Life Matters Journal – New Issue           The latest issue of Life Matters Journal features coverage of the Life/Peace/Justice conference they recently hosted. Also included: * Sarah Terzo on why the My Lai massacre in the American war in Vietnam happened. * Anthony Bedoy writes “Learning a Catholic Stance on Social Justice from Oscar Romero.” * CL board member Carol Crossed discusses “The Emergence of Fourth-Wave Feminism,” putting it into the historical context of the first three waves. * CL board member John Whitehead argues for diversity of views within the peace movement to revitalize it.  * CL board member Nick Neal writes on “Liberalism without its Soul,” where he observes a recent debate in which the “liberal” abortion-defending side had denied one of the most basic tenets of liberalism, that there is such a thing as universal human rights. * Mary Stroka reflects on war’s impact on individuals.       ^^^^^^^   Methodists           CL Endorser Chris Momany wrote in his series on Methodist social principles (first published in the United Methodist Reporter) addressing the consistent life ethic. It begins: “Humanity’s greatest sin may just be the serial obsession with defining one another out of the human race. There. I said it. This observation comes from years of watching God’s people find rationale for placing one or another person or group outside the realm of love. And this is no proclivity peculiar to ‘liberals’ or ‘conservatives’ or some other presumed ideology. It is a temptation hosted by all, and it runs around within my heart all the time.”         Additionally, Bishop Ken Carter of Florida recently preached in favor of a Methodist approach to the consistent life ethic.   ^^^^^^^   More on Back-Alley Executions           Following up on last week’s story, here’s a familiar charge: who is most responsible for the recent botching of an execution in Oklahoma? Those who want to abolish the death penalty entirely!         Because abolitionist pharmacies made unavailable the lethal-injection drugs, executioners had to use secret untested drugs made just for the occasion. Thus, opponents made the procedure less “safe.”         This follows a long tradition: war opponents make wars last longer by lowering morale and emboldening enemies. Euthanasia opposition leads to botched attempts at suicide. Abortion opponents are responsible for all the back-alley butchers.         It’s an astonishing argument: if only people wouldn’t oppose killing, then the killing could be done more efficiently.         We propose that people who wish to engage in any form of killing should assume they will have proactive opponents, and they should understand that wanting to have us not exist is unrealistic.         And we maintain that the people responsible for botching a job of killing, which leads to unconscionable extra suffering, are the people who insisted on doing the killing.     ^^^^^^^   Quotation of the Week Steven Wagner National Catholic Register, November 29, 2011           The average age of entry into commercial sex exploitation is about 14. The average life expectancy of someone in commercial sexual exploitation is seven years. Start at 14, dead by 21. The mortality rate for someone in commercial sexual exploitation is 40 times higher than for a non-exploited person of the same age. Helping a victim return to exploitation more quickly by terminating a pregnancy increases the odds of death.         Kristy Childs is a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation and the founder of Veronica’s Voice . . . . She tells me there have been many live births among her clients over the past 12 years, but she has yet to be asked for help getting an abortion. “Pregnancy often leads a woman to seek rescue and a new life,” she said.

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