Kentucky and Tennessee Laws Protecting Minors Upheld

CINCINNATI, OH – The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 yesterday to enforce laws protecting gender-confused minors in Kentucky and Tennessee from receiving puberty blockers, hormones, and medical mutilating surgery. 

In L.W. v. Skrmetti and Doe v. Thornbury, the Sixth Circuit reversed a preliminary injunction and rejected a challenge by families of gender-confused children who had argued that the previous bans discriminated on the basis of sex. 

In Kentucky, SB 150 bans puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and mutilating surgeries for minors and allows a person to bring civil action against health care providers, or a person subjected to violations of the law as a minor may bring civil action until they reach 30 years of age. 

In Tennessee, SB 1 bans puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and mutilating surgeries for minors. It also allows a minor injured by violations, or the parent of the minor, to bring civil action against health care providers up until 30 years after the minor reaches 18 years of age. 

Both the Tennessee and Kentucky bans were blocked by trial court judges, but the Sixth Circuit allowed Tennessee’s ban to take effect in July while it considered the state’s appeal. 

The ruling is the second by a federal appeals court upholding such laws, after the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that Alabama can fully enforce its 2022 law banning harmful puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and mutilating surgeries for children. Alabama’s “Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act,” one of the most protective laws of its type in the nation, makes providing any of these procedures to minors a felony. The Appeals Court ruling only vacates the district court’s preliminary injunction while the legal challenge continues at the district court level. The district judge has scheduled a trial date for the case set to begin on April 2, 2024 to decide whether to permanently block or keep the law. 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The Sixth Circuit has rightly ruled that Kentucky and Tennessee are free to protect children from these horrible procedures that have devastated many young lives. Our children are not social experiments.” 

For more information about state laws protecting against gender ideology, visit Liberty Counsel’s website here.

California AG accused of violating court order

Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta reportedly may have violated a federal judge’s preliminary ruling striking down a school’s pro-“trans” policy. Bonta on Tuesday directed school districts across the state to adopt policies to hide student “gender transitions” from parents. His letter came just weeks after a federal judge ruled that such policies violate the Constitution. READ

DOJ silent on pro-abortion vandal

The Department of Justice will not say why it has not prosecuted a Buffalo woman for vandalizing a pro-life pregnancy center. The woman pled guilty this month to disorderly conduct related to her March 15 vandalism of CompassCare Pregnancy Services in Amherst, New York, agreeing to pay $2,580 in restitution to the center as part of her plea arrangement.  READ

This week on FOT: Marxism in U. S.; Mother sues sues school & officials for secret transgender daughter

Podcast up now at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/ where you can listen to all of our programs. This is episode 382.

UK Report: Over One Third of Children on Puberty Blockers Experienced Worsened Mental Health

By S.A. McCarthy, The Washington Stand 

New research from the United Kingdom is showing that over a third of children placed on puberty blockers and hormone drugs suffered severe mental health deterioration afterwards.

A 2011 study conducted at the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic for children reported that children who were put on puberty blockers suffered no adverse mental health effects. However, new analysis conducted by Susan McPherson, a professor of psychology and sociology at the University of Essex, and retired social scientist David Freedman found that the majority of children put on puberty blockers and hormone drugs experienced erratic and fluctuating mental health, including over a third whose mental health “reliably deteriorated.”

The original study, conducted on 44 children between the ages of 12 and 15, was reportedly based on group averages, while the new analysis relied on individual results, which McPherson and Freedman explained “allows us to look at how a treatment is performing in terms of the percentage of patients improving, deteriorating, and showing clinically significant change. … It is possible, using this approach, to look at patterns, such as who is benefitting and who is not.”

Read the rest of the story at: https://washingtonstand.com/news/uk-report-over-one-third-of-children-on-puberty-blockers-experienced-worsened-mental-health-1

Poll: Dems not keen on free speech

A new RealClearOpinion Research poll found stark differences between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to censorship and free speech. Forty-seven percent of Democrats say free speech should be legal “only under certain circumstances.” Thirty-four percent of Democrats say Americans “have too much freedom,” while 75% say the government has a responsibility to censor “hateful” social media posts.  READ

Francis: ‘you don’t play with life’

Pope Francis condemned euthanasia and abortion as actions that “play with life” and said there is such a thing as “bad compassion” during a press conference aboard the papal plane Saturday. “You don’t play with life, neither at the beginning nor at the end. It is not played with!” he said.  READ

New episode of FOT: Judicial watch, Pacific Justice Institute

 Listen as podcast: https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/  Episode 381.

Garland Goes Mute About FBI Catholic Probe

By Bill Donohue, Catholic League president 

We learned in January that “traditional” Catholics were being investigated by the FBI for the crime of being traditional Catholics. We were assured by FBI Director Christopher Wray that only one Field Office, in Richmond, was involved. Then we learned that the FBI was also going after “mainline” Catholics, and had developed a plan to spy on them. Then we learned that it wasn’t just one Field Office—agents in Los Angeles and Portland were also involved in the probe. 

Wray has repeatedly said he knew nothing about Catholics being targeted. In fact, when he testified in July he said that when he first learned about this he was “aghast.” Merrick Garland, the Attorney General, testified on September 20 saying that he, too, knew nothing about this. When he found out, he told Rep. Jeff Van Drew that he was “appalled.” Garland said the same thing when he testified last winter. 

Let’s assume they are telling the truth—neither man knew anything about those in their employ involved in raping the constitutional rights of ordinary Americans. (Garland, by the way, previously said he knew nothing about the firebombing of Catholic churches by Jane’s Revenge in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.) Let’s also assume they were “aghast” and “appalled” about what happened. 

What exactly have they done about it? 

There has been no public record, nor statement of any kind, issued by either Wray or Garland regarding steps taken to hold those accountable for this egregious violation of the First Amendment rights of practicing Catholics. Have disciplinary measures of any kind been invoked? Has there been an internal investigation of the FBI seeking to learn if other agents have also been spying on Catholics? 

Let’s recall that Catholics were being targeted by the FBI if they were disdainful of Pope Francis, liked the Latin Mass, or if they criticized pro-abortion activists on Twitter (now X). 

No field agent decided to just dream this caper up because he had nothing else to do. No doubt many agents knew. We need to get to the bottom of this and find out who was involved, what triggered this egregious abuse of power—was it someone in the FBI who concocted this scheme, or was it someone from the outside who crafted it? We also need to know exactly what was going to be done with the information once the probe was completed. 

To this end, I am writing to Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and to Committee member Rep. Van Drew, asking for their cooperation in finding the answers to these questions.

California AG sues pro-life groups

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing several pro-life pregnancy centers, claiming they are “misleading patients” by advertising an abortion reversal pill. Heartbeat International and its affiliate, RealOptions pregnancy centers, suggest on their website that the use of progesterone can in some cases reverse the effects of a chemical abortion pill after the first dose.  READ

 

Vance calls out military abortion policy

Sen. JD Vance, R-OH, has become the latest senator to come out in support of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s, R-AL, holds on military nominees. “There’s a law that says abortions will not be publicly funded, and the Biden administration, I think, is circumventing that law,” said Vance, a Marine Corps veteran. READ

FBI lost count of how many informants it had a tJ6 riot

Sen. JD Vance, R-OH, has become the latest senator to come out in support of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s, R-AL, holds on military nominees. “There’s a law that says abortions will not be publicly funded, and the Biden administration, I think, is circumventing that law,” said Vance, a Marine Corps veteran. READ

New York Times Now Likes The Nuclear Family

 By Bill Donohue, Catholic League president

This is a bellwether moment: On September 20, 2023, the New York Times finally conceded that there is no family form better than the nuclear family.  

While it is breaking news to liberals that single-parent families are deeply flawed—the children typically do poorly in school and beyond—astute sociologists have known for decades that the nuclear family is the blue chip model. Consider the data. In 2020, 40.5 percent of babies in the United States were born to unmarried mothers. In 1940, the figure was 3.8 percent. Now ask yourself, what social trends have happened since then that derailed the nuclear family?  

The person responsible for this bellwether moment at the New York Times is Melissa S. Kearney. An economics professor at the University of Maryland, she wrote an op-ed in the newspaper declaring, “The Rise of Single-Parent Families is Bad for Kids.” Thus did she shock the liberal readers of the newspaper, most of whom believed—thanks in part to the Times—that at best, all family forms were equal. Many others have been convinced that the much-ballyhooed nuclear family was nothing but a patriarchal institution of oppression. 

Readers of the Times have been given plenty of reasons to draw the wrong conclusion.  

In 2019, the Times asked students 13 and older to comment on an article by Michael Gonchar that asked, “Does society need a more expansive definition of ‘family,’ in your opinion?” 

In 2020, Times columnist David Brooks wrote an article, “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake.” He posited that the nuclear family was an atypical form in the 1950s, and that in any event we would be better off today with extended families. Not true. We have known at least since the work of anthropologist George Murdock in the 1940s that the nuclear family is not only not atypical, it is a cultural universal. Furthermore, extended families have their own problems, and are not an option for most Americans. 

Sarah Prager wrote a piece on parenting in the Times in 2020 that bashed the nuclear family for its “heteronormative” pretensions. She said her kids have two mothers and no father, and instead of identifying that arrangement as the problem, she blamed paperwork she has to fill out that is based on the traditional family. No doubt left-handers complain that society is not fair to them, either.  

Last year, the Times ran a piece by Jessica Grose asking readers to “Celebrate Different Kinds of Families.” She made the argument that the decline of the nuclear family was good for society.  

As I pointed out in The War on Virtue: How the Ruling Class is Killing the American Dream, the Left has long sought to intentionally destroy the family.  

In the early nineteenth century, Robert Owen in England and Charles Fourier in France both made it plain that the traditional family was a problem. Owen called marriage “evil,” and Fourier praised orgies for their “liberating” effects. In the late nineteenth century, Karl Marx called the nuclear family the generator of “domestic slavery.” 

In the twentieth century, Wilhelm Reich, who was a sex maniac and the “Father of the Sexual Revolution,” preached the wonders of libertinism. Herbert Marcuse, godfather of the New Left, said the nuclear family was the source of “sexual repression.” He recommended a “polymorphous perverse” sexuality, one that would abolish the family. They both had an effect on left-wing activists like Linda Gordon: she insisted that “the nuclear family must be destroyed.”  

More recently, Black Lives Matter explicitly said that its goal was to destroy the nuclear family. In 2021, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African History and Culture slammed the nuclear family for its “whiteness,” making the case that it is not good for blacks to adopt this model. Surely the Klan would agree with Black Lives Matter and the Smithsonian. 

It is commendable that Kearney ends her article with a plea to “find effective ways to strengthen families” and to provide for “stable two-parent homes.” She can begin by first telling her left-wing colleagues in the academy to stop denigrating the one family model that is vastly superior to all the others, namely the nuclear family.

Senators press Wray over anti-Catholic FBI memo

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, and seven other senators wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking him about the “underlying processes” behind the bureau’s controversial anti-Catholic memo from earlier this year. The letter gives Wray until September 29 to provide a briefing to lawmakers about the background of the document.  READ

Trump promises pardons for pro-life activists

President Donald Trump promised that if reelected he would pardon or commute the sentences of pro-life activists targeted by the Biden Justice Department under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. “Marxists and Stalinists in the administration got a Washington, D.C., jury to convict five pro-life activists who are now facing up to 11 years in prison for simple acts of protest,” Trump said.  READ

5 Ways the Media is Trying to Trick You

Pius XII: The Latest Attempted Smear

Pope Pius XII

By Ronald J. Rychlak 

The New York Times headline read, “Pope Pius XII Likely Knew of Holocaust, Newly Discovered Letter Suggests.” CNN reported, “Wartime Pope Pius XII probably knew about Holocaust early on, letters show.” Fox News said, “Wartime letter show Pope Pius XII may have known about Holocaust earlier than previously thought.” On and on they went.

 Giovanni Coco, an official with the Vatican archives, recently discovered a letter dated December 14, 1942. It had been written by an anti-Nazi German Jesuit priest, Father Lothar König, and it was addressed to Pius XII’s personal secretary, Father Robert Leiber. 

The letter, which is part of a set of archival papers set to be published in the near future, reported that an estimated 6,000 Jews and Poles were being killed every day at the Belzec concentration camp in what was then German-occupied Poland (today it’s part of western Ukraine). König also referred to the operation of “blast furnaces” and made reference to the Auschwitz and Dachau camps. 

That news outlets find this revelation significant is probably not surprising. The reporters have not studied the matters in detail. Author David Kertzer, however, has built a career critiquing the papacy. Nevertheless, he has been promoting the importance of this letter. He should know better. 

As most scholars who work in this field know, the Vatican received reports of atrocities as early as 1941. This letter, dated December 14, 1942, came just three days before the Allied joint statement which said: 

"From all the occupied countries Jews are being transported in conditions of appalling horror and brutality to Eastern Europe. In Poland, which has been made the principal Nazi slaughterhouse, the ghettos established by the German invader are being systematically emptied of all Jews except a few highly skilled workers required for war industries. None of those taken away are ever heard of again." 

Pius had been invited to join this statement, but he opted to make his own statement on Christmas day. 

Pius must have been shown the Allied statement well before it was released. Moreover, it is fair to assume that the pope received it after at least a short delay from when it was dated. In other words, the letter likely came after he had seen a draft of the statement. Thus, it did not give him any new information about the atrocities. 

On Christmas Day, less than two weeks after the date on the letter, Pius issued his own statement in which he spoke of “hundreds of thousands who, without any fault on their part, sometimes only because of their nationality or race, have been consigned to death or gradual extinction.” The New York Times editorialized, “This Christmas more than ever he is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent….” 

Of course, Pius did not limit himself to words. In 1941, he provided the Allies with advance information about German troop movements, and as Mark Riebling explained in his book Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler, Pius was connected to at least three plots to topple Hitler, starting just after he assumed the seat of Peter in late 1939 and continuing until at least the summer of 1944 with the bomb plot involving German military Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, portrayed by Tom Cruise in the motion picture Valkyrie. 

One part of the December 1942 letter is left out of many news accounts. In it, Father König urged the Holy See to not make public what he was revealing in the letter because he feared for his own life and the lives of the others who had provided the intelligence. This is but one of several such messages that Pius had to take that into account when he chose action and diplomacy over banging away at the bully pulpit. 

That so many outlets have failed to report that part of the letter suggests that others either miss the importance of the message or they are intentionally downplaying a very serious threat. That’s either poor history or dishonest journalism. We’re entitled to better.  

Ronald J. Rychlak is a Distinguished University Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi and serves on advisory board of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

New Mexico Supreme Court disallows ‘friend of the court’ briefs in favor of pro-life ordinances

(Life Action) On December 13, 2023, the New Mexico Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding whether or not local pro-life ordinances in the state are legal following the enactment of the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Healthcare law.

According to NM Political Report, the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Healthcare law, which was signed into law on March 16, 2023, says that state or local governments, advisory boards, commissions, agencies, or entities that receive public funding “shall not deny, restrict or interfere with a person’s ability to access or provide reproductive health care…”

It also states, “A public body or an entity or individual acting on behalf of or within the scope of the authority of a public body shall not deprive, through prosecution, punishment or other means, a person’s ability to act or refrain from acting during the person’s pregnancy based on the potential, actual or perceived effect on the pregnancy.”

There are no regulations on abortion in the state of New Mexico, which has seen an increase in abortion facilities and a Planned Parenthood abortion business expansion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. New Mexico is also home to Southwestern Women’s Options, the abortion facility responsible for the death of 24-year-old Keisha Atkins during a 24-week abortion.

There are four cities and two counties in New Mexico that have established themselves as Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, with ordinances that prevent abortion facilities from setting up shop. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court in March, shortly after the new law was signed, to block the ordinances in Lea and Roosevelt counties and the cities of Hobbs and Clovis.

The state Supreme Court has requested that all parties involved file briefs explaining what effect the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Healthcare law has on those local ordinances.

In a clearly biased move, the court allowed some pro-abortion groups the chance to file amici briefs in favor of blocking the pro-life ordinances, it has denied pro-life groups the opportunity to file amici curiae on behalf of the sanctuary cities.

PJI to Oregon Court of Appeals: Christian Teachings Aren’t Dangerous to Foster Kids

 SALEM, OR – In denying Shawn and Teresa Kellim a foster care license because their sincerely religious beliefs prevent them from affirming homosexuality and transgenderism, Oregon’s Department of Human Services (“DHS”) essentially declared Christian teachings dangerous to foster kids.

Unwilling to take DHS’ ruling lying down, the Christian married couple from Glide, Oregon sought assistance from the Pacific Justice Institute (“PJI”), which appealed DHS’ ruling on their behalf. PJI recently filed its opening brief in the Kellims’ case before the Oregon Court of Appeals.

“DHS’ action blatantly suggests that Kellim’s free exercise of religion does not apply to foster care youth, and it is unquestionably an attack on Christianity,” said PJI Oregon staff attorney, Ray D. Hacke. “The Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear multiple times in the past several years that the First Amendment prohibits government agencies from proceeding in a manner intolerant toward the Christian faith.”

PJI president Brad Dacus, said the Kellims’ case has implications not just for foster parents, but for parents actively raising their biological or adopted children in accordance with their faith. “If states like Oregon can effectively declare that certain religious beliefs concerning gender and sexuality are dangerous to kids, then every parent in this country who declines to provide LGBT+ affirming care to their children stands to have their children ripped from their homes and face long, expensive, possibly futile court battle to get them back unless they abandon their faiths’ teachings,” Dacus said. “That doesn’t just show hostility to religion, it denies kids the care of loving adults who can give them the love, guidance, and stability they desperately need. Religious individuals like the Kellims have long stepped up to provide such care to kids whose biological parents couldn’t care for them. PJI is fighting this battle to ensure that loving couples like the Kellims can continue to do so in a manner consistent with their faith.”

We are proud to say that, for over 25 years and always without charge, PJI’s unique goal is to ensure that no one is left on the side of the road as it relates to their representation and defense of critical religious freedoms, parental rights and sanctity of life issues. We appreciate your partnership, and willingness to continue to give support and a strong voice to those who struggle against the forces of oppression.

[Editor’s note: PJI president Brad Dacus will be on this week’s Faith On Trial.]

Teacher’s Union Head Smears Christians

By Bill Donohue, Catholic League president

On September 12, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), ripped Americans who are in favor of school choice and parental rights, comparing them to segregationists. Even worse, she lashed out at Christians who support these initiatives. She made her remarks to Seth D. Harris, a senior fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University.

Weingarten said she got the idea that there is little difference between the segregationists of old and today’s promoters of school choice and parental rights from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the seriously disgraced far left-wing organization. She concluded that these Americans want to “divide parents versus teachers.”

Now it is well known that Catholics have long been the mainstay of the school choice movement; they are also among the most vociferous supporters of parental rights. Let’s be clear: this does not mean that anyone who opposes both of these causes is necessarily a bigot. But in Weingarten’s case, she took the next step: she engaged in Christian bashing.

After speaking at length, with utter contempt and derision, about those who are pro-school choice and pro-parental rights, Weingarten let her guard down and went right for the jugular. “They want to have, basically, a Christian ideology, their particular Christian ideology to dominate the country as opposed to those that was born on the freedom of the exercise of religion.”

The subject under discussion had nothing to do with religion, so it tells us volumes about Weingarten that she would indict Christians, without cause.

What she said just prior to her bigoted remark puts her animus against Christians in perspective. She had just commented that some parents want school choice because they want universal vouchers, and “others want it because they hate knowledge.”

So who is it that “hates knowledge?” Those Americans who are bent on shoving their “Christian ideology” down our throats. The context says it all.

In other words, taxpaying parents who believe that they should have the right to send their child to the school of their choice—which includes most African Americans—and insist that their rights as parents be respected by the state, are somehow seeking to impose a Christian ideology on the nation. To top it off, these same religious zealots “hate knowledge.”

Weingarten should resign. The hatred that she has for millions of school choice and parental rights advocates—especially those who are Christian—disqualifies her from serving in any public role.

California federal court issues order blocking school from forcing teachers to lie to parents

A California federal court has granted teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West reprieve from a dangerous school district policy forcing them to lie to parents about their children’s gender identity.

Thomas More Society attorneys successfully convinced the court to issue the preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of Escondido Union School District’s offensive policy while the case is under court consideration. The court order, issued September 14, also denies motions to dismiss the case filed by both the Escondido Union School District and the California Department of Education.

Mirabelli and West are suing administrators at the Escondido Union School District, California Department of Education, and Rincon Middle School. The lawsuit details violations of the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment over a policy that has allowed activists to “coopt school districts to push gender theory.” The current Escondido Union School District policies compel staff to deceive parents about whether their own children have requested to socially transition to a new gender at school — in direct conflict with the long-standing policy that teachers are to be honest with parents.

“This is an untenable situation to put teachers in,” explained Paul M. Jonna, Thomas More Society special counsel and partner, LiMandri and Jonna LLP. “Traditionally, educators have been viewed as highly significant players in a child’s development, partnering with parents — not supplanting them — in the incredibly important responsibility of raising children. The State of California and the Escondido Union School District have created an unconscionable scenario where it pits these two key influencers in a child’s life against one another by putting up an intentional curtain of dishonesty between them.”

In the request for a preliminary injunction, Mirabelli and West claimed that their First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion were being violated. The court agreed, and stated, “Mirabelli and West face an unlawful choice along the lines of: ‘lose your faith and keep your job, or keep your faith and lose your job.’”

The order was quick to point out the problems with the policy, labeling it “a trifecta of harm,” and detailing the abuses that it heaps on children, parents, and teachers. The court stated that the Parental Exclusion Policy:

“ … harms the child who needs parental guidance and possibly mental health intervention to determine if the incongruence is organic or whether it is the result of bullying, peer pressure, or a fleeting impulse. It harms the parents by depriving them of the long recognized Fourteenth Amendment right to care, guide, and make health care decisions for their children. And finally, it harms plaintiffs [teachers] who are compelled to violate the parent’s rights by forcing plaintiffs to conceal information they feel is critical for the welfare of their students — violating plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.”

Read the Order: (1) Granting Motion for Preliminary Injunction; (2) Denying Motions to Dismiss, issued on September 14, 2023, by Judge Roger T. Benitez of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, in Thomas More Society’s lawsuit on behalf of educators Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, Mirabelli, et al. v. Olson, et al. here [https://tinyurl.com/5e96m5e2].

DeSantis ad confronts attacks on people of faith

A new ad released by Ron DeSantis took aim at the Biden administration for “weaponizing” the federal government against people of faith. “Family and faith are the building blocks of society, but government is waging an assault on both of them,” DeSantis said when he introduced the ad.  READ

Seeing beyond euphemisms in Ohio

CatholicVote’s Logan Church warns that the Democrat-backed amendment Issue 1 in Ohio intentionally “makes no distinction between minors and adults.” She explains: “It extends far beyond abortion and even into transgender ideology … with a goal of obliterating ‘most limits to abortion or sex-change surgery’ for adults and children alike.  And with parents cut out of the picture, children are left exposed to those who prey on the vulnerable.”  READ

Reuters: Biden reelection in jeopardy

“U.S. President Joe Biden's chances of re-election are being jeopardized by voters' concerns over his age, the economy and crime,” Reuters reports. According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, Biden and former President Donald Trump are currently tied in a hypothetical 2024 match. But in the seven states where the 2020 presidential election was closest, “Trump led with 41% to Biden's 35%, and 24% undecided.”  READ

The NEW Iowa Catholic Radio Network

 

This week: The Rosary coast to coast; Fire Chief fired for attending a leadership conference hosted by a church

Listen now: https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/  -- Episode 380

Fire Chief Terminated for Attending Leadership Conference Hosted By Church Appeals Ninth Circuit Decision

Fire Chief Ron Hittle’s attorneys submit request for en banc hearing to correct flawed legal standard involving religious discrimination.

San Francisco, CA—First Liberty Institute, Baker Botts LLP, and the Church State Council filed a petition for an en banc rehearing by the U.S. Court for Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to review a three-judge panel decision that allowed the Stockton (CA) Fire Department to dismiss a fire chief, Ron Hittle, for attending a leadership conference held at a church.  

You can read the petition here. 

“Firing Chief Hittle for attending a world-class leadership conference attended by thousands simply because it was associated with religion is clear evidence of illegal religious discrimination,” said Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel at First Liberty. “We urge the Ninth Circuit to grant rehearing en banc to fix the panel’s dangerous ruling.” 

The City of Stockton, California terminated Fire Chief Ron Hittle after 24 years of service, because he attended a religious leadership conference while on the clock. Although the City asked Chief Hittle to attend a leadership training course, it opened an investigation after he attended Willow Creek Community Church’s Global Leadership Summit, a world-class conference with speakers from a variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds, including Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, and Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy. Prior speakers include Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and former President Bill Clinton. The City listed as the Chief Hittle’s attendance at a “religious event” while on duty as the primary reason for his termination. 

The court made two major errors when it ruled against Chief Hittle. It ignored Supreme Court precedent in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District when it allowed the “perception of others” to justify its religious discrimination against Chief Hittle. The court also held religious claims to a more difficult legal standard than other kinds of discrimination. Chief Hittle’s legal team is seeking review of this decision, to safeguard the religious freedoms of all Americans in the workplace.

VP Harris supports NO abortion limits

Vice President Kamala Harris this week dismissed complaints that the Biden administration supports legal abortion up until birth as “ridiculous” but refused to name a single regulation of abortion she would support. CBS’s Margaret Brennan repeatedly asked Harris “What week of pregnancy should abortion access be cut off?” Harris refused to answer.  READ

Abortion lawyer accused of perjuring herself

Reps. Chip Roy, R-TX, and Mike Johnson, R-LA, this week confronted abortion lawyer Talcott Camp of the National Abortion Federation for providing false information in sworn testimony before Congress. “Testimony before Congress ought to be true and knowingly providing materially false information to Congress ought to be punished by the Department of Justice,” the congressmen told Camp.  READ

EXPLAINER: California’s anti-parent bills

In what critics are denouncing as a full-on assault on parental rights, California has passed a battery of bills that all take aim at families who disagree with gender ideology. CatholicVote’s Anthony Iafrate goes through each of the bills and explains why one journalist calls them collectively “the transgender inquisition.”  READ

Pope Francis Reportedly Set To Ask Bishop Strickland To Resign

Bishop Joseph Strickland

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis met with Vatican officials over the weekend to discuss asking Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, to resign, according to a report on Monday by The Pillar.

Pope Francis met on Saturday with Archbishop Robert Prevost, O.S.A., the head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The Pillar reported that several sources close to the dicastery told the website ahead of the meeting that the two prelates, both of whom Pope Francis named cardinals in July, would present the pope with the results of a recent apostolic visitation of the Diocese of Tyler in addition to “public actions” of Bishop Strickland following the visitation.

Pope Francis is expected to ask for Bishop Strickland’s resignation, according to one senior official close to the Dicastery for Bishops.

“The situation of Bishop Strickland is the agenda,” the official told The Pillar, “and the expectation is that the Holy Father will be requesting his resignation – that will certainly be the recommendation put to him.”

“The official predicted that the Pope was unlikely to decide to depose Strickland as bishop of his diocese, a canonically rare act, but told The Pillar that Pope Francis would be advised to encourage the bishop to resign,” the outlet reported.

“The consensus in the dicastery is that he will be asked to consider resigning,” the official said. “That has been the substance of discussion among the members.”

“Depending on how the bishop responds, the strength of that encouragement could be increased,” the official added.

The Pillar previously reported that sources familiar with Strickland’s visitation said that diocesan officials and clergy interviewed as part of the investigation were asked about him potentially resigning and possible successors. 

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Prevost is one of three American prelates who are members of the Dicastery for Bishops, along with Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, both notorious liberals.

The potential move by Francis comes against one of the most forthright and vocal bishops in the United States, who has drawn considerable support both from within and without his diocese for his promotion of traditional Catholic teaching.

Strickland and his diocese have been the subject of much scrutiny among the Catholic media ever since it was revealed that he was subject to an apostolic visitation in June 2023. His visitation was conducted by two retired bishops: Bishop Dennis Sullivan of Camden, New Jersey, and former Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona.

READ: Who is this bishop investigating Bishop Strickland on behalf of Pope Francis?

Kicanas was widely noted by Catholics concerned about the visitation due to his troublesome record on abortion and homosexuality. He defended Catholic Relief Services’s funding of pro-abortion groups in 2012 and, among other things, was endorsed by a homosexual group in the likelihood of his becoming president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, as LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen has reported.

No public announcement regarding the outcome of Strickland’s visitation had been issued to the public prior to The Pillar’s report. 

Last year, Pope Francis removed Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres, another outspoken advocate of Catholic teaching, from the Diocese of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, without explanation, reportedly due to his support for conscience objections to COVID jab mandates.

The pope, however, has not disciplined numerous bishops who have publicly contradicted Catholic doctrine on homosexual activity, gender, same-sex “blessings,” the ordination of women, and the reception of the Eucharist.

In March, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., of Luxembourg a member of the Council of Cardinals after Hollerich said that he believes Church teaching on sodomy is “false.” Francis has also named Hollerich the relator general of his Synod on Synodality.

More recently, the pope appointed Argentine Cardinal-designate Victor Manuel Fernández the prefect of the Dicastery (formerly Congregation) for the Doctrine of the Faith, despite Fernández’ heterodoxy on various subjects.

READ: Pope Francis picks notorious pro-LGBT clerics to participate in October Synod on Synodality

Speaking on a July episode of The Bishop Strickland Hour, Strickland compared his apostolic visitation with “being called to the principal’s office.” But he suggested that it is a result of his vocal witness to Catholic doctrine:

No, it’s not something that I would volunteer for, to go through an apostolic visitation. Because it kind of puts a shadow over the diocese, [and] a lot of people are convinced that there’s something really wrong. But I think that I went through this because I’ve been bold enough and love the Lord enough and His Church to simply keep preaching the truth.

Bishop Strickland, 64, is well known among LifeSite readers for his unequivocal defense of Catholic teaching, teaching that is often cast in confusion by papal statements or messages.

Strickland’s more public positions on moral and doctrinal issues include urging Francis to deny Holy Communion to former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi over her support of legal abortion, accusing the pope of a “program of undermining the Deposit of Faith,” and condemning the prominent pro-LGBT “blasphemy” of Father James Martin, S.J. 

He has also been notably forthright on moral controversies in U.S. politics and culture, including the Biden administration’s spying on Catholics and public displays by self-described “Satanic” groups. This summer, he spoke at a protest against the Los Angeles Dodgers’ hosting an anti-Catholic drag queen troupe called the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” who style themselves as grotesque nuns. 

But the apostolic visitation is believed to have been particularly prompted by a May 13 X/Twitter post in which he explicitly stated: “I reject his [Pope Francis’] program of undermining the Deposit of Faith.” 

Strickland’s statement came about due to doubling down on his prior rejection of a view held by Catholic podcaster Patrick Coffin – namely that Pope Francis is not the real pope. The bishop wrote: 

Please allow me to clarify regarding, ‘Patrick Coffin has challenged the authenticity of the Pope Francis.’ If this is accurate I disagree, I believe Pope Francis is the Pope but it is time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the Deposit of Faith. Follow Jesus.

Strickland’s original message had been to support the Magis Center, which had issued a public statement distancing itself from Coffin due to his views regarding the vacancy of the papal throne.

Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., president of the Center, had given an interview with Coffin before learning of Coffin’s position. Spitzer subsequently withdrew his connection from Coffin publicly. Bishop Strickland supported this action, saying that “I join Fr Spitzer and fully endorse his stance regarding any statements from Patrick Coffin regarding Pope Francis.”  

READ: Bishop Strickland: Catholics are not ‘schismatic’ for rejecting changes that contradict Church teaching

Shortly after, the Tyler-based prelate then issued a message warning about “conflicting voices” and urging instead that Catholics “always turn to Jesus.”

While speaking on his eponymous show in July, Strickland declared himself undeterred by any attempts to censor his proclamation of the truths of the Catholic faith, saying it is a “joy” to continue to “share the Good News of Jesus Christ.”  

“I know they won’t stop you and they won’t stop me. And we do it with love, and charity and clarity, and with humility, always ready to be corrected. But when we’re speaking of the truth of Jesus Christ, there is no correction. The world can try and shout us down, but it won’t work.” 

This story is developing….

We remember

 

Virginia mom sues district, lawyer

Virginia mother Michelle Blair is suing her local school district and a public defender for pushing her daughter into transgenderism, prostitution, and sex trafficking. Blair alleges that school district employees secretly “transitioned” her daughter, who was later placed by the public defender in an all-male juvenile facility, where the girl was sexually assaulted and then kidnapped, raped, and sex-trafficked after she ran away from the facility.  READ

California lawmakers pass ‘trans’ bill against parents

The California State Assembly passed a bill Friday that would require judges in child custody cases to consider whether a parent has affirmed a child’s “gender transition” by making “gender affirmation” an equal part of a child’s “health, safety, and welfare” under state law. Democratic lawmakers passed the bill by a vote of 57-16 along party lines. READ

Getting The Troops Ready For Battle

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – Any of you who have listened to my radio program on the Iowa Catholic Radio Network know that we always sign off with the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. We do that because we know the nature of our program, Faith On Trial, exposes listeners to the battle that is waging between the forces of Our Lord and those of, as C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape would say, Our Father Below.

I’ve mentioned this in a column before, but I think it is notable enough to repeat: The Prayer to St. Michael was an outgrowth of an interior locution that Pope Leo XIII had on the morning of October 13, 1884, which, incidentally, was 33 years to the date before the great Miracle of the Sun during Our Lady’s final appearance at Fatima.

As the story goes, the Pope had just concluded his daily Mass when he suffered what appeared to be a collapse and his aides feared for his life. He shortly awoke and told the most amazing story about hearing a conversation between God and Satan. According to reports, the conversation went something like this:

Satan: “I can destroy your Church.”

God: “Then go ahead and do so.”

Satan: “To do so, I need more time and more power.”

God: “How much time? How much power?”

Satan: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”

God: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”

And, as the story goes, the Pope was so shaken by this episode he composed the Prayer to St. Michael and later ordered it recited after every Low Mass throughout the world. That continued until shortly after Vatican II.

Of course, devotion to St. Michael did not start with Leo XIII. Devotion to the angels went as far back as Genesis. In Exodus, God tells Moses, “Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared” (23:20). In Daniel, Michael is identified as a “major prince” among the angels and he fights on Israel’s behalf as its protector, and in the Book of Revelation he is described as doing battle against the enemies of God.

Thus, by Leo’s time it would not be surprising that he would immediately turn to the one who does battle for the Lord as “prince of the heavenly hosts” to do battle against Satan’s plan to destroy the Church. So, he composed the short prayer to the prince of angels:

“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who roam about the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

And Pope St. John Paul the Great, said of the prayer: “The prayer can fortify us for that spiritual battle about which the Letter to the Ephesians speaks: Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from His mighty power (6:10)….Even if today this prayer is no longer recited at the end of the Eucharistic Celebration, I invite all to not forget it, but to recite it in order to obtain help in the battle against the forces of darkness and the spirit of this world.”

Now consider what is happening currently: “Our great nation is ruled today by an anti-Catholic elitist class who not only tolerate anti-Christi bigotry, like we saw on display at Dodger Stadium this year but they also encourage and celebrate it,” said Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org, “That bigotry has given thugs silent permission to carry out actual violence against Catholic churches and symbols,” he added.

To counteract this, CatholicVote is conducting its Second Annual St. Michael Novena to combat the works of the Devil. And the attacks by the Devil are too numerous to mention, but CatholicVote notes just a few: “The United States has seen a dramatic increase in attacks against Catholic churches, especially since the controversial leak of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. To date, there have been over 350 attacks on Catholic properties since May 2020,” CatholicVote said in announcing the novena.

“Most disturbing is the fact that while violence against pregnancy care centers has slowed, attacks on Catholic churches and sacramentals have only increased in frequency,” said CatholicVote Field Director Tommy Valentine.

In a press release announcing the novena CatholicVote said, “Catholics have always gone to St. Michael, the prince of the archangels, to help them in battle.

“We know that the anger and violence we see against our faith comes from the prevailing influence of the lies of the evil one. Abortion and the blasphemies of hate groups like the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence open human beings up to the influence of the fallen angels, so we’re asking the prince of angels to fight for us.”

The novena will begin on September 20 and end on the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, September 29. The intent of the novena is to draw Catholics from across the country together to pray for an end to the violence. “We know that the anger and violence we see against our faith comes from the prevailing influence of the lies of the evil one. Abortion and the blasphemies of hate groups like the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence open human beings up to the influence of the fallen angels, so we’re asking the prince of angels to fight for us,” CatholicVote said.

“Each day of the novena promotes a special intention, and there will be days dedicated to specific parishes that have suffered vandalism, to Catholics who work in the trenches to support women and families, and to leaders in politics and in the Church,” said CatholicVote in its announcement.

“Everything we do must begin with prayer. This is the entire message of the Gospel: the battle belongs to the Lord. The battle for America’s soul is no different,” said Burch.

This week when we tape our program, we will have as our guest Erika Ahern, associate editor and co-host of CatholicVote’s LOOPcast. That program will air before this is printed, but if you are interested you can follow the link below to Episode 379 and listen to the podcast.

Remember, join us September 20 to 29. We’ve all been enlisted in this fight so let’s make the most of it.

(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/)

Leaked Biden Admin Memo Shows VA Promoting Abortion as Birth Control to Veterans

A leaked internal memo obtained by CatholicVote from the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has exposed the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) for promoting extensive abortion propaganda to veterans and staff.

In addition to the memo, CatholicVote acquired a staff training video describing abortions as “opportunities for growth” and instructing employees that both men and women can become pregnant.

Read more: https://www.lifenews.com/2023/09/08/leaked-biden-admin-memo-shows-va-promoting-abortion-as-birth-control-to-veterans/

This week on Faith On Trial: Novena to St. Michael for religious freedom; Child mutilation by gender affirming care

This week on Faith On Trial, Iowa Catholic Radio Network

Listen now: https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/  Episode 379