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Reviews of Pro-Life Books|
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Francis Phillips reviews Humanae Vitae Forty Years On, by G J Woodall
"Although in this country official Church celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae have been somewhat muted, there have been several unofficial acknowledgements of the significance of the document, not least this excellent initiative of Family Publications. My own view of the encyclical is that never was so much owed by so many to one heroic man: Paul VI. It reinforces one’s confidence that the Holy Spirit does indeed guide the Vicar of Christ – despite our 40 subsequent years wandering in the wilderness of revolt and disobedience."
Dr Pravin Thevathasan reviews Cooperation, Complicity & Conscience, edited by Helen Watt, The Linacre Centre
"This book consists of papers presented at the 2003 International Conference of the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics on Cooperation in evil and conscientious objection.
These issues are highly pertinent: if Michael Cashman MEP of the Gay and Lesbian Humanists and the egregious Frances Kissling of the anti- Catholic "Catholics For A Free Choice" have their way, Pro-life doctors would be required to cooperate in abortion against their conscience. As a junior doctor, the issue of cooperation in evil was an area that troubled me greatly."
Francis Phillips reviews Changing Unjust Laws Justly: Pro-Life Solidarity with ‘The Last and Least’, by Colin Harte, (Catholic University of America Press, June 2005)
"This is a profound, significant and disturbing book. It is profound because it deals with a grave subject, abortion law, in a serious and comprehensive way; it is significant because it looks at the whole question from an original angle, that of Christian humanism; and it is disturbing because the questions it raises inevitably challenge the accepted pro-life strategic response in the decades since David Steel’s Abortion Act of 1967."
Dr Pravin Thevathasan reviews Changing Unjust Laws JUSTLY, by Colin Harte
"In his great encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul taught that pro-life legislation "Could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done" by the existence of a pro-abortion law."
Francis Phillips reviews Preaching Life, by Father James Morrow
"Father Morrow describes this book as ‘being much of my Autobiography’. In a sense it is the whole of it. Three pages out of 445 are devoted to his early years as one of 12 children from a close, working-class Scottish family; the remainder of this heavy (A 4 size), handsome volume is devoted to his life’s work as a priest: his pro-life apostolate "
Francis Phillips reviews The Soul of the Embryo, by David Albert Jones, (Continuum. £16.99)
"In this enquiry into the status of the human embryo in the Christian tradition, Dr Jones, senior lecturer in bioethics at Surrey University, clears up a question that has puzzled me: why did Richard Harries, the Anglican bishop of Oxford, claim in the House of Lords in 2000 that far from representing 2,000 years of history, the present teaching of the Catholic Church on the respect owed to the human embryo from the first moment of its existence is less than 200 years old?"
Dr Pravin Thevathasan reviews The Hidden Axis of Evil, by Fred Martinez
This book successfully exposes certain aspects of the culture of death both within Church and Society.
"Just as the struggle against slavery will always be associated with the name of William Wilberforce so, when the history books come to be written about the battle for life itself, the name of Father Paul Marx will be prominent. For over half a century this irrepressible American Benedictine has devoted his priesthood and his formidable energy to the fight against the fearsome ‘anti-trinity’ of contraception (the ‘white death’), abortion and euthanasia. This has involved constant travelling – 91 countries to date – endless speaking engagements, writing, fundraising – ‘he is able to charm money out of stones’ observed a supporter – and energising others with his own drive and vision."
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Theotokos Catholic Books - Book Reviews Section - www.theotokos.org.uk