The First "John Paul II Evangelium Vitae Lecture" at Birmingham University

On 15th February we will be welcoming Rev Dr John Fleming to give our first 'John Paul II Evangelium Vitae' lecture at the University of Birmingham. The John Paul II lecture is an initiative of the Catholic Chaplaincy of the University. Fr Fleming is a priest of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, and Director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute of Adelaide, as well as being President of Campion College (Australia's first Catholic Liberal Arts College of HE). He has served on the bioethics committee of UNESCO and is on the Pontifical Academy for Life.

The title of this first lecture is "The status of the unborn child in International Human Rights Law". Fr Fleming, as well having a great academic standing, is also very engaging as a speaker. There is an open invitation for everyone to come to the lecture, so if you are in the Birmingham area please come along. Or make the journey. I'm hoping that a University pro-life society might come out of this initiative, as part of the reason for setting up the lecture was to enable us to put forward a side to the whole argument which does not often get a place on the Campus.

The lecture takes place on Thursday 15th February, in the Vaughan Jefferies Lecture Theatre in the School of Education at the University of Birmingham's main Edgbaston campus. The lecture begins at 7pm. There will be light refreshments afterwards in the foyer. For more information you can email me at j.c.green@bham.ac.uk It would be great if this lecture had as many people as possible attending. The lecture theatre is a big place so let's try and fill it. Please also pass on the information to people who might be interested (hint to other blogmeisters).

Umbert the Unborn

Some people accuse pro-lifers of lacking a sense of humour. Well that's all ended now. New from the culture of life from the States is Umbert the Unborn, a comic strip character that's yet to see the light of day outside his mother's womb. If you want to see Umbert each day then go to the Umbert link on the homepage of www.catholic.net - there's a new cartoon each day. Umbert now has his own book - "A Womb with a View". Could be just the gift for friends who are not yet convinced of the pro-life Gospel. Umbert even has his own website - though there's not much there - www.umberttheunborn.com - unless you want to publish his cartoons in a newsletter at a price ($60 to be precise). I love the cartoon that's on the webpage. I couldn't copy it but the narrative goes like this: "Who says I'm not viable? What, because I'm dependent on my parents for everything? Because I can't live outside the womb on my own? By that standard, I won't be viable 'til after College."

PS It's good to have Fr Richard back and in full flow. I can put my blogging feet up for a few days. As if...