, although the Cardinal Prefect and his secretary declined to comment, his office had received many communications about it from concerned Catholics.

To express concerns:

Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski
Congregation for Catholic Education
Palazzo della Congregazioni,
Piazza Pio XII, 3
00193 Roma, Italia
Phone: 06.69.88.41.67
Fax: 06.69.88.41.72

Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas
Social Sciences Faculty
Largo Angelicum,
1 - 00184
Roma, Italia
Phone: +39-066702402
Fax +39-066702417
fass@pust.urbe.it

To contact conference organisers:

in English:
Sr. Helen Alford op,
alford@pust.urbe.it,
tel: 06 67 02 353,
fax 06 67 02 417

in Italiano: Dr. Girolamo Rossi,
335 6956196

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Pro-Abortion Cherie Blair to Speak at Prominent Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08120205.html

********

Angelicum University refuses to believe Cherie Blair’s pro-abortion and anti-family reputation...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on December 5, 2008:

Pro-life Catholics around the world are responding with outrage that the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome (the “Angelicum”), one of the premier Catholic institutions of higher education, has invited Cherie Blair, the pro-abortion wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, to speak at a conference on women’s rights on December 12th. But at least some readers, upon contacting the Angelicum, have reported being told that the university can find no evidence of Mrs. Blair’s pro-abortion or other anti-life and anti-family positions.

Readers are taking action, writing to the university and forwarding the article, “Pro-Abortion Cherie Blair to Speak at Prominent Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome” published Tuesday. Typical of the responses received by LifeSiteNews.com was one today from a former student of the Angelicum living in Rome, who said, “I’ve forwarded your article to 60 or so contacts in my email book with instructions to forward further, and email the addresses listed. Thanks for the article.”

LifeSiteNews.com has been informed that the Angelicum since Tuesday has received “over 200 communications” on the issue, but that the university does not intend to cancel her appearance.

Anthony Ozimic, political secretary for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), commented, “The Angelicum, and all those in positions of responsibility in the Church, need to realise that Mrs. Blair is a highly experienced, professional political operator.

“Mrs. Blair has never been reported as saying anything upholding Catholic teaching on abortion or on any other pro-life issue. Her failure to defend Catholic pro-life teaching is explained by her strong, personal endorsement of the pro-abortion organisations IPPF, FPA, Human Rights Watch and the CEDAW (United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) committee.”

“She has said explicitly on a number of occasions that she rejects Catholic teaching on sexual morals,” Ozimic continued.

CEDAW is one of the most prominent vehicles for what SPUC has called “one of the most radical pro-abortion campaigns ever.”

In her career as a “human rights” activist and political mover, Cherie Blair has publicly patronised pro-abortion and international population control organisations such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the Family Planning Association (FPA), one of Britain’s leading abortion organisations and she has publicly repudiated the Church’s teaching on artificial contraception.

In addition to IPPF and the FPA, Mrs. Blair has strongly endorsed CEDAW, specifically mentioning the Convention’s affirmation of women's so-called “reproductive rights,” which is accepted as a euphemism for abortion on demand and sterilisation.

The committee which implements the Convention holds regular meetings with delegates from signatory countries demanding the implementation of the full range of legal abortion and contraceptive programmes, regardless of the laws of the country or the will of their people. The CEDAW committee has demanded that countries such as Poland, Malta, Fiji, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Syria, Sierra Leone, and many others, drop all legal protections for the unborn and restrictions on artificial contraception. Most recently, the CEDAW committee issued a report calling upon the UK government to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland.

Ozimic pointed out that there are many other experts on women’s rights whom the Angelicum could invite instead, “who are totally pro-life and pro-family.” “Controversy about, and opposition to, Mrs Blair's invitation will continue to grow,” he warned.

On her website, Mrs. Blair writes, “(CEDAW) is the only human rights treaty which affirms the reproductive rights of women and targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family relations.”

In her recently published autobiography, “Speaking for Myself,” she infamously admitted that at least one of her children was concieved when she had “forgotten her contraceptive equipment” when on holiday. In May this year, Mrs. Blair, describing herself as a “good Catholic girl,” told an interviewer on GMTV that the “ability to control their fertility” had changed women’s lives.

She said, “People seem to be quite shocked that perhaps a Catholic girl even uses contraception. But it is really an important thing for women because one of the things about the [autobiography] is about how women's lives have changed.

“One of the reasons women's lives have changed is that they have been able to control their fertility. It is an important issue.”

At the annual Labour party conference in September 2005, Mrs. Blair celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Family Planning Association (FPA), the UK branch of IPPF, who published a photo of her helping to cut a special birthday cake. She also participated in a condom give-away to promote “safe sex.”

In 2005, Mrs. Blair contributed an essay to the book “Why I am still a Catholic,” a collection of essays from notorious dissenters from Catholic teaching, including unrepentant active homosexuals. In this essay, she wrote, “Of course, like many Catholics in this country, I have doubts about some of the positions taken by the Church as an institution - for example, on contraception or the role of women. But I am not one of those who believes that the only response is to walk away because you have a different viewpoint. I have been taught that you should stay and try to change things.”

In the ten years of her husband’s tenure as Prime Minister, Tony Blair implemented a legal and social revolution that made Britain a world leader in abortion, destructive research on embryonic human beings and human cloning. His government eagerly implemented every demand of the aggressively anti-Christian homosexualist movement. In the ten years, regarded by pro-life Britons as among the most disastrous of the country’s history, Cherie Blair made not one public objection to this programme based on her alleged Catholic faith.

Read Cherie Blair’s endorsement of CEDAW:
http://www.cherieblair.org/women/2008/09/the-convention-on-t...

Appearance of Cherie Blair at the FPA 75th Anniversary
http://www.fpa.org.uk/about/history/detail.cfm?contentid=820

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
No Comment from Bishops as Cherie, wife of Former PM Blair, Touts Catholicism While Extolling Contraception
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052104.html

To express concerns:

Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski
Congregation for Catholic Education
Palazzo della Congregazioni,
Piazza Pio XII, 3
00193 Roma, Italia
Phone: 06.69.88.41.67
Fax: 06.69.88.41.72

Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas
Social Sciences Faculty
Largo Angelicum,
1 - 00184
Roma, Italia
Phone: +39-066702402
Fax +39-066702417
fass@pust.urbe.it

To contact conference organisers

in English:
Sr. Helen Alford op,
alford@pust.urbe.it,
tel: 06 67 02 353,
fax 06 67 02 417

in Italiano: Dr. Girolamo Rossi,
335 6956196

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