TCA Podcast, – “Conversations with Consequences,” Episode 165 – Kristan Hawkins Of Students For Life & Dr. Steven Christie On A Post-Roe World With the anticipated release of the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs, Kristan Hawkins joins to discuss how Students for Life is mobilizing to advance the pro-life mission on campuses this summer. We also talk with Dr. Steven Christie about the best pro-life arguments as we work to change hearts and minds on the issue. Father Roger Landry also offers an inspiring homily for Corpus Christi Sunday! Catch the show every Saturday at 7amET/5pmET! https://thecatholicassociation.org/podcast/ep-165-kristan-hawkins-of-students-for-life-dr-steven-christie-on-a-post-roe-world/ ___________________________________________________________ 1. Republicans press for probes for attacks on pro-life centers, 122 lawmakers cite 14 acts of violence in letter to Garland, By Joseph Clark, The Washington Times, June 17, 2022, Pg. A4 House Republicans are calling on the Department of Justice to investigate recent nationwide attacks on pro-life organizations as acts of domestic terrorism. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, 122 lawmakers cited 14 attacks against pregnancy centers, pro-life advocacy organizations and churches across nine states and the District of Columbia since early May following the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. “U.S. Supreme Court justices and pro-life advocates have experienced heightened threats and violence,” wrote the GOP lawmakers, who were led by Reps. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Scott C. Franklin of Florida and Claudia Tenney of New York. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jun/16/house-republican-presses-domestic-terrorism-invest/ ___________________________________________________________ 2. Belgian bishop declines cardinal honor over abuse record, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, June 17, 2022, 7:24 AM One of Pope Francis’ proposed new cardinals, the retired bishop of Ghent, Belgium, has bowed out of accepting the honor over his insufficient response to cases of clergy sexual abuse, the Belgian bishops conference said. Ghent Bishop Luc Van Looy had asked Francis for permission to decline the honor in order “to not harm victims again,” and Francis accepted the request, the bishops said in a statement. Francis had named Van Looy as one of 21 prelates to become a new “prince of the church” during a consistory Aug. 27. At 80, Van Looy is too old to participate in a future conclave to elect the next pope, but he was one of five men named as cardinals in recognition of their lifetime of service to the church. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/belgian-bishop-declines-cardinal-honor-over-abuse-record/2022/06/17/2ecfc7c2-ee27-11ec-9f90-79df1fb28296_story.html ___________________________________________________________ 3. We are Muslims and Jews. We need the Supreme Court to side with coach’s Christian prayer, Members of minority religions have more to fear from a government that seeks to drive faith from the public square than from one that allows people to profess their faith publicly, By Howard Slugh, Gregory Dolin and Ismail Royer, USA Today, June 16, 2022, Opinion Last year, the 9th Circuit ruled that the Constitution’s ban on government establishment of religion required a Seattle-area public school to punish its football coach, Joseph Kennedy, after he knelt on the 50-yard line, bowed his head, closed his eyes “and prayed a brief, silent prayer.” He defied the school’s long-running campaign to silence his public displays of faith. The school ultimately fired him. Kennedy appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that his suspension from the school violated his rights to free speech and free exercise of religion. … If Kennedy’s prayer can be viewed as impermissible, then so can a teacher wearing any religious attire, such as a crucifix, yarmulke or hijab, or any other display of faith, like marking one’s forehead with an ash cross on Ash Wednesday. … Our Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment to accommodate America’s diversity of religious practices and viewpoints, not to eliminate religious exercise.
In 1894, in holding that Catholic nuns could not be banned from teaching in public schools even if they taught while wearing religious garb, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court wrote: “Are the courts to decide that the cut of a man’s coat or the color of a woman’s gown is sectarian teaching, because they indicate sectarian religious belief? If so, then they can be called upon to go further. The religion of the teacher being known, a pure, unselfish life, exhibiting itself in tenderness to the young, and helpfulness for the suffering, necessarily tends to promote the religion of the man or woman who lives it. Insensibly, in both young and old, there is a disposition to reverence such a one, and at least, to some extent, consider the life as the fruit of the particular religion. Therefore, irreproachable conduct, to that degree, is sectarian teaching. But shall the education of the children of the commonwealth be intrusted only to those men and women who are destitute of any religious belief?“ The Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck the right balance between the free exercise rights of public school teachers and the prohibition of government establishment of religion. The 9th Circuit should have followed its example. Because it didn’t, the Supreme Court should reverse. Howard Slugh is the general counsel of the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty. Gregory Dolin is an associate professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Ismail Royer is director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team at the Religious Freedom Institute. They filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to side with coach Joseph Kennedy. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/contributors/2022/06/16/supreme-court-decision-coach-prayer-muslim-jew/7546645001/ ___________________________________________________________ 3. States Prepare to Quickly Implement Abortion ‘Trigger’ Laws, The regulations, designed to go into effect if Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, would ban most abortions in 13 states, By Jennifer Calfas, The Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2022, 9:10 AM States with so-called abortion trigger laws are dusting off the regulations in preparation for the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade. Lawmakers passed these abortion bans on the condition they would go into effect if the Supreme Court rescinded the constitutional right to an abortion. Many of the laws, which would ban most abortions in those states, have been on the books for years—and in some cases, more than a decade. But they gained renewed interest after a draft Supreme Court opinion, leaked in May, indicated the court may be preparing to reverse Roe, the 1973 decision that established the constitutional right to the procedure. State lawmakers, attorneys general and governors are now considering the regulations and taking steps to ensure they take effect, should they need to. And, in some instances, weighing increased criminal penalties or new exceptions. … The trigger laws, while similar in their end goal, would go into effect at different times through varying state-level actions. Laws in Kentucky, Louisiana and South Dakota would be enforceable immediately should Roe be overturned. In Texas, Idaho and Tennessee, trigger laws would take effect 30 days after a Supreme Court decision eliminating the right to an abortion. And in Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Utah, state lawmakers, attorneys general or governors would have to certify the high court’s decision to allow the bans to take effect. https://www.wsj.com/articles/states-prepare-to-quickly-implement-abortion-trigger-laws-11655385028? ___________________________________________________________ 4. Pelosi silent on pro-abortion attacks: ‘I’m very Catholic and I support abortion’, By Katie Yoder, Catholic News Agency, June 16, 2022, 12:42 PM U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday again invoked her Catholic faith while asserting her pro-abortion stance, but she remained silent on mounting attacks targeting Catholic churches and pro-life pregnancy centers. “I’m a very Catholic person and I believe in every woman’s right to make her own decisions,” the Democrat from California said during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. The Catholic Church considers abortion — the destruction of a human person — a grave evil. At the same press conference, Pelosi declined to say whether she agreed with Pope St. John Paul ll and Pope Francis that “abortion is murder.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251565/nancy-pelosi-catholic-faith-abortion-pro-life-clinic-attacks __________________________________________________________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.
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