Puberty blockers and teen suicide – this week on Faith On Trial

Dr. Jay Greene, senior research fellow, Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, and author of a very detailed report, Puberty Blockers, Cross-Sex Hormones, and Youth Suicide, joined Deacon Mike and Gina to discuss the findings of his report. You can listen to the entire program by following this link: https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/.

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines; 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, or catch it streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can find podcasts of our older programs that you may have missed.

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Pro-Abortion Protesters Turn Violent

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue: 

Violence is what defines abortion, and it often defines the behavior of those who champion its cause. 

Following the release of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, protesters on both sides of the issue took to the streets. In most cases, they were peaceful. When it came to violence, however, the pro-abortion protesters dominated. 

We found two incidents where pro-life protesters turned violent. On June 24, a man in Cedar Rapids, Iowa drove his pickup truck into a group of pro-abortion protesters; no one was seriously hurt. On the same day, in Providence, Rhode Island, an off-duty police officer punched a pro-abortion activist in the face. 

We tallied 16 instances of violence done by pro-abortion protesters. 

June 24, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals attacked Life Choices, a crisis pregnancy center in Longmont, Colorado, causing fire and smoke damage. Additionally, the radicals spray painted "Bans off our bodies" and "If abortions aren't safe neither are you" on the clinic. 

June 24, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals spray painted "Pro Choice," "Separation [sic] Btwn Church + State," and "Keep Yu [sic] Laws Off My Body" on Guardian Angel Church in Brooklyn, New York. 

June 24, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals defaced a statue and sanctuary dedicated to the unborn victims of abortion at the Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church in Algiers, Louisiana.  

June 25, 2022—A pro-abortion mob of about 100 people damaged Mother + Child Education Center, a crisis pregnancy clinic, and several other businesses and vehicles in Portland, Oregon. 

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals affiliated with Jane's Revenge, a domestic terrorist network which uses violence to promote abortions, spray painted "Your time is up" and "We're coming for U" on LifeChoice Pregnancy Center in Winter Haven, Florida. 

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals affiliated with Jane's Revenge broke several windows and spray painted the Tree of Life Pregnancy Center in Paso Robles, California. 

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals broke windows and spray painted "If abortion aint safe you aint safe" on Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center in Lynchburg, Virginia. 

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals caused nearly $30,000 in damages by breaking seven stained glassed windows and stealing money from several collection boxes at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Renton, Washington. 

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals vandalized a memorial cross for aborted babies in South Bend, Indiana. 

June 26, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals affiliated with Jane's Revenge spray painted "If abortions aren't safe neither are you xoxo Jane" on the sign of All Saints parish in Portland, Oregon. 

June 26, 2022—A pro-abortion arsonist burnt down St. Colman Catholic Church in Beaver, West Virginia. 

June 26, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals toppled a statue of the Virgin Mary and stole two statues of angels from St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Harlingen, Texas. 

June 26, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals attempted to set fire to St. John Neumann Catholic Community Church in Reston, Virginia. Additionally, the radicals vandalized the church's entrance with graffiti. 

June 26, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals defaced Heart to Heart Pregnancy Center in Cortez, Colorado. 

June 27, 2022—Pro-abortion graffiti was discovered on the doors of the Church of the Ascension in New York, New York. 

June 27, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals vandalized the sign of St. Therese of the Little Flower Catholic Church in South Bend, Indiana. 

Most of those who work in the mainstream media are pro-abortion, and enthusiastically so. As such, they have little interest in flagging the violence that marks protesters on their side. We will continue to track these incidents at the Catholic League and will contact the authorities—we already have—about the need to take action. 

We can't help but notice that all the churches targeted were Catholic. That is a backhanded compliment to the moral authority of the Catholic Church.

Do puberty blockers save teens from suicide?

This week on Faith On Trial we’ll be joined by Jay Greene, Ph.D and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation and author of the landmark study, “Puberty Blockers, Cross-sex Hormones, and Youth Suicide.” What were his findings? Join us this Thursday at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial to find out.

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines; 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, or catch it streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can find podcasts of our older programs that you may have missed.

Transgenderism, suicide, and teens

By Deacon Mike Manno

It’s difficult not to sound like a broken record when we continue to speak of the ills that are now penetrating into our elementary schools, infecting our most precious treasure. Unfortunately for the government and the teachers’ unions, their ill-advised extended school shutdown has opened a window into the extent of that indoctrination via the Internet.

Probably the most serious of all concerns is how some schools, their “woke” administrators, teachers, librarians, and social workers have introduced our children into the cesspool of gender identity as early as kindergarten.

Now, I do not mean to downplay the very real problem some children have with the recognized condition called gender dysphoria. That is a serious problem with some children and their families and should be dealt with on a professional level. However, as nearly all experts agree, a child’s infatuation with cross-gender identification will usually correct itself as the child matures.

But that natural process is not being allowed to occur in many school districts, as we have discussed in this column before. Instead, many schools foist these concepts on unwitting students, many of whom are too young to understand.

We have spoken just a few weeks ago about how the children are being “groomed” by adults to consider that they might be mis-gendered and allowing them to “play act” as the opposite sex during school hours, including dressing as their assumed sex and using pronouns associated thereto.

Then, when the time comes that the parents are finally confronted with the predicament, they are told that the only course of action is for their little one to begin the process of transitioning into the opposite sex — unless, of course, the school is located in a state that allows minors to consent to medical procedures, and the process has already begun.

At this point parents are usually told that this is for the good psychological health of their child and refusal to do so will likely lead to the child’s suicide. In several cases I have read, social workers from the state department of human services have also threatened to take the child from the parents since the potential suicide is so glaring the state could conclude that the parents were engaged in child abuse if they do not act.

That myth of the danger of suicide has been promulgated by the “woke” crowd now for several years. However, a new report from the Heritage Foundation disputes that myth.
The author, Jay Greene, Ph.D., a senior research fellow with Heritage, has undertaken what might be the first true study of the issue and has made a remarkable finding: The suicide risk for students in states which allow them to seek such medical procedures without parental consent are much higher than the rates in those states which require parental involvement.

He writes, “The new analysis presented here finds that the existing literature on this topic suffers from a series of weaknesses that prevent researchers from being able to draw credible causal conclusions about a relationship between medical interventions and suicide.”

He notes that the treatment by puberty blockers followed by cross-sex hormones did not exist in the U.S. before 2007 and was extremely rare before 2010. Thus, the sufficiency of the available data provided no studies showing a causal connection between availability of the trans-therapy and later outcomes, including suicides, nor were they able to provide showings of an adequate control group that would provide this information.

For example, previous “studies” did not investigate the impact of parental involvement in these cases, nor were they able to distinguish between those minors who wanted but were refused treatment and those that were not.

And to further hinder existing research on the matter, puberty blockers were not originally designed for children to assist with gender change, but rather they were designed “to delay precocious puberty among very young children who began puberty well before their peers.” And sex hormones were “developed primarily to treat people who were unable to produce enough of the hormones of their biological sex.”

Thus, he reported: “The fact that randomized experiments were not required for this use of puberty blockers and sex hormones, and that this novel use of these drugs is relatively recent, means that only a handful of studies examine their effects, and all these studies use inferior correlational research designs.

“That is, one can never know with confidence whether the drugs cause those outcomes, or whether other factors that make people more likely to receive the drugs were the cause,” he continued.

Then addressing the issue of the denial of the trans-drugs, he segregated the data between states that allowed minors to obtain routine health care without parental consent (33 states and the District of Columbia) and those states (17) that had no such provision. In the 33 states that allow minors to make their own health-care decisions, they are able to obtain puberty blockers and hormones at least in some circumstances, as these treatments become more widely available. The result was, as reported above, that the suicide rate was higher in those states that allowed minors to make their own choices than in those that strictly held to parental involvement.

“One of the most important reasons why some adolescents were able to access the hormone therapies while others could not is that parental consent is often, though not always, required to get these drugs. As is well-known from research on gender-confused youth, as well as more generally, closer and more positive relationships between children and parents promote mental well-being and is protective against suicide,” he reported.

In conclusion, Dr. Greene writes, “The research presented here does not directly examine whether the individuals who receive gender-related medical interventions are at a higher risk of suicide, but it does directly examine the state policies that facilitate minors accessing those interventions without parental consent and finds that policies raise suicide risks among young people….The lack of theoretically plausible alternatives strengthens the case for concluding that cross-sex medical interventions are the cause of the observed increase in suicide among young people.”

He continues, “At a minimum, the results presented in this Backgrounder demonstrate that efforts to lower legal barriers for minors to receive cross-sex medical interventions do not reduce suicide rates and likely lead to higher rates of increased suicide rates among young people in states that adopt these changes. States that currently facilitate minors’ access to routine health care without the consent of a parent or legal guardian should consider revising such policies.”

Bottom line: As the Church and society have taught parents and families matter, and those “woke” administrators and social workers who are determined to intervene to separate them are putting children at considerable and unavoidable risk.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial at IowaCatholicRadio.com.)

Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) files federal lawsuit on behalf of Christian employee fired for his religious beliefs in Iowa

 By Brad Dacus, PJI president

Muscatine, Iowa—Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) filed a federal lawsuit last Friday, June 17, on behalf of a Christian employee fired by Muscatine County because of his religious beliefs.
 
Dean Naylor is a devout, born-again Christian, who served for a decade as the jail administrator for the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office. During his tenure, Naylor never received a negative work review; he was never disciplined for any form of workplace misconduct. In April 2020, the County Sheriff stated that neither he nor his human resources office had received any complaints about Naylor.
 
Nonetheless, just days later, the County fired Naylor.  Why terminate an employee with an impeccable, decade-long record of service? Because, nearly a decade ago, Naylor self-published a written post and subsequent video shorts about the Bible.  Naylor’s publication included his religious beliefs about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, same-sex marriage, and Christianity as the one true faith. 
 
Throughout his tenure, Naylor faithfully served the County and never discriminated against an inmate or colleague for any reason, including religious or sexual orientation.
 
Nonetheless, the County fired Naylor not because of any workplace misconduct but because of his disfavored religious beliefs.
 
PJI initiated this case, Dean Naylor v. Muscatine County, et al., Case No. 3:22-cv-00040-RGE-SBJ, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

“Naylor did not forfeit his fundamental rights as a private citizen by virtue of accepting public employment,” Brad Dacus, President of PJI, commented. “PJI filed this lawsuit with Naylor to protect his and others’ constitutional rights to free exercise of religion, free speech, and free press, as well as the right to freedom from religious discrimination in the workplace. The County’s actions jeopardize the core constitutional rights of every County employee and threaten such employees with punishment up to, and including, termination for simply exercising those rights.”
 

Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade:

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue 

For a half century, abortion has been legal across the United States. Those days are over: the Supreme Court has overruled the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. What is not over is the issue of abortion—the states will now decide how to address it.

Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the 5-4 majority, held that "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences." That is why, he said, "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."

The Supreme Court did more than overturn Roe—it negated the 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey. This decision went beyond Roe by making abortion a near absolute right, through term.

Honest abortion-rights legal scholars have long said that while abortion should be legal, it is not the business of the courts to settle such matters. Alito picked up on this admission, saying, "The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision...."

Aside from the legal matters, abortion involves a host of biological and moral issues. The DNA that makes us all unique human beings is present at conception, and not a day later. It is a credit to the Catholic Church that it led the discussion on the morality of abortion for all these years.

This ruling makes us proud to be Catholic. 

This week on Faith On Trial: Laurie Higgins

This week Deacon Mike and Sherill Whisenand, sitting in for the vacationing Gina Noll, welcomed Laurie Higgins from the Illinois Family Council, to discuss one her recent column, Leftists Socially Constructing a Pagan World, which you can read here:  https://faithontrialradio.blogspot.com/2022/06/leftists-socially-constructing-pagan.html. You can listen to the program here:https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines; 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, or catch it streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can find podcasts of our older programs that you may have missed.

Cult like social activity: this week on Faith On Trial (Finally!)

Two weeks ago we had booked Laurie Higgins from the Illinois Family Council but missed the opportunity to speak with her when our phone lines went down. Never fear, we have re-booked Laurie and she will join us this Thursday. So join us this week as we will discuss one of Laurie’s recent column, Leftists Socially Constructing a Pagan World, which you can read here:  https://faithontrialradio.blogspot.com/2022/06/leftists-socially-constructing-pagan.html. Join us for that conversation this Thursday at 9:30 a.m. CT on Iowa Catholic Radio.

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines; 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, or catch it streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can find podcasts of our older programs that you may have missed.

The presence of God and the Latin Mass

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – Those of you who have followed this column know that about seven months ago I had a stroke. Fortunately, through the mercy of God, I quickly recovered with little or no problems. However, it has affected my sight; I can no longer read well, struggling to make out each word like a first grader following his fingers across the page, and my peripheral vision has been compromised to the point that I still cannot drive.

Thus when I am at the altar assisting at Mass, I can no longer proclaim the Gospel, nor can I read the Prayers of the Faithful. The priest will read the Gospel for me and the lector will read the prayers. I still cannot preach since I write out all my homilies and, not being a gifted speaker, would simply read them.

So one of my drawbacks from the stroke was that I was no longer able to assist at a cross-town Latin Mass that I would attend every Sunday evening. I had been doing so for several years at the invitation of that parish’s pastor, an old friend, and his associate with whom I had gotten to know very well.

Not being a Latin scholar, I could do little more than sit in choir, read the Epistle and Gospel in English, preach occasionally, and help with the distribution of Communion — the Latin Mass protocols only allow for an ordained minister, deacon or priest, to do so. Unfortunately, the partial loss of my vision was enough to keep me from driving to the Latin Mass and I was unable to participate.

With the pastor and assistant there were only about three other priests in our geographic area who could say the Latin Mass, so when the pastor retired due to health issues, and the associate was sent for additional schooling out of state, it sounded trouble for the Latin Mass.

However, our bishop, William Joensen, asked my pastor if he and our parish could continue the Latin Mass, and he agreed. Last night was our first Latin Mass and I was there, in choir, for the first time since October 24, and I couldn’t have been happier! It brought a newness and a fresh perspective and appreciation for the Latin Mass that was renewed yesterday.

My first observation is one I have really taken to heart, because it is now something I use. When we distribute Communion at the Novus Ordo Mass we say to them, “The Body of Christ,” as most receive standing and in the hand. That always seemed to me to show a lack of reverence, almost as if I was handing out cookies to children as an after lunch treat.

I was always more impressed by the Latin formula. As communicants are kneeling at an altar rail, they receive on the tongue as they say, “Corpus Domini nostri Iesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen.” Translated, “May the body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve your soul unto life everlasting. Amen.”

In my mind, that is more reverent and expresses an important theological truth. Thus I use the English translation when taking Communion to the homebound and hospitalized, then I say “the Body of Christ.”

But there is something that I apparently am not the only one to notice. It is the growing number of young people who attend.

I noticed that when I first started assisting at the Latin Mass. I saw the volume of young families with small children who were present, and many of them were the parents of the many youngsters who were taking part as servers and acolytes, and they showed up last night.

Just to give you an example, we had two deacons — one on the cusp of priestly Ordination, and a seminarian sitting in choir, two MCs, two altar servers and six acolytes, most under nine. And the reaction of our regular parishioners was amazement.

Several mentioned to me how they were surprised to see so many young girls dressed as if it were First Communion, and the number of men who wore ties, not to mention the veils on so many of the women and girls. They commented on the beauty of the Traditional Latin chants and hymns as well as the use of incense during certain parts of the Mass.

It all underscored what I saw from a friend of mine, an ex-con who started RCIA with me a few years ago. I had taken him to my parish church and later to the Latin Mass. Now here was a man of no faith background who was actively looking forward to his Baptism and reception into the Church.

When I asked him why he was making such a transition, he said it was very simple: In the church, especially at the Latin Mass, he could feel the presence of God and that is where he wanted to be. Unfortunately for my friend, one stupid mistake caused him to be arrested and sent back to prison on a probation violation. What is worse is the correctional system was largely closed by COVID and he was confined for several years.

I continued to keep in touch with him, answering his questions about Catholicism, and sending him copies of lessons from our RCIA syllabus. I found out later he began to share those lessons with fellow inmates. After several indicated that they were Catholic, they formed a group of Catholic inmates who would meet regularly to discuss religion.

I was a bit surprised to note that his prison counselor, when writing about him to the state parole board, noted that he was the leader of the Catholic inmates group. His parole was granted and by the time this is published he should be released and his first priority is to attend the Latin Mass at his “home” parish and to finally become a baptized Catholic, a ceremony I intend to perform myself.

So why was an agnostic so attracted to the Latin Mass that his deepest desire is to become Catholic? I think it is for the same reason men showed up with ties, little girls in dresses, and the little boys are clamoring to serve as acolytes, and young families making the Latin parish its parish of choice.

It is that for 2,000 years the Church has brought people to God by using all their senses. Everything that is done is clearly done for the glory of the Almighty, from the architecture to the music, stained glass, Gregorian chant, and incense. It is not that a lot of folks understand Latin, it is that the whole package combines to bring, as my friend noted, the presence of God to any with an open heart.

I know there are those who pooh-pooh the “old” Mass, and many consider it divisive. It is not. It is a unifying point that has been bringing the presence of God to the people for two centuries. I’m very proud of the part my parish is now playing in carrying out that mission, and proud of my very small part in it.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)

Biden v. Babies 2.0: Biden Attacks Heartbeat Law Again Through Fake Political Lawsuit | Texas Values

Biden v. Babies 2.0: Biden Attacks Heartbeat Law Again Through Fake Political Lawsuit | Texas Values: Last night, Biden Administration’s U.S. Department of Justice again filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the Texas Heartbeat Law (S.B. 8) from continuing to be in effect. Jonathan Saenz, President and Attorney of Texas Values released the following statement: “The Biden Administration is throwing more fake political lawsuits at the wall to try […]

Conservative Christian student sues university for silencing her

 

 

A recent art therapy graduate sued Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville for violating her First Amendment rights. 

Alliance Defending Freedom alleged in its lawsuit that SIUE violated Maggie DeJong’s First Amendment rights when it issued “no-contact orders” and asked her peers to report her for “harmful rhetoric.” 

Officials issued the no-contact orders, starting in February, after several students reported DeJong’s speech to the university. The students informed the school that DeJong (pictured) shared conservative views during class discussions, such as support for police officers. DeJong also shared her pro-life views and criticized Black Lives Matter on her personal social media. 

The students alleged that DeJong’s statements constituted “harassment,” “discrimination,” and “microaggressions” and were not “welcome or appropriate,” according to ADF attorneys. 

SIUE officials then launched an investigation into DeJong and prohibited her from having “any contact,” which included “indirect communication,” with the students who filed the complaints. The university issued the no-contact orders without first giving DeJong an opportunity to defend herself or completing an investigation into the matter.

SIUE Director of Media Relations Megan Wieser told The College Fix that the university doesn’t comment on pending litigation. 

Officials did not inform DeJong of the allegations nor state what policies she violated, according to the lawsuit. Officials told her she could receive further “disciplinary action[s]” should she violate the no-contact orders. 

The director of the art therapy program, Megan Robb, “publicly confirmed that Ms. DeJong was under investigation and accused her of ‘misconduct’ and ‘oppressive acts,'” in an email to all 30 students in the program. 

ADF stated that the email violated a SIUE policy requiring university employees to “take all reasonable steps to ensure confidentiality” during an investigation of a student. 

“SIUE officials are determined to force their graduate students to think and speak exactly the same—or stay silent—and they will punish anyone who steps out of line,” ADF Senior Counsel Gregg Walters, who is representing DeJong, stated in a news release. 

“Maggie has always respectfully shared her religious or political views, which every student is entitled to do under the First Amendment,” according to Walters. “It is a sad day for civil dialogue and freedom of speech when universities can issue gag orders like those issued against Maggie for nothing more than expressing her beliefs — beliefs held by millions of Americans.” 

The attorney told The Fix during an interview that DeJong “asked the university to change their unconstitutional policies, and the university hasn’t done that. So she’s not the last student that will be impacted by these policies that censor student speech.” 

He told The Fix one of the goals of the lawsuit is “to challenge these policies and ensure that students are able to speak freely on campus about their beliefs.” He also noted that ADF is currently representing three students in Idaho who have had similar no-contact orders issued against them. 

According to Walters, ADF has “seen speech policies that violate students’ rights consistently,” however, since universities and cultures are now prone to “treating speech as violence.” 

The nonprofit law firm stated it has recently seen an increase in no-contact orders being issued as a method to suppress speech and censor students.

The Growing Assault on Judicial Independence: Court-Packing and Threatening the Safety of Justices

 

by Ethan Tong & Jorge Gomez

Sen. Mike Lee dives into the radical and dangerous plan to stack the Supreme Court with liberal justices in his recently published book—Saving Nine: The Fight Against the Left’s Audacious Plan to Pack the Supreme Court and Destroy American Liberty.

The Utah senator explains the danger:

“If President Biden and the Democrats manage to expand the size of the Supreme Court, they will effectively be robbing that branch of its power and grabbing it themselves. It would mean that the United States government would lose its structure—and as Justice Scalia has reminded us, without that structure, we are nothing.”

Sen. Lee’s timely book focuses on the rich history and original purpose of the Supreme Court, arguing that attempts to pack the court—adding seats and then filling them—would turn the court into a weapon of whatever political party is in power. But the Supreme Court is meant to be an independent branch that impartially considers cases according to the Constitution and the law. Sen. Lee writes:

“If you study history, you’ll find that injecting the Court with politics and ignoring their rulings when you don’t like them is very often the first step in a dictator’s playbook.”

He notes that the Nazi press was an ardent supporter of FDR’s court packing plan in the 1930s. They praised FDR for his attempt to overthrow “outworn methods of government.”

Despite the warnings of history, radicals continue the call to restructure the Court. They’ve also pushed for other “reforms” such as term limits and meddling with the Court’s internal workings.

One thing is clear: It’s all about one side of the political aisle getting its way no matter what.

Recently, Rep. Mondaire Jones—one of the sponsors of a bill that would add four seats to the Supreme Court—directly connected the political effort to pass legislation with court packing:

“Enough of your thoughts and prayers…You will not stop us from advancing the Protecting Our Kids Act today…If the filibuster obstructs us, we will abolish it. If the Supreme Court objects, we will expand it.”

Other threats to the judiciary are far more personal. Police recently apprehended an armed man outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland who was reportedly intending to assassinate the Justice. The suspect admitted to the FBI that he was motivated in part by the leaked Dobbs draft opinion.

Protesters encircled Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s home, and a pro-abortion group posted the name of her church and her children’s school, calling on protesters to “voice your anger” at the two locations.

Federal law prohibits “pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer” when it is “with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer.”

There is a difference between a constitutionally protected peaceful protest outside the Supreme Court and crowding justices’ houses to intimidate them into changing the outcome of a case.

Court-packing, attacks on Justices and intimidation tactics are threats to the American system of government. The Supreme Court sits 44 steps above the ground in Washington, D.C. It’s a symbol of the court’s independence—the position it holds above the swamp of D.C. politics.

In this effort to save the priceless heritage of our judiciary, we need your help sharing the truth, facts and history. We’ve dedicated an entire website to informing the public of the dangers of politicizing the Judiciary: SupremeCoup.com.

Because treating the independent branch of government as if it were a political branch is, as Sen. Lee warns, “the first step in a dictator’s playbook.”

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The unholy trinity

By Deacon Mike Manno

            (The Wanderer) – We certainly are living in a time of profound change. Unfortunately, most of it is being forced upon us by our societal overlords, those who have taken over the levers of society and are now forcing their beliefs on the rest of us. They are easy to identify because they boast of their “righteousness” to tell the rest of us how to live, and to cancel those who refuse to comply.

            I was thinking about that when I was arranging a guest for my radio program for this week – last week, by the time you read this. She is Laurie Higgins and she writes for the Illinois Family institute. Her last column, which drew my attention, dealt with how the Progressive Left have embraced the cult of transgenderism. She writes:

            “Canada will be using public funds to build a shrine to the false gods of homoeroticism and ‘trans’-cultism (a phenomenon closer to Haitian Vodou than to science). … The shrine titled Thunderhead is intended to convey the message that homosexuals and cross-sex impersonators have ‘risen up’ to say, ‘We demand change.’

            While pondering her comments I came across this story which seems to underscore her position. In Wisconsin a school counselor can apparently lose her teaching license for criticizing the same trans-gender policies as were referenced in Laurie’s column.

            Marissa Darlingh, a school counselor in the Milwaukee public schools, has had her teaching license threatened by the state’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI). She was informed that DPI had opened an investigation of what it said was “immoral conduct” for statements she made at a feminist rally at the state capitol in Madison.

            Naturally you would think that she was engaged in some deviant conduct, perhaps sexual in nature. Nope, none of that. She is being investigated for making public statements opposed to school sponsored transgenderism.

            According to the pro-bono public law firm, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), who is representing Ms. Darlingh, what she said at the April 23 rally, as caught on YouTube, was that she “oppose[s] gender ideology” in elementary schools and that young children should not be “exposed to the harms of gender identity ideology” or given “unfettered access to hormones—wrong-sex hormones—and surgery.”

            She argued passionately that she “exist[s] in this world to serve children” and “to protect children,” and does not support social or medical transition of young children. In the passion of the moment, Ms. Darlingh at one point said “f***transgenderism,” referring to the ideology that she believes harms children.

            WILL responded to DPI by accusing the department of trying to “strong arm” Ms. Darlingh into surrendering her license by providing her with a pre-printed statement doing just that. It also threatened the department with a federal free speech lawsuit over the issue.

            “As you may recall, government officials have ‘no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.’ And ‘speech by public employees on subject matter related to their employment holds special value’ because they ‘are uniquely qualified to comment on matters concerning government policies that are of interest to the public at large,’” [cites omitted]. WILL attorneys wrote to the department.

            As of this writing this matter is still unresolved. However, there is another similar matter that has been successfully resolved by the same law firm. This one involves three eighth grade students in another Wisconsin school, the Kiel Area School District. This one, however, made some national headlines.

            The three boys were charged with violations of Title IX for sexually harassing another student. The school claimed the Title IX violation occurred, not by any bullying, sexual conduct, or even sexual innuendos. It occurred because the boys used the wrong pronoun to refer to a fellow student.

            Apparently in the cockamamie world of education in Wisconsin, using the wrong pronoun can be considered a federal offense.

            According to the legal firm’s press release: “Three eighth grade students … were notified of a Title IX complaint and investigation for sexual harassment for using a biologically correct pronoun when referring to a classmate, instead of the student’s preferred pronouns of ‘they/them.’ The District’s position was that once a student informs others of alternate, preferred pronouns, any subsequent ‘mispronouning’ automatically constitutes punishable sexual harassment under Title IX.”

            The district, after first releasing a letter to parents claiming that under federal law it was required to investigate the matter, but when faced with the threat of a federal lawsuit and some devastatingly bad publicity, the school district caved and sent another letter to parents, citing threats to the school, while reaffirming its policies and closed the case.

            So now we return to the beginning and the point I wanted to make from Laurie’s column. Society today is beset by numerous cults that have transformed their political beliefs into religious crusades.

            Laurie spoke eloquently about the cult of transgenderism where social theory trumps biological science, as shown in the above cases.  Despite all evidence to the contrary the “true believers” will continue to hold on to their precious theories while they evangelize society to their distorted gospel.

            There are two other cults which we ought to stiffen ourselves against. The first of these is the cult of abortion where we can be brainwashed to believe that a baby isn’t a baby and we can and must celebrate their demise much as the ancient pagans would worship their god Moloch in whose arms could be placed unwanted children to be rolled into its statue to be burned to death all the while drums would be beating loud enough to drown out the child’s cries from its mother’s earshot.

            Then there is the cult of self-aggrandizement in which we take upon ourselves the mantle of a god who can make our own rules outside of the laws of the one, true God. In it we become our own divine authority, seeding nothing to the God who has created us so to follow our own dictates by a god we ourselves create.

            And we can see in just the past few weeks how this plays out: women stripping at a Joel Osteen prayer service, baring their bodies in support of their right to kill their own offspring, and the horrific sight, last week in Dallas, of parents taking their kindergarten aged kids to a drag queen strip show where they could be seen dancing with the queens and handing them dollar bills, all under a neon sign proclaiming “It’s not gonna lick itself!”

            We, of course, need more than simple recourse to political action to conquer this Unholy Trinity, for we are not fighting flesh and blood opponents, but the “powers and principalities” that have loosed these cults on earth seemingly in preparation for the last seven plagues of the apocalypse. What we need is prayer. For as God has told us in Second Chronicles (7:14), if we humble ourselves, turn to him, and seek his presence, he will forgive our sins and heal our land.

            That, and our votes, and support of those pro-bono law firms seeking to protect us from the continued degradation of our society, should be considered our moral duty.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday morning on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)

Statement on today’s Iowa Supreme Court ruling on abortion

Today, June 17, 2022, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that abortion is not a guaranteed right under the state constitution. The Thomas More Society has been actively involved in pro-life legal issues in Iowa for many years. Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Martin Cannon, who resides in Iowa, released the following statement: 

“The Thomas More Society is a founding member of Iowa’s Coalition of Pro-Life Leaders, which has become the dominant pro-life political force in Iowa. Thomas More Society has also been very involved in advising the legislature in drafting and passing the 24-hour waiting period that is at the heart of today’s ruling. This is a huge victory for Iowa’s pro-life movement in which the Thomas More Society has been very active.”

About the Thomas More Society: The Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, religious liberty, and election integrity. Headquartered in Chicago and with offices across the country, Thomas More Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. For more information, please visit thomasmoresociety.org.

This week on Faith On Trial: banning teacher for opposition to pro-transgender policy; 8th graders subject to Title IX investigation for mis-gendering classmate

Luke Berg

This week on Faith On Trial Luke Berg, deputy counsel for the Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty (WILL) joined Deacon Mike and Sherill Whisanand, sitting in for the vacation Gina Noll, to discuss a recent and an ongoing case in which WILL has been involved. Both involved transgender students. In one three 8^th grade students were under Title IX investigation after mis-gendering, using the wrong pronoun, a classmate. The second involved a school counselor who is being threatened with the loss of her teaching license for the “immoral” act of opposing her school’s transgender policy.

You can listen to the full program here:  https://www.iowacatholicradio.com/faith/episode/24cb81eb/faith-on-trial-luke-berg-6162022

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning CT at 9:30 on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines; 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, or catch it streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can find podcasts of our older programs that you may have missed.

Is it immoral for a teacher to oppose transgenderism in grade school?

This week on Faith On Trial we’ll be joined by Attorney Luke Berg, deputy counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty who is representing a school counselor who is in just that position, as the state department of public instruction is threatening to take the teaching license of a teacher who spoke out against transgender policies in her school. The claim is that her comments were “immoral.”

Join Deacon Mike and guest co-host Sherill Whisenand Thursday at 9:30 CT for that interesting conversation on Iowa Catholic Radio. Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines; 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, or catch it streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can find podcasts of our older programs that you may have missed.

Anti-Catholic Invective Spawns Violence

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue 

The recent spate of Catholic churches that have been vandalized, as well as the bombing of pro-life crisis pregnancy centers (many of which are run by Catholics), are not a coincidence. Nor is the attempted murder of  Brett Kavanaugh, the Catholic Supreme Court Justice. They reflect a deep-seated animus against the right of orthodox Catholics to participate in public life.

When Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was on the high court, she was joined by Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. All three are Jewish. No one complained, nor should they have, about the fact that Jews are roughly 2 percent of the population yet they made up a third of the Supreme Court. But when Catholics are overrepresented—six of the Justices are Catholic (they are a little less than a quarter of the population)—that's a different story.

Those who have spoken critically about the number of Catholics on the Supreme Court include some notable activists and pundits.

• Americans United for Separation of Church and State president Rachel Laser saw the draft opinion on Roe v. Wade authored by Catholic Justice Samuel Alito as something nefarious. "They attempt to impose one religious viewpoint on all of us," she said. Referring to the Catholics on the bench as "religious extremists," she accused them of trying "to destroy our democracy and force all of us to live by their narrow beliefs."
• Ron Grossman of the Chicago Tribune sounded the alarms by noting that "if canon law becomes U.S. law, we will be perilously close to having a state religion."
• Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi wrote that "The ultra-conservative bloc on the court includes Justice Neil Gorsuch and four of six Catholic justices."
• New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd observes that "Catholic doctrine may be shaping (or misshaping) the freedom and the future of millions of women, and men. There is a corona of religious fervor around the court, a churchly ethos that threatens to turn our whole country upside down."
• Jamie Manson, the head of the pro-abortion and anti-Catholic letterhead, Catholics for Choice, noted that there are "five radically anti-choice Catholics on this court." She attributed this to a long campaign coordinated by "U.S. Catholic Bishops" and "very wealthy right-wing Catholics."
• Eleanor Clift at the Daily Beast opined that we are "on the cusp of a decision that cements a theological view of abortion."
• American Atheists said that Justice Alito's ruling means that "White Christian Nationalism is a clear and existential threat."
• Another atheist group, Freedom From Religion Foundation, says "Alito is one of six justices on the nine-member high court who are Roman Catholic," noting that "Religion, as always, is at the heart of this attack against a fundamental right."
• Frances Kissling, the former head of Catholics for Choice, complains that "the decision was, in essence, written by five Catholic lawyers who accept the most conservative version of Catholicism on abortion and who have applied it to secular American law."
• In the Los Angeles Times, Sheila Briggs claims that "As the devastating effects on women's lives become visible after the Supreme Court's judgment, Catholics are going to feel increasing shame over what their church has done."
• Bette Midler came out of retirement to complain about all those Catholics on the high court. "Does that scream 'diversity of opinion' or 'ability to be objective and fair' to you given the historical #Roman Catholic antipathy to abortion?"

Ron Elving at NPR showed it is entirely possible to address the issue of abortion and Catholic judges without making anti-Catholic remarks. But he is unfortunately the exception to the rule.

These activists and pundits have helped to poison the public mind, suggesting that it is patently unfair to have so many Catholics on the high court. In essence, they want a religious test, which is constitutionally proscribed. Worse, they have driven a public narrative about Catholic judges that invites those who are already ill-disposed to Catholics to consider taking things into their own hands.

Catholic churches are being vandalized, crisis pregnancy centers are being bombed, illegal protests are taking place outside the homes of Catholic Supreme Court Justices, and one Catholic Justice was targeted by an assassin. Make no mistake, these are a direct consequence of this relentless spewing of anti-Catholic invective. It needs to stop.

Cult like social activity: this week on Faith On Trial

This week Deacon Mike and Gina will host Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Council to discuss her article, Leftists Socially Constructing a Pagan World, which you can read below at https://faithontrialradio.blogspot.com/2022/06/leftists-socially-constructing-pagan.html. Join us for that conversation this Thursday at 9:30 a.m. CT on Iowa Catholic Radio.

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines; 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, or catch it streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can find podcasts of our older programs that you may have missed.

Abortion Activists Plan to Blockade Supreme Court, Stop Justices From Overturning Roe - LifeNews.com

Abortion Activists Plan to Blockade Supreme Court, Stop Justices From Overturning Roe - LifeNews.com: The Epoch Times uncovered more details this week about radical abortion activists’ plans to blockade the U.S. Supreme Court building on June 13. Threats and violence against the court and pro-life advocates have increased since news broke in May about a leaked draft ruling that shows the justices overturning Roe v. Wade. Authorities expect more violence when the […]

Religion Clause: NY School Districts Not Required To Provide Bussin...

Religion Clause: NY School Districts Not Required To Provide Bussin...: In In the Matter of United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, Inc. v. Washingtonville Central School District ,  (NY App., June 2, 2022), a...

Religion Clause: New York Court Reaffirms Its Decision Upholding Re...

Religion Clause: New York Court Reaffirms Its Decision Upholding Re...: In  Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany v. Vullo , (NY App., June 2, 2022), a New York intermediate appellate court, in a case on remand from t...

Biden’s war on pro-life conservatives

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – If we have not realized it yet, and surely most of us do at this point, our “devout Catholic” president is on a war footing against, not enemies of the nation, but American servicemen who are deemed unfit due to their conservative Christian and pro-life beliefs.

Joe Biden, who has continued to bloody his hands with the results of his extreme abortion (anytime, anywhere) agenda, continues to pursue his vendetta against those pro-lifers in the military, as well as in federal employment, by using the old crisis excuse: COVID.

As reported earlier, Mr. Biden issued orders that all federal employees, including members of the military, must receive the COVID vaccine or be terminated from their positions. While each mandate contained religious exemption for those having strong religious reasons for not taking the vaccine, obtaining one is a near impossibility.

Notably, those objections centered on the vaccine’s development using a cell line from an aborted fetus.

And, of course, it was duly noted that most objections were from conservative Christians who held strong pro-life beliefs. At the time my February column was published, the Heritage Foundation was reporting that the administration was requiring those employees seeking a religious exemption need to provide not only their names and addresses, but maiden names, length and depth of religious practice, among other things, including physical characteristics and identifiers.

Naturally it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on: The administration was creating a blacklist of employees who were devout Christian pro-lifers. As reported then, the administration refused numerous requests for a clarification as to how the list was to be used.

As it was noted at the time, of all the thousands of requests for religious accommodations from military personnel, only four had been granted. Now you would think that after the bad publicity, and adverse court decisions, the Biden administration would back off. It didn’t and it continued its anti-Christian crusade against pro-lifers in the military.

Just last week a group of nine Air Force officers filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Air Force for its continual refusal to grant religious accommodations to the vaccine mandate. In the suit the officers claimed that 11,877 such requests have been made and only 81 have been approved; the Air Force admits that the 81 were all members leaving the service. If their request for class-action status is approved by the court, the group will be legally representing all Air Force personnel who have applied for a religious exemption and were denied.

What is interesting about this particular suit is that the circumstances of each of the nine officers have been set out in detail which indicates that the administration is treating each as if they were seeking to undermine the U.S. government, which, of course, is what the president and his military officers have repeated over and over again: The greatest threat to this nation is from extreme right-wingers and white supremacists.
For example, one of the stories from the complaint involves Lt. Col. Tyler W. Stef, who was scheduled to complete pilot instructor training and was prevented from doing so due to his unvaccinated status. He had originally applied for a religious accommodation and cited on his application his objection to the use of the aborted fetal cell line. His first such application was never processed. A couple of months later he reapplied.

While waiting for a reply, he became concerned with his family’s allergic reactions to vaccines, noting that two of his daughters had been hospitalized for severe allergic reaction to vaccines. He then sought allergy testing from a physician who had provided allergy testing services for other servicemen.

The test showed that he was allergic to two of the ingredients of the COVID vaccine. He submitted those results to the Air Force which then approved a one-year medical exception to the mandate. He then re-scheduled his flight instruction training. But he was grounded.

His commander then informed him that he was under investigation for faking an allergy to get out of taking the vaccine. He then met with a board-certified allergist who confirmed the earlier results that he had allergic reactions to the COVID drugs. He was then asked by an Air Force allergist to supply that information to the Air Force, which he did.

Almost immediately he received a heavily redacted reply from the Air Force accusing him of submitting a false “official statement,” the original allergy report from the first doctor. It also included the allegation that he was being investigated for attempting to disobey a lawful order by submitting a false report in an attempt to avoid the vaccine mandate, and that he faked his allergy without proper medical testing or approval.
He was later informed that Air Force medical personnel had confirmed his allergy testing was done according to standard allergy testing protocol. A month later he received a letter of admonishment for having seen his original physician who was now being deemed “illegitimate” by the Air Force.

His story is similar to the eight others, but of the nine his is the worst. All are threatened with separation and worse, and stand to lose their military pensions for simply asking for a religious accommodation to the mandate.

This is eerily similar to the threats made against the Navy Seals who requested religious accommodations. They were not only threatened with separation and loss of benefits, but told they could be required to repay all the costs for their training.

“At a time of instability and ever-increasing threats around the world, you’d think the Pentagon would want every service member at their post. But instead, military leaders are forcing tens of thousands of our bravest out of the service because they’ve chosen to live according to their faith,” said Mike Berry, director of Military Affairs for First Liberty Institute, which is representing the officers.

“Punishing these service members for seeking religious accommodation is illegal, vindictive, and wrong. Religious liberty is essential to national security, and our service members deserve better.”

One of the other plaintiffs, Major Danielle Runyan, a member of the Air Force Reserve, added, “Like many service members, I want to continue faithfully serving my country as I have proudly done for the past 10 years. As the Supreme Court has already recognized, ‘even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten’.”

In an attempt to promote his worldview, it appears that our “devout” commander-in-chief doesn’t really care who he hurts as long as the country is rid of those pesky conservative Christians.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday morning at9:30 CT on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)