Japanese eugenics program forced sterilization and abortion on tens of thousands

The Japanese government is facing a growing number of lawsuits from victims of its Nazism-inspired mass sterilization program that robbed tens of thousands of people of their reproductive capacities over a period of several decades.

An estimated 25,000 people were sterilized by Japan’s Eugenic Protection Law between 1948 and 1996, 16,500 of them involuntarily, according to government sources. Up to 60,000 forced abortions are also believed to have been carried out, all in the name of purifying Japan of hereditary diseases, particularly mental disorders perceived to be genetic in origin.

Calls for peace and justice ahead of Mexico's general election

Various civil organizations in Mexico, including one dedicated to the philosophy of St. Thomas More, have urged politicians participating in the upcoming general election to re-establish peace and justice in the country.

By signing of the “Pact for Peace,” the organizations stressed that “We educational, social, political and governmental actors must all be united  in order to strengthen the essential conditions for peace: the promotion of ethical, human and social values of respect and peaceful coexistence. The prevention of violence, drugs and crime. Social dialogue and conciliation.”

The signatories include National Parents Union, the Mexican Commission for Human Rights, the Citizen Coordinator, the Fundación Tomás Moro, and the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice.

Bishops cautiously hopeful as South Sudan declares permanent ceasefire

More than four-and-a-half years after a devastating civil war broke out in the world’s youngest country, a permanent ceasefire has been declared by South Sudan officials and rebel leaders.

But for the peace agreement to last, Catholic and world leaders stressed that the nation’s leadership must be ready to rebuild society.
 
Bishop Barani Hiiboro of Tombura-Yambio, president of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishop’s Conference, welcomed the ceasefire, according to Independent Catholic News, but added that “if it is to mean anything for the suffering people of South Sudan, then our leadership must face the task of rebuilding our broken pieces - social and political relationships, the fragile economy, and the infrastructure of our states, devastated by the conflict.”

States sue Trump over immigrant families as Congress quarrels

More than a dozen states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its separation of migrant children and parents at the US-Mexico border, saying President Donald Trump's order last week ending the breakups was illusory.
 
In a complaint filed with US District Court in Seattle, 17 states and the District of Columbia argued the administration's policy was unconstitutional in part because it was 'motivated by animus and a desire to harm' immigrants arriving from Latin America.

Undocumented migrants are released from detention at a bus stop in McAllen, Texas.

'The new federal executive order does not bring back together the thousands of families that were torn apart by the federal government's policy, and it does not prevent families from being separated in the future,' Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, said in a statement on the lawsuit.

Faithful Catholics being ‘pushed out’ of Church: German Cardinal

The former head of the Vatican’s doctrine office has accused fellow German bishops of giving up on the New Evangelization. Despairing of Christianity’s role in the contemporary world, they are watering down doctrine so the Church can survive. Those who disagree are punished.

“The faithful who take Catholic doctrine seriously are branded as conservative and pushed out of the Church, and exposed to the defamation campaign of the liberal and anti-Catholic media,” Cardinal Gerhardt Müller told Catholic World Report.

About 200 Christians Murdered in Heinous Killing Spree

In a 60-hour killing spree that began last weekend, about 200 Christians were slaughtered in Plateau State even as the U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom was departing Nigeria.

Ambassador Sam Brownback's one-week visit was pockmarked with six suicide bombings by Boko Haram in one day (the largest single day detonations), deadly Shiite clashes with the police, altercations between local Muslims and a community, and continuing killings by Muslim Fulani Herdsmen.

The grand finale of this perfect storm of violence was the triple-digit massacre in Plateau State.

The Pagan Influence Rapidly Degrading American Culture

A clash between two inimical worldviews is taking place in America: Biblical Christianity vs. secular humanism. In order to dominate, secular humanists had to find a way to exercise complete control over the five levers of cultural influence: spiritual, intellectual, educational, economical and vocational.

Secular lawyers can be unflaggingly persistent as well as ruthlessly devious. They determined that to banish the Judeo-Christian culture from the public square, the Bible had to be expunged from public education first. Theological principles and debate then could be relegated to the recesses of the conscience, and safely lodged behind the four walls of the church. As a consequence, public education, higher learning and academia have become ever more intertwined with the state.

Infant baptism violates human rights, says former Irish president

Former Irish President Mary McAleese has said that the baptism of infants is a form of coercion, calling on the Catholic Church to change its practice.

“You can’t impose, really, obligations on people who are only two weeks old and you can’t say to them at seven or eight or 14 or 19 ‘here is what you contracted, here is what you signed up to’ because the truth is they didn’t,” she said in a June 23 interview with The Irish Times.

Here's What It Takes to Be a Real Man

In answering this question, some might draw up the image of a rugged male with a tough-guy persona spitting out statements like, "Cross me and you will live to regret it!" Such is not the case from heaven's perspective. As the sixteenth-century church leader, Francis de Sales, pointed out, "There is nothing so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as real strength."

Real men do not revel in displays of anger, pepper their speech with vile words, or boast of their sensual prowess. Real men enshrine a life based on principles. They are disciplined, steady and patient, knowing "he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city" (Proverbs 16:32). Real men are protectors, not predators: defenders of the weak, not abusers of those considered inferior.

Filipino bishops hesitant about priests seeking gun permits

After three priests were murdered during the last six months, Philippine officials say they have received gun carry permit applications from nearly 250 religious workers, including 188 Catholic priests – but some of the country’s bishops have raised concerns about a priest carrying a weapon.

In the Philippines, a person is only permitted to carry a firearm outside of their residence if they are under threat or if their life is in “imminent danger.” Normally, this would require a “threat assessment certificate” from the Philippine National Police (PNP), but certain professions – including priests, rabbis, journalists, and doctors – are exempt from this requirement as their jobs are considered to be inherently dangerous.

New Study Reveals That Marriage Is Good for Your Heart

Although through the years there have been many jokes about marriage, a new study says living with a married partner may help ward off heart disease and stroke, according to the news agency AFP.

Researchers combing through 20 years of data on more than two million people, aged 42 to 77, found that being married significantly reduced the risk of both afflictions.

Their findings were recently published in the medical journal Heart.

Trump to Order End of Immediate Immigrant Family Separations at U.S. Border

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order on immigration on Wednesday to end the immediate separation of immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border, which has sparked outrage in the United States and abroad.

An administration official said Trump would sign an order that would require immigrant families to be detained together if they are caught crossing the border illegally. Trump previously had insisted his hands were tied on the separation policy.

The order also would move parents with children to the front of the line for immigration proceedings but would not end a "zero tolerance" policy that urges criminal prosecution of immigrants crossing the border illegally, the official said.

John Piper Explains How to Find God's Will, 6 Ways to Discern

Discerning the will of God and His calling on one's life means yielding to a divine process, John Piper says.

In an episode of Ask Pastor John this week, the Reformed theologian and Desiring God founder responded to a college junior who was struggling to find God's will for her life, not knowing what to do other than pray.

Piper explained that for the Christian it is important to know how they are called.

‘Recreational sex’ poisons true love. Here’s why

St. Benedict in his Rule tells the monk that all the possessions of the monastery are to be treated with the same care that a monk would give to the vessels of the altar. The monk owns nothing, not even his own body, or his own will, says the saint.

The human body is a liturgical vessel. It is part of the sacrificial offering we bring to God, not just at Mass but throughout our lives: “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service” (Rom 12:1).

Now, what do we offer to God upon the altar of sacrifice? Moldy bread and sour wine? How could that be something suitable for consecration? But the same question should be asked of that which a husband or wife offers to the other. Is it some artificially segregated portion of ourselves, sexual functionality separated from its procreative purpose or from the person as a whole? A hungry selfishness? Will they offer themselves in the totality of their human nature, body and soul, together with the children who may come? “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them” (Mt 19:14)—let them come into being!

Australian priests say they’ll risk jail to protect seal of confession from new law

Catholic priests in Australia remain defiant after the passage of a new law requiring them to break the sacred seal of confession to report sexual abuse.

On June 7, the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) passed legislation, backed by every political party in the chamber, extending mandatory reporting of child abuse to churches and church activities, including the Catholic confessional, starting March 31 of next year. South Australia will begin enforcing a similar law in October.

How to Fight for Your Christian Rights in a Secularized World

No one should be able to stop you from speaking the gospel, "whether that's on Church Street, Wall Street or Market Street." The Alliance Defending Freedom is helping churches protect their rights to religious liberty with a new Church Alliance initiative. To find out more, watch this video.

Why the World Health Organization says Minecraft could ruin your mind

This week, the World Health Organization added “gaming disorder” to its list of International Classification of Diseases, drawing praise from one mental health expert who applauded the crucial first step in addressing a mounting epidemic.
  
“The World Health Organization’s decision to acknowledge the video game addiction is a good first step in addressing a growing problem,” said Dr. Michael K. Horne, director of Clinical Services for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington and alumni of the Institute for Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University.

Another Church Burned, Destroyed by Religious Extremists

A church in Puducherry in southern India was set ablaze recently, after upper-caste Hindu neighbors had objected to worship services in the area.

Puducherry, formerly Pondicherry, was a French colonial settlement until 1954.

Pastor David Santosham and members of the Bible Presbyterian church in Karaikal District left for home after concluding fasting prayers on May 25.

At around ten past midnight, he received an anonymous call informing him that the church was on fire. "My rented flat is about five minutes away. I rushed immediately. The church was in flames," Santosham told World Watch Monitor.

Former pro football player prepares to take final vows as a nun

Every single vocation story is different, but Sr. Rita Clare (Anne) Yoches is probably one of the more unusual.

Sr. Rita Clare, who this month will profess final vows with the Franciscan Sisters T.O.R. of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother, was a four-time national champion professional football player prior to entering the convent.

Yes, that’s American football. (She was a fullback.) Nowadays, the only football Yoches is playing is the annual two-hand touch game she organizes with the 38 T.O.R. sisters she lives with in Toronto, Ohio.