Wednesday february 27, 2008 Fr. Jim Whalen, The National Director of Priests for Life, Canada suffered a massive heart attack Sunday morning while conducting a Pro-Life Mission at Most Holy Rosary Parish in Thorold, Ontario (Near Niagara Falls)... In the summer of 1996, Fr. Jim was asked by a group of people in the Diocese of Pembroke to take on the role of National Director for a newly created organization called Priests for Life Canada. Without hesitation, Fr. Jim accepted. When asked why he was so open to taking on this challenge, Fr. Jim answered "As a priest, we cannot 'not be involved'. We must use all the forces available to us to attack the problems of contraception, abortion, and euthanasia". Prior to becoming a priest, Father Jim taught at all levels in the Ottawa Separate School system. In addition to being bilingual, he was serving as the spiritual director of The Senatus, the Governing Body of the Legion of Mary, Northern Ontario. He also spent thirty years as Chaplain for Native Peoples of Ottawa and was one of the founders of Odawa Native Friendship Center. Further involvement included his work assisting the Ottawa area Catholic Home Schooler's Association as Spiritual Advisor and he taught Religious Science for two years at Ottawa University. 6:04:53 AM We are just five months away from the 40th anniversary of the papal encyclical on birth control, entitled Humanae Vitae, and I am writing to ask your assistance in a project that I hope will impact thousands of men responsible for this marvelous teaching—our priests and seminarians. The project is simple: to send to as many priests and seminarians as possible a new email newsletter that is dedicated to educating them on the teaching of this encyclical. 5:55:10 AM