An inquest has heard how a 14-year-old girl committed suicide, because she was afraid to tell her Christian parents she was gay.

Elisabeth Lowe, known as Lizzie, killed herself in the Didsbury area of Manchester in September.

Lizzie was not found to have alcohol or drugs in her system, and had no diagnosable mental illnesses.

One friend told the inquest she was “finding it hard to connect with God as she thought she was lying to him”.

Her father, Kevin Lowe, told the inquest: “She was just normal and seemed happy.

“There was nothing to suggest she was distressed or had any issues.

“It wouldn’t have come as much surprise. She was very much a tomboy.

“In fact, she was more of a boy than some of the boys were, so it would have been no surprise at all.

“We would have been very supportive.”

Mr Lowe and his wife Hilary said in a joint statement after the hearing: “Lizzie was a wonderful exuberant and loved member of her church, school and community.

“She was a gifted student, sportswoman and musician who was outgoing, fun-loving and enjoyed the love and respect of many friends.

“We are utterly devastated at losing her.

“Lizzie did not make known her struggle with depression and the challenges she tried to face alone as a young adult.

“We wish she had confided because she would have found a wealth of love and acceptance and support.

“The loss our precious daughter has left us heart broken-hearted.”

Senior coroner Nigel Meadows recorded a verdict that Lizzie had killed herself.

He said: “I have absolutely no doubt they [Lizzie’s parents] would have been supportive in their reaction.”

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian Radio

The Supreme Court has rejected the case of two midwives who refused to be involved with abortion procedures.

Last year, at the Court of Session, Concepta Wood and Mary Doogan won the right to refuse to assist with abortions on conscientious grounds at any point in the procedure.

But NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) appealed the case and the Supreme Court ruled this morning in favour of the trust.

Mary Doogan and Connie Wood, the midwives in the case, commented on the judgment: “We are both saddened and extremely disappointed with today’s verdict from the Supreme Court and can only imagine the subsequent detrimental consequences that will result from today’s decision on staff of conscience throughout the UK.

“Despite it having been recognised that the number of abortions on the labour ward at our hospital is in fact a tiny percentage of the workload, which in turn could allow the accommodation of conscientious objection with minimal effort, this judgment, with its constraints and narrow interpretation, has resulted in the provision of a conscience clause which now in practice is meaningless for senior midwives on a labour ward.”

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) which paid the midwives’ legal expenses throughout the case has said that senior midwives who refuse to participate in abortions could be forced to leave the profession.

Paul Tully, general secretary of SPUC, said: “The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children acknowledges the great debt that the whole pro-life community owes to Mary Doogan and Connie Wood for fighting this battle over the past seven years. They have fought not only for their own careers, but for all current and future members of the profession who uphold the right to life of everyone, from the time of conception, without discrimination. We are bitterly disappointed for them.

“Today’s decision sadly makes it likely that senior midwives who refuse to kill babies will be forced to leave the profession. Junior midwives might still be able to work in labour wards where abortions are performed but they will be restricted to ‘staff midwife’ status at best. They could easily be placed in an impossible situation by pro-abortion superiors, and would be unable to receive promotion to a more senior role without fear of being required to violate their consciences. This will affect anyone who objects to abortion, of any religion or none. It will create a second-class status in midwifery for those who only deliver babies and don’t kill them.

“Furthermore, the court has used the opportunity of this case to decide that the conscience clause in the Abortion Act does not apply to general practitioners and that hospital doctors asked to prescribe abortion drugs will not be covered by the conscience clause. We anticipate that this will lead to renewed efforts by health officials to force doctors who have a conscientious objection to abortion either to compromise their respect for human life or to leave the profession. SPUC will support and encourage doctors to resist any such bullying approach.

“The pro-abortion lobby has long argued that conscientious objectors should be required to refer women seeking legal abortion to other practitioners. Bodies such as the Department of Health have qualified this by saying that this only applies when the statutory grounds for a legal abortion apply, but the Supreme Court has said that any medical professional who refuses to provide an abortion should arrange for a referral to someone else who will do so. This seems to go far beyond the scope of the Abortion Act, and furthermore is not even an issue there was any need for the Court to decide in this case.

“The Court has nevertheless said that midwives and doctors with conscientious objections are obliged to refer abortion patients to colleagues who don’t object to abortion. This goes further than the General Medical Council, for instance, whose current guidance Personal Belief and Medical Practice says that doctors should refer patients to another doctor, but does not require them to check their colleague’s pro-abortion credentials.”

Mrs Wood, from Clarkston in East Renfrewshire and Ms Doogan, from Garrowhill in Glasgow, were employed as labour ward co-ordinators at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow.

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

A bad restoration job on a fresco of Jesus two years ago has led to a surge in tourism in the small Spanish town.

It sparked outrage, laughter and Internet memes in abundance when Cecilia Giménez took her paintbrush to the 120-year-old Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) by Elías Garcia Martínez.

Giménez, an artist who says she did the restoration with the permission of the local priest, virtually obscured the face of Jesus, and made the crown of thorns look more like a fuzzy hairdo.

But since the restoration more than 150,000 tourists from around the world have visited the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mercy in Borja, northern Spain, to see the painting.

Andrew Flack, who is working on a comic opera of the story, told the New York Times that it was a “story of faith”.

“Why are people coming to see it if it is such a terrible work of art? It’s a pilgrimage of sorts, driven by the media into a phenomenon. God works in mysterious ways. Your disaster could be my miracle,” he said.

Visitors are charged €1 to enter and look at the painting on the wall of the 16th century church.

This Christmas the town’s lottery tickets have an image of the Ecce Homo on them, and there has been a scene in a Spanish film in which thieves try to steal the painting…Read More

Source and Original Content by CT