By: Anthony Pasquale

Anthony Pasquale — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 03:08:36 +0000

Dear Fra Roderic,
Ave Maria and God bless you for this wonderful site. Please respond with an email of any sort, so I can restore your email address, as we lost our hard drive with all addesses .
Also I have a strong suggestion for enhancing AIRMARIA’s access to people, which you may be interested in, but I will nee your email to send it.

By: FIC Blog » Blog Archive » FIC Supporters Get Active to Defend Marriage and Religious Liberty

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:12:15 +0000

[…] I’ve received an amazing amount of correspondence appalled at the performance of Mike Lawlor, Andrew McDonald, Ed Gomes, and William Tong? in the public hearing.? Because of the Catholic League, Lifesitenews, and Air Maria this story has gone national.? Many of our supporters have found great ways to make their concerns known.? I wanted to share one example of a letter? we received from one of our supporters written to House Majority Leader Jim Amman: Dear Speaker Amman, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? I am writing to ask that you address some counter-productive conduct displayed by certain Judiciary Committee members during the hearings on HB-7395, a bill regarding same-sex marriage. I watched some of the hearings live on Monday, 3/26/07 via CT-N, I watched some on the CT-N “re-run??? on 4/1/07 and I watched some via the CT-N on the Web. I did not watch the entire hearing, but I believe that I observed enough over the course of several hours to feel that I took in more than a representative sample. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Let me state clearly that after listening to the testimonies, I am opposed to this bill, but that is not why I am writing. I am writing because, as a voting citizen of this state, I am completely and utterly appalled at the conduct that I observed by certain judiciary committee members during the hearings. In particular, I would cite the conduct of representatives Lawlor and Tong, to name two.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? I am hopeful that I am not the first one bringing this to your attention. In fact, if you observed the hearings either live or otherwise, the behavior I am referring to is plain to see and requires no explanation from me. Just the same, I would say that the conduct falls into 2 major categories: ? ? 1.? ? ? ? ? The creation and propagation of a hostile environment for those testifying with an opinion different than certain committee members. Again, I would be happy to go through the recording and give examples of how this was done, but if you watch the testimony of Brian Brown (Family Institute of Connecticut), you will notice that he is all but verbally attacked by Tong and Lawlor among others. Those opposing same sex marriage were treated in such a way that certain committee members showed frustration and disgust toward them. Contrast the treatment Mr. Brown received to the warm smiles and acceptance that Ian Ayres and Jennifer Gerarda Brown received from many committee members during their testimony late in the day. Is that something that you are willing to tolerate as the leadership figure of this body? I would hope that any decent politician would learn how to treat people with more dignity and respect than I saw Lawlor and Tong treat Mr. Brown and others. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2.? ? ? ? ? A clear indication that there was barely an attempt at impartiality or open-mindedness for the topic at hand. Throughout the hearings, it was clear that several committee members were there to simply discover information that supported their position. In fact, by the nature and tone of their questions, it was plainly clear which members of the committee were bound and determined to refute any testimony that seemed to disprove their position. I ask you, what place does this kind of display have at a hearing? Isn’t the hearing designed to be an open forum where committee members can learn what their constituents think about an issue? At best, the display I saw was politics at it’s most disgusting, at worst this was a disruption of the democratic process. Can we all (those for and against) simply admit that many on both sides of the issue made intelligent arguments that deserved a listening ear? ? Mr. Speaker, I hope that this bill never gets out of committee. But beyond that, I am more hopeful that you, as leader of these representatives would make a statement that what Lawlor, Tong and others did on March 26th was unacceptable for public officials. I would hope that you are not tolerant of the bullying tactics displayed. It’s never fair to push people around – especially given the positional responsibility that these representatives possess– one of authority in public life. There was much talk of bigotry, bias, discrimination and fair treatment during these hearings. Well, I dare say, that the behavior I observed certainly did nothing to teach the rest of us about how to love and respect our fellow man or woman. Whether these representatives choose to change their ways is ultimately up to them, but at the least they need to be reminded of their responsibility to respect and fairly treat both the democratic process they should be upholding as well as the people that they serve in this state. ? Continued displays like this will earn them and their party something that they will ultimately deserve – a vote for a more dignified and civilized opponent. […]

By: FIC Blog » Blog Archive » Connecticut Lawmakers Attack Catholicism at Gay ‘Marriage’ Hearing

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:03:48 +0000

[…] Lifesite links to the Air Maria video of the exchange and provides contact info for key lawmakers. In a related item, about 60% of respondents to a Courant reader poll said “no” to the same-sex “marriage” bill that was the subject of that hearing. […]

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 11:54:05 +0000

Excellent job on that report! A most refreshing perspective in contrast to the constant cynical dronings of the liberal media. Keep up the great work. More like this please.

By: Ave Maria

Ave Maria — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:49:55 +0000

There is a Catholic warrior in CT and his name is Brian Brown. God bless him! And God bless all others who are not afraid to stand up in the public square for the Truths of our faith.

By: David

David — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:04:25 +0000

It’s interesting to note the language that proponents of the deviant sexual culture use to defend their agenda. They always talk about “love” and being sensitively open to other people’s rights, but they never or hardly ever directly address the questionable sexual behavior/act that is at the very heart of the argument!

By: FIC Blog » Blog Archive » Same-Sex “Marriage” Hearing Creates More Backlash

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:06:50 +0000

[…] The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, a Catholic religious order with a friary in Connecticut, has produced a video on the threat to religious liberty in our state featuring my testimony from last Monday’s same-sex “marriage”. Check it out here. […]