This week on Faith On Trial

Listen Now: https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/

Pro-life center sues Colorado

Bella Health & Wellness is suing to block enforcement of a Colorado law targeting pro-life caregivers, and state officials are offering an unusual defense: they don’t actually intend to enforce the law against Bella, at least for now. “But they don’t actually defend it," said attorney Mark Rienzi, "because the truth is there’s no very good defense for what Colorado did here.”  READ

District forced to reinstate Christian teacher

A Georgia school district has apologized and agreed to reinstate Lindsey Barr, a Christian substitute teacher who was fired from her job after requesting that her children be excused from a read-aloud program with books depicting same-sex relationships. The district also agreed to pay Barr $181,000 as part of a settlement in response to the teacher filing a lawsuit last October.  READ

Oregon mom fights back

“Oregon does not allow Christians to adopt children, apparently, but Jessica Bates is doing something about it,” writes Amira Abuzeid for CatholicVote. “Bates, a Christian ultrasound technician and widowed mother of five, recently filed a lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Human Services to end this unjust and discriminatory practice.”  READ

Where Is The Nashville Manifesto?

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

One month ago today, Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old female (who misidentified herself as a male), shot and killed six innocent people in Nashville, Tennessee. The local police said she was planning the attack “over a period of months,” and that she had studied other mass murderers. They emphasized that the attack was “calculated and planned.” Importantly, they found a manifesto that laid bare her thinking.

The Nashville police said they would make public the manifesto as soon as their investigation was completed. They have not done so. All they have said is that the Christian school, Covenant School, and the church, were targeted; she once attended Covenant. “There’s some belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school,” said Police Chief John Drake.

So where’s the manifesto? Who’s holding it back? What’s driving this decision?

According to Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, it’s not the cops who are balking—it’s the FBI. Furthermore, Nashville Council member Courtney Johnston has said the FBI has already said it would not authorize the release of the manifesto in its entirety.

This smacks of politics. It stinks to high heaven.

We know that media outlets, such as NBC, have tried to evade any mention of the transgender status of the mass murderer. We know that Jordan Budd, who runs Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere, has said, “It [the manifesto] should not be published.” We know that some transgender activists have threatened violence. Is this what the FBI is giving in to?

Criminal justice professor Joseph Giacalone opines that the FBI is afraid that “there is something in there [the manifesto] that is truly damaging for the transgender community,” and that “they are hesitant to do it because they are afraid of a violent backlash against that protected class of people.”

He’s right. But that does not justify censoring the manifesto.

The public has a right to know what motivated Hale. If she indeed was an anti-Christian bigot, as many sexually confused people are, then we need to know it. Quite frankly, there is a violent element in transgender circles, and Christians need to know if others are also targeting them. Hale may have operated alone, but was she inspired by hate speech voiced by transgender activists?

If the manifesto were made public, and innocent transgender persons were threatened or attacked, the guilty should to be arrested and punished. But this is no excuse for not being transparent.

Unfortunately, Christians, especially Catholics, have reason to worry about the top brass in the FBI. After first monitoring traditional Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass, we recently learned that the agency was spying on mainline Catholics.

We also have to ask tough questions. Given this situation, are we to believe that if a crazed Catholic were to blow up an abortion clinic, killing six people, and law enforcement found a manifesto detailing his motive, that the FBI would censor its release? Or would it be more likely to make it public?

The ruling class is increasingly becoming the enemy of the people. We need one standard of justice for everyone. And that means, among other things, that Hale’s manifesto must be made public in its entirety, and with dispatch.

It Matters What They Do… Not What They Say

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – One of my earliest lessons in dealing with people came from my Dad. He told me to watch what people do, not what they say. Thus, I have grown with the belief that the true test of a man is whether he does what he says he will.

We in this country are blessed with freedoms not found in many countries around the world; but freedom is only an abstract term unless society establishes and supports measures to ensure that concept applies to all persons equally.

But that is not being done today. Despite official condemnation of violence against churches, people of faith, and attacks on pro-life centers, nothing (next to, anyway) is being done to apprehend those responsible.

Since May of 2021 some 64 incidents of vandalism against pro-life organizations have been recorded, and during that same period Catholic churches have been subjected to burnings and other forms of vandalism.

Yet there is one place where the vandal was caught. In Bellevue, Wash., a 32-year-old trans man — not sure which way he was going — was caught in the act. He was using spray paint to vandalize the St. Louise Parish church, painting such things as “F. . . the Catholic Church.”

He knocked over several statues, desecrated the altar, broke windows, smashed two doors, spray-painted someone’s face, resisted arrest, and broke windows in the squad car. He claimed it was in retaliation for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The Biden Administration had no way to excuse not acting. Here is the recommendation of the DOJ: No jail, three years’ probation. Well done Justice Department! You have proved my point: You will enforce only the rights of the people with whom you agree.

We can take this further, but only two matters need to be mentioned. Just before Holy Week, Walter Reed Military Hospital abruptly canceled a contract with a group of Franciscan Friars to provide religious services for the hospitalized. When the friars showed up, they were served with a “cease and desist order.”

It was announced later that the hospital had contracted with a for-profit concern to provide spiritual services in place of the friars.

Then there was the tragic shooting of three children and three adults at the Covenant Christian School in Nashville. The response by the local police was near-perfect. Brave officers, ignoring the risks to their own lives, rushed into the school and took out the shooter before more harm could be done.

At first the local authorities were good about providing information about the shooter and her actions. They reported that the shooter was a man who was transitioning to female. Then there was the report that the shooter had left a manifesto which was taken into police custody.

The FBI was on the scene and they saw the manifesto written by a trans individual who had just shot up a Christian school. No one has heard anything about that manifesto since. Why? Could it provide a link between some in the trans community and attacks on churches and pro-life facilities? Apparently, we’re not allowed to know, but the theory of an alleged link between violent wacked-out Christians and attendees at a Latin Mass, as proposed by the goofy Southern Poverty Law Center, warranted a full report.

Don’t believe the words; their actions tell you all you need to know.

Now something a little closer to home.

The Young Lawyers Division of the Iowa State Bar Association has developed a DEI program and is asking members to take a pledge to support DEI activities.

Now I’m not a big fan of DEI, which you know stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The concept is misunderstood by most people and, I believe, is kept alive by hundreds of equity warriors, many of whom are charlatans, who teach their own version of DEI. However, it seems that everywhere a DEI program is adopted, racial and other problems follow.

So, I have some advice for my colleagues who are jumping in on this folderol: Know what it is you are talking about. Words have meanings and you should understand what DEI means.

I taught my poly-sci students that on the first day. I would ask how many were in favor of freedom and equality. They would all raise their hands. Then I would ask which one did they favor. That produced puzzled faces; after all, were these not synonyms?

No, I would reply and point out that there was an inherent conflict within those words: Total freedom cannot exist with total equality — think of a property owner and a tenant. Thus, there must be a balance between the concepts to achieve the correct result. That is what is needed with DEI: a balance in the terms which is often missed.

Diversity is not just counting heads and checking boxes. It is embracing Jesus’ teaching about who is your brother. Unfortunately, it is too often used to push blame on some and create victims with others. That’s not the message of the Good Samaritan.

And another disturbing fault of diversity is that the head counters, the box checkers, now count Asians as white. Think about that. The Supreme Court and Harvard are thinking about that right now.

Equity does not mean equality. Equality is giving all an equal chance at whatever prize they are seeking. Equity is putting a thumb on the scale to provide a desired result. One of the problems with this concept is that it relegates the concept of meritocracy to an afterthought. If you pick your NBA team using equity, you might build a diverse team, but it wouldn’t win too many games.

And inclusion. We’d all like to be included — most places. I might love to be included in the greatest law firm in the state, but if I am included but don’t have the temperament to fit in with the work ethic of the firm, I won’t succeed — regardless of the assistance the firm gives me. Perhaps I fit better in a smaller firm, or solo practice. The point is I’m not destined to be included just everywhere.

So, the lesson here is this: People’s actions speak louder than their words, but words are still important; use them wisely. 

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/)

This week on FOT

Listen to all Podcast posted at: https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/. Current podcast us usually posted by noon Saturday.

Democrats Continue To War On School Choice

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

There are 13 states that are most known for their school choice initiatives: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. Republican lawmakers are the dominant party in all 13 states; and all have a Republican governor, save for Kansas and Louisiana. 

We looked at 13 of the most prominent states (including the District of Columbia) that are run by Democrats to see how they handle school choice. Compared to states run by Republicans, they don’t fare too well. 

Twelve of them provide for limited school choice options: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, D.C., Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, California, Oregon and Washington. One of them—California—provides no financial assistance, either in the form of vouchers or tax credits; it also has no private school choice plan. 

The Democrats say they are the party that best represents the interests of “people of color.” Yet they are the ones who oppose the very school choice programs that are overwhelmingly favored by African Americans, Asians and Hispanics. 

The following section is taken from my new book, War on Virtue.

• Rev. Jesse Jackson opposes school choice. But he sent his children to the best private schools.
• Senator Ted Kennedy was ready to conduct a filibuster over a bill that would have given D.C. parents school choice. He sent his children to private schools.
• Hillary Clinton is an ardent foe of school choice. She made sure her daughter went to the prestigious Sidwell Friends School in D.C.
• President Obama, another anti-school choice politician, also sent his daughters to Sidwell Friends.
• President Biden sent his children to private schools. But he opposes school choice for others.
• Vice President Kamala Harris, an enemy of school choice, sent her stepchildren to private schools.
• Rep. Nancy Pelosi spent a small fortune sending her children to the most expensive private schools. But she argues that “private school vouchers are a bad idea.”
• Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio sent his kids to elite public schools (which he later tried to crush) and to private schools. He went so far as to say, “I am angry about the state of public education in America. I am angry at the privatizers. I am sick and tired of these efforts to privatize a precious things\ we need—public education.” 

San Francisco has earned a reputation as a left-wing city. Though the city is 48 percent white, only 15 percent of white children go to public schools. “For all its vaunted progressivism,” the New York Times says, “it has some of the highest private school enrollment numbers in the country—and many of those private schools have remained open.” 

Harvard education professor Paul E. Peterson wryly notes that “a fifth of all school teachers with school-age children has placed a child in a private school, and nearly three out of ten have used one or more of the main alternatives to the traditional public school.” In fact, “school teachers are much more likely to use a private school than are other parents.” 

This is worse than hypocrisy. 

The welfare of children is being sabotaged by the public school establishment. If the schools that public school teachers work at aren’t good enough for their own children, why are they good enough for those who can’t afford to escape them? To top things off, it is the teachers’ unions—the ones who fund the Democratic party—who are out to destroy charter schools and who oppose school choice. 

As I’ve said before, it is typically those who scream the loudest about helping blacks who are their biggest enemy. Blacks don’t need the help of patronizing white liberals—they need access to the same kinds of schools that the elites can afford.

What Are We Doing About It?

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – Once again, the story of the FBI infiltrating the Catholic Church is in the news — where it should be. This column reported on this back in February when it contained our radio interview (Episode 351, see below) with the FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin. Now, finally, the U.S. House of Representatives will be questioning FBI director, Christopher Wray, in open session to try to get some explanation for that action.

The issue came to light when Kyle obtained a report by the Richmond Field Office which set out the rationale for such an investigation and follow-up infiltration. The theory, boiled down, was that there were groups of white conservative Christians who, along with parents who don’t want their kids brainwashed in their schools, had become the source of violent extremists who were threatening the world that Joe Biden was attempting to build.

The real danger these white supremacists posed is if and when they joined with white conservative Catholics to raise holy hell against the current regime in Washington, as well as those “Dark Aged” states aligned with the nation’s intellectually superior political intellectuals.

So, in the FBI’s opinion, which the Richmond office shared with other field offices throughout the nation, efforts must be made to keep those two groups, the white conservative Christians and the white conservative Catholics, from meeting up to form some form of mega threat to the very existence of such wonderful institutions as abortion on demand, trans forming your little boys into little girls, and teaching them how the country was built on racism which continues to hold so many people of color — except Asians — in perpetual bondage.

Naturally they looked for white conservative Catholics in the Traditional Catholic liturgy, the Traditional Latin Mass, apparently because those folks were products of the Inquisition and inclined to burn modern witches at the stake.

Thus, if only the FBI could infiltrate those TLM communities, the Evangelical bomb throwers could be kept separate from meeting their Catholic counterparts. All for the glory of the Biden administration, praised be Joe the all-devout.

Of course, what the DOJ is not looking for are those responsible for the 300 plus incidents of vandalism against churches and pro-life clinics. Oh, excuse me — there have been four indictments. Those vandals are a pesky bunch, they do all their work when its dark and that is why it is so hard to find them, according to the attorney general in D.C.

But don’t you worry none, if anyone so much as takes a knee in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic in the daylight, the FBI will storm your house early in the morning with a swat team to arrest you in front of your horrified family. That is what justice demands, say the acolytes of the ruling party.
Of course, it was necessary to increase investigations of pro-life prayer warriors outside abortion facilities, because Roe v. Wade has been overruled, explained Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta to a civil rights gathering at the Justice Department only a few months ago. See, it all makes perfect sense now.

Well, you can easily see how silly this whole thing was, even without my sarcastic description. But it doesn’t stand alone in its challenge to our faith.
Just recently, the Army’s Walter Reed Hospital discontinued its contract services for Catholic chaplains from the nearby Franciscans with a “cease and desist” order which halts a two-decade practice. The Administration (don’t worry, he’s still a devout Catholic) replaced the Franciscans with a private for-profit company, and made the announcement just before the start of Holy Week.

Now we have a bunch of angry Republican congressmen who are vowing to get to the bottom of this nonsense and they’re going to make a lot of noise doing so. Of course, how much of that gets the public’s attention is only conjecture at this point.

But my question is why is a band of Republican congressmen doing what the leadership of our Church should be doing: Crying from the high heavens and calling out the Biden administration for what it is, a heretical, atheistic organization, that only tolerates the worship of a god of its own making.

That’s really the question for the day. Where are our leaders? And where are we in this fight? Are we just a bunch of privates thrown up against the enemy while our colonels and generals sit comfortably behind the lines?
Recently we had Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, on our radio program (Episode 357). He made some interesting comments. First, he suggested that those who are engaged in much of this anti-Catholic activity, whether physical violence or legal harassment, are doing so because many have a deep hatred of what we are and what we believe.

As a group, these folks are bent on the elimination of the Church and represent the principalities which we have fought for over two thousand years. Their leaders are completely hostile to the Church; but not all religions. Catholics are specifically targeted.

So why don’t our bishops sound a warning cry to rally the Catholic faithful? Many good bishops do. But some make weak responses, some make no response at all.

I looked up the response of the USCCB to the original FBI-Latin Mass story. I found this response by the bishops’ religious liberty chairman, New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan:

“Let me first be clear: Anyone who espouses racism or promotes violence is rejecting Catholic teaching on the inherent dignity of each and every person. The USCCB roundly condemns such extremism and fully supports the work of law enforcement officials to keep our communities safe.

“I agree with my brother Bishop Barry Knestout that the leaked memorandum was nonetheless ‘troubling and offensive’ in several respects — such as in its religious profiling and reliance on dubious sourcing — and am glad it has been rescinded. We encourage federal law enforcement authorities to take appropriate measures to ensure the problematic aspects of the memo do not recur in any of their agencies’ work going forward.”

Weak? Strong? It’s a message all right, not quite a clarion call to action, but a call nonetheless. It’s as if we can hear the guns on the other side of the hill but there is no bugle to call us to formation. Without the trumpet’s call, we are left to sit on our side of the hill and wait until it blows the sad cadence of taps.

But we needn’t wait for a general to act; as Mr. Burch pointed out, we attend Mass every week, we hear a homily every week, and we read our church bulletin every week. This is where he says the rubber meets the road and this is where we need our pastors to make a bold response, supported by our bishops, to counter the plans of the Evil One.

Pray, then stand up to the enemy, no matter what form he takes, or with whom he stands.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/)

These States Will Harm Children Without Parental Consent

OLYMPIA, WA – Lawmakers in three states are working to strip parents of their right to consent or even be informed of their minor children’s medical care by not requiring state licensed shelters or homeless youth programs to report runaway youth to parents if they are seeking harmful puberty blockers, hormones, or surgical mutilations. 

Bill SB 5599 in Washington State, which only needs the governor’s signature to become law, proposes that host shelters can house children who are seeking irreversible and damaging gender-related medical interventions without their parents’ knowledge or permission. 

For minors, the bill cites Washington State law defining “gender affirming care” as virtually anything “prescribed by a doctor to treat dysphoria.”

Rather than contacting parents, the bill requires shelters to notify the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families instead. 

Another “compelling reason” listed by Washington State lawmakers to keep parents unaware of their children’s whereabouts while they get life-altering medical care, were due to potential "circumstances that indicate notifying the parent or legal guardian will subject the minor to abuse or neglect." 

In a summary report of the bill, the opponents of the law pointed to the bill itself as “child abuse,” and equated it to “legalized kidnapping.” 

The summary stated, “There is no mention about parents or parental involvement but rather an emotional response to helping children. Minors cannot consent to these kinds of medical procedures… This should be considered child abuse. A parent’s job is to protect their child, this bill strips parents of that ability. Gender is in your imagination. This bill legalizes the kidnapping of children, allows for the harboring of minors, and segregates us from the union.” 

Other states including Oregon and California also have pending legislation to restrict parent’s rights and not require parental notification when their child enters a shelter or group home. Oregon’s HB 2002, which is currently working its way through the state legislature, intends to allow minors as young as 15 years old to consent to “gender affirming” medical interventions without the consent of the minor’s parent of guardian. As the bill states, a minor could undergo, without parental consent, any “…procedure, service, drug, device or product that a physical or behavioral health care provider prescribes to treat an individual for incongruence between the individual’s gender identity and the individual’s sex assignment at birth….” 

In California, AB 665 would allow school counselors to send children as young as 12 years old to state-funded group homes without the knowledge or consent of a parent if there is suspicion the parents don’t support the child’s gender identity. The bill gives school counselors and government bureaucrats the power to separate children from their parents and then keep the parents uninformed and out of any decision-making process regarding the child. 

The bill justifies removing parents from the equation stating, “Over one-half of surveyed LGBTQ+ youth reported that not being able to get permission from their parents or guardians was sometimes or always a barrier to accessing mental health services.” 

These bills are yet another attempt to divorce parents from children. They prioritize confused feelings of those children over parental rights and do not take into account there are times where a parent’s views will not necessarily align with their child’s emotional state. They also do not address that not all mental health services are created equal. For example, many parents object to the false claim that men and women can change their gender, and therefore, do not want their children to go to a counselor who is going to perpetuate their child’s confusion and encourage changing their pronouns or recommend mutilating surgeries. 

Liberty Counsel represents licensed therapists who provide life-saving counseling to minors who desperately desire to conform their attractions, behaviors, and gender identities to their sincerely held religious beliefs. In Otto v. City of Boca Raton, FL, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a city and county ordinance that banned counselors from providing minor clients with help to reduce or eliminate unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or gender confusion.  The appeals court found that the laws were both content and viewpoint based and violate the First Amendment right to free speech. 

In Vazzo v. City of Tampa, Liberty Counsel represents marriage and family therapist Robert Vazzo and his minor clients, as well as the Christian ministry, New Hearts Outreach Tampa Bay. On February 2, 2023, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Tampa ordinance that prohibited licensed counselors from providing voluntary talk therapy to minors seeking help to reduce or eliminate their unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity was unconstitutional under the First Amendment. 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “These state legislatures are attempting to legalize child abuse by stripping parents of informed consent – a fundamental right. If enacted, these ‘laws’ will virtually escort young children on a reprehensible path to damaging, and perhaps irreversible, biological and medical consequences. States need to empower parents to protect their children, not inhibit them.” 

Pentagon faces pressure over Walter Reed

Republican New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith on Friday blasted the Biden administration for barring Catholic priests from ministering to service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The move “highlights questionable judgment by officers awarding a Catholic pastoral care contract to a for-profit company best suited to provide industrial services instead of a Catholic religious institution with a strong record of providing pastoral services,” Smith wrote in a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who claims to be Catholic.  READ

SCOTUS receiving religious freedom case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will begin considering the case of Gerald Groff, a former missionary and United States Postal Service employee who refused to work on Sundays out of his Christian convictions. “Personally, I would like God to be glorified through this,” Groff said. “Legally, I would love to see a precedent set that people don’t get treated the way I did, that their faith is respected, that if they have the conviction like I did to not work on the Lord’s Day, that would be honored.”  READ

Catholic healthcare group sues Colorado

Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed the so-called “Reproductive Health Equity Act 2.0” bill into law Friday. The package contains “several policies which stand in firm opposition to upholding the dignity of life, most notably banning the abortion pill reversal procedure in Colorado in addition to requiring insurance providers to cover the full cost of abortion and expanding access to ‘gender-affirming care,’” Denver Catholic reports. Bella Health and Wellness, a Colorado-based Catholic healthcare provider, has filed suit against the legislation.  READ

Buying Off Black America

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

On April 18, Sophia Institute Press will publish my new book, War on Virtue: How the Ruling Class is Killing the American Dream. One of the subtexts to the volume is the way the ruling class treats black America. Two factors are operative: its members are riddled with white guilt and they have fundamentally given up on blacks. This explains their dedication to buying them off. Here are some recent examples. 

White elites are literally buying off black Americans with lots of cash; they are simultaneously purging themselves of deep-seated guilt. Instead of working with blacks, helping to secure intact families and good schools, they are writing checks, hoping this will keep them afloat. That’s because, deep down, they are the ultimate racists: they believe blacks can’t empower themselves like every other racial and ethnic group. 

California was never a slave state, but the white elite lawmakers in San Francisco, feeling the pangs of guilt, recently voted unanimously to support a plan which grants $5 million in reparations to every black person who is at least 18 years old and who has “identified” as black for the past decade. That would presumably include LeBron James. It might also induce some white boys to “identify” as black and see if they can play the identity game, too. 

If this proposal were to become law, black adults would walk away with at least $97,000 for 250 years, and each family would be able to buy homes in San Francisco for a buck a piece. Another proposal being debated would offer up to $360,000 in reparations per person, provided there is evidence that the applicant is a descendant of black slaves. But what happens to those who learn that their descendants were not slaves, but black slaveowners? Do they have to cough up some cash like whitey? 

Black Lives Matter also rips off black people in the name of helping them. Totally corrupt, the Marxists outdid the most ambitious capitalists by taking advantage of corporate white guilt during the urban riots they helped to promote in 2020. No one seems to know where all the loot went, but no one denies it was a smashing profit-making venture. 

A database from the Claremont Institute recently found that Black Lives Matter received $83 billion from corporate America. That’s more than the GDP of 46 African countries.

 Who wrote the checks? Silicon Valley Bank—yes, that one—Allstate, American Express, Apple, AT&T, Nike, United Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, Wells Fargo, Deloitte, BlackRock, Capital One Financial, Morgan Stanley, US Bank, Goldman Sachs, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, and The Walt Disney Company. 

From colonial times to the mid-twentieth century, African Americans suffered through the worst of slavery, racism and discrimination, and yet the black family held its own. That changed in the 1960s, at a time of low unemployment for blacks, as well as everyone else. 

For reasons having nothing to do with economic need, the white ruling class instituted an array of welfare programs, and other top-down initiatives, mostly aimed at blacks, people whom they concluded could not cut it on their own. It’s been a disaster ever since. 

Black Americans need safe streets, school choice and charter schools. Who’s stopping them from achieving these ends? The very same people anxious to write the checks. It doesn’t get more perverse than this.

DOJ: NO JAIL TIME FOR ANTI-CATHOLIC HATE CRIME

The Biden Justice Department has recommended no jail time for a “transgender” attacker who confessed to hate crimes against St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue, WA. The suspect said he was motivated by the overturning of Roe v. Wade to attack the church, where he smashed glass doors, destroyed a statue of the Blessed Mother, and spray-painted profane messages such as “F*** Catholics” on the property, causing an estimated $30,000 in damage.  READ

New on Faith On Trial

This episode (#358) will be posted as a podcast Saturday noon at: https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/

FBI Asked About Probing “Mainline Catholics”

 By Catholic League president Bill Donohue 

Today I asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to make public those documents that are related to the FBI’s outreach program to “mainline Catholic parishes” and “local diocesan leadership.” They were targeted because of alleged “radicalization” within the Catholic Church. (A copy of my letter was sent to Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.) 

“This is taking the FBI into new, and disturbing territory,” I said. 

We know from previous disclosures that the FBI was probing “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” (RTCs). Such Catholics may not be the typical “in-the-pew” Catholics, but to this day we have not seen any evidence that they are a threat to anyone. Now the FBI has upped the ante, going after “mainline” Catholics and dioceses. 

On February 9, I made public my concerns about the FBI’s interest in RTCs. “What’s next?” Will it be a war on “Catholics who are orthodox?” It appears my worst fears have been realized.

The First Amendment provides for a healthy measure of autonomy between church and state, so when the state encroaches on religious bodies, it had better have unambiguous and very serious reasons for doing so. “I would like to know what they are in this instance,” I asked the FBI Director. 

We have seen too many instances lately where the government is trespassing on the affairs of religion; it is not the other way around. Church and state separation cuts both ways. But under the Biden administration, this fundamental constitutional principle is being summarily ignored. This includes the Department of Justice and the FBI. 

Catholics have a right to know what the FBI is up to. The evidence is clear: Violence against Catholic churches and crisis pregnancy centers are largely going unattended to, yet probes of innocent Catholics are being conducted. This raises important questions that go to the heart of the FBI’s legitimacy.

Soros Is Guilty As Charged

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue 

George Soros has been one of the most prominent philanthropists serving the radical left-wing agenda for decades. Everyone knows it, yet there is a coordinated effort of late to bail him out, saying his critics are “anti-Semites,” looking for a “boogeyman.” His allies are particularly miffed about reports that Soros is funding criminal-friendly district attorneys across the nation. 

Here’s a recent sampling of efforts to brand Soros’ critics as anti-Semitic. In the last 19 days, the following news stories were written with that objective in mind. 

• “Soros…has been a frequent boogeyman for Republicans. In recent years, they have often used the phrase ‘Soros-backed’ to attack Democratic candidates. Some have said this line of attack is an antisemitic dog whistle….” Josh Israel, americanindependent, March 22
• “This is how anti-semitism takes root and spreads.” Teacher’s union chief Randi Weingarten (quoted in above story).
• “Democrats and outside experts have often described the attacks on Soros, who is Jewish, and the groups that received donations from the billionaire, as antisemitic.” cnbc, March 22.
• “Scapegoating Soros, who is Hungarian and Jewish, also perpetuates deep-rooted false ideas about Jewish people and immigrants to underscore the conspiracy theory that he is a shadowy villain orchestrating world events.” AP International, March 22.
•  “Mr. Soros…has been for years a boogeyman on the right, confronting attacks that portray him as a ‘globalist’ mastermind and that often veer into antisemitic tropes.” New York Times, March 24.
• “It’s a screaming antisemitic dog whistle.” Rabbi Doug Alpert. Kansas City Star, March 31.
• “[Trump] is using anti-Jewish stereotypes and historical hatred to raise money.” USA Today Online, April 1.
• “Moreover, the repeated mention of Soros plays into antisemitic conspiracy theories….” Washington Post, April 1.
• “[Rashad] Robinson also called the Soros attacks antisemitic….” Mediaite, April 1.
• “There is a centuries old antisemitic trope Erin about the sinister Jewish puppet master…and attacks on Soros are often either explicitly antisemitic attacks or dog whistle attacks, involving that trope.” Daniel Dale, CNN reporter (quoted in above story).
• “The increasing mainstream flirtation with antisemitic stereotypes and rhetoric has made the subject of attacks on Soros harder and harder to deny.” vox.com. April 3.
• “This has nothing to do with Soros…it has everything to do with a very old, antisemitic view that even though Jews are small in number, they really control everything.” Brandeis professor Jonathan Sarna. Washington Post, April 3.
• “He’s Jewish, which brings with it all sorts of connotations if one wants to play on anti-Semitism.” Emily Tamkin. NPR, April 6.
• “Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has long been a bogeyman for the far right….The attacks, observers say, also smack of anti-Semitism.” Anuj Chopra. AFP, April 9 

Not one of these persons who made the charge that Soros’ critics are driven by anti-Semitism quoted even one person to make their case! 

As a critic of Soros, I have no problem being specific about my position, and it wouldn’t matter a hoot to me if his name was George O’Malley. 

The following is taken from my new book, War on Virtue: How the Ruling Class is Killing the American Dream (the official launch date is April 18, though it is available now on Amazon). 

“Many corrupt district attorneys—those who refuse to prosecute dangerous criminals—got their job with the help of Soros. He gave Alvin Bragg $1 million when he was running for DA in Manhattan in 2021; he gave George Gascón nearly $3 million when he ran for DA of Los Angeles in 2020. In 2022, it was reported that he gave $440 million to elect seventy-five ‘social justice’ prosecutors. The one thing he didn’t deliver was justice, especially for crime victims. 

“Between 2016 and 2022, Soros gave more than $29 million to a personal network of political action committees specifically established to back radical DA candidates. By mid-2022, one in five Americans, or seventy million people, were living in a jurisdiction overseen by a Soros-backed prosecutor. Soros DAs were running New York, Chicago, Saint Louis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles as well as many smaller cities and towns. Soros also received help from his prized client, Black Lives Matter, to lead the charge to defund the police and abolish prisons.” 

No doubt there are anti-Semites who have attacked Soros, but it is scurrilous to tar all his critics as bigots. Soros is guilty as charged. 

One final note. Soros knows a personal thing or two about anti-Semitism. As a young man he became a Nazi collaborator. In a “60 Minutes” interview, he admitted that he helped confiscate property from Jews. He told Steve Kroft that he never regretted doing so. When asked if this was difficult, Soros said, “Not, not at all. Not at all.” Stunned, Kroft said, “No feeling of guilt?” “No” came the reply. 

Divine Mercy

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – Much  of what we discuss here deals with secular matters. Granted they all relate to our ability to worship, to live, and to evangelize according to our faith. Of course, our opponent, the Devil, is working overtime to defeat us both spiritually and legally. So, we fight, and we pray that God will protect us from Satan’s snare, especially right now as we enter into what should be the most joyful time of the year: Easter.

But the weekend after Easter is, in my opinion, one of our most significant feasts: Divine Mercy Sunday. It was designated such by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. It is based on the writings of a Polish nun, Sr. Faustina Kowalska, who died in 1938.

Beginning in February of 1931 the good sister started receiving apparitions of Jesus in which He emphasized the extent of His mercy towards us. At the suggestion of her spiritual director, she began writing the messages down in a diary that after her death was sent to the Vatican for review. It met with resistance, however, due to a poor translation from sister’s native Polish.

However, when the archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, was elected Pope in 1978 there was now someone with authority in the Vatican who could read Sr. Faustina’s diary without the need for any translation. Not only was he impressed by the messages contained in her writings, but he designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday.

The message of Divine Mercy is very basic: God loves us and wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, and if we can call upon Him in humility and in truth, we will receive His mercy and come to share in His joy. We need only to ask, be merciful ourselves, and to trust in Jesus. And if you listen closely to the readings and prayers Sunday, you will hear that message throughout.

So, as we celebrate God’s mercy towards us this weekend, we need to sit back for a moment and look at this mercy in reverse, as the mercy we are required to show to others. God’s mercy toward us is only part of His merciful gift; the rest of Divine Mercy is on us to pass it on to others.

How many times in the Gospels have we been reminded of this: Go and reconcile with your brother before you make your offering to God…forgive seven times seventy. And then there is the story of the servant who was forgiven his debts by his master but was condemned when he did not forgive the debts of his fellow servant.

And, of course, there is the example of the Prodigal Son, who was reunited with his father, which contains all sorts of lessons on true mercy and forgiveness. In short, we are asked to show to one another that same mercy shown to us by God, and in doing so we become part of God’s plan for Divine Mercy.

But we know it is difficult to show mercy and to forgive those who have hurt us, especially those in today’s secular society who are constantly taking aim at our faith. Forgiveness, however, is a decision that each of us can and must make. It does not mean blotting out painful memories, but it does mean not acting on them as was done in this story about two lawyers:

They were the only lawyers in a small town and over the years had developed a fierce rivalry. Unfortunately, one of the lawyers was always getting the short end of the stick and being bested by his rival. One night an angel appeared to him and offered to give him anything he desired, no matter how exotic or flamboyant. There was only one catch: Whatever he wished for himself the same would be given twofold to his rival.

The lawyer thought for a few minutes and replied, “I want to be blind in one eye.”

Of course, in today’s environment it becomes easy to think in those terms, to let our disappointments and failures lead us to hate, especially those who are persecuting us, casting aspersions and belittling our faith, and seeking to nullify the word of God in modern society; those who follow a god they have created for themselves rather than the God who created them.

Forgiveness, however, does not mean surrender; we are still obligated to protect our faith and traditions. 

What it does mean is that we remember that Jesus died for the other guy just as He died for you. It is only through the grace of our own forgiveness that we are able to forgive anyone else.

Holding grudges, anger, and resentment is not only spiritually unhealthy, but it is physically unhealthy as well, and is thought to be one of the contributing causes to heart disease. Divine Mercy demands the proper choice on our part; that in humbly seeking His mercy we should be able to extend the mercy to others, as Jesus taught us to do.

In the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was asked how he would treat the Rebels after the war ended. The president replied, “I will treat them as if they had never been away.”

God’s mercy is infinite and unchanging, and though we are imperfect and finite creatures, we are still called to do the same. That’s the course we must embrace. We can treat those who have offended us as others might do or we can respond as Lincoln did — mercifully, from our Christian tradition.

This is not a hard concept to understand. It reminds me of the story told about a rich king who gave a citizen a magnificent jewel. The man said to his king, “This is too much for me to accept.” In reply, the king said, “Perhaps, but it is not too much for me to give.”

In the end, we will be judged by the choice we make, and mercy toward us will be distributed accordingly.

+ + +

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/.)

This week on Faith On Trial

 Listen Now: https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/

Stop the Violence against Catholics

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue 

With Good Friday and Easter upon us, it is a good time to remind ourselves of the degree to which Catholics are the targets of violent extremists. 

The U.S. State Department recently released its annual report on religious violence around the world. It found that “80% of the world’s population cannot practice their faith without serious restrictions or risk.” It listed 12 nations as the worst offenders. We researched who controls them and who their principal victims are. They are listed in alphabetical order.

·        Burma. Run by Buddhists, Christians and Muslims are the targets.

·        China. Run by the Communist Party, Christians, especially Catholics, and Muslims, are the targets.

·        Cuba. Run by the Communist Party, Catholics are the target

·        Eritrea. Run by the Communist Party, Christians and Muslims are the targets.

·        Iran. Run by Muslims, all non-Islamic religions are the targets.

·        North Korea. Run by the Communist Party, all religions are the targets.

·        Nicaragua. Run by the Communist Party, Catholics are the targets.

·        Pakistan. Run by Muslims, Christians and Hindus are the targets.

·        Russia. Run by an ex-KGB agent, Jehovah’s Witnesses and evangelicals are the targets.

·        Saudi Arabia. Run by Muslims, all non-Islamic religions are the targets.

·        Tajikistan. Run by Muslims, all non-Islamic religions are the targets.

·        Turkmenistan. Run by Muslims, all non-Islamic religions are the targets.

In Europe, the Observatory for the Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians recently documented more than 500 anti-Christian hate crimes, including four homicides, in 2021; the most vicious attacks were against Catholics. In addition to murder, there were approximately 300 acts of property damage. There were about 80 cases of theft, ranging from religious objects to consecrated hosts. 

A new report from Canada showed that hate crimes against Catholics rose 260 percent in 2021; they were the most targeted of any religious group in the country. 

In the United States, Catholic churches were targeted over 300 times since 2020. Just this week, a Catholic church in Nebraska was ransacked. 

Pro-abortion protesters have resorted to violence in several cities, and in the wake of the transgender mass killer in Nashville, many in that community have made violent threats against those who are critical of their radical agenda. The urban terrorist group, Antifa, is among the worst of the pro-abortion thugs. 

In 1989, when St. Patrick’s Cathedral was invaded by gay terrorists from ACT-UP—they interrupted Mass and spat the Eucharist on the floor—Fr. Benedict Groeschel tried to calm down Cardinal John O’Connor by telling him it is a backhanded compliment that we Catholics were chosen for violence. The enemy knows who stands the strongest against them. 

Much the same could be said today, though that should not be read as a  plea for passivity. The violence against Catholics must end, whether it is coming from religious or secular extremists.

Bringing Our Values Back

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – My little office in which I write this column has a nice window next to me through which I can see my front yard, the street in front of my house, as well as the plants and trees that inhabit my property. At least I think it’s my property; I haven’t checked with that place on TV that will tell me for sure. But I digress, maybe I can check later.

Right now, I’m just enjoying a beautiful spring day through the window pane. Of course, it’s not warm out there; in Iowa spring comes wearing a winter coat. But it will get better, leaves will appear on my tree, and there will come an abundance of birds to keep my cat amused for hours.

But when I think of days like this I tend to think of spring and summer days when I was young. I remember seeing the brand-new Plymouth sitting in our neighbor’s driveway, my dad’s black and white Oldsmobile in our drive, and on the other side of the house a few nondescript Fords. We were, automobile wise, an already integrated neighborhood; kind of a mixed marriage from Detroit.

I, of course, was just starting elementary school then, learning the tenets of our faith from the old Baltimore Catechism by nuns who wanted nothing more than to shape the future of our faith as well as instilling in each of us a good dose of patriotism as if it went hand-in-hand with Catholicism. 

Those days, of course, provide many wonderful memories — at least until my pesky little brother came along, but that’s for another day. We watched the news every night on the old black and white DuMont, viewing events from around the world and feeling so lucky that we could live in such a great place — a place for which we could be very proud.

I remember watching a football game on TV with my Dad. He told me that a Catholic senator was there and when I asked, he said he might be the first Catholic president in history. I may not have been really ready for politics at the time, but that conversation stuck with me and I began following a man named Kennedy.

Now I knew there were such things as elections, and people disagreed on who should win. Earlier there was the ’56 Eisenhower-Stevenson election and my family was for Eisenhower, but my best friend in school was for Stevenson. I think that was because his first name was Steve.

Anyway, as the election approached, I became aware of a discordant note: There were people who opposed Kennedy because he was a Catholic. That didn’t sound like it was coming from such a great place, but there it was, bigotry. But the country fought back and on Election Day when all the stolen ballots in Chicago were counted, our guy won and those on the other side soon got over their belief that the Pope would be installed as king and things settled back to normal.

But the country was not polarized nor was it irreparably torn asunder, in fact had Dallas not occurred I believe the president would have been easily re-elected in ’64.

 So why talk about this now? What is the point?

My point is that while everyone — or almost everybody — must remember his early years with fondness, I don’t see the current time anything like the years in which I grew up.

During this past week we have been inundated with the results of a Wall Street Journal-NORC (National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago) poll showing just what might be wrong with the country today: Those values that made the United States the envy of the world are no longer held in great esteem.

Key to me were the results concerning patriotism and religion. In the poll only 38 percent of Americans responding to it said patriotism was very important to them, and 39 percent said the same thing about religion. When this poll was first conducted in 1998 the results were 70 percent and 62 percent respectively.

Today 32 percent report that they never attend church services, while only 19 percent reported they are weekly attendees, and 52 percent reported not having any religion at all. It seems like what those nuns taught had lost its luster on those who followed my class.

Of course, those who have eyes to see such things may have noticed. The old DuMont has morphed into today’s Roku. But what is offered to the viewer is far different from the Eisenhower-Kennedy days in which I was raised. There is crime that for political reasons is overlooked; there are riots where people are killed, but reported as peaceful; there are children that are being indoctrinated into believing that race, gender, or family history is more important than merit; that most of us are victims of an oppressive society, and anyone who supports the wrong political party is a bigot, an enemy of society, and a threat to our very existence. It’s a wonder that anybody believes anything anymore.  

And people are pessimistic about nearly every poll question asked: The economy, poor or not so good, 80 percent; will it get better, 15 percent; better life for your children, confident 21 percent, not confident 78 percent; job prospects, not easy 52 percent; college degree, not worth the money 50 percent; confidence in public schools, 26 percent yes, 33 percent no.

As you can see by examining all the poll’s responses, the American people hold negative views about our current situation: social, economic, political, and spiritual. Yet there is one statistic that bothers me as much as the patriotism and religion answers. It is this: Tolerance for others has dropped to 58 percent from four years ago when it was 80 percent.

Why the drop? That is easy to figure out; they use different pronouns than we do, they claim to be oppressed and my group is the oppressor, you’re the wrong color, or nationality, your kids will get preference for scholarships and college admissions because of your (pick one) gender, color, victim status, etc.

This, of course, is not the way a great nation should act. So how do we correct it? Well, I’ll leave that question to sociologists and folks smarter than I. But for me I think there is a simple start to the solution. We have two great documents with which we need to re-familiarize ourselves.

The first is the Bible, our Christian scripture. The second is our American scripture, our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Read them, believe what you read, and practice same. We’ve been around long enough to know we can trust Jesus, the Word of God, even if we sometimes do not understand. And the same for our Founding Fathers. Between those documents there is a spiritual and political blueprint for our lives.

Get back to the foundation of our faith and nation, and encourage your children and friends to do the same.  It is there that we will find the answers we need, in fact the only place we will find them.

+ + +

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/ episode 355 is on the Message of Fatima.)

Oregon officials put politics above children's welfare

ADF attorneys represent mother prevented by the state from adopting because of her faith

PENDLETON, Ore. – On behalf of a single mother of five wishing to adopt siblings from foster care, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Oregon state officials for denying her application because of her religious beliefs.

Jessica Bates

Jessica Bates began the process of applying to become certified to adopt a child from Oregon’s foster care system one year ago. The Oregon Department of Human Services, the agency responsible for the delivery and administration of the state’s child welfare programs, denied her application because individuals seeking to adopt must agree to “respect, accept, and support … the sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression” of any child the department could place in an applicant’s home, and Bates could not agree to this because of her faith.

“Oregon’s policy amounts to an ideological litmus test: people who hold secular or ‘progressive’ views on sexual orientation and gender identity are eligible to participate in child welfare programs, while people of faith with religiously informed views are disqualified because they don’t agree with the state’s orthodoxy,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs, director of the ADF Center for Conscience Initiatives. “The government can’t exclude certain communities of faith from foster care and adoption services because the state doesn’t like their particular religious beliefs.”

During her application process, Bates alerted ODHS that she will happily love and accept any child, but she cannot say or do something that goes against her Christian faith. ODHS’s policy, however, excludes her and others who hold traditional religious beliefs about human nature and sexuality by requiring parents to use a child’s preferred pronouns, take a child to affirming events like Pride parades, or facilitate a child’s access to dangerous pharmaceutical interventions like puberty blockers and hormone shots if the child so requests. As such, ODHS’s policy penalizes Bates for her religious views, compels her to speak words that violate her beliefs, and deprives her of equal protection of the law because of her faith.

“Oregon’s policy makes a sweeping claim that all persons who hold certain religious beliefs—beliefs held by millions of Americans from diverse religious faiths—are categorically unfit to care for children,” said ADF Legal Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse. “That’s simply not true. Oregon is putting its political agenda above the needs of countless children who would be happy to grow up in a loving, Christian home like Jessica’s. We urge the court to remind the state of its constitutional and moral obligations and reaffirm Jessica’s First Amendment right to live out her faith without being penalized by the government.”

Bates, who lost her husband in a car collision six years ago, is a mother of five children, ages 10 to 17. Inspired by the story of a man who adopted a child from foster care, Bates felt a calling to follow the biblical teaching to care for orphans. She seeks to adopt a sibling pair, who are generally harder to place. State officials, however, rejected her application for failing to “meet the adoption home standards” and excluded her from accessing any child welfare service because she refused to abandon her religious beliefs.

ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit, Bates v. Pakseresht, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Pendleton Division