With chilling testimony heard on Capitol Hill regarding the Facebook Files, Dr. Grazie Christie talks with TCA colleague and co-host Maureen Ferguson about the vicious intentions of social media networks–preying on children–especially young girls. Maureen offers some sage advice on how parents can safeguard their children and teens from the clutches of these corporations. As we celebrate Respect Life Month, TCA colleague and co-host Leigh Snead joins as we chat with Dr. John Bruchalski heading one of the largest pro-life pregnancy clinics in the nation. Father Roger Landry also offers an inspiring homily for this Sunday’s Gospel. Catch the show every Saturday at 7am ET/5pm ET on EWTN radio!

https://thecatholicassociation.org/podcast/ep-129-the-facebook-files-dr-john-bruchalski-on-his-pro-life-conversion/
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1. Texas to appeal blockage of fetal heartbeat abortion ban, Doctors’ fear of lawsuits may prevent services from resuming, By Emily Zantow And Alex Swoyer, The Washington Times, October 8, 2021, Pg. A6

Texas is planning to appeal a federal judge’s order blocking the state’s ban on abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

State officials filed notice that it would petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Wednesday night shortly after U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, an Obama appointee, sided with the Biden Justice Department, which had argued Texas’ law ran afoul of women’s constitutional rights.

But abortion services in Texas might not instantly resume even with the law, known as Senate Bill 8, on hold because doctors still fear that they could be sued without a more permanent legal decision, The Associated Press reported.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/oct/7/texas-will-appeal-judges-order-blocking-states-fet/
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2. Texas’s Abortion Clinics Holding Off After Ruling, By Sabrina Tavernise and Ruth Graham, The New York Times, October 8, 2021, Pg. A21

At least six clinics in Texas returned to performing abortions the day after a federal judge halted enforcement of the nation’s most restrictive abortion measure, but a majority had not, a reflection of the power of the law the judge froze.

The novel law, which banned most abortions in the state after cardiac activity is detected, about six weeks into pregnancy, continued to exert control over many clinics. Planned Parenthood, whose Texas affiliates operate seven centers that offer abortion services, said on Thursday that despite the ruling it was not carrying out abortions banned under the measure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/us/texas-abortions-judge-ruling.html
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3. Health Workers’ Mandate Tested by New York Case, By Jimmy Vielkind, The Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2021, Pg. A6

Thousands of New York healthcare workers are in limbo as a federal judge considers whether the state’s vaccination mandate must accommodate requests for religious exemptions, in a case that could guide similar policies in other states.

As written, New York’s vaccine mandate applies to all people who work in hospitals and nursing homes, and doesn’t allow healthcare employees to opt out with weekly testing. Starting last week, people were forced to choose between getting the shot and keeping their jobs. There were provisions for medical exemptions but not exemptions based on religious beliefs.

Thousands of healthcare workers who refused vaccinations lost their jobs around the state when the mandate took effect, prompting hospitals to cancel elective surgeries and close operating rooms and outpatient clinics. Many nursing homes have stopped admitting new patients.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/religious-exemptions-to-vaccine-mandates-tested-in-new-york-case-11633613330?
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4. Catholic bishops’ leader to discuss confessional seal comments with France’s interior minister, By Catholic News Agency, October 8, 2021, 6:20 AM

The president of the French bishops’ conference has accepted a request to discuss his recent comments about the confessional seal with the country’s interior minister.

Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort will meet with Gérald Darmanin on Oct. 12 at the interior ministry’s headquarters in Paris, according to an Oct. 7 statement on the bishops’ conference website.

“Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort will be happy to discuss with the interior minister the meaning of the sacrament of confession for Catholics and the theological, spiritual, and canonical foundations of the seal of confession,” the statement said.

…

In the interview with FranceInfo, the archbishop was pressed on whether the confessional seal took precedence over French laws.

“The seal of confession imposes itself on us and in this, it is stronger than the laws of the Republic,” he said.

France has a mandatory reporting law, with sanctions for failing to stop or report a crime.

French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Oct. 7: “Nothing takes precedence over the laws of the Republic in our country.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249227/catholic-bishops-leader-to-discuss-confessional-seal-comments-with-france-s-interior-minister
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5. Abortion in Texas and the Judiciary, A federal judge abuses his authority as much as the Lone Star State law does., By The Wall Street Journal, October 7, 2021, 6:44 PM, Editorial

So much for the claim that the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade on its “shadow docket.” A federal judge late Wednesday ruled that Roe remains the law of the land and blocked Texas’s ban on abortions after six weeks. While the judge is right about the current legal status of Roe, he didn’t have the legal authority to make this call.

The Justice Department sued Texas last month after the Court issued an unsigned opinion declining to block the law, with the three liberals and Chief Justice John Roberts dissenting. The majority didn’t rule on the merits; the order was based on the narrow grounds that abortion providers lacked Article III standing under the Constitution.

We’ve criticized the Texas law for attempting to circumvent federal judicial review by delegating enforcement to private parties. But federal courts can only decide cases or controversies in which a plaintiff has suffered a concrete and specific injury. This is a bedrock constitutional principle—or was.

…

Judge Pitman’s ruling is likely to be overruled by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, so the High Court may be asked to weigh in again. The Biden Administration may figure that, even if it ultimately loses the lawsuit, this will keep the political pressure on the Court’s conservative Justices as they consider Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in early December.

Judge Pitman has done the rule of law no service by letting the passions of abortion politics interfere with his legal duty.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/abortion-and-the-judiciary-federal-judge-robert-pitman-texas-law-six-weeks-11633642204?
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6. Pope Francis: All religious traditions must resist ‘temptation to fundamentalism’, By Courtney Mares, Catholic News Agency, October 7, 2021, 12:00 PM

Pope Francis asked leaders of world religions to resist “the temptation to fundamentalism” for the sake of peace at an interreligious gathering Thursday in front of the Colosseum.

Peace “summons us to serve the truth and declare what is evil when it is evil, without fear or pretense, even and especially when it is committed by those who profess to follow the same creed as us,” the pope said Oct. 7.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249218/pope-francis-all-religious-traditions-must-resist-temptation-to-fundamentalism
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