1. Charting the left’s religious bigotry toward Amy Coney Barrett, The left continues to question the judge’s ability to be impartial because of her Catholic faith, By Kay C. James, The Washington Times, October 6, 2020, Pg. B3, Opinion
When President Trump announced that Judge Amy Coney Barrett was his nominee to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the religious bigotry of the far left exposed its ugly face. Left-wing pundits, politicians and activists immediately questioned her ability to be an impartial justice because of her faith.
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Religious bigotry has no place in the confirmation process, nor anywhere in government or public life. In fact, the Constitution explicitly states that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
But then again, we’ve always known that those on the far left have never been big fans of the Constitution.
Kay C. James is the president of The Heritage Foundation
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/5/charting-the-lefts-religious-bigotry-toward-amy-co/
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2. Cuomo threatens to close synagogues, By Douglas Ernst, The Washington Times, October 6, 2020, Pg. A2
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’s ready and willing “to close the synagogues” over continued resistance to coronavirus rules by the Orthodox Jewish community.
The Democrat made the comment Monday while talking to reporters about the tensions that come as politicians attempt to enforce their will on religious communities throughout the nation.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/5/andrew-cuomo-vows-to-close-the-synagogues-if-ortho/
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3. Judge backs Christian adoption agency, By Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times, October 6, 2020, Pg. A2
A federal judge Monday prohibited New York from shutting down a religious adoption center pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging state regulations requiring agencies to accept as clients unmarried and same-sex couples.
U.S. District Court Judge Mae D’Agostino issued a preliminary injunction stopping the New York Office of Children and Family Services from revoking New Hope Family Services’ authorization to place children for adoption.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/5/judge-mae-dagostino-forbids-new-hope-family-servic/
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4. In new encyclical, Pope questions usefulness of Church’s ‘just war’ doctrine, By Charles Collins, Crux, October 6, 2020
Pope Francis’s new encyclical spends only six paragraphs on the Church’s doctrine on “just war,” but Fratelli Tutti might have upended the entire teaching on the subject.
“We can no longer think of war as a solution, because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits. In view of this, it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war.’ Never again war!” Francis writes.
The pope notes that the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of the possibility of legitimate defense by means of military force, as long as “rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy” have been met, yet he warns it is “easy to fall into an overly broad interpretation of this potential right,” noting that in recent decades every war was presented by its instigators as a “just war.”
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Footnote 242 of Fratelli Tutti says: “Saint Augustine, who forged a concept of ‘just war’ that we no longer uphold in our own day, also said that ‘it is a higher glory still to stay war itself with a word, than to slay men with the sword, and to procure or maintain peace by peace, not by war.’”
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/10/in-new-encyclical-pope-questions-usefulness-of-churchs-just-war-doctrine/
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5. Cardinal Pell accuser denies bribe as Vatican intrigue grows, By Nicole Winfield and Rod McGuirk, Associated Press, October 5, 2020, 10:38 PM
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has speculated in recent days that Vatican investigators were looking into whether Pell’s nemesis at the Vatican, ousted Cardinal Angelo Becciu, wired 700,000 euros ($823,000) in Vatican money to a bank account in Australia, and whether that money was tied to Pell’s sex abuse trial.
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Corriere speculated that Becciu might have “bought” the testimony of Pell’s accuser to get Pell out of the Vatican. Becciu and Pell were known to have clashed over the Australian’s financial clean-up efforts at the Holy See.
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Becciu has strongly denied the allegations.
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Robert Richter, a lawyer who represented Pell in his trial, said the reported money trail to Australia and the potential for bribery had to be investigated.
“If those reports are accurate, they have to be investigated,” Richter said on Tuesday. “I want these reports to be thoroughly investigated by both Australian and international authorities.”
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The Vatican didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether its investigators were pursuing an Australian tangent to their corruption investigation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/cardinal-pell-accuser-denies-bribe-as-vatican-intrigue-grows/2020/10/05/06b7ab8e-077d-11eb-8719-0df159d14794_story.html
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6. Bishop Burbidge preaches on human dignity and natural law at Red Mass, By Catholic News Agency, October 5, 2020, 9:00 AM
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington preached on the sanctity of of life and universal human dignity at the annual “Red Mass” to mark the opening of the judicial year in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.
Addressing a congregation which included Supreme Court justices and public officials during Sunday’s Mass of the Holy Spirit, Bishop Burbidge emphasized the importance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially counsel, wisdom, and strength.
“These are the gifts we need to protect the sacredness of all human life from conception to natural death, to uphold the dignity of every human person without exception, to rid our nation of the evils of racism and discrimination and violence in our streets, to bring justice to the poor and the marginalized, the immigrant, and the most vulnerable, to protect religious freedom and liberty, and to take care of God’s creation, our common home,” he said.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/bishop-burbidge-preaches-on-human-dignity-and-natural-law-at-red-mass-21004
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7. Supreme Court judges say Obergefell a ‘problem’ for religious liberty, By Matt Hadro, Catholic News Agency, October 5, 2020, 1:45 PM
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito on Monday said that the Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling is already posing problems for religious freedom.
“By choosing to privilege a novel constitutional right [to same-sex marriage] over the religious liberty interests explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and by doing so undemocratically, the Court has created a problem that only it can fix,” the justices wrote in an opinion published Monday.
“Until then, Obergefell will continue to have ‘ruinous consequences for religious liberty,’” they warned.
In their opinion, which accompanied the Court’s denial of a writ of certiorari in the case Davis v. Ermold, Thomas and Alito said that the 2015 landmark decision pitted same-sex marrriage against religious liberty.
In the case of former county clerk Kim Davis of Kentucky, who in 2015 made headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Thomas and Alito joined the court in denying her petition for a writ of certiorari, or a review of her case, on the first day of the court’s fall term.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/supreme-court-judges-say-obergefell-a-problem-for-religious-liberty-68090
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8. Bishops to vote for religious liberty chair, seven committee chairmen-elect, By Catholic News Service, October 5, 2020
The U.S. Catholic bishops will vote for the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty and a chairman-elect for each of seven other standing committees before the USCCB convenes its annual fall general assembly, which is being held virtually Nov. 16-17.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/10/bishops-to-vote-for-religious-liberty-chair-seven-committee-chairmen-elect/
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9. Governor orders some NYC schools closed amid virus flare-up; Catholic Church objects, By Associated Press, October 5, 2020
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday ordered schools in certain New York City neighborhoods closed within a day in an attempt to halt flare-ups of the coronavirus.
The governor took the action a day after the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, asked the state for permission to reinstate restrictions schools and businesses in nine ZIP codes in Brooklyn and Queens where the virus was spreading more quickly than in other parts of the city.
Cuomo said the closures would take place by Tuesday, a day ahead of when the mayor wanted.
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Catholic officials pushed back against the shutdown plan Monday, saying that rather than close all schools in the neighborhoods, the city and state should target only those that have seen a spike in infections.
The seven Catholic schools that would be affected have also been in school since the start of September, and have not seen a virus flare-up, church officials said.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/10/governor-orders-some-nyc-schools-closed-amid-virus-flare-up-catholic-church-objects/
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10. 2 justices slam court’s 2015 decision in gay marriage case, By Mark Sherman and Jessica Gresko, Associated Press, October 5, 2020, 10:46 PM
The Supreme Court, already poised to take a significant turn to the right, opened its new term Monday with a jolt from two conservative justices who raised new criticism of the court’s embrace of same-sex marriage.
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Commenting on an appeal from a former county clerk in Kentucky who objected to issuing same-sex marriage licenses, Thomas wrote that the 5-4 majority in a 2015 case had “read a right to same-sex marriage” into the Constitution, “even though that right is found nowhere in the text.” And he said that the decision “enables courts and governments to brand religious adherents who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman as bigots.”
Thomas suggested the court needs to revisit the issue because it has “created a problem that only it can fix.” Until then, he said, the case will continue to have “ruinous consequences for religious liberty.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/2-justices-slam-courts-2015-decision-in-gay-marriage-case/2020/10/05/2215e7aa-077e-11eb-8719-0df159d14794_story.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. |
