The Catholic Bishops of Maryland have issued a statement, “The Most Sacred of All Property: Religious Freedom and the People of Maryland.”
Despite its title, the principles it lays out and the examples it uses are applicable to the entire United States. People of all faiths, not just Catholics, will find it a helpful defense when faced with marriage and family issues.
Read it here.
STATEMENT OF MOST REVEREND EDWARD K. BRAXTON, BISHOP OF BELLEVILLE, MOST REVEREND R. DANIEL CONLON, BISHOP OF JOLIET, AND
MOST REVEREND THOMAS JOHN PAPROCKI, BISHOP OF SPRINGFIELD IN ILLINOIS REGARDING THE ENDING OF APPEALS OF FOSTER CARE LITIGATION
It is with deep regret that we have decided to relinquish our appeals in the litigation concerning the provision of foster care and adoption services by Catholic Charities of the Dioceses of Joliet and Springfield in Illinois and by Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois in the Diocese of Belleville. This lawsuit had sought clarification as to whether the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act passed at the end of last year protected the freedom of faith-based agencies to provide foster care and adoption services in accord with their religious beliefs. Read more…
by Charlie Butts and Bob Kellogg
After 90 years of assisting in providing foster care for children, Catholic Charities of Illinois has been forced to cease services.
The problem began with passage of the Illinois civil unions law for same-gender pairs, which led the state to force Christian foster care and adoption organizations to consider homosexual couples, even though that is contrary to basic Christian doctrine. Catholic Charities filed suit, but the state has already begun transferring the children out. Read more…
From theweek.com:
A Catholic medical center is providing a way for women, seeking second-trimester abortions, to actually stop the procedure and keep the baby.
At the pregnancy center where I used to do volunteer work many (probably most) of the women working there are members of the PASS (Post Abortion Stress Syndrome) support group. Most pregnancy centers sponsor PASS support groups and, regrettably, such groups are ‘thriving’ in terms of membership. Read more…
Recently (Saturday, June 10th) there was an awesome webcast called Ending Abortion. It’s well worth checking out.
You can download any (or all) of the ten hour-long sessions as an MP3 to your computer or ipod and listen to each at your leisure.
Here is my NOM colleague and friend, Maggie Gallagher, referring to the unintended consequences of same sex marriage in DC. (I posted on this yesterday: the Catholic diocese discontinues health care for spouses; the words “bride” and “groom” are removed from the city’s marriage licenses; Catholic Charities out of foster and adoption city contracts.)
What gay person in D.C. is practically better off as a result of this mean-spirited and successful attempt to drive the Catholic Church out of the public square in key ways? If this were left up to ordinary gay people, I’m betting it would all turn out very different. Live and let live Read more…
In the wake of the District of Columbia’s new same sex marriage policy, these changes have happened.
Item #1: In DC, the Catholic Archdiocese discontinued offering health care benefits to spouses. Read more…
We first reported this travesty here. Now CitizenLink has picked up on it, hopefully spreading the word to millions more people. The welfare rules of the Great Society drove marriage out of the homes of the poor. The health care bill has the potential to drive marriage out of the middle class.
A closer look at premium payments in both the House and Senate health care bills shows higher premiums that might discourage couples from tying the knot. Read more…
It is a sad day for the poor of the District of Columbia. For the sake of the 1.5% of households with same sex couples, the DC City Council has passed legislation that will effectively prohibit the Archdiocese of Washington from even applying for city social service contracts. Thankfully, the Archdiocese will continue its own mission to the poor. I wonder who the DC city council will find to replace them?
I did a podcast on this a few weeks ago, while the City Council was still debating.
Martyn Drakard, Mercatornet.com
Ugandan attitudes towards homosexuals have a lot to do with their attitudes towards fertility.
A three-day international conference on family planning took place in the Ugandan capital of Kampala last month. More than 1,000 health workers from 59 countries applauded a US$12 million grant from the Americans for launching a family planning drive in Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya, as well as Indonesia and Pakistan. Everyone was relieved that President Obama had rescinded George Bush’s Mexico City policy which had banned funding agencies which provided abortion services or counselling. Read more…
Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow -
As Washington, DC’s city council moves closer to legalizing homosexual “marriage,” a Christian organization is raising a warning flag.
The DC Election Board has refused an initiative to put the marriage issue before voters. Alan Wisdom of the Institute on Religion & Democracy tells OneNewsNow the city council was offered amendments to protect religious groups, but opted to reject them. Read more…
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