Barron: ‘liberal Catholicism’ could not pull off Eucharistic Congress

Bishop Robert Barron recently observed that the massively successful National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis could never have been achieved by “liberal” Catholics. “[L]iberal Catholicism has never generated the kind of energy and enthusiasm that I saw in Indianapolis,” he wrote.  READ

Army base labeled pro-life groups as ‘terrorists’

Bishop Robert Barron recently observed that the massively successful National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis could never have been achieved by “liberal” Catholics. “[L]iberal Catholicism has never generated the kind of energy and enthusiasm that I saw in Indianapolis,” he wrote.  READ

New Hampshire guv gets mixed reaction to ‘trans’ laws

Gov. Chris Sununu, R-NH, on Friday signed three bills aimed at defending against gender ideology being forced on children and families. Democrats attacked the socially liberal governor over the measures. Conservatives also criticized him, however, as on the same day he vetoed a bill that would have allowed businesses to protect girls’ restrooms and sports from males.  READ

News from the Iowa Catholic Conference

 

Hunger coalition launches petition in support of Summer EBT

The Iowa Hunger Coalition (IHC) has launched an online petition to urge the governor to ensure that Iowa participates in Summer EBT in 2025. Summer EBT would provide $120 in nutrition benefits to 245,000 low-income children in Iowa during the summer months. Summer EBT has been shown to reduce childhood food insecurity while increasing the consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy. Iowans can sign the petition by visiting iowahungercoalition.org/summer-ebt.

Sign the petition supporting migrants

Please take a minute to sign our petition in solidarity with the bishops of Iowa and Pope Francis, who see the migrant as not simply a brother or sister in need, but “Christ himself, who knocks at our door.” The petition invites us to support the human dignity of migrants. Thanks to those who have already signed!

Catholic coalition supports affordable housing bill

Catholics believe that housing is a human right, and as such, governments, the private sector, nonprofit organizations, and churches and their ministries, have a shared responsibility to ensure all people have access to affordable and stable housing.

The Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, Catholic Charities USA, and the National Council of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul support S. 3910, the federal Yes in God's Backyard Act, because it would help faith-based and nonprofit organizations improve their capacity to meet the housing needs of poor and vulnerable community members.

U.S. bishops’ president condemns political violence

Following the news of the shooting at a political rally involving former President Donald Trump, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops (USCCB) offered the following statement: 

“Together with my brother bishops, we condemn political violence, and we offer our prayers for President Trump, and those who were killed or injured. We also pray for our country and for an end to political violence, which is never a solution to political disagreements. We ask all people of goodwill to join us in praying for peace in our country. Mary, Mother of God and Patroness of the Americas, pray for us.” 

Protecting the Common Good 

As the slate of candidates continues to be clarified in this election season, please explore the bishops’ bulletin insert on the Common Good to find out more about how every human being has a right to life, a right to religious freedom, and a right to have access to those things required for a decent living. We also encourage you to watch the video, “Catholics Promote the Common Good” on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/@UsccbOrg.

Court allows Iowa pro-life law to take effect

Iowa’s Supreme Court has declined to rehear a case challenging a law banning most abortions after six weeks, setting the pro-life law to go into effect on July 29. Abortion was previously legal in Iowa up to about 20 weeks.  READ

Kamala Harris Is Not Religion-Friendly

By Bill Donohue, Catholic League president

 

In assessing her candidacy for president of the United States, it is instructive to consider the positions taken by Vice President Kamala Harris on several issues of interests to Catholics. 

 

She is a passionate defender of abortion rights. Indeed, there is no record of her opposing abortion at any time during gestation or for any reason whatsoever. She has also tried to force states that restrict abortions to obtain federal approval from the Department of Justice before implementing them.

 

When Harris was California’s attorney general, she bludgeoned pro-life activist David Daleiden. He used undercover videos to expose how abortion operatives harvest and sell aborted fetal organs. She authorized her office to raid his home: they seized his camera equipment and copies of revealing videos that implicated many of those who work in the abortion industry.

 

In her role as California AG she also sought to cripple crisis pregnancy centers with draconian regulations. Specifically, she supported a bill that would force these centers to inform clients where they could obtain an abortion. She was sued and lost in the Supreme Court three years later.

 

Like many other Democrats, Harris is not content to sanction child abuse in the womb. Even when they are born, she is okay with letting those who survive an abortion die.

 

To be specific, on February 25, 2020, Sen. Harris voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill that would “prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.” That’s called infanticide.

 

Harris’ record on abortion and infanticide is at odds with her opposition to the death penalty. When it comes to convicted serial rapists and mass shooters, she wants to spare their lives. In 2019, she was explicitly asked if she opposed the death penalty for acts of treason. She said she did.

 

There we have it. Harris says that those who endanger the safety of all Americans by attempting a violent overthrow of the government, or spying on the military for a foreign enemy, should have their lives spared, but innocent children who are moments away from being born are not entitled to have their lives spared. And children who survive an abortion, but are in need of medical attention, can be left to die on the table, and no one will be held accountable.

 

The Democratic Party is the proud party of homosexual activists and transgender radicals.

 

Harris is so happy to see two people of the same sex “marry” that she actually performed “marriages” between gay couples in 2004. She also opposed Proposition 8, the California initiative barring gay marriage. The people spoke—they voted for it—but she does not believe in “power to the people”: she believes in power to the ruling class (which won in the Supreme Court).

 

When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis supported a bill that would prohibit teachers in the early grades, K-3rd grade, from being indoctrinated with gay and transgender propaganda, she opposed it. In doing so she also showed her contempt for parental rights; the bill prohibited efforts to undermine them.

 

Harris’ enthusiasm for transgender rights includes allowing females to claim to be men to join the military and males who claim to be female to compete against girls and women in sports.

 

Religious liberty is a First Amendment right, but her deeds suggest she is not supportive of it. As a U.S. senator, she co-sponsored the “Do No Harm Act” that would force religious institutions to violate their doctrinal prerogatives.

 

Harris even co-sponsored the most anti-religious liberty bill ever introduced, the Equality Act. It would coerce Catholic doctors and hospitals to perform abortions and to mutilate the genitals of young people seeking to transition to the opposite sex. This bill would sideline the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 bill that ensures that the government does not encroach on religious rights.

 

In 2018, the Catholic League was among the first organizations in the nation to protest her attack on a Catholic nominee for a federal district judge post. She badgered Brian Buescher at a hearing, simply because he was a member of the Knights of Columbus, a male entity.

 

As I pointed out at the time, Harris has never objected to Jewish women groups or the League of Women Voters. Just a Catholic male group. What really got her goat is Buescher’s membership in a Catholic organization that is pro-life and pro-marriage, rightly understood. In other words, she was invoking a religious test for public office, which is unconstitutional.

 

The one incident where Harris proved to be religion-friendly was a stunt she pulled that violated separation of church and state. In 2021, she created a video to be played in Virginia black churches urging everyone to vote for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe. The video aired in 300 churches for several weeks. Harris starred in it, beckoning congregants to vote for him.

Harris’ record on life, marriage, gender ideology and religion are deeply troubling. There are no signs that she is about to change.

This week on Faith On Trial

 The podcast is up, and you can listen now: https://faith-on-trial.simplecast.com/episodes/matt-lamb-hiram-sasser-7-20-2024-y_N1F6DJ

Musk moving Spacex HQ over Newsom’s ‘trans’ law

Elon Musk announced he will move the headquarters of SpaceX from California to Texas after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill against parents resisting the “transgender” agenda being imposed on their kids. Musk called the legislation the “final straw.” He said he made it clear to Newsom “about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.”  READ

Biden wants major SCOTUS changes

President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing a slate of proposed “reforms” of the Supreme Court in an apparent bid for more support from the Democratic base ahead of November’s election. The Associated Press reported Biden “is seriously considering proposals to establish term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices, and an ethics code,” among other things.  READ

Newsom signs pro-‘trans’ school bill

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a bill preventing the state’s schools from requiring that parents be notified if their child’s “pronouns” and/or “gender identity” are changed at school. Chino Valley Unified School District Board President Sonja Shaw has said that the new law “makes lying legal and a requirement” in California schools.  READ

Liberty Counsel Will Appeal KY Church Lockdown Case

 LOUISVILLE, KY – Liberty Counsel will appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals a district court’s denial of attorney’s fees and expenses in Maryville Baptist Church, et al v. Andy Beshear. While Maryville Baptist Church and its pastor Dr. Jack Roberts prevailed in their lawsuit against Governor Andy Beshear’s unconstitutional church restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, District Judge David J. Hale has ruled for the second time in this case that the church was not a prevailing party and is not entitled to attorney’s fees and costs. Liberty Counsel previously appealed to the Sixth Circuit for fees where the Appeals Court essentially instructed Judge Hale to award prevailing party status to the church, but he has again denied it. 

When Judge Hale first denied prevailing party status and subsequent fees, Liberty Counsel appealed to the Sixth Circuit which ruled 3-0 to send the case back to the district court directing it to reconsider its decision in light of the results from a similar case, which also involved the same church. In Roberts v. Neace, several congregants of Maryville Baptist Church sued Gov. Beshear over the lockdown order and had won their case and were awarded attorney’s fees. The Sixth Circuit noted that plaintiffs obtaining a preliminary injunction entitled them to prevailing party status. In fact, the Sixth Circuit stated that Gov. Beshear ended his church service ban because of the injunctions obtained by Liberty Counsel’s Maryville case. 

In remanding the Maryville case back to the district court, the three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit wrote, “Roberts addressed Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions, preliminary injunctions, mootness, and attendance at Maryville Baptist Church—all features of this case. We vacate and remand for the district court to apply Roberts in the first instance.”

Liberty Counsel argues that the governor’s executive orders clearly targeted religious services and that such a gross violation of the First Amendment entitles Maryville’s attorney’s fees and costs be paid by the state. 

On Easter Sunday 2020, Kentucky State Police troopers came to Maryville Baptist Church to fulfill Governor Beshear’s threat to target anyone who attended a church service against his in-person worship ban. The church was allowing a small number of people to assemble inside its 700-seat sanctuary, spread far apart, and had also set up speakers in its parking lot for “drive-in” worship. The police wrote down license plate numbers and placed quarantine notices on every car, including those containing people who had come for the drive-in service. All worshippers whose cars were noticed in the parking lot on Easter Sunday also received a letter from Gov. Beshear’s administration demanding their agreement to take their temperatures and report every day to the county health authority, not attend church, work, school, stores, and other public places; not travel outside the county; not travel outside of Kentucky without prior approval; and not travel by public, commercial, or emergency conveyance such as a bus, taxi, airplane, train, or boat without prior approval. 

In 2020, Liberty Counsel won a series of preliminary injunctions that in combination blocked all aspects of Gov. Beshear’s church lockdown order. The order had prohibited all religious services while allowing many other secular gatherings. With the injunctions in place, Maryville Baptist Church and Dr. Roberts were allowed to resume both parking lot services and in-person services. 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The Sixth Circuit clearly determined Maryville Baptist Church and its pastor Dr. Jack Roberts are entitled to attorney’s fees and expenses. Liberty Counsel secured the desired relief on behalf of Maryville Baptist Church four years ago where they are free to worship without the intrusion of unconstitutional restrictions. They should finally be awarded prevailing party status and the attorney’s fees and costs to which they are entitled.” 

California’s AB 1955 “Dead on Arrival” - Attorneys Point to Federal Judge’s Concurrence

(July 16, 2024 – San Diego, California) Thomas More Society attorneys see no future for the California bill violating the rights of parents and teachers. Assembly Bill 1955, signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 15, 2024, prohibits school districts from requiring staff to notify parents if a child requests to be addressed by a different name or pronouns, or to access a bathroom or school activities for a sex other than what appears on their birth certificate.

 

Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society Special Counsel and Partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, stated:

 “AB 1955 is dead on arrival. Don’t take my word for it – read Judge Benitez’s September 2023 preliminary injunction order in our federal lawsuit, Mirabelli v. Olson. Parents have federal constitutional rights to know about their own children’s gender transitions. Schools can’t force teachers to withhold that information from parents; and school districts absolutely have the right to pass parental notification policies. Our proposed second amended class action complaint in Mirabelli v. Olson directly challenges AB 1955 – which state officials claim does not create new law but is only ‘declaratory’ of existing state law. California legislators justify this blatantly unconstitutional law by citing ‘state privacy rights’ -- but they apparently do not understand, or refuse to recognize, that those rights are superseded by federal constitutional rights. We should know any day whether the court will allow us to proceed with our proposed Second Amended Class Action Complaint. We are asking for class-wide injunctive relief and summary judgment, which will necessarily include enjoining AB 1955, as soon as the Court rules on our pending motion to amend. That was argued July 10, 2024, and taken under submission.”

About Thomas More Society

Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and freedom. 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, visit thomasmoresociety.org.

Melania Trump says country must reunite

In a statement, former First Lady Melania Trump called Saturday’s would-be assassin “a monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine.” Mrs. Trump added that the country must “reunite” and “ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence.”  READ

Secret Service’s Corrupt Culture

By Bill Donohue, Catholic League president 

What happened in Butler, Pennsylvania is emblematic of our culture of comfortableness. We are a nation that lacks accountability for misconduct and incompetence, the net result of which is a growing pattern of serious social problems. It is institutionally ubiquitous. 

From “soft on crime” initiatives to nearly non-existent student disciplinary measures—to weak performance standards in the workplace and on the ball field—offenders and slackers have been treated with impunity. It is this culture that accounts for the failure of the Secret Service to protect former president Donald Trump. Here are a few examples.

 

·         In March 2017, a 26-year-old man, Jonathan Tuan-Anh Tran, jumped the fence at the White House while carrying a dangerous weapon; he had two cans of Mace. Astonishingly, he was allowed to walk around for 15 minutes before he was apprehended by two Secret Service agents. While they were fired, a week later Tran was released. The following year he was found carrying a knife while attempting to illegally enter the office of Rep. Devin Nunes.

·         In 2022, Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, duped four Secret Service officials by posing as officers and employees of the federal government. They obtained paraphernalia, handguns and assault rifles used by federal law enforcement agencies. These were not ordinary members of the Secret Service: one was on detail for the first lady; another was a uniformed division officer in the White House; a third was on detail for Vice President Kamala Harris; and the fourth was assigned to the presidential protection detail. None was fired—they were merely suspended.

·         In April 2024, a female Secret Service special agent assigned to cover the vice president jumped on her boss and began beating him. The agent, Michelle Herczeg, who had a history of aberrant behavior, chest-bumped and shoved her superior, then tackled him and punched him while still having her gun in her holster. Fellow agents wrestled her gun away, cuffed her and removed her from the premises. When questioned about this, Anthony Guglielmi, chief communications officer for the Secret Service, called the incident a “medical matter.” The offending agent was not fired—she was simply removed from Harris’ detail. 

These are just a few examples that we know of in recent times. 

Regarding the last incident, Rep. James Comer, who chairs the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, argues that the Secret Service, under the tutelage of its director, Kimberly Cheatle, has become so concerned about the diversity, equity and inclusion agenda that it has lost sight of its primary mission, namely providing the highest standards of security. How much of this accounts for the relaxation of standards is debatable, but that it plays any role whatsoever is outrageous. 

If there is no accountability, and if a culture of comfortableness is tolerated, we can expect more incidents of wrongdoing and incompetence. Lowering standards is a prescription for failure. 

That a young man armed with a rifle can get to the rooftop of a building close enough to kill the former president—and a current presidential candidate—without being noticed by the Secret Service is mindboggling. Unless the corrupt culture that nourishes this condition is addressed, there will be more such instances. And the next time may be too late.

This week on Faith On Trial

Listen now: https://faith-on-trial.simplecast.com/episodes/william-haun-abby-southerland-7-13-2024-RsBgKpil