1. Senate Tees Up Vote on Same-Sex Marriage, By Katy Stech Ferek, The Wall Street Journal, November 15, 2022, Pg. A4 The top Senate Democrat is moving ahead on advancing legislation protecting same-sex marriage, as lawmakers got back to work following the midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) late Monday filed for cloture on the Respect for Marriage Act, setting up an initial vote for later this week. Any legislation would require at least 60 votes in the Senate, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Passing this bill would put “much-needed safeguards into federal law,” he said. … https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-moves-ahead-with-vote-on-gay-marriage-bill-11668466403__________________________________________________________ 2. Kentucky Supreme Court set to weigh statewide abortion bans, By Bruce Schreiner and Dylan Lovan, Associated Press, November 15, 2022, 1:11 AM The future of abortion rights in Kentucky reaches a defining moment Tuesday when the state’s highest court hears arguments over a sweeping abortion ban put in place by the Republican-led legislature. The case before Kentucky’s Supreme Court is the first legal test since voters in Kentucky and three other states signaled their support for abortion rights in last week’s midterm election. Kentuckians rejected a ballot measure that would have denied abortion rights in the state’s Constitution. “Its defeat –- at the least –- keeps alive the plaintiffs’ claim that the Kentucky Constitution protects a woman’s right to choose,” University of Louisville law professor Samuel Marcosson said ahead of the court hearing. “The outcome doesn’t establish that there is such a right; that remains a question for the court depending on their view of the scope of the Kentucky constitutional right to privacy.” … https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/kentucky-supreme-court-set-to-weigh-statewide-abortion-bans/2022/11/15/4aec99de-64ac-11ed-b08c-3ce222607059_story.html__________________________________________________________ 3. Dutch cardinal asks pope for gender encyclical on gender theory, By Katholiek Nieuwsblad, Crux, November 15, 2022 Cardinal Wim Eijk, the Archbishop of Utrecht in The Netherlands, has asked for a papal encyclical warning against gender theory. The request was made in meetings with Vatican officials during the Dutch bishops ad limina visit in Rome. “I have asked if it would not be good for the pope to issue an encyclical on gender thinking”, the cardinal said Wednesday evening at a press conference in Rome, Dutch newspapers Nederlands Dagblad and Katholiek Nieuwsblad report. “Gender theory is being pushed in all kinds of organizations and we as a Church have not said that much about it,” Eijk said. According to the cardinal, there is a need for an encyclical, an important papal document in which the teachings of the Church are explained and, if necessary, further developed. … https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2022/11/dutch-cardinal-asks-pope-for-gender-encyclical-on-gender-theory__________________________________________________________ 4. Where the pro-life movement goes from here, By Henry Olsen, The Washington Post, November 14, 2022, 2:27 PM, Opinion … The sad fact is that a strong majority of Americans favor abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. … That’s not to say everything is gloomy. The fact that voters and their representatives have a say at all in abortion law is progress. That’s why Roe needed to go. The successful reelection of governors such as Brian Kemp in Georgia and Greg Abbott in Texas, both of whom signed bills outlawing abortion after a heartbeat is detected, also shows that voters can support pro-life politicians. Abortion is less available in the United States than it was six months ago, and that’s a win for the pro-life cause. … Fighting back against this onslaught requires a refocusing of pro-life attention and priorities. To begin with, there should be no substantial effort to introduce any national bans on abortion, no matter how limited those are. … Pro-lifers should therefore make it clear that they approve state — not federal — action. … More effort must also be put into educating legislators how to think and talk about abortion. … Most importantly, activists and movement leaders need to engage in the patient, long-term work of talking about human biology. … Americans will agree to ban abortion in the early stages of pregnancy only when they are convinced that a tiny fetus with an evolving heart and brain has the same right to life as do you and I. … Overturning Roe took nearly 50 years, and it was only the necessary first step. It would be easy to be discouraged after this year’s reversals. Instead, now is the time for patience, prudence and perseverance. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/14/midterm-election-abortion-pro-life-movement/__________________________________________________________ 5. US bishops to elect new leaders, mark abuse reform milestone, By Peter Smith, Holly Meyer and David Crary, Associated Press, November 14, 2022 U.S. Catholic bishops began their fall meeting Monday, with an agenda that includes the election of new leaders — a vote that may signal whether they want to be more closely aligned with Pope Francis ′ agenda or not. Several of the 10 candidates to be the next president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are part of its powerful conservative wing, and have not fully embraced some of the pope’s priorities, such as focusing more on the marginalized than on culture-war battles. The USCCB also will be marking the 20th anniversary of its adoption of policies designed to root out sexual abuse and abusers in the priesthood — measures adopted amid the white-hot scandals of 2002 when The Boston Globe exposed widespread abuse and cover-up. … https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-religion-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-81eacc2fc6d53f81eacdcadc459b500a__________________________________________________________ 6. Running Jump-Started My Prayer Life, My form was bad and my repetitions insufficient., By Mike Kerrigan, The Wall Street Journal, November 14, 2022, 5:42 PM, Opinion Is it acceptable to smoke while praying? How about to pray while smoking? The old joke illustrates an important truth: How you frame a question determines the answer you receive. An underlying insight—the benefit of marrying duty with joy—has helped me immensely. I know not to seek permission to jog in place during Mass, but I’ve been praying while exercising for some time. While my physical health has held up over five decades, some years ago I discerned a certain spiritual flabbiness. I wasn’t praying much, and when I did, my petition-to-thanksgiving ratio—forget contrition or adoration—was about 10 to 1. This was a spiritual problem easily diagnosed in athletic terms: My form was bad, and my repetitions insufficient. Where better to address this than during the morning exercise I already do? I determined to use running to jump-start my prayer life. It wasn’t as enjoyable to me as the holy smoke sought in the joke, but the rhythm of running matched the cadence of prayer, so it’s where I began. … Exercise prayer should be repetitive, not meditative, and it need not accompany exertion minute for minute. When pain comes, you can decide if offering it up is right for you. As for me, running helped me pray—and then praying helped me run. https://www.wsj.com/articles/running-jump-started-my-prayer-life-hail-mary-excercise-irish-catholic-offering-it-up-11668440060__________________________________________________________ 7. Lawsuit: Mississippi abortion ban might not be valid yet, By Michael Goldberg, Associated Press, November 14, 2022, 4:24 PM A group of anti-abortion doctors in Mississippi, where state leaders led the charge to overturn Roe v. Wade, say the validity of the state’s law banning most abortions remains uncertain and that further legal action is needed to clarify it and protect them from possible punishment by medical institutions. The Mississippi Justice Institute makes the claim in a lawsuit it filed Monday on behalf of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists against the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure and its executive director, Dr. Kenneth Cleveland. The lawsuit argues that when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, it did not resolve a gray area in state law surrounding abortion rights. Attorneys for the doctors cited a 1998 Mississippi Supreme Court opinion called Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice that holds that abortion is a right protected by the Mississippi Constitution. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lawsuit-mississippi-abortion-ban-might-not-be-valid-yet/2022/11/14/69243040-6454-11ed-b08c-3ce222607059_story.html__________________________________________________________ 8. Biden: Still not enough votes to codify abortion rights, By Seung Min Kim and Chris Megerian, Associated Press, November 14, 2022, 3:43 PM President Joe Biden said Monday that Democrats still lack the power to codify abortion rights into law despite his party’s stronger-than-expected performance in the midterm elections. “I don’t think there’s enough votes,” he said at a press conference during the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia. Biden’s blunt comments reflected how Democrats’ euphoria over their strength in the midterms will soon collide with the likely reality of divided government in Washington. During the campaign, Biden said that if Democrats picked up seats, the first piece of legislation that he would send to Congress would be to enact a nationwide right to abortion. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-still-not-enough-votes-to-codify-abortion-rights/2022/11/14/b7b83e38-642a-11ed-b08c-3ce222607059_story.html__________________________________________________________ 9. Synodal way’s call for lay role in choosing bishops hits snags, By Luke Coppen, The Pillar, November 14, 2022, 3:49 PM A resolution adopted by Germany’s “synodal way” to give lay people a clearly defined role in choosing bishops is proving hard to enact. The Archdiocese of Bamberg said last Friday that it saw no way of implementing the decision because it seemed incompatible with a concordat governing the appointment of bishops. Participants in the synodal way — a multi-year initiative bringing together bishops and select lay people — endorsed a document in February entitled “Involvement of the faithful in the appointment of the diocesan bishop.” The text called on cathedral chapters — which play a significant role in selecting German bishops — to work with an elected body representing “the entire people of God in the diocese” to determine the list of suitable candidates that the chapter sends to the Vatican. But dioceses are bound by different rules because individual German states signed concordats with the Holy See both before and after the unification of Germany in 1871. … https://www.pillarcatholic.com/synodal-ways-call-for-lay-role-in-choosing-bishops-hits-snags/__________________________________________________________ 10. FBI releases video of attack on firebombed Buffalo pregnancy center, says FACE Act charges possible, By Joe Bukuras, Catholic News Agency, November 14, 2022, 2:07 PM The FBI has released a video and photos of the June 2022 attack on the upstate New York pro-life pregnancy center, CompassCare Pregnancy Services, that shocked pro-lifers across the nation during a string of violent assaults against pregnancy centers country-wide. The FBI also announced a reward of up to $25,000 for any information leading to the arrest of the arsonists. And in another notable development, the FBI’s press release states that those responsible for the vandalism could be charged with a violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances. or FACE Act, which has been used predominantly, if not exclusively, against pro-life activists. “FBI Buffalo is seeking the public’s help to identify the individuals responsible for the arson of the CompassCare Pregnancy Services Center at 1230 Eggert Road, Amherst, New York, on June 7, 2022,” the announcement says.  The release of the footage and photos comes less than two months after the clinic’s CEO, Jim Harden, announced that he filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the local police department to provide CompassCare with a copy of the vandalism footage — a resource that he could not get access to just by asking alone. … https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252809/fbi-releases-video-of-attack-on-firebombed-buffalo-pregnancy-center__________________________________________________________

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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