By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer The presumption of innocence and the legal standard of “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” are based on a bedrock commitment to safeguard an innocent man’s liberty – and, sometimes, his life. This foundational principle of Anglo-Saxon criminal law had been, it seems, all…
By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer The Supreme Court has been the accomplice of the nation’s abortion advocates for almost half a century. In 2020, however, the high court has the opportunity to end this unholy alliance. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case…
By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case involving a Louisiana law requiring that abortionists have hospital admitting privileges (June Medical Services v. Russo). The state legislators who passed the requirement and the governor who signed their bill into…
By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer Almost 50 years after Roe v. Wade, more than 100,000 people will walk through Washington today in support of life, chanting loudly enough to be heard within the chambers of the Supreme Court. And this year, for the first time in decades, the…
By Grazie Pozo Christie and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer Unless you are the parent of a student at a Catholic school, you may not know that this week is Catholic Schools Week. As mothers of happy parochial school students and successful graduates, it’s a big deal for…
By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer I have been raising kids for more than 20 years. These days one of my teenage boys is a particular challenge. He doesn’t take well to lectures, and I doubt he is picking up on any “life lessons” watching me in action….
By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer Australia’s Cardinal Pell has been sentenced to six years for child sex abuse, but the evidence against Pell is far from convincing. Something needs to be done. The Innocence Project is a program that has exonerated over 300 people wrongly convicted of serious crimes…
By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer Our parish’s fall festival was coming to an end. As I rounded up my little ones, I spotted an acquaintance. Antoinette is almost 95 years old and now wheelchair bound, but her incandescent smile inevitably draws people towards her. “Have you had…
The Catholic Association has filed an amicus brief in the case of Sharonell Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, asking the Supreme Court to hear this important case. At issue is whether the government can discriminate against faith-based adoption and foster care agencies because of their…
By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer Will Philadelphia’s Catholic Social Services soon have to close its foster care program – a program or ministry that has operated for a century in a city that desperately needs more foster homes to take in its most vulnerable kids? It’s now…
