1. Pope Francis to undergo intestinal surgery under general anesthesia, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, June 7, 2023, 7:13 AM
Pope Francis went to the hospital Wednesday to undergo abdominal surgery to treat an intestinal blockage, two years after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed because of a narrowing of the large intestine.
The Vatican said Francis, 86, would be put under general anesthesia for the procedure Wednesday afternoon and would be hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for several days.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/06/07/vatican-pope-health/e71d2018-0505-11ee-b74a-5bdd335d4fa2_story.html
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2. Calif. church, preschool sue over federal aid cutoff under Biden administration gender rules, El Cajon facility had received funds for nearly 20 years before change, attorneys say, By Mark A. Kellner, The Washington Times, June 7, 2023
A Southern California church and its preschool have asked a U.S. District Court to block a cutoff of funds from a federal food aid program in a dispute over the Biden administration’s gender rules, which they say violate their religious beliefs.
Attorneys for the Church of Compassion and the Dayspring Christian Learning Center in El Cajon say officials at the California Department of Social Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture removed the school from participation in the Child and Adult Food Care Program. The federal program provides $3,500 to $4,500 a month to help feed impoverished students attending the school’s preschool and day care programs.
The Biden administration’s interpretation of the word “sex” in Title IX, the federal ban on discrimination in education, includes sexual orientation and gender identity. Officials cut off food aid funding to the school and the church, which do not adhere to the administration’s interpretation.
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https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jun/6/california-church-preschool-sue-over-federal-aid-c/
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3. Abortion providers sue Kansas over longstanding waiting period, new medication rule, By John Hanna, Associated Press, June 6, 2023, 6:40 PM
Abortion providers sued Kansas on Tuesday over a law enacted this year and existing restrictions, including a decades-old requirement that patients wait 24 hours after first seeing a provider to terminate their pregnancies.
Besides the waiting period, the lawsuit challenges a law set to take effect July 1 that will require providers to tell patients that a medication abortion can be stopped using a regimen that major medical groups have called unproven and potentially dangerous.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/06/abortion-kansas-waiting-period-medication-reversal/e1486d68-04a2-11ee-b74a-5bdd335d4fa2_story.html
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4. Oklahoma Tries to Tear Down the Church-State Wall, By Noah Feldman, Bloomberg, June 6, 2023, 11:18 AM, Opinion
Oklahoma has approved a public Catholic charter school, which would be the first overtly religious school in the US to be fully funded by government. The arrangement violates the establishment clause of the Constitution as it has been interpreted from its adoption in 1791 until today. Nevertheless, it is possible that the Supreme Court could allow it as part of its ongoing revolutionary transformation of the law of church and state.
That would put us in a brave new world where states come under legal pressure to fund all religious education equally — an outcome that seems sure to increase strife over government-funded religious beliefs, not to mention public education.
The school in question is to be an online institution called St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The name alone is astonishing. I first encountered Archbishop Isidore (560-636) in a history class at my private Jewish high school, where we learned how he proposed the law that took Jewish children away from their parents to ensure they got a Catholic upbringing. He also successfully proposed the law that banned Jews (including those who had converted to Catholicism) from holding public office and wrote an anti-Semitic classic, De fide catholica contra Iudaeos (“Of the Catholic faith against the Jews”).
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The upshot is that, unless the justices hold the line somewhere, we are headed for an era of intense public debate about what religious beliefs may or must be funded in schools. Isidore of Seville would recognize that scenario, in which the government pays for religious teaching and implements religious policies. And he would also recognize the legislation of religion that will inevitably follow. Maybe he would even approve.
Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery and the Refounding of America.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/06/oklahoma-s-new-state-funded-religious-charter-school-isn-t-ok/d50b4e5a-047d-11ee-b74a-5bdd335d4fa2_story.html
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5. ‘We have much to celebrate’: USCCB pro-life chair releases Dobbs anniversary statement, By Tina Dennelly, Catholic News Agency, June 6, 2023, 12:45 PM
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, released a statement June 6 ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022, decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
“We have much to celebrate,” Burbidge wrote. “By the grace of God, the nearly 50-year reign of national abortion on demand has been put to an end. Roe v. Wade — a seemingly insurmountable blight on our nation — is no more!”
Amid the time for celebration, however, “we are reminded that this is not the end, but the beginning of a critical new phase in our efforts to protect human life,” Burbidge said in the statement. “Despite this momentous legal victory, sobering and varied challenges lie ahead of us.”
Burbidge pointed out that in the last year, several states have passed legislation to protect unborn life while other states enacted “extreme abortion policies that leave children vulnerable to abortion, even until the moment of birth.”
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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254500/we-have-much-to-celebrate-usccb-pro-life-chair-releases-dobbs-anniversary-statement
__________________________________________________________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. |
