New boost for privacy of confessional
A response to threats of eavesdropping

New Scottish laws covering surveillance are to be tightened up to prevent the bugging of confessionals. The new legislation was made necessary by an odd—and apparently accidental—omission in the laws regulating police powers. The law had been enacted hurriedly to ensure that as the European Convention on Human Rights came into force, the police of Great Britain would be governed by a consistent set of investigative rules. But while police in England and Wales were specifically barred from planting listening devices in confessionals, no such provision was included for Scotland.

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive told the Press Association that while the code of practice was being re-drafted, police forces had given an assurance confession boxes would not be bugged. “It was an omission and obviously we will rectify that,” she said.

Condemns “designer babies”
Cardinal reacts to cloning proposals

Scotland’s Cardinal Thomas Winning has condemned plans to clone embryos in a bid to find new cures for genetic diseases. The cardinal warned that a new government move to support research on the cloning of human beings would “pave the way” for “designer babies.” The move, backed by leading British scientists from the Royal Society, is fundamentally wrong, and approving it would make Britain a “pariah” state, he said. Cardinal Winning told the BBC, “The end is good—finding new treatment for disease—but the means are immoral because these tiny cloned, human beings are killed before they develop. This scenario will become reality in a matter of months unless we wake up.” He said the proposed 14-day limit for experimentation, after which it could not take place, was arbitrary. He also voiced alarm that under the terms of the government’s plan for the enabling legislation, lawmakers would spend just 90 minutes debating the issue before “crossing the moral Rubicon” and voting on it. The cardinal stressed that he was not opposed to scientific research in principle. “In fact I look upon any medical or scientific progress as if God were opening up the secrets of creation for our benefit,” he said. “The truth is that research is not a problem for us. How it is done is the problem.”

Sex advice from the government
New program targets young teens

Teenagers in Scotland could soon be receiving a card on their 14th birthdays offering them advice on sex and contraception.

The birthday greeting is part of a new $6-million “Healthy Respect” pilot project, launched in a few localities in November, and intended eventually to spread throughout Scotland. Pro-life and pro-family groups have energetically denounced the scheme, which is being promoted by Scottish health minister Susan Deacon.

Deacon insists, “It is vital that our young people are given the best possible support and information to enable them to make informed choices.” Dr. Penny Watson, the Edinburgh physician who was primarily responsible for the idea of sending out the birthday cards, said, “It is so hypocritical to deny them access to help because they are under 16.”

The initiative has come under fire from a new group called Parent Truth. Made up of various bodies including the Pro-Life Alliance, Precious Life, and religious groups, the new organization is planning to distribute 20,000 leaflets to homes in Deacon’s Edinburgh East and Musselburgh constituency with the message, “Deacon—leave our kids alone.” Mike Willis, chairman of the Pro-Life Alliance, told the BBC that the leaflets were being handed out in Deacon’s constituency because she is the “minister responsible for the filth that is going into schools and for setting up sex clinics in the high street and the fact that this is almost a personal vendetta for her.” Jim Dowson of Precious Life Scotland told the Sunday Times, “We believe she is launching a campaign of legal molestation of our children with this hideous sex education program she is pushing through.”

But Deacon has rejected the Parent Truth Campaign’s claim that she is taking matters out of the hands of parents. Although the birthday greetings will go directly to teens, bypassing their parents, she nevertheless claimed: “The health project, which will run over the next three years and is designed to find new and effective ways of raising awareness in sexual health and reducing the level of teenage pregnancies, has at its heart the involvement of parents themselves.”

Back to Catholic World Report January 2001 Table of Contents

Back to Catholic Infromation Center's Periodical Page