World Congress of Families, Madrid 2012

An Introductory Report: Multidimensional Challenges Ahead
The Echo Chamber at the World Congress of Families

This weekend, May 25–27, the biennial World Congress of Families (WCF) international conference will be held in Madrid, Spain. Running under the banner “Marriage and the Family: The Future of Society,” this year’s conference promises to be an echo chamber for regressive social views presented by advocates from a variety of arch-conservative organizations, notably the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society, its sponsor. Biographies for selected speakers are available here.

Catholics for Choice has reported from several previous iterations of the WCF. Our previous reports are available here. Because of the nature of these gatherings, and the fact that antichoice activists tend to hold them up as examples of a new dawn in antichoice activity, we attend and report on the events in order to provide the truth about what is happening: who is there and what they are saying. Providing accurate information about the opposition’s activities helps all of us counter their propaganda from a position of strength.

The choice of Spain as the venue also provides us an opportunity to assess what really lies behind the noises that the conservative Spanish government has made about reversing the progressive laws passed under the last administration. It is clear that the decision to host this event in Spain was at least somewhat driven by the notion that “the faithful” must drive headfirst into the heart of iniquity, slaying the dragon of modernity in order to achieve salvation, both here and in the hereafter. However, as they tilt towards these windmills on Don Quixote’s home turf, it is entirely possible that a sexually progressive and politically active opposition may show up to protest. In which case, the World Congress of Families may draw some attention—just not the sort of attention that, even if they want it, will be beneficial to their cause.

One might suppose that given the current global economic climate, a significant portion of the World Congress of Families would relate to helping families make it through the crisis. Help with real challenges like unemployment, healthcare and childcare would be welcome. With breakout sessions such as “The Homosexual Lobby,” “Effects of Social Experimentation and Same-Sex Adoption,” “Solutions to Homosexual Behavior” and “Promoting Fatherhood: the Crisis of Manhood,” however, the Congress appears far more concerned with fabricated social issues that have no substantial impact on the welfare of the family.

The WCF gives the distinct impression that it means to codify an antiquated set of social behaviors they hope will safeguard them from an “encroaching darkness,” which the majority of the world simply refers to as “change,” “the future” or even “progress.”

This viewpoint draws a special assortment of speakers at the Congress. Yet the extremist nature of previous Congresses has moved big-name speakers with sympathies to the group’s aims into last-minute cancellations—the most notable of these at the last conference being Cardinal Alfonso Trujillo and Polish President Lech Kaczynski. For this year’s conference, while there are some minor EU officials, there are no figures with any sort of instant name recognition outside of the insular community of attendees.

This is no fluke—the conference has consistently failed to meet attendance expectations. In 2007, attendees to the Warsaw event were bussed in from surrounding parishes. And at one point in 2009, the only echo to be heard was conference speaker Austin Ruse infamously tweeting “What’s going on? Where is everybody?” as he looked out on an almost-empty conference hall.

The Howard Center’s first notice on the event was titled “Multidimensional Challenges Ahead,” a background document drafted by one of the Congress speakers, Dr. Farooq Hassan. With a world of rights-empowered advocates fighting for everything the Congress is fighting against, the Madrid gathering will have its work cut out as it tries to shore up its retrograde vision of society. In the next few days, Catholics for Choice will be reporting on the World Congress of Families as it faces these many challenges with all hands on deck.

For more on Catholics for Choice’s opposition work, please read Twenty Years of Taking Down the Opposition.

what methods are patented in Russia for drug treatment

Anya Sarang wrote at her FB page:

Couldnt resist sharing. We're now preparing a complaint to UNESCO on inhibiting access to scientific information on drug treatment in Russia. I know noone will read it so i want to share the hits. Heres a little illustration on what methods are patented in Russia for drug treatment:

8.1.2 A recent content analysis provided an account of methods patented in Russia for drug treatment . A database of the Russian Federal Institute of Industrial Property from the year 1925 to 2011 was analysed, including 429 patents related to addiction treatment. Out of 34 methods of Opioid dependence treatment 18 were found to be life threatening. Majority of patents were authored by academicians of the National Scientific Center of Narcology of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russian Federation – the national leading research institution in the field of addictions and treatment . The content analysis of the patented methods revealed that while “the titles of the [Russian] national scientific journals in general correspond to the content of international [scientific] journals… significant part of intervention is queer, overwhelming part of them is not well-founded or very few trials are described. This is true both for private addiction treatments, and state institutions” . Professor E.Krupitsky called the Russian methods of drug treatment a “science decorated shamanism” . Examples of officially patented methods include:

Patent No 2110288 – A general and individual prayer is performed during the procedure. During the prayer the healer is performing slow movements of hand above the vessel and the patients.

Patent No 2162349 – Inside the video row, in 25th cadre, there is a printed word information which may have the following content: 1 year ban on alcohol; 2 years ban on alcohol; 3 shots on holyday; ban on heroin; ban on pervitin; ban on marijuana; ban on tobacco etc.

Patent No 1279641 – Patient should feel the stroke of lightning into the head which is achieved by consecutive exposure of the patients brain to sinusoidal electrical currents with a frequency 5000 hertz in 0.5-1 second.

Patent No 2152774 – Electrodes shall be inserted into both ears for influencing the auricle with the electric current.

Patent No 2034576 –A doctor fixes the patients attention with a gesture or verbal order, then suddenly, by abrupt movement of hands, dissolves the attention and irritates one of the brunch of trigeminus by energetic mechanical thumbs pressure in the sphere of the trigeminus’s exit, and pronounces at the fastest possible tempo the formula of the “pledge” with indication of the time frames of the pledge.

Patent No 2055602 – An electric current provoking unilateral convulsive fit, is used to produce stress. After emptying the bowels and bladder the patient clutches a rubber cylinder in his teeth; the temples and the expected spot for the second electrode is wiped with the solution of spirit; the electrodes shall be placed by unilateral electroconvulsive therapy with stimulation of the dominating cerebral hemisphere.

Patent No 2177337 – The doctor-healer in a consecutive way put fingers on the area of nay-hu, tsin-tzyan and how-din, and then joints the fingers together at the area of hoy-din and offer to the patient to imagine the God’s Temple and enter it mentally, pronounce a prayer and swear not to take alcohol and not to smoke. The doctor then removes fingers from the area hoy-din and informs the patient that from this moment on, the patient would lead a healthy life style.

Patent No 2181593 – The charm against drunkenness or drug dependence shall be pronounced; charms are performed on Tuesdays and Thursdays for men, and Wednesday and Friday for women. The mixture for body detoxification shall be used based on the water solution of chlorine sodium and ascorbic acid, vitamin B6, diphenhydramine hydrochloride, aminophylline, corglicon, relanium, furosemide, nootropil, and magnesium sulphate. The prayers shall be pronounced above the mixture: “Lord’s Prayer” (7 times) and “The Prayer to the Saint Vonifatii the Graceful”.

Patent No 2195199 – Available points for administering drugs shall be blocked by turning the surface veins of upper and lower limbs into sclerotic condition. The negative conditioned reflex on drugs intake shall be created by way of intravenous injection of adrenalin up to condition of nausea and headache. The patient should read aloud the text; his hearing analysers shall be influenced by sound waves through the headphones. The patients body shall be influenced in a complex way by the acoustic field with a power from 2 to 7 watt. The vision analyser shall be influenced with the light emanation of red, yellow and green color with the share of green color to be not less than 40%. The patient’s piles shall be influenced with electromagnetic emanation with a power of 0.2 watt. The points of acupuncture shall be influenced with the light impulses of helium-neon laser or alternating current with the magnitude not more than 0.6 ampere.

Patent No 2112471 – General heating of the body is used in medicine by way of artificial increasing of the body’s temperature up to 43.0 degree Celsius. The gist of the invention: the patient shall be brought into narcosis and the heating shall be carried out with help of water at temperature from 44 to 46 degrees Celsius.

Patent No 2129866 – This method includes injection of atropine. The method is distinct from other methods as atropine is injected in dosage leading to the condition of coma, in which the patient shall remain for 4 hours. After this the patient shall be brought out of coma. The procedure shall be undertaken not less than 10 or 12 times, with every day coma during the first days of treatment and every second day coma later.

Patent No 2222313 –The psychotherapeutic influence and acupuncture at corporal and auricular points. In addition the chakra Vishudkha shall be sedated, the chakra Manipur and Svadkhistan shall be toped up with HF waves. Chakra Vishudkha and Svadkhisnana at palm and the back of the hand shall be influenced by way of acupuncture.

Patent No 2227031 –Atropine-comatose therapy alternates with electroconvulsive therapy. On the day of atropine-comatose therapy the patient is given 5 mg of haloperidol, 2 mg of sodium oxybutyrate, 25 mg of tisercin. Eserin ointment shall be introduced into the eyes conjunctival sacs. After 30 minutes the patient shall be injected with 50-75 mg of 1% solution of atropine sulphate. After 3-5 hours of comatose condition the patient shall be given 15-30 mg of physostigmine, 6 g of pyracetam, 7.5 g of magnesium sulphate, 400 ml of sodium hypochlorite, and the patient shall be slowly driven out of coma. At every subsequent session of atropine-comatose therapy the atropine sulphate dosage shall be increased by 10 mg and up to 70-150 mg or 90-170 mg. On the day of electro-convulsive therapy the patient shall be injected intravenously with 1 ml of 0.1% solution of atropine sulphate and 2 ml of cordiamine. The initial narcosis shall be performed by way of injection intravenously of 200-300 ml of thiopental sodium or 100 mg ketamine and simultaneously 3-4 ml of 2% dithylinum. After this the electro-convulsive therapy shall be performed followed with artificial pulmonary ventilation.

Patent No 2258508 - The comatose therapy shall be alternated with the electro-convulsive therapy every second day.

Patent No 2153882 - Patients with alcohol dependence receive the xeno-implant of donor fetal brain tissue with the use of cloth of bluish spots laboratory mammal in the amount of 15-25 mg. Transplantation is carried out under the patient skin distant in 6.5 intercostal space. The method reduces the expression of undesirable side effects of treatment and abstinence.

Multipurpose Theology of the Body

Janet Smith Speaks of Digging Deeper Into John Paul II's Contributions

By Ann Schneible

ROME, NOV. 16, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The many angles from which Blessed John Paul II's theology of the body can be studied is testament to its profundity. Not only is it a work fit to help those who are suffering from a wounded past, but also for helping people understand salvation history, as well as revealing the mystical union that God wants with each and every soul.

These are some of the reflections offered by Janet Smith, chair of Life Ethics and professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. Smith was one of the guest speakers at a Theology of the Body conference hosted last week in Rome by Regina Apostolorum university.

ZENIT spoke with Smith about the conference and other initiatives for bringing the theology of the body to a wider public.

ZENIT: What has been your impression of this conference?

Smith: What we're learning at this conference is how many different approaches there are to theology of the body. That is not surprising, and it is possible that all of them are legitimate. I like to make an analogy based on my experience as a graduate student studying the works of Plato. Some people said Plato's Republic is a book about metaphysics; other people said it is about ethics; someone else said it was a book about the soul; other people said it was about poetry, or education. In fact, the Republic really is about all of those topics.
Some people criticize those who find in the theology of the body ways of helping people deal with a wounded sexual past. Yet it seems to me the theology of the body is very well designed to do that. It's also designed to help people understand salvation history. It's also designed to help people understand the mystical union that God wants with each and every soul. So I think we're hearing a whole set of approaches, all of which are valid. And I expect we'll find many other angles and riches in the theology of the body as more and more people turn their attention to it.

ZENIT: One of the challenges, whether in the area of education or in communications, is communicating this idea of personalism, this idea of the theology of the body, to those who have not had formation in Thomistic theology, in Thomistic terminology. How can we communicate these concepts to those who have not had this formation?

Smith: I think it may not be that difficult. A lot of people have been doing it very well, so we have a lot of examples out there. I recommend that people just "google" theology of the body, and they will find all sorts of good resources. Some people have been "translating" the theology of the body for more than 15 years now. I think there are good techniques and programs that are available.

One obstacle is that it is a huge book. Often people pay most attention maybe to the first 10%, about Genesis, and fail to get into some of the other parts of the book which are fantastic. What it does with the Book of Tobit is terrific. Also, of course, Ephesians 5. Too few know that the final third is a defense of "Humanae Vitae," which was the goal of the whole book. A lot of people never get to the end.

Because it is such a large book it is not possible in any short session to cover all of it. It is easy to criticize a presenter for not covering the whole of it. If you dive in at any point, it seems like you're going to be neglecting other things. And then people will complain: "Well, you talked about this, but you didn't talk about that." And you say: "Well, it's a 350-page book! How many years do we have to go through it?"

I would say that it's not so much an unfamiliarity with Thomistic philosophy that's an obstacle -- that is more true for Love and Responsibility. It's more an obstacle of not knowing the Bible, and not knowing how to read the Bible. For instance, John Paul II does a deep meditative study of some small portions of Genesis. People find it strange that you're going to find anything true in Genesis; isn't it just an old story by people who didn't have access to science? Simply accepting that God speaks to us through Scripture and that there are truths to be found in Revelation, that can be a huge obstacle for a lot of people to hear what's being said.

There are also problems with the confusion about the meaning of purpose and sexuality that people bring with them to the text. I think our culture is so wounded sexually, especially in respect to fidelity, that young people no longer think that it's possible to have a life-long union with another. They've seen too much divorce, and I think that's one of the major sources of pain in our culture, is divorce. This pain is also an "advantage." It may make people open to hearing a message that might explain how you could live so that you wouldn't need to get divorced. I think that one "advantage" that we have is that the world is so wounded, it's ready to listen to solutions.

ZENIT: I would like to ask you about the homosexual movement in the States, what role contraception has played in this movement, and how it contrasts with this concept of fidelity that you just spoke about, as well as the way in which members of this movement try to redefine marriage as a union between two people within the context of commitment. However, fidelity, as it turns out, is not part of this idea of commitment. How can the theology of the body speak to this particular problem?

Smith: Morally speaking, I think that homosexuality is a fairly simple issue. It's clearly a misuse of one's sexuality. I want to say that homosexuals really don't have and can't have sexual intercourse with each other. They're doing something else. Females require some sort of toys, mechanisms; males are using parts of the body that are not meant to be used for the purposes to which they put them. It sounds crude to say that, and maybe even impolite to say it. But I often think if people don't have a true understanding of the facts, they will make false judgments. They tend to think it's just a romantic liaison between two people who are in love. But I think some recital of the concrete facts is very important.

Again, the number of sexual partners the average male homosexual has in a lifetime is staggering. For a significant portion it is over a hundred. Even when they're in so-called stable relationships. The sex with other partners doesn't stop. The incidence of sexually transmitted disease is scary. Even lesbians have a large number of sexual encounters in their lifetime, though not nearly as many as the males. And for lesbians these aren't just sexual encounters. In a sense, these are relationships. But they're heartbreaking relationships. They don't last. Women get into these relationships hoping that they found a lifetime companion. But I think precisely because it doesn't have the proper complementarity, it's not going to last. So they're going to have this heartbreak, and then that heartbreak, and then that heartbreak. I would say that homosexual relations are not about love but about heartbreak. People are not getting people what they want.

I think that if people knew more of the facts about the whole homosexual lifestyle, they'd be much less willing, much less able to continue to think of homosexual relationships as the same thing as heterosexual relationships.

But I think heterosexuals have paved the way for this acceptance of homosexuality. And I think it is precisely because of contraceptive sex. If sex doesn't need to have any connection with procreation, and sex is largely for pleasure, and for recreation, then why shouldn’t homosexuals be allowed to do what they do; it's some kind of sexual play just for pleasure, which is what heterosexual sex has become. So I think that heterosexuals have paved the way for this.

ZENIT: What are some of the other wounds that our society has suffered from contraception?

Smith: I have a tape called "Contraception: Why Not?" that's easily accessible at mycatholicfaith.org. I explain many of the sociological and psychological consequences of contraceptive sex, which is about the only kind of sex our culture knows. Foremost among them is the unwed pregnancy rate. 42% percent of babies are now born out of wedlock. And I don't think that more contraceptives are going to help. I think that's actually a direct result of contraceptive sex. Those 42% of people weren't intending to get pregnant. They're not married. And what helped them have sex without being married -- is, of course, contraception. One out of four pregnancies ends in an abortion. The death toll is enormous from sex outside of marriage. I directly connect contraception and sex outside of marriage, and I think that that has caused our culture an enormous, enormous nightmare. I also think that because people are having sex outside of marriage, they're preparing less well for marriage, and that is a major cause of the divorce rate. So I think there are multiple bad consequences from contraception. Those are the major ones.