issue 17 / volume 40

 

By www.telegraph.co.uk

Nun unaware of her own
pregnancy gives birth to baby boy

» Healthy infant named after Pope Francis

 

South American nun living

in Italy, who gave birth
toa healthy nine-pound baby
boy last week, claims that she
did not become aware of her
pregnancy until she went into
labour.

Sister Roxana Rodriguez,
a 33-year-old from El Salvador
who lives at the Little Disciples

from God”

Campomoro is
approximately 80 kilometres
north of Rome and the Vatican.

to hospital due to what she
thought were severe abdominal
cramps. When doctors
performed an ultrasound, they
found she was in the advanced
stages of giving birth.

Initially, Rodriguez had
been upset with the notion of
giving birth, considering her

a sister of the Catholic Church.
“I can’t give birth, I am a nun,”
Rodriguez reportedly said to
doctors.

She named the boy
Francesco, in honour of the
chosen name selected by the
current pontiff, Pope Francis.
Reports from the hospital
indicate that the infant is

: healthy considering the lack

: of screenings and medical

: follow-ups that routinely take
: place throughout a woman’s

: pregnancy.

Father Benedetto Falcetti,

This will likely pose a

: problem for Rodriguez in terms
of Jesus convent in Campomoro, : of her being a member of the

Italy, said that the child is a “gift : convent. She became a nun in

: September 2012, but will now

: likely have to give that up to

: care for her son. Nuns, like

: members of the Catholic clergy,
Rodriguez had been rushed : are required by Canon law to
: remain celibate.

Rodriguez reportedly told

her social worker that she will

: gladly leave the convent to take

: care of her son. “I will definitely :
: take care of my baby because he :
: is a gift of God,’ said Rodriguez.
: “However I am very worried

: about the commotion that this

: : ”
responsibilities and promises as : has stirred up.

When asked how she was

: feeling, Rodriguez replied that
: she “felt more like a mum than
: anun.”

Cardinal Jorge Mario

: Bergoglio was elected in

: 2013 as the 266th Catholic

: pontiff, replacing Benedict
XVI who resigned. Before

: being introduced to the world,

: Bergoglio chose the regnal

? name Francesco, or Francis, and
: was the first of his predecessors

: to select the name. Pope

: Francis, a Jesuit from Argentina,
: : has said that he chose his regnal
: of achurch near Little Disciples :
: of Jesus, said the father is

: an “old flame,’ and that

: “[everything] happened last

: spring, around March or April
: time when she was back in El

: Salvador to get her passport

: renewed.”

name in honour of St. Francis of

: Assisi.

Pope Francis himself has

: not spoken on the matter, but

if his public statements and

? sermons are any indication, he
might be feeling a bit conflicted:
: Pope Francis subscribes to the
long-held view that members

: of the clergy should be

: celibate, and has stated “For

: the moment, I am in favour of
maintaining celibacy.”

By the same token, Pope

: Francis’ views on the role of
women in the Church might

: indicate that he would be

: inclined to allow Rodriguez to
stay in the convent with her

: son. Additionally, as Archbishop
: of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis

: expressed sympathy for the

children of unmarried mothers,

; as some priests refuse to baptize
: the children. He stated that

: such priests “drive God’s people
: away from salvation.”

“In our ecclesiastical region

: there are priests who don’t
baptise the children of single

; mothers because they weren't
: conceived in the sanctity of

; marriage,” the Pope has said.

: “These are today’s hypocrites.”

This odd and remote issue

has the potential to put Catholic
: doctrine to the test.

news // 5

Federal government cuts
English Language Training
Program by $20-million

» Post-secondary institutions now compete
for limited ESL program funding

P julia Siedlanowska
| Staff Writer

 

[: 2013, it was decided that funding originally allocated by
the federal government to the Social Transfer for English
Language Training (ELT) and English Language Services for
Adults (ELSA) would instead be put up for a proposal bidding
process. This means that about $20-million normally allocated
to the provincial government for English as a Second Language
(ESL) programs largely at post-secondary institutions is now
opened up to private and community organizations as well.

“What this means is that it’s $20-million that the federal
government is not giving to BC to provide to public institutions
to provide English Language Training,” says Tracy Ho, College
Relations and Membership Outreach Coordinator at the
Douglas Students’ Union (DSU).

The concern with post-secondary institutions such as
Douglas College and Camosun College competing for funding
with private institutions, says Ho, is the quality of the language
training. With many students wanting to transfer to post-
secondary institutions to continue their education, there are
concerns that many of the private institutions won't provide
proper accreditation.

Vancouver Community College (VCC) is among the largest
providers of ESL training in BC. VCC provided 46 per cent of the
training in the program which allowed ESL students to study
English tuition-free.

Karen Shortt, president of the VCC faculty association,
released a statement saying, “There are a significant number
of immigrants who need much more than the skills attainable
through ELSA if they are to contribute to BC’s economy to
the fullest extent possible. However, since most colleges and
universities focus on International Education, VCC stands out
as by far the largest, most important provider of ESL training for
immigrants.”

There are growing concerns about the socio-economic
impact of the cuts in funding. “If you separate ELT and take
it out of the college community youre really siloing the
new immigrants into these little spaces where it’s just new
immigrants,” says Ho. “Whereas if you provide ELT in a setting
like a community college, they’re being integrated into an
environment where they can make connections with students
that maybe have grown up here.”

Last week, Douglas College's vice-president of academic and
provost Kathy Denton stated in an Education Council meeting
that there is no news in terms of whether or not Douglas College
has received the funding.

“If there’s no funding, there is a potential for loss for faculty
and staff and obviously the program wont exist for students at
Douglas College anymore. So that’s a huge problem,” stated Ho.

Douglas College is pairing with the Canadian Federation
of Students and the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators to
create a campaign lobbying the provincial government to fill the
funding gap. Since BC is the last province to have these changes
implemented, the DSU believes it would be very difficult to
lobby “because they have already made sweeping changes across
the country,” says Ho.

“Some people have analyzed [the decision] as the federal
government creating a system where private organizations
can bid for this money, and some of the analysis is that it’s the
federal government is in a way securing loyalties from certain
immigrant communities,’ says Ho. “For instance if there’s
a large community organization out there that helps new
immigrants settle and they get a big chunk of money from the
federal government, it’s in a way trying to secure that loyalty
to them. It’s securing new immigrants’ loyalty to this current
government.”