TCA Podcast, – “Conversations with Consequences,” Episode 169 – Senator Mike Lee On Saving Nine & Colm Flynn Talks Sudan Relief Fund!
With the reversal of Roe and the ongoing attacks against Supreme Court justices, Senator Mike Lee joins Dr. Grazie Christie and Maureen Ferguson to discuss his new book, Saving Nine: The Fight Against the Left’s Audacious Plan to Pack the Supreme Court and Destroy American Liberty. As Cardinal Parolin traveled to Africa in lieu of Pope Francis, Colm Flynn of EWTN News In Depth joins to discuss the deep faith and dire need of so many living in South Sudan–and the great work Sudan Relief Fund is doing in helping those suffering. Father Roger Landry also offers an inspiring homily for this Sunday’s Gospel. Catch the show every Saturday at 7amET/5pmET on EWTN radio!
https://thecatholicassociation.org/podcast/ep-169-senator-mike-lee-on-saving-nine-colm-flynn-talks-sudan-relief-fund/
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1. Texas Sues to Block Federal Abortion Guidelines, By Elizabeth Findell and Melanie Evans, The Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2022, Pg. A3
The state of Texas sued the Biden administration Thursday, seeking to block federal rules that say doctors are obligated to perform abortions in emergency situations where a pregnant woman is at imminent risk.
The Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that a federal law protecting access to emergency treatment means hospitals must provide an abortion if a doctor deems it necessary to stabilize a patient, even if the procedure isn’t legal under state law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the federal rules fly in the face of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, which triggered a near-total abortion ban in Texas. The Texas law bans all abortions from the moment of fertilization.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-sues-biden-administration-over-abortion-medical-emergency-guidelines-11657836049?
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2. The language of the left falls flat on the Hill, By Megan McArdle, The Washington Post, July 15, 2022, Pg. A17, Opinion
Everyone agrees it was an epic own. There’s much less agreement about who got owned.
In Tuesday’s Senate hearing on the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) asked University of California at Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges whether she thought a baby that is not yet born has value. This ensued:
“I believe a person with the capacity for pregnancy has value,” she answered. “They have intelligence. They have agency —”
“No, I’m talking about the baby,” Cornyn interrupted.
“And I’m talking about the person with a capacity for pregnancy,” she retorted. When Cornyn noted that she wasn’t answering the question, she said, “I’m answering a more interesting question to me.”
Then, when it was his turn to speak, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) returned to this exchange, saying, “You’ve referred to people with a capacity for pregnancy. Would that be … women?”
In even tones, Bridges replied that while many cisgender women have the capacity for pregnancy, many don’t, while some trans men and nonbinary people do. But after a little back-and-forth, she gave up. “So, I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic,” she said with an exasperated laugh, “and it opens up trans people to violence.”
The whole thing quickly became a Rorschach test. Many progressives cheered to see Professor Bridges school a reactionary Republican. But conservatives also cheered, because they see a gift to Republican election campaigns.
Unlike a Rorschach test, however, this one has a right answer, and the progressives have it wrong. Moreover, the fact that they can’t see just how badly this exchange went for their side shows what a big mistake it was to let academia and media institutions turn into left-wing monocultures.
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I wonder, now, what further surprises are in store if progressives can’t figure out how to talk to the majority of the country that disagrees with them on a whole lot of things.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/14/berkeley-law-professors-senate-testimony-didnt-go-how-left-thinks-it-did/
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3. Facing lawsuit, Catholic bishops allow lesbian to foster child, By Marisa Iati, The Washington Post, July 14, 2022, 4:16 PM
An unmarried lesbian will be allowed to foster a child after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) let a lawsuit alleging discrimination go unchallenged, suggesting single LGBTQ adults may be able to foster through Catholic organizations while same-sex couples generally continue to be banned.
The decision comes in response to a complaint from Tennessee resident Kelly Easter, arguing that a federal foster-care program administered by the USCCB discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation. Easter sued in October after Michigan-based Bethany Christian Services, a sub-grantee of the USCCB, allegedly told her that the bishops’ conference would not let her apply to foster a refugee child.
In a February letter to Bethany, obtained by The Washington Post, the USCCB characterized the dispute as a misunderstanding and said it does not prohibit single gay people from fostering because of their sexual orientation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/07/14/lesbian-foster-parent-catholic-bishops/
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4. Poll: Most Catholic voters favor abortion restrictions, By Katie Yoder, Catholic News Agency, July 14, 2022, 4:30 PM
The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a grave evil and is never acceptable at any stage of pregnancy. But just 9% of U.S. Catholic voters hold that view, a new EWTN News/RealClear Opinion Research poll shows.
Twice as many (18%) — or nearly 1 in 5 — said that abortion should be available to a woman any time she wants one during her entire pregnancy.
At the same time, the poll shows that a majority of Catholic voters (82%) support some kind of restriction on abortion. Also, a majority say they are less likely to back a political candidate who supports abortion at any time during pregnancy.
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“There is clearly work to be done in catechizing Catholics on the reality that our faith calls us to wholly reject the violence of abortion, an effort that has been greatly frustrated by politicians who confuse the laity by claiming to embrace both their faith and abortion extremism,” Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow with The Catholic Association, told CNA.
“But overall these numbers show that despite that, Catholics, like Americans more broadly, welcome a post-Roe world.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251792/catholic-voters-abortion-poll-ewtn
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5. Pope tells religious orders to report abuse, protect others, By Associated Press, July 14, 2022, 9:55 AM
Pope Francis told members of three religious orders Thursday that they must have “zero tolerance” for sexual abusers in their ranks and that they must report them to protect others.
Francis pleaded with them not to cover up the “reality” of clergy sexual abuse by transferring rapists to other countries.
“We are priests to bring people to Jesus, not to devour people with our lust,” Francis said. “And the abuser destroys, devours the abused with his lust. Zero tolerance,” Francis said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pope-tells-religious-orders-to-report-abuse-protect-others/2022/07/14/93fd1a0e-037c-11ed-8beb-2b4e481b1500_story.html
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6. What ‘Vos estis’ could learn from USCCB ‘Charter’ audits, By JD Flynn, The Pillar, July 14, 2022, Opinion
When the U.S. bishops’ conference released this week its annual audit of child sexual abuse allegations, the most remarkable element of the report was how unremarkable it was.
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In the two decades since clerical abuse scandals prompted USCCB policies aimed at ensuring safe environments for children, Catholic dioceses have come a long way on that front. The Church in the U.S. is not perfect at protecting children – far from it – but in many respects, the USCCB is well ahead of other religious denominations and other public institutions on policy designed to protect children.
In that light, the USCCB audit report is a snapshot of a 20-year process that has, albeit imperfectly, changed much about the Church’s culture and practices regarding safe environments for children.
The third-party audits and insistence on numerical transparency, experts say, are part of what’s made a difference. Year after year, external reports have documented the status of incoming cases, the functionality of review boards, the bishops who have declined to participate in third-party reviews, and the disposition of allegations, new and old.
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Whatever good Vos estis does, it seems, will not be conveyed in annual reports detailing how many reports the third-party tip line received, how many were passed on to metropolitans, or how many are under investigation. There will be no sense of how many people are contacted for interviews during investigations, or how many investigations are now pending at the Holy See.
While the Holy See’s secrecy does not mean that Vos estis can’t accomplish anything, it is worth considering whether it can lead to any meaningful cultural change — combatting the cultural issues that allow episcopal misconduct or negligence to go unresolved — without transparency.
And it’s worth asking whether a policy aimed at accountability, but conducted in secret, will do anything at all to inspire confidence in Catholics.
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/what-vos-estis-could-learn-from-usccb
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7. Archbishop Naumann says he is ‘sad’ over Pope’s handling of Biden, Pelosi on abortion, By AC Wimmer, Catholic News Agency, July 14, 2022, 10:26 AM
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas has said he is “sad” over the way Pope Francis has handled the controversy surrounding the pro-abortion actions of President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose positions on the issue are at sharp odds with the teaching of their Catholic faith on the sanctity of human life.
Naumann’s comment was one of several pointed statements he made on the controversy in an interview with the German newspaper Die Tagespost published Wednesday.
“I think the pope doesn’t understand the U.S., just as he doesn’t understand the Church in the U.S.,” the archbishop told the newspaper, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.
“His advisers and the people surrounding him have completely misinformed him on this,” Naumann added.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251793/new-poll-catholic-voters-sour-on-biden-democrats
__________________________________________________________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. |
