TCA Podcast, – “Conversations with Consequences,” Episode 155 – TCA Team Talks ‘Woke Disney’ And Nicole Garnett Discusses Carson V. Makin
Dr. Grazie Christie chats with TCA colleagues Ashley McGuire and Maureen Ferguson about Disney’s recent decision to wade into gender identity politics–and the three offer other entertainment platforms that offer more enriching content for our children. With Carson v. Makin being decided this Spring by the Supreme Court, Notre Dame law professor Nicole Garnett offers insights on this very important case revolving around religious freedom and school choice. Father Roger Landry also offers an inspiring homily for Palm Sunday. Catch the show every Saturday at 7amET/5pmET on EWTN radio!
https://thecatholicassociation.org/podcast/ep-155-tca-team-talks-woke-disney-and-nicole-garnett-discusses-carson-v-makin/
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1. Attacks on Faith-Based Foster Care Continue, By Naomi Schaefer Riley, The Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2022, Pg. A17, Opinion
When Melissa Buck first heard the Supreme Court’s verdict in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia last June, she was thrilled. Claiming that Catholic Social Services was violating the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance in foster care, Philadelphia had ended its contract with the agency. The justices ruled that Philadelphia was burdening religious exercise by forcing the agency “either to curtail its mission or to certify same-sex couples as foster parents in violation of its religious beliefs.”
When she saw that the decision was unanimous, Ms. Buck says, “I broke down crying. You can’t have the message be any more clear. We need to respect religious liberty and child welfare and the rights of those kids.”
Apparently the message wasn’t clear to everyone. At least 10 cases regarding the ability of faith-based foster care and adoption agencies to operate are now pending in lower courts, some of which have been filed since the Fulton decision. Most recently a Jewish couple filed suit against the state of Tennessee because the Christian adoption agency they wanted to train with to adopt a child from Florida refused to serve non-Christians. Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram say that because the agency receives funds from the state where they are taxpayers, Tennessee law requires it to serve them.
The most egregious defiance of Fulton comes from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. In November the department declared: “HHS will not condone the blanket use of religious exemptions against any person or blank checks to allow discrimination against any persons, importantly including LGBTQ+ persons in taxpayer-funded programs.”
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The Biden administration says it will put out a new rule later this year, but various leftist activist groups are using the courts now to see if they can get the result they want. Two cases in South Carolina, Madonna v. HHS and Rogers v. HHS, challenge the exemption granted to South Carolina and the state’s decision to form a partnership with Miracle Hill, a faith-based foster agency, and the case has not been resolved. Family Equality v. Azar, filed in New York in 2019, and Facing Foster Care in Alaska v. HHS, filed in 2021, are also still pending.
Ms. Riley is the author of “No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/attacks-on-faith-based-religious-christian-foster-care-continue-discrimination-gay-lesbian-hhs-becerra-11649363526?
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2. Gruesome late-term abortions in Washington, For the well-being of our society, there need to be autopsies, By Dr. Ingrid Skop and Dr. Robin Pierucci, The Washington Times, April 8, 2022, Pg. B3, Opinion
Did you actually look at the photographs of the five aborted fetuses obtained by pro-life activist Lauren Handy and turned over to D.C. police on Wednesday? The powerful words of abolitionist William Wilberforce are applicable. “You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say you did not know.” Yes, late-term abortions take place in the District of Columbia. Yes, they are gruesome.
As a practicing obstetrician (Dr. Skop) and neonatologist (Dr. Pierucci) who routinely care for infants of roughly the same size, we chose to look. What we saw in a series of photographs and videos raises serious concerns about the D.C. medical examiner’s decision not to perform autopsies given indications that the law may indeed have been broken.
Federal law prohibits an intact dilation and evacuation, also known as partial-birth abortion. In this procedure, a living fetus is partially delivered feet first to the level of her head, then scissors are introduced into the back of her skull to allow suctioning out the brain, so that the bones of the skull can be crushed to facilitate removal. One of the videos shows a baby girl with a collapsed skull, appearing as if she had anencephaly (absence of the brain). Yet what appears to be surgical incisions in the back of her skull indicate she may have been the victim of an illegal partial-birth abortion.
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Hopefully, this discussion will prompt the D.C. Medical Examiner’s office to follow the science and perform a forensic examination of these unfortunate children’s remains. Accurate gestational ages can be determined by weight, length and even foot measurement charts. Gross and microscopic examination should easily be able to discern if the female never had a brain, or if her brain was surgically removed, possibly while she was still living, in direct opposition to federal law. Pathologic examination of the lungs would document whether these children drew breath after a live birth.
For these reasons, and for the ethical well-being of our society, we call for a full medical examiner’s investigation of the outcomes of the forensic examination of the deaths of these children.
Dr. Ingrid Skop, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., is senior fellow and director of medical affairs at Charlotte Lozier Institute. Dr. Robin Pierucci, M.D., M.A., is an associate scholar at Charlotte Lozier Institute.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/apr/7/gruesome-late-term-abortions-in-washington/
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3. Cardinal Parolin says that curial reform might not be over, By Andrea Gagliarducci, Catholic News Agency, April 8, 2022, 4:10 AM
The publication of the new Vatican constitution is not necessarily the end of curial reform and new offices could be added later, the Vatican Secretary of State has said.
In a recent exclusive interview with CNA, Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke about the reform of the Roman Curia and the role of the Secretariat of State after the release of Praedicate evangelium.
He also discussed the Holy See’s current lack of diplomatic personnel. (In Part 1 of the hourlong interview, he addressed the Vatican’s efforts to end the Ukraine war.)
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250916/cardinal-parolin-says-that-curial-reform-might-not-be-over
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4. Michigan governor sues to secure abortion rights, vacate ban, By David Eggert, Associated Press, April 7, 2022, 5:34 PM
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer filed a lawsuit Thursday asking a Michigan court to recognize the right to get an abortion under the state constitution and to overturn a 176-year-old ban in the state that might take effect again if the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling is vacated.
The Democratic governor’s preemptive lawsuit, which was filed in Oakland County against prosecutors in 13 counties with an abortion clinic, came as the Supreme Court’s conservative majority considers allowing states to ban abortion much earlier in a pregnancy and potentially overturning the right. Planned Parenthood of Michigan and its chief medical officer filed a similar lawsuit in the state Court of Claims to block enforcement of the 1931 law, which dates to an 1846 ban.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michigan-governor-sues-to-secure-abortion-rights-vacate-ban/2022/04/07/23d22ae0-b673-11ec-8358-20aa16355fb4_story.html
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5. Exclusive: House Republicans Unveil Post-Roe Messaging Strategy, By Alexandra Desanctis, National Review, April 7, 2022, 6:30 AM
In this term’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court is considering Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. With this case, the Court has its first chance in three decades to strike down or walk back its abortion jurisprudence, which for 50 years has made it nearly impossible to legally protect unborn children from abortion.
Anticipating a decision before the end of the term, House Republicans are gearing up for a messaging battle over abortion and the next phase of the pro-life movement. In a memo to members, a copy of which was obtained exclusively by National Review, the Republican Study Committee laid out GOP priorities for the pro-life movement. The memo emphasizes several key points and gives us a hint of where Republican messaging might go on this issue, both ahead of a ruling in Dobbs and thereafter.
“Our message is clear,” the memo states. “There is dignity and value in every human life from conception to natural death. We will celebrate every opportunity to protect life, share science-backed truth of the humanity of unborn babies, and support unborn babies, mothers, and families in our communities as we fight for a culture of life in the U.S.”
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Though many congressional Republicans argue that after Roe, decisions about abortion law will rest with the states — and there’s plenty of truth to that — there’s room for pro-life lawmakers at the federal level to act, too. This memo suggests that the GOP is laying the groundwork so that members can make a coherent pro-life case, no matter what happens at the Court this term.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/04/exclusive-house-republicans-unveil-post-roe-messaging-strategy/
___________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
