TCA Podcast, – “Conversations with Consequences,” Episode 121 – Ashley Mcguire On Andrew Cuomo’s Resignation & Dr. Theresa Burke Talks Healing From Abortion With the news of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation amid a bombshell investigation into sexual harrassment allegations, TCA colleague Ashley McGuire joins to discuss all the victims of Governor Cuomo including the elderly given their treatment during the first wave of the COVID pandemic as well as the unborn who suffer from some of the most expansive abortion laws in the country. We also chat with Dr. Theresa Burke, executive director and founder of Rachel’s Vineyard, discussing the important work of helping post-abortive women and men heal from terrible trauma. Father Roger Landry also offers an inspiring homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Catch the show every Saturday at 7amET/5pm ET on EWTN radio! https://thecatholicassociation.org/podcast/ep-121-ashley-mcguire-on-andrew-cuomos-resignation-dr-theresa-burke-talks-healing-from-abortion/ ___________________________________________________________ 1. Social Media’s Threat to Religious Freedom, A theologian’s talk on the Christian view of sex was deemed a ‘content violation.’ By Salvatore J. Cordileone and Jim Daly, The Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2021, Pg. A13, Opinion Carl Trueman is a distinguished scholar, bestselling author and ordained Presbyterian minister. On Aug. 7 he gave a series of talks to the Sacramento Gospel Conference, live-streamed on the YouTube channel of Immanuel Baptist Church. … Mr. Trueman’s presentation went dark because of a “content violation.” Was this an intervention by a human being or an algorithm on automatic pilot? Neither Mr. Trueman nor Immanuel Baptist has been told. Equally unclear is the specific nature of the alleged content violation. Nothing in Mr. Trueman’s talks encouraged hatred, vulgarity or violence. On the contrary, he offered a thoughtful analysis of American cultural attitudes toward sex through the lens of classic Christian thought, citing sources from Freud to the philosophers Rousseau and Charles Taylor. … Mr. Trueman is understandably worried that religious speech is being censored online. So are many other religious believers. And for good reason: We sense that the First Amendment guarantee of religious liberty is being dismantled, and with it the profound contributions that religion makes to American unity and self-government. … The American experiment was founded on, and has always thrived on, the freedom of religious believers to speak, teach, preach, practice, serve and work in peace—not only in private, but in the public square—for the truth about God and humanity that ennobles their lives and all lives. The more we diminish that freedom, the more crippled we become as a people. The more we feed it, the deeper and more robust the roots of our nation and its freedoms grow. Those are the two paths before us. Here’s the good news: We get to choose. Archbishop Cordileone leads the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco. Mr. Daly is president of Focus on the Family. https://www.wsj.com/articles/social-media-religious-freedom-youtube-first-amendment-section-230-carl-trueman-sacramento-gospel-conference-11628802706 ___________________________________________________________ 2. NY let childhood sex abuse victims sue; 9,000 went to court, By Michael Hill, Associated Press, August 13, 2021 New York is among a number of states that have in recent years established windows allowing people to sue over childhood abuse no matter how long ago it took place. Similar windows were opened in New Jersey and California. Ordinarily, courts put deadlines on suing because of the difficulty in holding a fair trial over incidents that happened many years ago. Witnesses die or move away. Records are lost. Memories fade. But lawmakers believed that, despite those hurdles, victims deserved an opportunity for justice and might feel emboldened now to speak up about things they’ve kept to themselves for many years. … “Whatever financial pain the Church suffers as a result of this crisis pales in comparison to the life-altering suffering of survivors,” Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, said in an email. Poust said bishops are focused now on resolving the civil claims in a way that satisfies those who have been harmed while preserving the church’s charitable, educational and sacramental ministries. https://apnews.com/article/health-religion-coronavirus-pandemic-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-2bbc11dd595e8b966155eec377060e0c ___________________________________________________________ 3. Court blocks Biden mandate on transgender, abortion work, Protects tenets of faith for doctors, hospitals, By Alex Swoyer, The Washington Times, August 13, 2021, Pg. A1 A federal court this week blocked the Biden administration’s mandate requiring doctors and faith-based hospitals to perform abortions and transgender surgeries. The ruling was handed down as the Supreme Court grappled with whether to weigh in on a similar legal battle between a Catholic hospital and a transgender man over his hysterectomy. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled Monday that the administration cannot require doctors and providers to violate tenets of their faith to perform or offer transgender procedures and services for patients. … The Becket Fund, a religious liberty legal group that represented the health care providers, noted that this is the third time a federal court has struck down such a policy. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/12/joe-biden-transgender-mandate-religious-hospitals-/ ___________________________________________________________ 4. ‘Dereliction of its duty’: US bishops rebuke Biden administration for dropping conscience rights lawsuit, By Joe Bukuras and Christine Rousselle, Catholic News Agency, August 12, 2021, 5:03 PM The U.S. bishops on Thursday criticized the Biden administration for dropping a conscience rights lawsuit. On July 30, the Justice Department had quietly moved to dismiss its lawsuit against a Vermont hospital, which had allegedly coerced a nurse into helping with an abortion in 2017. In response, the U.S. bishops’ conference stated on Thursday, Aug. 12 that the Justice Department was “acting in dereliction of its duty.” “It is hard to imagine a more horrific civil rights violation than being forced to take an innocent human life,” said a joint statement by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas. Dolan is the chairman of the conference’s religious liberty committee, and Naumann chairs the pro-life committee. … Meanwhile, more than 80 members of Congress this week accused the Biden administration of committing a “profound miscarriage of justice” in dropping the case. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248672/dereliction-of-its-duty-us-bishops-rebuke-biden-administration-for-dropping-conscience-rights-lawsuit ___________________________________________________________ 5. Inventors of CRISPR gene editing appointed to Pontifical Academy of Sciences, By Courtney Mares, Catholic News Agency, August 12, 2021, 11:19 AM Pope Francis has appointed the co-inventors of the CRISPR genome editing technology to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who discovered CRISPR fewer than ten years ago, were appointed to the Vatican’s scientific academy consecutively Aug. 10-11. … This has been applied to experimental treatments for sickle cell anemia and certain cancers, but has also raised bioethical concerns, including its application in “designer babies.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248667/inventors-of-crispr-gene-editing-appointed-to-pontifical-academy-of-sciences ___________________________________________________________ 6. Pope Francis Is Tearing the Catholic Church Apart, By Michael Brendan Dougherty, The New York Times, August 12, 2021, Opinion In the summer of 2001, I drove up to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to find what we called “the traditional Latin Mass,” the form of Roman Catholic worship that stretched back centuries and was last authorized in 1962, before the Second Vatican Council changed everything. … Years later, Pope Benedict allowed devotees of this Mass to flourish in the mainstream of Catholic life, a gesture that began to drain away the traditional movement’s radicalism and reconcile us with our bishops. Today, it is celebrated in thriving parishes, full of young families. Yet this Mass and the modestly growing contingent of Catholics who attend it are seen by Pope Francis as a grave problem. He recently released a document, Traditionis Custodes, accusing Catholics like us of being subversives. To protect the “unity” of the church, he abolished the permissions Pope Benedict XVI gave us in 2007 to celebrate a liturgy, the heart of which remains unchanged since the seventh century. … I don’t know if bishops will adopt Francis’ zeal to crush the Latin Mass. I don’t know how painful they are willing to make our religious life. If they do, they will create — or reveal — more division in the church. … https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/opinion/pope-francis-latin-mass.html ___________________________________________________________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. |