AirMaria.com » Causa Nostrae Laetitiae

My latest show on "The Face of Pro-Life"

Leticia — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:00:11 +0000

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CT: SB 899 Passes with protection for religious liberty

Leticia — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:00:10 +0000

from the Family Institute of CT
SB 899 Passes–But *Only* After Being Amended to Protect Religious Liberty!
The headline on The Courant’s website nicely summarizes the end result of the fight over SB 899: “Amendment Gives Religious Organizations Exemption to Same-Sex Ruling.” Make no mistake: The amendment is not perfect and SB 899 itself is the result of an illegitimate court ruling, not the will of the people.
That said, the bill passed last night is a significant improvement for religious liberty in the wake of that ruling. After the Kerrigan same-sex “marriage” decision, religious liberty in Connecticut was left wide open to each and every one of the ssm-related attacks on it that have occurred elsewhere. The amendment passed last night goes beyond Kerrigan and gives protections to religious liberty in Connecticut that Kerrigan did not. The amendment also gives religious liberty many of the protections which were explicitly rejected by the Judiciary Committee last month.
In my March 6th testimony before the Committee I cited several examples (Boston Catholic Charities being forced out of adoption services, the New Jersey Methodist organization losing tax-exempt status over a pavilion, the Canadian Knights of Columbus hall that was sued) of ssm-related attacks on religious liberty which made an amendment necessary. The Committee treated our concerns with contempt and on March 30th passed SB 899 with no amendment to prevent those attacks. But almost every one of the ssm attacks I mentioned will now be against the law in Connecticut because of the amendment that was passed last night.
When it comes to protecting religious liberty, the version of SB 899 which was passed last night is miles ahead of the Judiciary Committee’s version. Of course, you will not hear that from our opponents. They are claiming that they are satisfied with the amendment passed last night. History suggests otherwise.Going into yesterday’s vote, the adamant position of Love Makes a Family and its lobbyists was: “Pass 899 with no amendments.” Once it became clear that we had the votes for an amendment, their strategy shifted to having Sen. Andrew McDonald offer a phony amendment. But McDonald’s amendment was shot down in behind-the-scenes discussions by senators who were unhappy with him and with Rep. Lawlor for forcing yet another religious liberty controversy upon the legislature.
At that point, the only way for Love Makes a Family to claim victory was to say they were satisfied with our amendment, as they are now doing. The overwhelming vote for our amendment was a product of the 20,000 phone calls the legislature received this past week–and of the continuing backlash against SB 1098, the bishop removal bill. Connecticut legislators are very sensitive–at the moment, at least–to any suggestion that they oppose religious liberty. That dynamic helped shift the ground on SB 899 to the point where even Lawlor and McDonald had to vote for an amendment which they surely would have condemned as anti-gay “bigotry” just six weeks ago.
FIC is very grateful to the 60 or so volunteers who joined us throughout the day to lobby legislators. I especially want to acknowledge the seminarians of Holy Apostles College in Cromwell and the prayer warriors of the Connecticut House of Prayer. “We fight not against flesh and blood” and several victories against unseen adversaries occurred yesterday because of your prayers and your support.
As recently as a week ago SB 899 was expected to sail through the legislature with no amendment. That did not happen because of all of you. But, while yesterday was a significant victory for us, there is still more to be done.
An FIC-supported amendment to require parents be notified before “gay-friendly” curricula are taught in schools and be allowed to “opt out” was defeated in the Senate and the House. Watch for more information on that vote and what you can do about it.
We will also have more information about the amendment that did pass last night, the votes on that amendment, our allies, and our usual breakdown of “the good, the bad and the ugly.” We cannot do it without you! Please click here to make your most generous donation to the one group leading the fight for faith and family in our state day in and day out: The Family Institute of Connecticut!

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Take action to preserve doctor’s freedom of conscience

Leticia — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:00:05 +0000

The Cardinal Newman Society has joined with dozens of other organizations and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to try to save conscience protections for pro-life doctors and nurses.

The Obama Administration is actively working to remove sensible conscience protections that prevent doctors and nurses from being discriminated against when they refuse to perform morally objectionable procedures, such as abortions.

Please, pro-life doctors and nurses need your help today!

There is a public comment period on removing the conscience protections that ends on Holy Thursday, April 9th.

Pro-life organizations are working with a website called Freedom2Care.org where you may learn more about what is at stake and send your public comments to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Don’t delay. Visit Freedom2Care.org or the special button on the top of the sidebar today!

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Pro-family rally in Hartford to oppose homosexual teaching in schools

Leticia — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:00:11 +0000

from the Family Institute of Connecticut
FIC Action Rally/Lobby Day on April 7th!

The Lawlor-and-McDonald-controlled Judiciary Committee has approved the most extreme bill possible to codify the court’s same-sex “marriage” ruling. It makes almost no provision for religious liberty, takes away the conscience rights of justices of the peace and will likely lead to a state mandate to teach homosexuality in our schools!

We need your help to stop this awful bill and the transgendered special rights bill which may soon be voted out of this same Committee! (On transgender bill, see the link at the bottom of this message.)

On Tuesday, April 7th at 10:00 a.m. the Family Institute of Connecticut Action will hold a Pro-Family Rally and Lobby Day on the steps of the state Capitol in Hartford. We need as many pro-family state residents as possible to attend our rally and then meet with their own legislators afterwards to ask them to vote to protect faith and family.

After the Rally, all of those interested will make their way over to room 1C of the Legislative Office Building where we will receive packets of pro-family information. From there we will go to meet with our individual legislators to ask them to vote pro-family. Don’t worry if you have never “lobbied” before! We will have materials available to help you.

The most effective approach to lobbying for faith and family is to bring as many people as possible to Hartford on a weekday to meet directly with their state representative and state senator. We know it is a sacrifice to take a day off from work and we appreciate what so many of you are willing to do to help protect society’s most precious institutions. But our opposition regularly appears at the state Capitol in large numbers. Having legislators see with their own eyes that the pro-family side enjoys greater public support is the only way to reverse the anti-family stranglehold over our state Capitol.

And FIC Action will be there on April 7th to help guide you. Following our 10 a.m. rally we will march together into the Legislative Office Building where our volunteers will help direct you to where you need to go to meet with your own state representative and state senator. We will also provide brief talking points on why pro-family bills should be supported and anti-family bills should be opposed.

In fact, there is information we can provide to you right now to help you get a jumpstart on making your April 7th lobbying day as effective as possible.

First, call your state representative and state senator and make an appointment to meet with them. House Democrats can be reached at 800-842-8267 and House Republicans can be reached at 800-842-1423. Senate Democrats can be reached at 800-842-1420 and Senate Republicans can be reached at 860-240-8800.

Tell them that you are their constituent and you would like them to be at the state capitol on April 7th to meet with you. Set a time. Do not settle for meeting with a legislative aide-tell the aide that you want just 5 minutes of your legislator’s time.

If when you arrive for your appointment your legislator is in session, give a note to a “runner” from his office to inform him or her that you have arrived. Most legislators will take time out of the session to meet with their constituents.

If your legislator(s) are not available on April 7th, pick another day to meet with him or her. We need as many people as possible to attend our April 7th Rally and Lobby Day. But the most important thing is that you have face-to-face time with your legislators to ask them to vote pro-family.

Protecting faith and family in 2009 depends on you. Please forward this message to every pro-family state voter you know and encourage them to join the fight. Tell your churches to come to FIC Action’s April 7th Rally and Lobby Day and help us fight for the family!

We hope to see as many of you as possible at the state capitol at 10:00 a.m. on April 7th. Thank you and God bless you for all that you do to fight for faith, family and freedom.

We need your support to hold rallies, lobby days, press conferences and other pro-family public education events! Click here to help FIC Action convince legislators to vote pro-family!

Please get the word out to your churches, friends, and family!

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Bishops organizing to enforce Canon 915 in DC

Leticia — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:00:14 +0000

What good would it do if good Bishop Naumann of Kansas City enforces a ban on pro-abortion Governor Sibelius’ reception of Communion if, when she is HHS Secretary, she can receive publicly in Washington? Thankfully, Archbishop Wuerl and Bishop Loverde of Virginia have agreed to back up the enforcement of Canon 915 in DC as well. Maybe the bishop of Maryland had better get on board, to be sure.
‘This will send the message to other bishops that if they choose to pronounce members of Congress from their dioceses unfit for communion, their authority will be respected in D.C. and across the Potomac in Virginia.
The ramifications are enormous: For example, if Sean Cardinal O’Malley of Boston stated publicly that Sen. John Kerry was in violation of Canon 915, he would not have been able to receive communion at Pope Benedict XVI’s Mass in Washington, D.C., a year ago. Rep. Nancy Pelosi would not have been able to celebrate her elevation to speaker of the House with a special Mass at Trinity College,if Archbishop Neiderhauer had found her wanting according to the standard of Canon 915.’
Read the entire story in Inside Catholic

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My St Patrick’s Day Montage

Leticia — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:00:06 +0000

I created this in honor of St Patrick. For a translation of the haunting Ag Criost an Siol the second song on the montage, click here.

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Catholic League has booklet debunking "Angels and Demons"

Leticia — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:00:09 +0000

from the Catholic League
A booklet on the upcoming movie, “Angels & Demons,” written by Catholic League president Bill Donohue, is now available. “Angels & Demons”: More Demonic Than Angelic debunks the myths, lies and smears told about the Catholic Church. The film, which opens May 15, is based on Dan Brown’s book, Angels & Demons. Ron Howard directs the movie.

The booklet offers a detailed account of the lies told not only about the Catholic Church, but about many other issues, events and persons mentioned by Brown-Howard. In particular, it sets the record straight on the relationship between Catholicism and science; it has a separate section on Galileo. It closes with evidence of the anti-Catholic agenda of those associated with the film.

It is available for $5, including shipping and handling.

Click here to order the booklet.

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Fr Eueteneuer shines the moral spotlight in Kansas

Leticia — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:00:15 +0000

Brownback – Turncoat

I am not a politician, I am a priest. So I would like to give my priestly perspective about the recent endorsement of Senator Sam Brownback for the candidacy of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services: Senator Brownback’s cowardly betrayal of his Catholic faith is even more damaging than his political permission for this renegade to take office.
The situation is atrocious. An extremist abortion hack (called the most pro-abortion governor in the nation by many), who falsely calls herself “Catholic,” is given the opportunity to preside over the nation’s healthcare system and normalize abortion even further; this radical is then endorsed by a US senator who also calls himself “Catholic” and who, many believe, wants her job back home when she becomes the abortion queen in DC.

With pro-lifers like Senator Sam Brownback, who needs pro-aborts?

Moral theologians can work out what level of cooperation in evil the Senator’s endorsement represents – he is, after all, an influential senator whose opposition, if he had given it, may very well have stopped her nomination. Yet, those of us who do not breathe the rarified air of Washington DC and who have dedicated our lives to defending the sanctity of human life understand one thing: any covenant with the abortion industry or its promoters is consent to the killing.
As a convert to the Catholic Faith, Senator Brownback seems not to understand the Church’s profoundly wounded heart with regard the slaughter of the innocents. The Church tells us never to participate in that slaughter, no matter what the cost; we do not give aid and comfort to the enemies of human life, we do not stand by while the innocent are being dragged off to a violent murder, and under no circumstances do we endorse the political aspirations of their executioners.
Politicians who sell the lives of babies for political gains are the worst kind of turncoats.Yet, this Catholic Senator’s decision constitutes, I think, a watershed moment for all of us who want to see an end to the immoral industry of baby-killing in our country. We will never be served by the compromise of our principles in any form. Catholicism is the solution to this culture of death. If only Catholics ourselves would fully live up to our doctrine and put it into practice, there would be no “Tiller the Killer”s in Kansas, no partial birth abortions, no immoral sex education in the schools or Planned Parenthoods dominating our public life.

Self-described “Catholics” like Brownback (in politics), Doug Kmiec (in academia), Hannity, Matthews and O’Reilly (in media) and others are not the solution to the problem – they are enablers of the problem. Despite their high-sounding lip service to the culture of life, they are compromisers. They will never end abortion because they don’t want to end abortion.I have often said that false Catholics, whether they be Cardinals, politicians or janitors, are the ones who have the most to account for on the Day of Judgment when they will have to account for ignoring Christ in His “least brethren,” the unborn. Whether through advocacy of the evil (like Sebelius) or negligence in stopping it (like Brownback), they have blood on their hands. They’ve been given everything the Church has to offer: the teaching, the sacraments, the example of the saints and the grace to stand against Satan and all his works and all his empty promises. In other words, they know better, and the Biblical warning applies to them: “To whom much has been given, much will be required.”
Cowards and turncoats beware.

Sincerely,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

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Bishop Lori’s statement on anti-Catholic legislation

Leticia — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:54:00 +0000

Diocesan Statement on Proposed Legislative Bill # 1098 / 2009
This past Thursday, the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut State Legislature, which is chaired by Sen. Andrew McDonald of Stamford and Rep. Michael Lawlor of East Haven, introduced a bill that directly attacks the Roman Catholic Church and our Faith.
This bill violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It forces a radical reorganization of the legal, financial, and administrative structure of our parishes. This is contrary to the Apostolic nature of the Catholic Church because it disconnects parishes from their Pastors and their Bishop. Parishes would be run by boards from which Pastors and the Bishop would be effectively excluded.
This bill, moreover, is a thinly-veiled attempt to silence the Catholic Church on the important issues of the day, such as same-sex marriage.
The State has no right to interfere in the internal affairs and structure of the Catholic Church. This bill is directed only at the Catholic Church but could someday be forced on other denominations. The State has no business controlling religion.
The Pastors of our Diocese are doing an exemplary job of sound stewardship and financial accountability, in full cooperation with their parishioners.
For the State Legislature – which has not reversed a $1 billion deficit in this fiscal year – to try to manage the Catholic Church makes no sense. The Catholic Church not only lives within her means but stretches her resources to provide more social, charitable, and educational services than any other private institution in the State. This bill threatens those services at a time when the State is cutting services. The Catholic Church is needed now more than ever.
We reject this irrational, unlawful, and bigoted bill that jeopardizes the religious liberty of our Church.
I urge you to call and e-mail Sen. McDonald and Rep. Lawlor – contact information is available after Mass. I also ask you to come to Hartford this Wednesday, March 11, to be present at the public hearing. Details on bus transportation will be available on Monday in the parish office.
It is up to us to stop this unbridled abuse of governmental power.
It is time for us to defend our First Amendment rights.
It is time for us to defend our Church!

Most Reverend William E. Lori

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NY Times article on the comeback of confession

Leticia — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:17:00 +0000

“You turn on Oprah and you have women crying to her, confessing what they’ve gone through,” Ms. Marchetti said. “Everyone is so quick to tell the world their problems, but they won’t tell a priest.”
In the hope of reversing those engines, the Catholic diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., has mounted what it calls a “Lenten Confession Campaign.” The diocese’s 87 churches, which include St. John’s, will be offering confession for two hours every Tuesday night in addition to the usual Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning periods.
It remains to be seen, of course, whether the multimedia effort can change behavior on a grand scale. Monsignor DiGiovanni has changed it within his parish through a theological version of retail politics: reaching individuals and families through a decade of homilies, conversations and columns in the church bulletin”
Monsignor DiGiovanni’s attitude reflects a growing trend; if you offer confessions, they will come. And confess, and live in a state of grace. And bring friends, and family. And suddenly your church will come alive.
It happened in my old parish in Center Moriches, LI; it happened in my new parish in Baltic, CT; and it happened in Stamford. Pass this article to your pastor who may feel that it’s impossible, and give him hope.
I can happen in your parish, despite the naysaying of the aging Fr O’Brien of Notre Dame. Confession is a gift from God, and He wants His children to receive it. And to receive His Body and Blood in a state of grace. All we have to do is let the Holy Spirit work unhindered by our doubts.

Read the entire story in the New York Times.

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